Evan POV:

Okay, I think I get it now.

I closed off the blue translucent system’s window that was telling me about Mana control. To put a long story short, mana is similar to blood or the life essence of ant living thing. Mana and blood are so similar to each other that Imagining your blood doing things in your own body will simulate your mana control and make you mana do stuff. For example, focusing all my blood into my arm, should, in theory, make my mana strengthen my arm and make it stronger. Though the effects aren’t something I can control since I only read the book for a couple minutes and it seems like there’s more than one volume of this thing so I have to work with what I got for now.

Let’s do this.

I stood straight up and held my wet open hand pointed in front of me like I’m some weeb about to do some cringe anime move. I’m going to try and focus my mana coming out of my hand. I focused and tried imagining moving my blood to my hand that was pointing forward. I stood there for a few moments until…

HOLY SHIT IT WORKED!

A crystal like transparent blue ball started slowly growing on my hand. It almost slid out of my hand so I gripped it tightly, it stopped growing once it grew to a size of a baseball, I checked out my mana capacity and saw that out of the 120 Mp I had, I only got 100 left.

Losing 20 Mp, isn’t that big of a deal since I already regenerated it. The real question is, what does this crystal ball do? I tried throwing it forward, expecting it to blow up or anything, but it hit the ground like it was a ball of mud and got absorbed into the wet grass.

What the…

*Skill Unlocked: Mana Ball*

Mana Ball: Conjure up pure mana into a ball. The Mana ball can be used as a Mana Storage or be Experimented on.

Cost: N/A

Duration: N/A

Cooldown: Instant

That was… Anti-climactic. The cost and duration are signified as ‘not applicable’, does that mean it’s not required or… something else? Well, I can’t waste more time here, I wanted to see if I could cast magic and it seems like I can, I’ll think about the rest after I find where Sarah is.

I started focusing my blood again, but this time I tried strengthening my eyes. It took a couple moments but soon, everything became very clear, as if the world suddenly became 4K resolution from it’s previous 2K resolution, but then, everything started emitting some kind of colourful gas. The trees and the grass were emitting a green gas albeit you won’t see it if you don’t focus on it, the animals were giving off a very faint blue gas even if they were behind walls, there were a few red coloured gases and I could see a lonely yellow gas in the distance on top of a tree.

*Skill Unlocked: Sharp eyes*

Sharp eyes (passive): See everything more clearly.

Race ability conditions met. Following skills have been updated!

Sharp eyes à Mana-Eyes

*Race Ability Unlocked: Mana-Eyes*

Mana-Eyes (Lvl:1): See everything more clearly and also the Mana of every living thing Nearby when the skill is activated.

I, Uhh, what just happened?

From the looks of it, there was a hidden race ability along with specific conditions for it which I coincidentally solved. From the looks of it, the different colored gasses that I’m seeing are probably the mana of that thing which I’m seeing through the Mana-Eyes skill.

If that’s true then I have reasons to suspect that the Yellow mana gas far away on top of a tree is Sarah, Hopefully, it is her because I really want to start some magic experiments.

HA HA! Christmas came early and gave me the power to make magic skills!

{Author Note: Uh oh, I have a bad feeling about this.}

I quickly went up to the yellow mana gas that I saw with the help of my hook, Once I got close enough to see who it was, I turned off the mana eyes skill because it’s really screwing with my vision, It’s hard to control it for now but with a little practice I’m sure I can pull it off.

As I had suspected it before, the yellow mana belonged to Sarah, who was completely wet and hugging her knees like Tifa but she was sitting on top a tree branch.

“Sarah!” I screamed out to her, to which she responded by quickly trying to wipe away her eyes.

“W-What do you want!” There was both anger and sadness in her voice, unfortunately for her, I had already practiced with Tifa and already had plan on how to bring her back.

… At least this time, I won’t say something like someone killed themselves.

I started acting all desperate and out of breath. “T-Terrible thing happened! Tifa! She got captured!”

“W-What!?” She screamed out and almost fell down from the tree but got her balance back.

“I saw some caped dudes dragging her away, I think it’s the cultists again! She needs you! Will you help me rescue her?”

Sarah wiped her eyes one last time before jumping down from the tree and running up to me. “L-Lead the way! Hurry before they do something to her!”

I quickly nodded and turned towards the direction of my house “Of course! Follow me, Quick!”

And thus, we both made a run for it back to my house, I didn’t use my hook or my shield’s charge ability to match her speed but that also meant that it would take longer to get back home. Which wasn’t that much of a problem, but Sarah remained quiet throughout the whole journey while I was to meet Tifa along the way so they could make up.

Unfortunately, life doesn’t like making things easy for me. Once we got near our house, we saw Tifa talking to Jeff before Jeff guided her inside my house.

I just stood there without saying anything and doing my best to not look at Sarah.

“Oi.” Sarah said brimming with anger. “She was never caught in the first place… was she?”

“Uhhh, would you believe me if I said she was captured by her own guilt and pain-OOF!” Sarah didn’t even wait for me to finish before she landed a haymaker straight into my face.

“I’m leaving!” She turned around to leave but I quickly grabbed her arm.

“Wait!” She tried struggling away but I held on to her arm tightly, “Tifa really regrets hurting you!” Those words were enough to make her stop and listen.

“Listen! I talked to her, got some sense into her, and she really regrets everything what happened. I know you were also hurt and I didn’t know how to bring you to her because I know you don’t trust me which is why I lied! Please trust me this one time, Tifa is going to go reconcile with her Queen. You’re also hurt, I get it, but at least see through to the very end! Make sure nothing goes wrong. Tifa is your sister just as much as your Queen is her mother!” She wasn’t struggling but I held her arm tightly.

She clenched her teeth and looked to the ground as if she was fighting her inner demons until she finally made a deep sigh, “Okay, I’ll go. Even if she hates me, I’ll protect her.”

I finally breathed a sigh of relief, “Okay, I don’t think anything wrong is going to happen, but, go in there and make sure nothing goes wrong. Usually I take matters on my own hand, but this is your family, not mine.

She looked angry at me but nodded and headed into my house.

Whew. It was a bumpy ride but I did what I could, the rest is up to them. Tania, you, however, are not going scot-free from this.

*Tifa POV*

Jeff was leading me inside Evan’s house while my hands were shaking anxiously. I can't think about what will happen next and it terrifies me. My legs were completely jelly and refused to move.

“Are you nervous?” Jeff broke the silence and got my attention.

“Why would I not be?” I tried my best to be calm but even now my voice is trembling. He was leading me upstairs but stopped midway.

“Hmm, did you know that after Evan went to look for you, Your mother took an oath with her life on the line?”

My eyes went wide as I couldn’t believe him. An oath is not something you can break so easily, if it’s an oath that made with one’s magic at sake, then you would lose your magic if you broke your oath, if it’s one made with one’s life, then breaking it would mean… “No… She… She wouldn’t-”

“But she did.” Jeff interrupted me, his calm demeanor was also replaced with a stricter one, “She made an oath under the Dryad’s name, with her life on the line, she said that if anything happens to you because of her, then she would tell everyone that she married a human and had a half-elf daughter.”

My heart sank but Jeff continued. “It’s normal to be scared for the unforeseeable future, but it is a fact, that your mother loves you. That won’t change. She already hates herself for putting you in a world where everyone hates you, she already blames herself for everything which was she didn’t think she deserved your love, just being able too see you from afar was enough for her. which is why her heart broke if she couldn’t do that either.”

“Why… Why are you telling me all this.”

His calm demeanor returned as a smile formed on Jeff’s face again, “Frankly speaking, I don’t think you both deserve the things you went through, one for loving, and one for simply existing. It makes me angry, yet at the same time, I’m sure, sure that my master will do something about it very soon. But to fix external affairs, it’s best to fix internal ones first. Don’t you agree, Tifa?”

Ah, I think finally get what he’s trying to say. Even if I don’t try to make up with my mother, as long as I meet her again, everything will slowly start to fix itself, from my relationship with my mother to my relationship with the other elves… Is that what he’s trying to say?

“Thanks, Jeff.”

“You’re welcome.”

Jeff turned around and started guiding me upstairs again, but something was different this time, there was a strange power growing inside me. Courage? Determination? I didn’t know what it was, but it was enough for me to move forward without hesitation.

Jeff brought me to the same room I ran away from before bowing and going back, I stared at the door in front of me, my hand on the handle that would open the door, strange how something that I’ve done thousands of times was so almost impossible to do now. I would hear the quiet sobs of a Woman from the inside and I knew who it was which made my heart sink down further.

Everyone’s helped me so much, and even the person I had a fight with wants to make it, yet why is it so hard to do it? Is it guilt? Is the fact that I don’t think I deserve salvation for my actions?

…maybe… maybe that’s the reason.

…

…

But. She…

She doesn’t deserve this kind of pain!

She just wants to see her daughter!

So! No matter how much I think I don’t deserve it, she deserves it much more!

In the end, I closed my eyes gritted my teeth and forcefully opened the door.

I saw my mother kneeling down on the floor crying while being consoled by Evan’s mother. My mother was holding onto the dual swords and the golden pin that I threw down in anger, all three of those things were dripping wet with her tears. I also didn’t notice it but Tania was also there… standing in one of the corners and facing the wall. The thick vines that were protruding out of the walls and floor were still there too.

“Tifa…” The first one to notice me was Evan’s mother, I couldn’t look at her or my mother, my shame for what I did was too much and the only place I could look at was the ground.

“Tifa?” It was my mother who noticed me moments later, I glanced at her, and she was a mess, her luscious green hair was ruined, her eyes were bloodshot, her face was riddled with tears. Seeing her like that made my tears come up but I did my best to keep it under control.

Evan’s mother helped my mother stand before she walked towards me and I unconsciously closed my eyes and looked away anticipating the slap she would’ve given me that I was so accustomed to because of the elves… But, what baffled me was that instead of a slap, she started caressing my head.

“Please, find the heart to forgive your mother. I can’t even fathom how much pain she’s going through right now.” After saying that, she quietly left the room and closed the door.

It was just me, my mother, and Tania in the room, but for some reason, Tania refused to look away or talk from the corner.

“Tifa… are you… okay?”

I couldn’t look at her at all, I didn’t have enough courage. It was strange, just when I steeled myself enough to face her and was sure I would hold my ground against her. Here I am, can’t even look at her.

“I’m… okay.”

“That’s… That’s good. Thank god nothing happened to you, if anything… if anything would’ve happened to you, I would never be able to forgive myself.”

I wanted to scream out if she made an oath of life or not but… I didn’t have any courage for anything.

I’m so useless. So scared to even talk.

“I-I really wanted to tell you every single time that I was your mother. I really wanted to tell you that you don't have to prove anything. You were already everything in my eyes. It pained me so much when I saw your injuries after your mission. It killed when you were late outside the kingdom I wanted to run outside to search for you but I couldn't do anything.” She kept sobbing in between sentences

“Please… Please forgive me.” She couldn’t hold it in any longer and started crying which snapped something inside me. “I know you’re angry… and you have the right to. I-I’ll leave you alone, I promise you won’t ever see me, I’ll make sure no one will hurt you anymore too so please… please forgive me”

I finally had enough as I gritted my teeth and screamed my anger out “Why are you apologizing!”

Mother was taken aback by my sudden scream, I couldn’t look at her no matter how much I tried so I started screaming everything while looking down at the ground, “I forgave you already! I didn’t know, okay! I didn’t know anything! So, I lashed out! I thought I was alone in a world that hated me, so when I heard there was someone always beside me who never helped me, I got angry and it was really selfish and insensitive for me to do what I just did so please…” Tears started coming out of my eyes as I finally looked at my mother in the eye, “Please… forgive me too.”

I was suddenly hugged by my mother before I even realized it, “I’m so glad you forgive me! Hush, now my child! I cannot bear to see you in tears.”

It was the first time in my decades-old life that I was hugged by another and felt love from another person. She hugged me as if her life depended on it and wouldn’t let go, Her hug was hurting a little but it felt so comfortable that I couldn’t help but hug back while she kept saying ‘I’m so glad that you forgive me’ while crying which made me start crying as I kept asking for forgiveness.

We both couldn’t take it as we both cried into each other arms as we kneeled down on the ground because strength had already left from our legs.

It was the first time in forever that I felt love from other, it was the first time I felt wanted, it was time first time I felt like I belonged somewhere. It felt like all the pain I before was just an illusion.

*Evan POV*

Alright! Job Well Done!

I wiped some tears off my face… I'm not good with emotional stuff okay?

Well, I kind of thought that she would freeze up and struggle to say anything like that time before when her mother almost killed me, so I stayed outside the room with Sarah to give Sarah a push in case something goes wrong, but from the sounds of it, it looks like there was no need to.

… though I am sort of concerned about Tania being in there staring at a corner.

“Alright, Sarah. Why don't you go in and join them? Fix your mistakes as well.”

“H-Huh? M-Me?”

“Yep! You!” Before she even tries to back down, I opened the door and shoved her inside before closing the door and walking away.

You can thank me later.