Chapter 112 The Aftermath

Almost three months later, Evernya’s trembling eyelids weakly cracks open. A whimper escaped her lips at the slightest twitch of her abused muscles. Despite the soreness wracking her body, Evernya attempted to sit up to investigate her surroundings, but other than a sharp pain, her body refused to respond. Scared that her paralysis returned, Evernya took stock of her capabilities. First, she attempted to lift her head, but only another sharp jolt of pain greeted her. Giving up on any big movements, she tried to raise her right pointer finger. After several seconds of painful effort, her finger lifted a few centimeters before it dropped to the bed spent.

What the fuck happened? I feel like I ran a dozen marathons while pulling a dump truck. How can everything down to my fingers be this sore?

A familiar voice in her head interrupted her internal questioning. “How do you feel, my lady?”

Damn, I thought I dreamed the AI. Wait, where am I? It feels like a bed, but it’s hard to tell with all the aches. Well, I won’t find any answers in my head, so I may as well ask the AI. Crap, isn’t the AI in my head? Ugh, I feel my headache worsening, just thinking about how an advanced AI could fit in my head.

With her decision made, Evernya directed her thoughts toward the AI. “Like crap, what happened? The last thing I remember is going blind, which fortunately returned.”

Her AI, having stewed on her mistakes for a long time, responded, “I am so sorry, my lady, your more animalistic side emerged to protect you from the pain, and I stupidly fed it mana, forcing a second evolution. My mistake put your life in danger.”

Evernya disregarded her AI’s apology instead focusing on one fact, “two!? I thought I was only going through one!”

In a profoundly apologetic tone, her AI replied, “You were. The second one was my fault. I should have drained the mana after your mana system restarted. The mana in the tank was just enough to allow force you into a second evolution. One of the most important rules when dealing with evolving Draecath is never to have substances of high mana content nearby. Once a Draecath enters their animalistic state during the evolution, it is effortless for them to absorb gigantic quantities of mana, chaining multiple evolutions together even if their body isn’t ready to evolve.”

“So, how much damage did I do to myself?” Evernya inquired, bracing herself for the worst.

“Severe mana vein overload and extensive muscular damage. It put you into a coma for about three months, but luckily the damage is healing nicely.” The AI reported.

“Three months! I need to get back now! College started months ago!” Evernya panicked.

“Don’t worry, you have time, time moves faster here. From my calculations, you still have a week until the entrance exam, most of which you will need to become mobile once again.” Her AI replied to the relief of her host before continuing, offering her opinion, “Personally, from what I’ve gathered from your memories attending a third rate college such as DIOM is beneath you, my lady.”

After finding out she still had time, Evernya descended deep into thought. The AI is right, but what will people think if I skip out? Won’t it give away the fact I’m immune to magical contracts at least of that caliber? I could probably learn more by adventuring, but I gave my word. Plus, how will I learn telepathy? Telekinesis is pretty straightforward, and with my spatial sight, teleportation should be pretty easy, but I’m less than a novice in telepathy. At the very least, I should stick around long enough to learn the basics of telepathy as a starting point, unless this AI can find the information I need.

Several minutes later, Evernya replied, “I gave my word that I would attend, so I’m going to. I have a reliable connection to the University, allowing for a relatively stress-free experience.”

Her AI forwent her usual respectful demeanor as she ranted in annoyance. “Damn it, of course you had to inherit your father’s sense of honor. Draecath have no problem killing, lying, or any other malicious act, but if they truthfully say they are going to do something, they will do it no matter what.”

A smile snuck onto Evernya’s sore mouth at her AI’s outburst as she spoke, “Well, some people from DIOM helped me out so I feel obligated to follow through with my end, which you should know since you peeked into my memories.”

Her AI fell into silence for several minutes, calming her emotions before stating, “I know, but I was hoping you would reconsider. It will be so boring for both of us going to such a third rate college.”

“It is my body, so I decide where we go, besides it won’t be for long, and if they don’t provide me with what I desire, I’ll leave.” Evernya asserted.

Her AI continued to argue, but this time returning to her respectful tone, “I understand, my lady, and I am happy to accompany you anywhere, as is my duty and the sole reason I exist. I am just saying our time will be better served elsewhere.”

“Where would we go then? Become an adventurer to become rich?” Evernya questioned.

“Adventuring would be fun, but not in Sespina. From the map, you memorized a vast majority of the so-called Federation is either already explored or pointless to explore. As I said, I will follow your desires, but as your personal AI, I feel obligated to steer you towards a more enjoyable and profitable direction.”

“I ask again what you would rather do,” Evernya repeated.

Her AI remained silent for several minutes before responding, “I say we travel to beyond the barrier. From the information I’ve gathered, the world is vastly larger than Sespina. Unfortunately, without access to the servers, all I could find is some deleted files hinting at the scope of the world, but what I found makes it infinitely more interesting than an isolated human-controlled country.”

“Leaving Sespina sounds dangerous and one-way. I have a life here. What about Aya and Meira?” Evernya questioned, contrasting to her excited tone.

“I do not know, nor do I know how to travel through this barrier, but I’m sure we can find a way. Maybe your mate knows how since she is originally from beyond the barrier.” Her AI replied.

“Maybe, but I think I want to go back for now. I haven’t even lived in Sespina for a year, so I find it hard to believe I’ve experienced everything it has to offer.” Evernya decided.

With an imitated sigh, her AI said, “I figured you would decide to stay. I just hope you can survive in Sespina still.”

“What do you mean survive? I was fine before.” Evernya questioned.

With an anxious tone, her AI explained, “I’m worried for multiple reasons. The readings I received from the lingering mana prior to the destruction of your mana system were quite worrying. Compared to the mana structure in my files, there are several striking differences pointing towards artificial tampering. I’m not a hundred percent sure your body will be compatible with these changes, especially with your increased mana consumption rate, which is my second worry. As I’m sure you have noticed, mana is essential to your survival. Before, you could survive in low mana environments for a limited amount of time, but now, as a Draecath, that is no longer possible. On the flip side, you can now survive anywhere as long as enough mana is present.”

Before Evernya could respond, their conversation paused as the sound of robots approaching reached her ears. Evernya’s ears twitched as they rotated to her left as the robots approached. A humanoid robot picked up a remote sitting on the nightstand to the left of her bed to lift Evernya’s bed into an upright seated position, allowing her to view the room.

At least they brought me to the fancy room, not that dull hospital room. My AI probably figured out my preferences from her memory dive. I still find it weird why someone would want their room black and green. Black and blue would look so much better. Wait, why did I think that? Black and blue would be just as odd.

Any further thoughts disappeared as another robot set a crystal-like material jug on the nightstand, then pushed a long tube into Evernya’s waiting fanged mouth. As soon as the glowing bluish green liquid entered her mouth, she descended into a feeding frenzy, sucking down the most delicious drink she had ever tasted as fast as she could. Within a minute, the entire four-liter jug emptied into the ravenous girl’s stomach. The robot removed the tube from the dazed, purring Draecath’s slack mouth and left, taking the jug with it.

Several minutes later, Evernya recovered her wits and asked, “How could anything be that delicious!? What was it? I thought Meira’s smoothies were delicious, but that was on a whole another level!”

Proud of satisfying her host, the AI explained, “That, my lady, is what pure uncorrupted mana tastes like. I had a stock bottled for you, knowing a Draecath’s appetite. Your elf friend had the right idea with feeding you a liquid diet, but she didn’t have access to pure enough mana. Draecath can eat and drink anything, but only high mana purity ingredients will provide any nutritional value. No one knows for sure why liquified meals digest best, but solid food does work with some side effects. Most Draecath nutritionists suggest a liquid diet since Draecath can’t digest solid food while conscious, nor are the nutrients as efficiently used.”

A sharp pain assaulted her neck when she tried to nod in agreement, forcing her to direct her agreement at her AI instead. “Yeah, I prefer a liquid diet. Chopping up a mountain of meat is a pain, plus I hate falling asleep right after.”

“Good, because all our food stock is in liquid form, most of which is pure mana of varying origins.” Her AI replied, causing Evernya’s mouth to water.

Evernya basked in the afterglow of her meal for another half hour before becoming bored. “When will I be able to move? Something has to be wrong if I can’t even lift a finger without pain.”

To her host’s dismay, the AI relayed her prognosis. “I’m sorry, my lady, but by my calculation, you will be bed bound for at least three more days, and even after that, you will not be mobile. I estimate you will need the entire week to recover most of your physical mobility. Your reawakening, coupled with the changes made to your body during your Draecath evolutions, remade your body. Even with the resilient body of a Draecath, it takes time for your body to adjust and recover.”

Evernya scowled in annoyance, only for a sharp pain to assault her facial muscles. “How am I going to survive? I’ll go crazy with boredom. Is there at least something to keep me occupied?”

“Unfortunately, without a network connection, I cannot provide many of my entertainment features such as internet transmitting directly to your brain. For now, I would suggest sleeping to increase your healing rate.” The AI replied with an apologetic tone, prompting her host’s eyes to droop half in boredom and exhaustion.

The AI sensed her host’s growing drowsiness, so she used her control of the facility to lower her host’s bed. Evernya groaned as her core muscles stretched into a laying position.

A few moments later, exhaustion overpowering her mind, Evernya descended into dreamland despite the aching assaulting her every muscle.