The blinding brightness had forced her eyes to close. Celia’s eyes reopened when the light dimmed and she found herself in the familiar room once again. The large round room had no windows although the marbled floors were dyed in pleasant yellowish sunlight beams shining through the glass roof.

But the price for such luxury was nothing compared to what was hidden below. Just below the cut stone was the huge teleport circle only affordable to magi-families. It didn’t only need an astronomical amount of money to be built but also enough influence for the Kingdom to even allow such magical constructs.

This would be the thirty-fourth trip if she had counted it right. Truthfully, she didn’t want to be here, but her master instructor had insisted that they join him. Something must have happened, dire or otherwise, as the Grand Healer had never required anyone to do anything.

‘Don’t tell me someone had messed up the spell circuitry on his chest?’

Her master instructor looked around, checking on everyone for something or anything unusual, as he always would. The family would never do something so brash as it would ruin their reputation but Grand Healer Jazvier would never take anything for granted.

Especially when his precious apprentices were involved in the expedition. Not many knew this but the esteemed man had gone through worse than anyone could imagine.

She called it an expedition because from where she came from, all variations of pointed ears were as common as pebbles on the road. They lived in harmony with nature and between the other races. Here, on the other hand, pointed ears were a rare sight, all thanks to the long and dark history between the humans and the elves.

The peace treaty between the races was as fragile as the morning dew. Even now there were a few small factions of men who were actively trying to enslave the elves and their ilks for their benefit. They were often punished swiftly but these short-living humans could never learn.

It was also thanks to these greedy humans that all the races were stuck on one small corner of the continent. Of course, she suspected that others had a hand in it, no one would ever admit such an atrocity, but the [Necromancer] was still a human.

“Welcome again, Grand Healer Jazvier,” said the young Matriarch, giving a gesture of respect with a joined fist and palm along with a slight nod.

“I’m glad to be here, Matriarch Anaxandra,” her instructor returned the gesture.

The decorum was needed even if the Amberhand family had spent a few generations' worths of fortune just to keep a single man alive. An immense pile of money that she wouldn’t know what to do with if it was suddenly given to her.

The whole debacle was a massive waste if anyone had asked her, but the money went no other than into the tower’s coffers. Such an amount of money would fund many years of multiple research, so not a single healer would ever complain.

Celia looked around, trying to find the shy green head but she was nowhere to be found. The girl’s existence would be her only respite for these visits.

A part of her wondered where the girl was as the half-elf looked like a lost sheep between these wolves in human skin. It was a bad metaphor because too few of these humans were as honorable as the proud creature of the Wild.

She was curious why the girl had chosen to stay when she was offered by the Grand Healer himself to be a direct apprentice? An offer from the Grand Healer himself was unheard of and not even herself had such honor.

“Nerina is busy with the hospital, a battalion had returned with ill news and many injuries from the border, so she couldn’t be here today,” explained the taller and more matured Ex-Matriarch.

The pair looked just like mother and daughter if no one hadn’t known any better.

Celia shook her head, “it’s okay,” she lied.

She couldn’t possibly tell these humans that she wanted to talk to her about visiting the border city-state. It would be a huge waste to let the girl’s talents rot here among the humans. The girl had natural control over her mana like no one had seen before. Some suggested the girl had a master who taught her but there was no human here even close to the girl’s capability.

Maybe she should kidnap the girl and show her what she could achieve at the tower.

“Right this way, then,” the lady said before she led the way towards the barely alive patient, but something was different.

Celia had just noticed the spring in the older woman’s steps.

The subtle but bubbling joy in both of their eyes.

The rumors couldn’t be true, right? It had already been a few years the man had spent on the bed. Not only that, even the ladies’ mana was no longer all loom and gloom. Even if it was true, the bubbling joy these women were trying to contain was simply incomprehensible.

“I see the rumors are true then?” said the Grand Healer. “The boy has finally woken up?”

“Yes!” the former Matriarch said, almost jumping on her feet. “And he is doing great.”

Celia noticed the boys’ eyes widened and were staring at the massive bouncing flesh. Those bulging breasts should be illegal to have if it was up to her. The two boys were able to pull their eyes away eventually, but not before their instructor gave them the disproving look.

Despite the boys’ unprofessional reaction, Celia still couldn’t understand why the lady was so jubilant about the whole thing. It would be natural for someone to heal after they were touched by the Grand Healer himself.

‘Lightbringer or whatever, he is still just a human,’ Celia mused inside.

“I imagine you are glad that this will be our last arrangement?” asked Mira, the most senior healer apprentice among the four.

“Not at all, but you’ll see for yourself why we are in such a mood,” said the younger redhead in her usual business tone, but even the girl couldn’t hide the shine in her eyes.

Lady Anaxandra had something to pull from within her sleeve by the look of it. They just didn’t know what yet.

Celia and her expedition soon realize why the whole family looked like they were in the middle of a huge but quiet celebration. They had hidden it incredibly well if anyone asked her.

Gasps echoed within the expedition participants.

Even the stuffy pure-blooded elven guards couldn’t believe their eyes.

Just last month the boy was deathly still on the bed. Even the Grand Healer had never seen something like this based on how long her master instructor stood still in a daze.

The first thing she noticed was the silvery scales. It covered the back of the young man’s hands before she realized the more shocking sight.

The patient was standing on his two feet wearing a loose robe with almost half of his limbs covered in weavings of silver scales. It was a crazy deduction but it looked like these ever-adjusting silvery metal scales were supporting his whole body. The wondrous scales at the back of his hands and limbs looked like a living thing, moving at its own will.

“It’s [Living Armor],” muttered one of the guards in Elvish.

“On a mere tailless-monkey and made out of [Metal]? That’s preposterous!” replied the other in a hush.

“Then how do you explain that?” The first guard argued and met with grim silence.

A [Living Armor] on a human was unheard of, yet one made out of [Metal].

It got even worse when the man turned and smiled at her. Her cheeks burned from the brilliant brown eyes and the surprised but genuine smile. She wondered how many human girls had their hearts melted from such a simple display of sincerity. Then again, humans didn’t value it as much as what they could see with their plain eyes.

But there was more than just his beautiful manly features. Celia didn’t think these humans noticed it as only the chosen elven-blood could see it.

Many colors of mana engulfed and swirled around the young man. The speed of these different mana swirls should have collided between themselves but they didn’t. She didn’t know how to put it, but the swirling and crisscrossing mana was in some sort of organized chaos.

Celia could have looked at it for hours and never even noticed as the time flew by. It felt like she was in the grove where all kinds of mana came together to appease an Ancient Dryad.

The gray metal mana was concentrated on the metal scales while the other tuned essences swam around him. So many essences working together and not even one of them was awkwardly moving around.

The young man looked like a magical creature out of the lost legends in her elven eyes.

It took Celia a while before she realized that she was staring at him. She was able to shake out her daze when the young man got back on the bed and the colorful light show suddenly vanished from her eyes. It was just gone like it was never there.

He was as dull as he was before.

She wouldn’t have believed it if anyone had told her about what she had just witnessed.

A human with multiple essences under his solid control? She would have advised the storyteller to take some Ora leaves tea and have a nice long sleep. Now she knew why Nerina had chosen to stay as she must have seen this before.

Humans might idolize physical appearances but not the elves and their ilks. The most beautiful person in the human kingdom might look as dull as an inanimate boulder in their eyes if they were mana-less.

Of course, it was the Grand Healer who first recovered from the shock. It was because of his instruction that the young man took his place back on the bed and reeled in his mana.

But this was nothing compared to what was coming next. The reveal of him healing himself had floored the Grand Healer. No one believed the young man’s word until his finger twitched at his command. He couldn’t have used magic because the five elven-blood healers would have noticed it in an instant.

She was still in disbelief until she touched his splendid virile chest and checked for herself.

And he wasn’t boasting or lying.

His heart was already beating without the help of the magic circuit.

The young man had indeed found a way to heal the mysterious sickness which had plagued the brightest minds. There were a few cases like him throughout the centuries, and it had been a bane to the tower healers for the longest time. No one outside of the tower knew this, but it was the biggest reason why the Grand Healer had agreed to come here, so far from his seat of honor, in the first place.

The Grand Healer was expecting to collect the body for research at the end, well, when the family finally gave up. No one was expecting to be a witness to a miracle. There was no surprise when he finally asked the question when everyone else was dying to know the same thing.

How he was able to move again. What had he discovered that even the best healers in the continent didn’t know?

Was it a blessing from the Gods?

Each of them was expecting some hesitation in sharing the invaluable knowledge, but words simply flowed out of the young man’s mouth. There were some odd words mixed in, but everyone at least had the idea that he was talking about. He was explaining how the body functioned in front of four among the best healers in the tower and even the Grand Healer was listening aptly.

Celia wanted to hear more of his voice, but the young man stopped suddenly when the young Matriarch cleared her throat and shook her head at him.

“No one can fully understand what you are saying, Adrin,” the young Matriarch said. “You don’t want to be held responsible for any mishap from being misunderstood, right? I’m sure that we can arrange a better avenue for the knowledge to be shared fully in the future.”

Adrin wanted to say something but one look from the girl silenced him. His eyes said that he knew what the Matriarch was talking about.

The young Matriarch had given sound reasoning.

As a healer herself, Celia had seen it countless times already, the patient blaming the healer for trying a new experimental method and failing. They still exploded in anger even when already told of the risk involved beforehand. Poor farmers might not be able to do anything about it, but the situation became life-threatening when people in power were involved.

The Grand Healer undoubtedly knew this too, but of course, the real reason would be no other than monetary gain. Celia could almost see the calculation running in the Matriarch's head as she smiled beautifully at everyone. No one could complain about it as even the tower had to depend on money to pursue its noble cause.

Celia also couldn’t have possibly blamed the young man, Adrin, as his life had depended solely on the young Matriarch’s whims. Who knew what kind of treatment he received from the leader of the house behind closed doors. Owning your life to a magi-family would have cost anyone else the freedom for their entire life.

Adrin not ending in such a way was already a testament to his raw potential. She just hoped the man wouldn’t be tainted by the blatant human greed.

A part of her wanted to rescue the young man from the grasp of the family, but she knew it was impossible. The tower would never allow such things. Unless the young man requested it, but between the maidservants and probably many other girls acting as living cages, Celia couldn’t see that happening anytime soon.

Not even her fellow male apprentices were immune to such lures of worldly pleasures as they were still half-human. They just couldn’t help it as human men were born to be naturally attracted to female kind, according to ancient medical texts. She did not doubt that Adrin had already been chained in such a way.

The expedition ended with the promise of their return. Needless to say, there would be no further cost for the family as Adrin’s full recovery had become the Grand Healer’s concern.

Everyone in the expedition knew that the knowledge the young man had was priceless.

—-

Was it possible for the soul to feel tired? Exhaustion of any kind?

All Adrin could feel was the torturing fullness like when he had drunk too much water. He couldn’t even say the ‘S’ word, not inside his head without feeling cringed and repulsed towards it.

Regardless, never had he imagined that he could feel this way, but for some people, they just bond easier through such intimate physical activities. Bella was undoubtedly one of them.

But he had to admit, time seemed to pass quickly under the care of such pleasing-to-the-eye ladies. It felt like he was in a five-star hotel or hospital where the nurses were all gorgeous curvy models, all more than willing to please him.

It was awkward at first, but the physical therapy aka whole body massages had become a routine he learned to enjoy after some time. Adrin was kind of ashamed even to admit it inside his head. It was not like he could do anything else at the moment with a pair of shaky hands that couldn’t even keep a cup of water steady.

Adrin had focused on fixing the most important part of him first as he didn’t want to rely on the spell matrix on his chest to keep on living. After that part was done, however, he had been taking the healing process as slow as he humanly could.

It would be more than just gasping if he was fully healed at the time.

He had to pinch himself to make sure he was dreaming when the half-elf healers arrived at his doorsteps. It was like a breath of fresh air to see so many half-elves in one gathering. He was about to bond with the guys before Ana had to ruin it all.

Her reasoning was sound, but Adrin knew that greedy look in her eyes and had to give up on nerding himself. It wasn’t like the half-elves would suddenly disappear. He would be seeing them again, hopefully not as pathetic as a cripple.

Regardless, it had been quite a few weeks since he first woke up and his control of the liquid-like silver scale back-armor had been improving nicely. [Metallurgy] had been leveling up like crazy even as exhausting as it was until the new skill [Living Armor] popped out. It was a sign that it was high time he began with the next step.

Unlike in the real world, Adrin could already move freely in the mirage space, thanks to Bella’s very intensive soul therapy sessions. He needed it as he had been sleeping all this time because the curse had even affected his soul. It took him many sessions before he felt like himself again.

“Thanks,” Adrin said to Bella as she handed him the iced purple drink.

“Try it,” the woman said, almost bouncing on her feet, “it is my own personal brew.”

The excited bounce, of course, had never failed to daze him for a few seconds. It was all thanks to boobs physics in this world.

But a man should know that the relationship had somehow progressed to another level when the woman started to offer food or drinks which she made on her own. There were exceptions, of course, but it was the case most of the time. She might have been his bed buddy, but the lady had a very different look in relationships.

Adrin took a sip and he was presented with a pleasant mana-vision. It had been a while since his last. Adrin found himself on top of a cold mountain with a woman in his arms that, for some reason, smelled strawberry. There was none of the expected sexual intent just they were comfortable and content to be entangled in each other’s embrace.

The visual theme represented in the drink reflected who Bella was inside.

A knowing grin flashed on her face when Adrin opened his eyes again. He had never tasted anything like this otherworldly milked strawberry juice before.

“Rune concocted drinks,” Adrin said with a small smile, “now that’s inspiring.”

Bella was smiling from ear to ear when he turned and looked at her. There was even a genuine tinge of red on her cheeks as she sat down beside him. The mark might have a hand in that but she seemed to genuinely enjoy every moment of it.

He probably would enjoy it too, if he could fall in love again. Unlike the lady, he never wanted to be so blind and vulnerable once again. Never again.

But what an inspiring drink it was indeed. It was a small but clear example of the mechanics of magic in this world.

What was magic if it was not the manifestation of mana, shaped by will, guided by the user’s knowledge, and of course, the Runes. Any creature with strong enough willpower could change, morph, and shape mana to whatever form it wanted. He had seen the woman make the drink and the runes had formed almost naturally from her circulating mana and pure intent.

This crucial fact was the main reason why women in this world had become more powerful than men. Both women in either of the worlds had similar traits ingrained in their genes.

Everybody should know that Maternity is incomparable.

For example, no sane man would go through labor again when they already knew how painful it was the first time. Only mothers who would make the repeated decision, or had the guts, the willpower, to bring new life into the world.

However, these strong emotions and willpower had its drawback, and the runes were created or existed to manage the well-discussed weakness. Perhaps one day with enough knowledge, the runes could even remove the human dependence on willpower to manipulate mana to do their bidding.

But it raised more questions than answers. Where did the runes originate from? Who or what made the rules governed by the runes? How the hell could these mysterious runes take form just from raw intent and willpower?

Questions he assumed no one had answers to.

A sigh escaped his mouth and Bella tightened her arms around his own. His arm was buried into her ample chest as the result, but like in the vision, there was but little to no urge to gobble her up.

The view was also pretty nice up here from the second-floor balcony.

Also, like what the maidservant had said, it was a nice place to breathe the fresh air, but he doubted it could hasten his recovery. Bella only came later with her glass of juice and brewed her magical cocktail right in front of her blood-bound prime.

“I’ll need some metal to work on,” Adrin said to Bella.

The woman turned and gave him an odd look. This world only had made tools, swords, and rigid armors out of the material and she was probably thinking along the line.

“I’ve grown tired just sitting around,” he chuckled. “And I’m sure you’ll find it interesting.”

A transforming wheelchair would be an awesome start, he imagined.