The rest of the day passed quickly. After treating herself to a nice meal and then enchanting for a few hours, Alice returned to Ethan’s mansion for the night and slept. The following day was a normal Saturday – she played board games with Cecilia and her schoolmates, spent some time putting together an enchanted ring that would ‘expel’ pure mana from its surroundings for Boris, and then finally went to talk to Ethan again. Since Ethan had told her he would pay her that day, Alice felt it was a good opportunity to talk about her experiments. One of Ethan’s original requirements when she became his apprentice was that she needed to inform him about what she was trying test, and make sure that he understood what she was doing. While Boris wasn’t exactly linked to Alice’s attempts to improve mana baptisms, Ethan might feel upset if she didn’t inform him about her attempts to treat the boy.

When Alice went to Ethan’s mansion and requested a meeting with Ethan, the [Head Maid] quickly guided her to the study. Inside, Ethan was sitting at a desk and reading through some documents.

“Lady Alice,” said Ethan, taking a moment to nod at her after he heard her footsteps. Then, he turned his attention back to the document in front of him. Alice waited patiently as he scanned through the paper. Finally, he frowned, pulled out a new piece of paper, and scribbled a few words on it before folding it up and setting it to the side. Finished, he turned his full attention to her. “Thank you for your patience. I was just dealing with a few urgent letters. I take it you’re here for your first payment? I do recall mentioning it would be today, but if you just wish to collect your allowance for the month, you can simply speak with the [Head Maid] or my [Assistant]. They’ve already been given the instructions on what to give you. Or did you have something else to discuss?”

Alice spent a few moments wondering why Ethan referred to her payment for the month as her allowance, before deciding the term was actually oddly appropriate right now. Then, she shook her head and focused on the reason she was here. “There is something I wanted to tell you about, Honored Immortal. Tomorrow, one of my professors from the magic academy and I will be going to a village located around Metsel, in order to treat a child with a rather strange illness. It isn’t directly related to my mana baptism research, but I felt it was a good idea to let you know, in case you’re interested in the subject. If you wish to, you can come with us, but if you aren’t free or aren’t interested in the topic, don’t feel obligated to come.”

Ethan frowned. “You’re looking into another strange illness? Is the illness similar to Samantha’s strangely malformed kinetic seed?” Alice shook her head.

“No, Honored Immortal.”

“You said the village was near Metsel, right? What specifically is the illness?”

“Well, the short answer is that the child I’m trying to treat, Boris, has activated his status screen two years early, and it’s causing him to behave… very oddly. He seems to have picked up a class such as [Farmer] or [Laborer], and is going completely mad trying to work and gain more levels. He no longer speaks to his mother, and seems more and more unrecognizable by the day,” said Alice. Rather than a human being, the more she and Natasha observed Boris, the more Boris resembled a robot stuck in a loop. The boy still occasionally demonstrated signs of sentience, but they were becoming increasingly faint.

Ethan nodded thoughtfully. “The Society documents we recovered mentioned three oddities the Society is paying attention to. Specifically, dimensional mana floods, messed up magic seeds, and children unlocking their status screens too early. The Society is paying the least attention to the last type of incident, and devoting most of their resources to investigating dimensional floods. However, they’re devoting a fair amount of resources and manpower to all three oddities. And their test results seem the most strange when looking into the final kind of incident. How did you come across this boy?”

Alice nodded. “I originally ran into him when I was doing the hunting training with my academy a few months ago. My group set out to hunt a pack of monsters. When we arrived near the hunting ground, instead of monsters, we ran into a group of Society members, carrying several younger children they had kidnapped. We defeated the Society members with the help of [Knight] Arin, before rescuing the children. After Boris was returned to his mother, I learned that he had opened his Status Screen before it should have been possible. I asked the [Guards] to keep an eye on Boris, since the Society would probably come after him again if they knew he was one of the children they were looking to investigate further. I also occasionally checked up on him myself, to make sure he was still safe. Thus far, the Society doesn’t seem to be aware of his existence – however, even without the interference of the Society, his behaviors getting weirder and weirder.”

Ethan nodded. “All right. While not directly connected to the study of mana baptisms, this is also a matter of importance for Illvaria. What do you have in mind in order to cure him? The Society’s documents all detail the strange behavior of children who unlock their Status Screens early, but I’m honestly at a loss for what the problem is, or how to cure it. Do you have any solutions?”

“I’ve been thinking that the best way to cure him is… well, my method of curing his will sound incredibly strange if you don’t have some background information first. Have you read my research paper? I published it through my magic academy, and the information in that paper is very relevant to my treatment plan.”

Ethan nodded. “Since you are my newest apprentice, I’ve had one of my men look through most of your public activities. I’ve already read through your research paper.” Ethan gave her a grin, while Alice felt her heart freeze. If Ethan had looked into her past already, did he know that she suddenly popped into existence about a year ago? It would probably be hard to hide the fact that she had no past before encountering Cyra, at least… Alice didn’t think it was a terrible idea to let Ethan know she was an {Outworlder}, but she wanted to see Illa’s return letter first, just in case.

Heedless of Alice’s inner turmoil, Ethan kept speaking. “You know, I am starting to see why you managed to get such a high rarity Achievement at such a young age. Although it seems very simple to check whether or not people actually need Mana to keep surviving, it has remained as ‘common knowledge’ for centuries that mana is simply a requirement of life. The idea that we should test the idea is… well, much like someone proposing that we should check whether air is necessary for life, I suppose. And the fact that one’s Endurance drops when short on mana does indicate it can potentially be lethal, if one is already weak or ill. I imagine this is part of what propagated the belief mana is crucial for life in the first place…” Ethan trailed off.

“In any case, your research paper is fascinating, and I’ve been quite curious to run a test of my own later. But I digress. Yes, I’m familiar with your research paper.”

Alice heaved a sigh of relief when Ethan didn’t push the topic of her past any further. Before he could think further about the topic, Alice tried to bring his attention back to Boris.

“I have been thinking about what all of the recent incidents have in common. Malformed magic seeds and dimensional floods are both major incidents mana-related problems going horribly wrong. And I’ve been thinking that, coupled with the strange question of Status Screens unlocking too early, perhaps the three are related? I haven’t published a second research paper yet, but I have noticed that the higher someone’s Attributes get, the more mana seems to be concentrated in their body, and the more mana their body seems to absorb per day. Since mana is going haywire for some reason, and Stats and mana seemed linked together, I was thinking that cutting Boris off from mana would improve his condition. Or, at the very least, cutting him off from mana may stop his condition from worsening. {Safety Analysis} claims that I won’t inflict any harm upon him with this method, and I believe my research paper backs up the idea that cutting of a child from mana wouldn’t harm him, at least. Professor Feliza has also double-checked my research paper, and she didn’t suffer any major harm from cutting herself off from mana.”

Ethan nodded thoughtfully.

“Interesting. I do feel that you’re grasping at straws regarding your treatment plan, but with a child’s safety on the line it isn’t a bad thing to try out unusual treatment methods if you don’t know where to start. Be careful with trusting Perks like {Safety Analysis} too much, though – while such Perks are useful, they can sometimes miss forms of mild but long-lasting harm, and have some other oversights. Combining several different Perks that behave similarly to {Safety Analysis} can drastically improve the effectiveness of the Perk, but it’s best to keep in mind that there will always be a few oddities in what Perks consider ‘harm.’ But the level of harm inflicted by your treatment shouldn’t be severe, at the very least, and the Society’s research on the matter makes me think it’s best to take action sooner rather than later. I’d be glad to join you and observe as you attempt to heal Boris.” said Ethan, giving Alice a faint grin. “Let me know when you’re about to depart tomorrow.” Alice nodded. Ethan paused for a moment, turning towards Alice. “Was that all you wished to speak to me about?”

Alice thought for a moment, before nodding. “Yes, Honored Immortal. My treatment of Boris was the main reason I wanted to see you personally. Everything else I wanted to discuss can be handled by the [Head Maid]. Ah, actually – if it’s possible, would you be able to let me know if there are other cases of Mages with Broken Seeds that you become aware of? It doesn’t seem like a common problem in Illvaria right now, as far as I know, but if we make knowledge about broken magic seeds public, it would help a lot of Mages realize they have strange symptoms that need treatment. And as long as we use the same strategy we used to treat Samantha, I could also help people who get sick…”

Ethan’s grin became much wider. “I intended to make public the knowledge of broken magic seeds, so that other Mages would hopefully find ways to treat the problem that don’t require such specific Achievements and Perks. I’m glad that you’re offering to treat sick Mages – I’ll give orders to redirect any ill Mages in our area towards you. How often can you heal someone with a broken magic seed? Is there any cooldown time, or other costs associated with using the Perk?”

“I can only break down a magic seed once every four days.”

Ethan nodded. “Good to know.” He paused, thinking for a moment.

“You know, I actually have a few things I wanted to discuss with you as well, now that you’re already here. I was planning on giving you another few weeks to settle down before we get into the details of your mana baptism experiments, but I might as well get ready in advance. Regarding your research materials for the next few months, do you need me to prepare anything in particular? Letting me know in advance would make it easier to prepare any materials you need.”

Alice frowned, thinking. What did she need in order to study mana baptisms?

She winced. Her next request could sound pretty bad, if Ethan took it the wrong way. However, Alice was reasonably sure that some lie detection Perks would clear her name if her request was misinterpreted.

“I’d like to observe the process of people going through a mana baptism a few times, if possible. But I obviously don’t want unwilling participants – I know there are a lot of people who undergo mana baptisms because they’re desperate, and want to improve their life. While it may… sound quite bad, perhaps we could compensate people to undergo their mana baptism tests in a controlled environment while I observe? As compared to undergoing their baptisms on their own, out in the wilds or in the places people usually undergo baptisms? I am willing to take whatever lie detection tests are needed to ensure my motives are pure, and I know my request sounds bad, but…”

Ethan frowned, giving her a careful gaze. Alice resisted the urge to wince again.

Ethan slowly nodded. “I can see if there are any people willing to take up your offer to undergo a mana baptism in front of you, so that you may observe them. This can probably get by an ethics committee, but before I proceed any further – if under a lie detection perk, can you honestly say that you have no better way to gather data, that you have no intention of persuading people to undergo a baptism if they otherwise wouldn’t have, and that you have not influenced the success rate of the participants in a negative way?” Ethan paused. “It isn’t a crime to think about doing research in an unethical way – to be honest, I would be more surprised if there are any Mages above level 70 who haven’t thought about doing unethical research once or twice. It’s such an easy path to acquire better Levels and Achievements with the same amount of effort that anyone interested in Immortality might have their thoughts wander in that direction. Your request isn’t exactly the biggest red flag I’ve seen, but it’s definitely on the dodgier side of requests, and I can guarantee an ethics committee would take a second look at your proposal if they saw it. If you can’t confidently make those claims under lie-detection Perks, it would be best if you dropped this line of thought now.”

Alice nodded. “I can firmly state that I’ll pass the lie-detection test you mentioned without any problems.” Alice said. Ethan thought about it for a moment, before he relaxed. Alice also thought for a moment, before adding a new condition to her request.

“Though, you did mention something I didn’t originally think of, which is the question of whether I’m pushing people to undergo mana baptisms when they otherwise wouldn’t have done so. I’d like it if you had a few people with lie detection Perks ensure that any participants in my request would have gone through a mana baptism either way, and then ensure that the money goes to their next of kin, if they fail. I don’t want to persuade people to undergo mana baptisms when they otherwise wouldn’t have done so. I only want a good way to observe mana baptisms that would have happened with or without my interference.”

Ethan nodded. “If you’re confident in making those statements under lie detection tests, we can proceed. I’ll make the arrangements. And the fact that you’re stepping up to help Mages who have gotten ill from forming bad magic seeds will also help you a lot. It would be best if that wasn’t revealed, because the Society might take an interest in you afterwards, but if your request comes up in front of an ethics committee knowing that you’re putting yourself at risk to help Mages get well again would make you look much, much better.

“The second topic I’ll deal with is your payment for the month. I originally intended to leave it to the [Head Maid], but since you’re already here I may as well get it over with.” He handed Alice a small bag of coins. “Take it as allowance, as well as a way to ensure that you’re free from financial hardship. If you spend all of your time trying to earn money, it’ll be difficult for you to focus on more important research projects. You can still work on making Enchantments if you wish to, but making new and unique enchantments is far better for earning levels than creating large quantities of the same enchantment most of the time. So this should be useful for you, regardless of whether you want to keep enchanting things or not.”

“Thank you, honored Immortal,” said Alice, taking a peek inside of the bag.

Inside of the bag were four golden crowns. In other words, 20 golden suns. Alice suddenly felt very strange.

She had scrabbled to put together a small amount of money over the past few months, and had worked her butt off to take advantage of the improved price of enchantments and make popular enchanted items to sell. And all together she had barely put together seven golden suns using her skills as an [Enchanter] and hours upon hours of hard work. She had even felt proud of how much she had saved up, since seven golden suns was a huge amount of money for a regular family.

And for one month’s pay, for a research project she hadn’t even really started yet, Immortal Ethan had simply tossed over three times the amount of money she had scraped together over three months of hard work. And he had hinted in previous conversations that if she produced results, she would get much greater quantities of resources and money. Alice sighed, before shaking her head and tossing the coin pouch into her storage Perk. Rather than being frustrated at how little her previous efforts had meant, she decided to just be grateful that she had an excess of funding now.

Ethan thought for a moment, before shrugging. “I mentioned this earlier, but I did also want to take a look at the results of your research paper in more detail. I’m quite curious, you see. I’ve set up a manaless room, and I intend to sit inside of it for a bit later today. Are you interested in going over it with me? I would be curious to hear your thoughts on the matter, as the first one to have done this experiment.”

Alice resisted the urge to start grinning madly.

As far as Alice could tell, Immortals seemed to be people who were made out of mana. The process of acquiring Stats and levels seemed to eventually replace most of the regular flesh of the human body with some sort of new version of flesh and bones, constructed entirely out of mana. She had wondered for quite a while how this process worked, and how Immortals differed from other humans when it came to their interactions with mana. What would happen if Ethan walked into a manaless room for an extended period of time?

Alice quickly ran a check through {Safety Analysis}, and as far as she could tell, the experiment wasn’t dangerous for Immortal Ethan.

“I would be glad to watch,” said Alice. “I’ve never seen what happens if an Immortal steps into a manaless room before.”