The word ‘strange’, while accurate, was much too weak a description for the ma’am’s acquaintance.

Her home was located an hour’s trek from the village and could only be accessed via an inconspicuous little trail that likely hadn’t been beaten in the better part of a decade.

The trail led through less than favourable ground, snaking between dense willow and requiring one to traverse rocky outcroppings in order to stay on track.

Rather than inconvenient, such a route seemed to be intentionally difficult to follow.

And the reason was made apparent when they finally made it to the little cottage.

A diverse collection of clearly poisonous plants sprung from various troughs haphazardly littered around the vine infested yard.

Strange, complex looking primitive machines, some of which were constructed of wood and some from materials he couldn’t, and didn’t want to, recognize.

Most alarmingly of all, strange bits and pieces of taxidermy animal hung daisy-chained from the tree branches, the species and origin of which could not be easily ascertained.

The entire scene reeked of the occult, and of a gross amalgamation of strange scents.

Now he understood why this acquaintance’s house was so far removed from the rest of the village.

This friend of the ma’am’s wasn’t a wizard, she was a witch.

Malt turned skeptically to the ma’am, who despite being able to complete the entire trek without as much as breaking a sweat, stood uneasily at the edge of the forest.

“...you don’t feel anything strange, Malt?”

He gestured to the cottage with one hand,

“I mean, who wouldn’t?”

“I mean physically, son.”

His brow raised questioningly at the strange remark.

“...no not necessarily. Why?”

She examined him with narrowed eyes. Whatever it was that was going on in her mind, she was clearly perplexed.

“...nevermind then, ignore me.” Making her way to the door, she gestured for him to follow.

“Now when I say that the person that lives here is a little...eccentric, just know that I’m not exaggerating.”

“...is she that out there?”

A nostalgic chuckle escaped her mouth,

“You’ve no clue.”

Stopping just shy of the door, the ma’am stepped forward and knocked (slammed) on the rickety front door with surprising force.

“Jackie, it’s me.”

A worrying symphony of crashes and scrambling soon erupted from the other side of the door. A woman’s muffled voice called out from within the cottage.

“H-hold up Lori! I’ll be out in a second!”

Malt turned to the ma’am.

“...Lori?”

“It’s short for Loretta.”

Malt’s jaw hung slack, thinking that it was some kind of taboo in the village to utter the ma’am’s real name, from the way that everyone else treated the subject.

The door busted open noisily as he stood trying to process the bombshell that’d just been dropped.

Leaning against the door was a mature looking woman, maybe in her early to mid twenties. Despite her uncannily attractive features, she didn’t act, nor did she dress one bit like the way she looked.

Her silky black hair was in disarray, tangled and not resembling any one hairstyle that Malt could think of. Her clothing was just plain strange regardless of her appearance, consisting of a black, dress-like garment under a thick leather apron. Even the way she conducted herself, was just…off. It was like she was another person inhabiting the body of a young woman.

“You should’a told me if you were coming, I would’ve taken the barrier down.”

The ma’am smiled heartily,

“Somethin’ like that isn’t enough to hold me back!”

“You’re way too energetic for your age, you know that?”

“Oh, because you’re one to talk you little minx.”

As they laughed and caught up with one another, Malt couldn’t help but be surprised by the ma’am’s attitude shift.

This was a side of her that she didn’t show her own children, but he somehow sensed that this was truer to her real personality. From this, it was more than obvious that she and this Jackie person were quite close, and thus this acquaintance was to be trusted to some degree.

The woman turned to Malt, seeming to have finally taken notice of the boy.

She leaned in, placing her face much too close to his and scanning every inch of it. He seemed to pass some unfathomable test that he really didn’t want to, because she leaned back and adopted a rather provocative stance.

“Hoh...looks like you’ve brought someone interesting today.”

She locked eyes with Malt.

“You’re pretty cute, maybe a little young. I’m in the mood to waste some time, what say you, boy?”

“Something’s wrong, I can feel it.”

“Oi.”

The ma’am broke into a hearty chuckle,

“I had a feeling he’d see through you.”

Walking up to the doorway and placing an arm around the woman’s neck, she gave her an energetic shake, which made her head wobble worryingly.

“That hunch of yours is right. Even though this ‘young lady’ looks like she’s in her twenties, she’s actually a granny just like me.”

Although completely at the whim of the ma’am’s strength, this ‘Jackie’ person found the spirit to retort regardless.

“Don’t lump me in with a fossil like you, I’m still only forty five dammit!”

“U-forty five?! What kind of witchcraft bullshittery is this?”

The woman’s eyes lit up dangerously.

“Huh? Are you interested? I can tell you all about my research!”

“Uh, ah, sure but maybe late-”

“It all started twenty years ago when I first-”

He seemed to have flipped some weird switch of her’s. Thankfully though, the ma’am looked to have had quite a bit of experience with this exact situation.

“Okay okay, let’s save the life monologue until after you’ve let us in yeah?”

She immediately switched gears, widening her eyes like she’d just been enlightened with a revolutionary realization.

“Great idea! I’ll go pour some tea.”

And with that, she slipped away from the ma’am’s grasp and sped off into the cottage, leaving her two guests standing by the door.

“...‘eccentric’, huh?”

She smiled wryly.

“I mean, I warned you didn’t I?”

***

The interior of the cottage was just as strange as the exterior. Assorted odds and ends, bits and pieces lay strewn across multiple wooden countertops and study desks.

The calming scent of old paper wafted about, which origin was very obviously the amazing amount of books shoved into nearly every cubby in the room, even spilling onto the wooden floor or forming impressive towers that almost reached eye level.

Loose pieces of parchment covered with rune like diagrams and messy scribbles littered the ground, making it difficult to even make it to the other side of the room without stepping on something.

Yet the place somehow still felt organized in a way. Every item was placed in a position that made sense, leaving just enough space for one to traverse the room whilst maximizing the amount of things that could actually fit within the small room. There was a method to the madness.

Beyond that, it could even be called cozy.

The ma’am, who had immediately offered up to tidy up the room, was doing just that. She had to literally tiptoe around the room as she neatly stacked books and swept dust off of countertops.

Malt sat at a small table pressed flush against the far wall, situated perfectly under the window as to allow the afternoon sun to illuminate the three cups of tea that Jackie had brewed.

They both watched as the ma’am methodically sorted through the room, decades of experience behind her actions.

“She really hasn’t changed all that much since the capital, has she?”

“...the capital?

She looked at him, slightly surprised.

“She hasn’t told you? We were both adventurers back in the day.”

“You were what now?”

She took a sip from her teacup,

“Yeah, we were in the same party together. Me, her, and Howar-”

“Jackie.”

The ma’am gave her a stare which intensity could be felt all the way across the room.

“Ah-”

Leaning in, she whisper-yelled to Malt.

“Quick! Change the subject or somethin’!”

“Uh, so like, how do you look so young?”

Her eyes lit up.

“Finally getting to the juicy stuff eh? Well I’ll start with this.”

She searched her surroundings a bit before picking up a familiar looking blue pebble and placing it onto the table.

“Do you know what this is?”

“A mana stone, right?”

“Exactly. And have you ever tried placing one in water?”

“Yep.”

“...”

“...”

“...that was a rhetorical question. Wait, why did you-I mean, it fetches a pretty hefty price and would explode if you threw it into water wouldn’t it?”

“Ah, w-well-”

“I mean, why?”

“...for fun?”

“...”

“...”

“...well let’s just leave it at that for now. Anyway,”

She drank the rest of her tea, making sure the cup was completely dry before dropping the stone into it with a clank.

“Let’s say this cup was full of water. What do you think would happen?”

He didn’t need to guess, because he’d seen it first hand before.

“It’ll start bubbling and steaming.”

“Correct. But why?”

“Why? Because...magic?”

“Think a little deeper, why does the magic cause the water to boil?”

This question took a little more thought.

“...because of chemical energy?”

Her eyes widened in genuine surprise.

“So you know about the law of energy, do you?”

“To some degree, yeah.”

“Good, this makes the explanation much easier.”

She took out the stone once again, admiring it pinched between her two slender fingers.

“You were right by the way, mana stones are just a physical collection of condensed mana, which implies that mana in of itself is simply a form of energy. In fact it’s very similar to stamina, although it manifests itself in different ways.”

“Stamina?”

“Yes, but we’ll get back to that in a moment.”

She then brought out an old, leatherbound book from the shelf behind her.

As if she knew exactly where the page she was looking for was, she flipped through the hundreds of pages in an instant.

“For now we’ll discuss the origin of mana.”

There was a massive gap between her previous attitude and her current attitude. All he saw now was a dedicated researcher and experienced teacher. Although he’d known that she was in fact older than she looked, this cemented the idea. He made no mistake, this was a woman of impressive intelligence.

Just through one small conversation, his respect toward her had increased immensely.

After only a few seconds of searching, she’d found the correct page

She turned the book around so that Malt could see.

It depicted a carving-like image depicting a small flame within the outline of a human.

“As you’ve probably been told throughout your life, the common idea is that mana is stored within the soul.”

“Mhmm.”

“But that brings about the question, what is a soul? What purpose does it serve and is it tangible? If not, then does it exist at all?”

She expertly skips to another chapter of the book.

“Well, let’s make the assumption that a soul does in fact exist, and tangible or not, it is contained within every living being. If so, where is it located?”

This page depicted an image that reminded him of the old biblical illustrations back on earth. Once again, it showed some vague, wispy shape, likely representing the soul, within a man’s chest.

“Religious and classical literature implies that it rests within the heart, while scholars argue that it would be more logical if it inhabited the seat of intelligence, the brain.”

She changes pages again, this time landing on a page depicting human anatomy.

“But this proves nothing, and only creates more questions. Does this mean that since mana is supposedly stored within the soul, large amounts of energy would be stored inside the brain or heart? Where and how is it produced then, and why?”

She shut the book with considerable force.

“Then it hit me, mana and stamina are uncannily similar. One, they’re both forms of natural energy within our bodies, and two, they’re both forms of energy within us that when depleted, will regenerate on its own if given time, rest, and nutrients. Until relatively recently, only the idea that both mana and stamina will regenerate on its own has been proven and generally accepted by the public.”

“Until recently, you say?”

An enthusiastic, and slightly devious looking smile spread across her face.

“Indeed! Just twenty-five years ago, I set out to test whether the idea that mana is tied with the physical body was true or not.”

“And how did you do that?”

Next, she pulled out a substantially thick journal riddled with added notes sticking from the edges.

“After years of trial and error, I finally stumbled upon the method of concentrated mana altering.”

“‘Concentrated mana altering’, that’s a bit of a mouthful.”

“I’ll think up a cooler name for it later, but it’s basically pumping a massive amount of mana in a concentrated beam to a certain part of the body in order to alter how it functions.”

A slight grimace crossed his face.

“Wow that sounds...dangerous.”

“Oh trust me, it is. I’ll spare you the details, but basically it irreversibly changes how a body function works, depending on the amount of mana and where you point it.”

“And you’re telling me you used this on living beings?”

“Exactly, although it was only animals and myself.”

“...I can see where this is going, so this is how you maintain your youth huh?”

“Just my appearance, I’ll still die within a couple decades just like any other human.”

“I see...then why do it in the first place despite the risks.”

Suddenly, her strong penchant for eye contact left her.

“W-well you know, I visit colleges and research libraries once in a while, so it’s better to look a little spiffy, y’know-”

The ma’am spoke from across the room.

“Are you sure it’s not because you’re banned from academic facilities for ‘academic practices that violate basic morals’?”

“I mean, okay maybe my experiments get a little risky, but there can be no progress without sacrifice, am I right?”

Malt’s eyes narrowed with concern.

“W-wait, sacrifi-?”

Jackie clapped her hands together,

“Aaand we’re getting off topic. Back to the story, after four years of experimentation, I finally, indisputably proved that mana is tied to the physical body, and not some astral projection or such.”

“And how’d you do that.”

“Why I’m glad you asked. I’ll spare you the details regarding the process, but I simply gave myself a multitude of serious illnesses for a period of a few hours.”

“...you did what now?”

“Exactly what I just said. I artificially gave myself a dozen or so serious illnesses which almost completely eliminated my constitution, and thus my stamina. Low and behold, I could not use magic at all anymore, even though my capacity for using magic doesn't fluctuate even when I’m bedridden.”

That’s some serious dedication. Or it’s insanity, who knows anymore.

“Uh huh…”

“And so basically, that’s where the lecture ends, and business begins.”

Malt raised one brow,

“Business?”

She smiled slyly,

“Both you and I can more or less figure out why Lori brought you here, right?”

He debated whether feigning ignorance or coming clean would be better in this situation, eventually concluding that the latter would probably be less troublesome.

“Yeah basically, so you know what I’m here for then?”

She scanned his body with uncharacteristically sharp eyes.

“Well I can see that you’re quite beat up, and from that I can more or less guess why Lori brought you here.”

Without looking away from Malt, Jackie spoke with a rare, serious voice.

“Lori, you know the repercussions of letting me operate on him, right?”

And the ma’am, with the same attitude, answered back without stopping to turn around.

“There’re some troubling circumstances, I’d never bring him here unless he was willing.”

She then turned to Malt, staring into his eyes deliberately.

“I’ll ask you once again after I’ve explained the process, but let me ask you this in advance.”

She leaned in close.

“Are you willing to irreversibly alter your body knowing that this is still an experimental method?”

Malt didn’t need to contemplate, the fact that he was still there meant that he’d hardened his resolve ages ago.

He looked her straight in the eye.

“Yes.”

They locked eyes for a tense moment, until Jackie eventually backed down. She discarded the straining serious facade, reverting back to her usually, aloft self with a sizable sigh.

“Well, let’s leave it at that then. You sure’ve brought me something real interesting today, Lori.”

“This is much more exciting than sitting around reading books all day, isn’t it.”

The corner of her lips rose into her signature smile,

“Well I suppose so.”

She stood up, walking over to a filing cabinet of sorts. After looking around, she finally pulled out a slim stack of parchment that she proceeded to place onto the table with a satisfying slap.

“The procedure’ll only take a few hours, although you’ll need to give me a day to prepare and you'll need at least a full day of rest and another full day of rehabilitation.”

“Two full days?”

“I’d usually suggest a week of rest at the very least, but it seems that you’ve got some peculiar circumstances. That, and if Lori brought you here then that means you have to have a decent constitution.”

He kept his mouth shut, realizing that any kind of negotiation would be counterproductive.

She sifted through the stack of papers, her eyes efficiently skimming through the contents.

“The process itself involves me changing the natural process of your body. So basically, I’m tricking your body into thinking that using your mana as an energy source to heal wounds is natural, just like it would heal a scab.”

Her brows furrowed.

“But there are the side effects, of course.”

Her eyes lifted to Malt to make sure he was paying close attention.

“The first downside is that you will need to consume more nutrients than the average human, for the rest of your life. Even when your body’s not healing it will burn through a certain amount of mana, which you’ll constantly want to be replenishing in case you do suffer any injuries. I also expect you to be extra lethargic and hungry whilst healing.”

Malt nodded, processing the detriment. This one was more or less something he’d predicted, magic wasn’t the be-all-end-all after all.

“Next, you will be in immense pain when healing, and I’m not talking about a dull ache, I mean a constant, excruciating pain. Your body will break into an intense fever to prevent infection during the process, and your muscles will literally be forcing your bones together. You will be experiencing a month-long process, with the same volume of pain, but all condensed within maybe a few days. It will also be a rushed job, meaning that there’s a higher chance that any injury will heal incorrectly. This can be largely ignored as long as you are treated in a stable environment and by decently skilled medical practitioners, the chance of a botched healing will still be negligible in such situation.”

This one, whilst a little more dire, was more situational and as long as he wasn’t being left alone with serious injuries (which would likely lead to his death regardless), the only detriment was mental strain. Not optimal, but acceptable.

“And lastly, you will never be able to use magic.”

He nodded, unfazed.

“I’ve been told that before, it’s pretty common no?”

“It is, which is why I chose it to be the one function to be altered. I can’t just tell your body to go through this process, not easily and relatively safely at least. The ‘safer’ and faster method would be to simply alter the function to create mana to also use that mana in order to heal your body. Considering that, let’s be honest, the chances of you discovering that you can use magic this late in life are basically zero, it would be the most efficient option. What else are you going to use you mana for, y’know?”

Malt easily brushed this one aside, the blue sphere from all the way back then had already confirmed that he was incapable of using magic, so this really didn’t affect his life in any way.

Malt seriously leaned toward going through with the operation. The determinants were substantial and permanent, but so would the benefits. Having the ability to recover from wounds in a tenth of the time would undoubtedly benefit him on the battlefield, the pain and increased calorie intake could be managed somehow.

But there was only one aspect that kept him from agreeing right then and there.

“...there’s more to it isn’t there?”

She smiled sympathetically.

“There is one more thing. Your body will not be able to produce enough energy, even with mana as a reserve, to create enough flesh and bone should you suffer an injury where you lose a substantial amount of your body mass, so we need to use other means.”

Malt sucked air through his teeth, wincing.

“Yeah I think I know where this is going.”

A look of slight guilt, and maybe a pity, crossed her face.

“I’ve tried countless alternatives when experimenting on various animals, and the only method that I’ve found worked is to introduce a certain...specimen into the body, and to try to control that specimen in order for it to rapidly create new bodily tissue in times of need.”

Malt clenched and unclenched his fists, the pieces were beginning to fit together.

Jackie quickly went into damage control mode.

“Don’t worry though-or, err, do worry, but not too much. I’ve tested the ‘specimen’ thoroughly, and have concluded that it’s largely safe as long as you can consume enough nutrients and don’t get hurt too often.”

“From what you said, that means that this ‘specimen’ can grow out of control, yes?”

“...there have been instances when this has happened to my test subjects, but this only seems to happen when the body is grievously damaged and isn’t receiving the necessary nutrients.”

Malt sat, fiddling with his hands. The situation had suddenly become much more weighty. Everything made sense, the ‘concentrated mana’, rewriting how the body works, unnatural cell growth, all of it.

“Tell me,”

She locked eyes with him, listening to his every word despite knowing fully well what he was going to ask in.

“...this ‘specimen’, it’s a cancer, isn’t it?”

Her eyes became grave.

“There’s more to it, but yes. This operation at its core includes me placing a specimen of cancer into your body.”