Three months later ~

Spera still cursed the Gods in her mind. They didn’t tell her that the healing time wouldn’t only increase the pain in intensity but also in length … wouldn’t that mean that for the entire tenth year of her life she would be bound to bed?

Even if the memories she received from a class called “biology” were filled with a great load of information that she had to process, it still got very boring being bound to the bed.

At least one thing that started being better after her sudden relapse and the long recuperation was that the relationship of her parents went back to the way it was. Taking off one burden that was on her mind.

And Spera was over the moon when her mother told her that she would finally graduate from mashed and pureed food and could finally enjoy the delicacies that the world had to offer.

But only one piece of one type of sweet per day, which made Spera pout. But she knew that her mother only said that to look after her health. Too many sweets weren’t good for her teeth and body. Interestingly, many dishes that could be found on Earth were also present on Prena, only their color was slightly off. So Spera was quite surprised when she had purple noodles with a dark blue sauce that tastes like Spaghetti Carbonara.

Really … it was better to close your eyes while eating, lest you think that you are being poisoned right now.

Another thing that was different, was her ability to finally spot Jeanne when he was in her room.

At least she wouldn’t always have an almost heart attack when his voice suddenly sounded or he suddenly appeared in one corner of her room.

It wasn’t so much that she could see him, more that she could feel him.

After waking up, her perception of her surroundings had skyrocketed, making her finally feel what Daphne meant with excess Mana that was emitted from her. Now looking at Daphne, she would feel waves upon waves being expelled from her entire body.

Since she had given away her ability to see him almost from the get-go, so shocked by her new perception had she been, that she had stared at him until he was too uncomfortable to remain in the shadows, he had taken it upon himself to figure out a way to still be invisible from her.

This was a blessing for Spera since it kept her entertained while she was on bedrest. Each time she saw him, he gave her a small gift, making them pile up in her room until Emerthelil put an end to it, making him gift sweets and other edibles which were mostly good for her body than material gifts. The abnormal colors of the sweets at least not being as disturbing as bright green meat.

One day after sifting through all the presents Jeanne had given her, Spera found a board game. Remembering a few games of her previous world she still couldn’t make sense out of it, so for the next few weeks instead of gifts and treats Jeanne taught her how to play ‘Fintikus’. The game seemed to be a mishmash of chess, Ludo and twister.

Her immobility making it hard for her to compete in the third part of the game but it did give her a reason to want to move again. This change in mentality helped her body get faster into shape, the exercise making it easier for Spera to start moving without the fear of pain. Still, the game was very confusing and even after all the time she didn’t really get the rules, always losing against Jeane, But at least her time on bedrest had come to an end when Jeanne gave up teaching her.

It was a few days after Spera had recovered her mobility, but she didn’t tell her family or friends. Spera had a plan. Given her apparent immobility, the guard of the three siblings was lowered and they took more interest in going after their hobbies than staying by Spera’s side all the time. They still we're otakus in their own right and it was scary what devotion they had to their respective hobbies.

Seeing the chance for exploring on her own at least the floor of the castle that she was on, Spera slowly made her way out of her room. Standing in the corridor not knowing where to go now, she tried to get a sense of her surroundings with her newfound power. She had experimented with it and noticed that it was quite similar to an echo-location that she sends out, any obstruction through mana being reflected back on her, similar to how bats locate their prey and navigated in the dark on earth.

Maybe they also have such animals on Prena? I am really interested in that …

Spera thought her echo-location still not having given her a feedback, other than the general layout of the floor. Surprisingly it seemed like the walls were reinforced with Mana making it impossible for Spera to scan the interior without opening the door and maybe alerting others with that.

She knew that to her left were her parents’ room and the sitting room where she spends most of her first year, so she turned right excited to explore the unknown.

Toddling along the corridor she perceived that the mana in the air became thicker and ticker. Scanning, again and again, she was surprised that she couldn’t find any signs of life on the floor … well except for the person that had followed her in the shadows since she left the room, but knowing that he was only there to protect her, Spera completely ignored him.

When she came to the stairs that her mother had taken before to take her out of the castle, she curiously looked around. Shockingly the Mana concentration abruptly lessened when she stepped onto the staircase.

Surprisingly there was another corridor next to the stairs, that she hadn’t noticed before …

Was it covered in Mana? Was that the reason why she could suddenly see it?

Slowly Spera inched towards the corridor, purposefully sending out an echo towards the corridor.

Surprisingly it was as if a wall of pure Mana appeared before her. Stretching out her hand, it passed through without any problem.

Closing her eyes and gathering up her courage she took a big step forward, passing the wall in one breath.

Number 7 was shocked … his charge had suddenly disappeared. He was just behind her, but then in the blink of an eye, she had vanished.

Flustered he materialized before the wall Speraenya had just stood before, but he couldn’t see her anywhere. Touching the wall he stood before, his hands meet a solid surface.

Where did she disappear to?

He asked himself before vanishing in search of his charge.

Standing behind the wall, Spera was stunned by the sudden appearance of the black-clothed man.

She had known that she was being followed but still the appearance of a person out of thin air was shocking.

Hesitating if she should step back into the main corridor, Spera heard a faint noise from behind her.

Turning around and staring down the dimly lit corridor, she could make out a grand door at the end of it that was opened with a slight gap, light shining from it into the corridor.

Toddling towards it she sent out an echo, however, the entire surroundings she found herself into was filled with Mana, rendering her echo useless.

Curiosity killed the cat … but I am a draconian so I should be fine, right? She thought gathering up her courage to open the door a bit more to slip into the room without alerting someone if they were in it.

Looking up, Spera couldn’t help to let out an audible gasp.

She had found herself in a grand library that seemed to consist of floors upon floors of shelves with books in them, the entire room much much higher than any room she had ever seen. Searching through her memories, she thought that the best way to describe it was as if she stood in a high steeple which walls were made out of bookshelves.

It was at least much higher than any other room she had seen in this castle. Seeing nobody in the room, Spera curiously toddled around the room in wonder.

Interested in the books that filled the shelves, she got closer to them to inspect at least the ones that she could reach.

Surprisingly she could only read half of the bookcovers, the other words consisting of strange symbols that made no sense to her.

How can that be? Didn’t Wiju say that I could understand the written word after a few moments of studying it? Why isn’t the blessing working right now?

She thought, sending out an echo to realize that these symbols itself were filled with Mana

… Did that affect her ability?

Curiously she tried to pull one of the strange books from the shelve, but it wouldn’t budge. Trying out one of the books Spera could read, it let itself be pulled without any problem.

Not really sure why, but Spera had the hunch that the books were bespelled to be only available when one fulfilled certain conditions. She remembered such a story from her previous world were the protagonist of the novel couldn’t use books that were more powerful than his cultivation.

Spera’s eyes started to sparkle as she read the titles that she could understand. “Introduction to mana-Manipulation”,

“Cultivation for beginners”,

“How to strengthen your body properly”,

and many more, all being introduction books for certain skills or abilities.

But according to the Titles, Spera could conclude that they were all just theoretical books that talked about the fundamentals and had no specific knowledge. No secret manuals or techniques that could make her more powerful than anybody else. Seems like she was still too young and too weak to be worthy of those.

As Spera was immersed in her thoughts, she didn’t realize that she wasn’t alone anymore until an amused voice sounded out from behind her, shocking her into freezing on the spot for a moment, before quickly turning around towards the man behind her.

“My, my … what do we have here? It’s lovely that the princess graces me with her presence … but I didn’t expect any visitors …” He said, his voice getting lower towards the end. And with a bit of a sharp undertone, he asked “How did you get in?”

“Old Zong …” Spera whispered, still remembering the man that she only met shortly after her birth.

“Hoh? The princess knows of me! I am honored,” he said making Spera nervous with the hostility he still emitted towards her.

“Now, I will ask you one last time … How did you get in here?”

Scared, Spera could feel tears gathering in her eyes and looking up towards to imposing man she stuttered a bit.

“T-The d-d-door w-was o-o-open …” She said, fiddling with her fingers while looking to the ground.

“Tiang Zong, stop scaring the poor little girl …” Suddenly a deep voice interrupted them from deep within the library.

Recognizing the voice, Spera looked up in pleasant surprise.

“Grandpa Fon!” She exclaimed, a bright smile on her face while two tear marks could still be seen on her cheeks, as the bear demi-human, still with white streaks in his hair but not as lifeless as before, appeared behind Tiang Zong.

“Well, how is my favorite little draconian?” The old Bear asked, sweeping her up into his arms.

“Fine, now.” She said, snuggling into his embrace.

Zong was shocked as he saw the old bear smiling gently down at the little princess. Before, the only time he had ever shown such tender care was when he was in the presence of either Mesana or Emerthelil. Since both didn’t have as much time for him in the recent months, he had become grumpy and quickly irritated at anything.

But even if he wanted to trust the little girl, it just wasn’t possible for her to be here right now.

Suspicious, he studied her again but even with his Mana-enhanced sight, he couldn’t find any abnormalities that could have allowed her to cross the barrier he had set up.

Seeing as he was ignored by the duo that was happy at seeing each other, he moved towards the door, using a spell to find out the reason for Speraenyas arrival.

His spell showed him how effortlessly she had just stumbled thru his barrier and that even then, the Shadows her father had planted around her, couldn’t enter. So it was just an abnormality with her, his barrier was still intact.

Looking further, he saw that yes indeed, the door had been unlocked, and only because of that could she enter his domain.

Furious he whipped around while barking out “Fon! I said it again and again! Don’t f***ing forget to close the damn door!” to which both recipients of his scream stared at him in shock.

Gently setting Spera down onto the ground, Fon slowly approached the man, which surroundings crackled with dark energy. Spera had never before seen such a spectacle, well, at least on Prena. It was frighteningly familiar to the outburst of Deli’s dark personality, but what did that mean?

“Tiang … calm down alright?” Fon soothingly said, his hand outstretched with their palms upwards, signaling that he wasn’t a threat. Old Zong, however, started to growl at him. Curiously Spera took a step forward, to get a better look, however, this caused Fon to whip around, giving her a hard stare. Commanding with a voice, Spera associated with one used to demand a dog to listen to its owner, he barked out “Stay!” before immediately looking back at Tiang Zong and dismissing her.

Stunned Spera stood rooted to the floor, a bit scared by the scene that played out in front of her.

With each minute the dark energy around Tiang Zong started to thicken, his dark hair fluttering without any wind, his former black eyes now shone in a bright purple light that together with his pale skin gave him an otherworldly feeling. Gone was the nervous envoy that had greeted us at Coalesco or the stern librarian that had discovered her moments before.

This man was dangerous, Spera’s gut feeling told her.

“I told you time and time again, DON’T. LEAVE. THE. DOOR. OPEN!!!” He screamed at Fon.

“Tiang … Please, you are losing it. Come on, I know you can do it. You are stronger than that.” Fon said, almost reaching the man, but being stopped by the energy that suddenly started attacking him, causing cuts to appear on his hands and arms.

“Grandpa …” Spera whispered, not wanting to disturb the two, but still worried for him.

“Everything alright, sweetie.” He said, his gaze not leaving Tiang. And just as a new wave of dark energy build up, a drop of Fon’s blood dropped onto the floor.

In the next moment, Spera didn’t even know what happened. At once, the library shone in a bright light and Tiang Zong screamed out in pain, crumbling to the floor, her Grandfather, however, didn’t let that happen, catching the man before he hit the ground, cradling him in his arms.

Seeing as the situation was over, Spera ran towards both men, hug-tackling Fon which caused all three of them to lay on the floor, Tiang and Spera on top of Fon who groaned in pain. Spera in her haste had kneed him in a very painful place.

Just as Fon had gathered his composure enough to start and lecture Spera on not causing pain to the male anatomy, Tiang started waking up, with a groan as his eyelids fluttered open.

“Hey there …” Fon murmured, one hand stroking Tiangs hair as he sat up with Spera cradled in his other arm.

“Everything ok?”

“Yes … sorry, I don’t know what happened.” Tiang answered with a tight smile, immediately inspecting the cuts on Fon’s arms.

“Your eyes were pretty …” Spera said, wanting to change the topic as she felt that both men were embarrassed at the outburst.

“What do you mean?” Tiang asked, looking at her curiously.

“Well, they glowed purple. It was really pretty, like daddies eyes when he is angry but only in purple,” she said with a smile.

But the shocked expressions of both Fon and Tiang told her that she had once again said something wrong. In confusion, she looked from one to the other, with her eyes asking them what she had said wrong, but they seemed to be in their own world forgetting that she was present.

“I knew that you had a bit of that blood in you, your horns not really hiding the fact, but you yourself told me that you had no power from that side.” Fon asked, fear in his voice.

“I don’t …” Tiang answered, one hand absently rubbing the right horn on his forehead while thinking.

“But the power and the eyes do suggest that at least dormant, you have a bit of their power.” Fon said, distancing himself from Tiang by standing up.

Looking up to him with pain at his apparent reaction Tiang also stood up.

“I don’t. You have to believe me Fon. I was abandoned because of that. You know my story. How can you think that I would purposefully hide this? ”

“I am not sure what I should believe …” Fon said, walking deeper into the Library, his arms tightening around Spera.

“Grandpa … what is going on?” She asked in confusion. Given what she had witnessed, their relationship should be quite close. Why was he walking away from Tiang when he obviously was just as confused as her Grandpa?

“Nothing sweetheart, I just have to think about something before talking with him again.”

He said, coming to stop in front of a table with two chairs and a few snacks on top of it. Apparently, Spera had interrupted their little tea-time.

Sitting her down onto the floor, Fon let himself fall into one of the chairs that creaked under his weight.

Seeing that her Grandpa was in his own world, Spera looked around and started inspecting the books on the shelves around them. Surprisingly she could read none of them, suggesting that they were now in a section of the library that no normal humanoid would have access to.

She could hear Tiang approach a few moments later. Looking up his face was still too pale for comfort and he looked nervous, his hand gripping his shirt while he walked closer.

“Fon …” He called out, his voice sounding weak.

Her Grandfather, who until that moment was still caught in his own thoughts, whipped his head towards him. She could see his desire to go to Tiang and assure him that everything was ok but at the same time his uncertainty held him prisoner in his chair.

Giving him a slight smile, Tiang saw that as an invitation to get closer, gently sitting down in the opposite chair.

“Fon, I thought about it, but I still can’t find the answer as to why this sudden power manifested.”

“How can you not … Tiang, I know that you don’t want to talk about your age but I am pretty sure that you are old enough to know your own body. How could you not even have an inkling that this power lay dormant?”

“Well, maybe you just made me angrier than I have ever been!”

“Or maybe he ate something that caused it ...” Spera butted in seeing that they didn’t come very far before trying to blame it on one of them.

This caused both of them to stop and stare at her.

“What do you mean?” Tiang was the first to snap out of it, standing up he walked over to her and crouching down to be on eye-level to the toddler.

“Well, mommy said, the reason why Grandpa Fon suddenly changed a year ago was because he ate something wrong, and sometimes after I eat my meal I also get a stomach-ache. Maybe you also ate something that just had the effect to make your power appear,” she said with a smile, rubbing her stomach absently while remembering the pain she sometimes felt after a meal now that her food was more solid.

She didn’t notice the glint that appeared in both men’s eyes, which vanished as suddenly as it appeared.

“Hey … Tiang, could it be because of me?” Fon suddenly said, looking at the other man nervously.

“Why would you think that?”

“Well, you tried to heal my affliction … maybe because of that, a bit of the … substance that caused my affliction was transferred to you, causing the sudden appearance of your new power. And because of your race, it didn’t have the effects that I had but added to yours.”

Which caused a thoughtful expression to appear on Tiangs face.

“You could be right … I will talk with Jeanne and Mesanth about that and maybe they can confirm our hypothesis,” he said, making Fon smile at him. Seeing that the problem was solved, at least for the moment, Spera stood up and toddled to Fon, followed by Tiang that also once again sat down in his chair.