Now, we are relaxing a bit and letting Lumi rest in her quiet room. We sit on the balcony of Curtis’ house, enjoying the view of the street and garden. Me, Yumi, Lyon, Lumi, and Hana all received the flower's blessing. However, there’s one person who didn't, and she’s now pouting next to me.
“Whyyy? Why? It’s not fair! That damned flower, how dare it leave me out like that?”
Sophia is a mage, so she really wants the boost in Mana Perception and Mana Manipulation too. However, the blessing specifically stated that it’s only given to those the flower trusts, so no blessing for Sophia because she traumatized it.
“Huhu,” Sophia wails. “Couldn’t you just persuade it a bit more? You didn’t have to expose me like that. There must be another way, right?”
“I’m sorry, the situation was dire,” I reply, “so having him realize the truth of the world is the only way.”
“Huh? What are you saying? What ‘truth of the world’?”
“That chest size can be manipulated, of course!”
“AAAA! JACKK!”
As Sophia reacts and punches me lightly, I can't help but laugh.
"Sorry! Sorry!!! I will compensate you later for this, I promise!"
Another thought crosses my mind: did the Goddess Abyssia pad her chest too?
“Anyways, I’m glad that Lumi’s condition has resolved,” Sophia sighs in relief. “That aside, because you have the blessing, can you sense mana now?”
“Yeah, just a little bit,” I nod.
I now have Mana Perception and Mana Manipulation at level 1, which typically only appear when the Magic stat reaches 50. With this ability, I can faintly sense the magical energy flowing around me. It's not a physical sensation; it's more like a sixth sense, knowing something that's always there without actually seeing or touching it. Even Ruby can't comprehend this feeling yet. I've been trying to synchronize my mana perception with my AI and digitalize this sense, but so far, I've had no luck.
However, from the books that I’ve read, there’s people who're so perceptive that they can even see the mana with their eyes when they concentrate, visualizing it as a veil of blue. Perhaps, I can do that too if I raise the skill to a higher level in the future.
Now, as Yumi and Hana are also sitting and chilling with me and Sophia, “Yumi, you did a great job,” I turn and give the young girl her deserved compliment, “we couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Ah, I’m also very glad,” Yumi smiles in response, and I can see some tears in her eyes.
I notice she’s in a good mood, smiling more since Lumi got better. I remember how rarely Yumi smiled before. She may not tell me, but I know she misses and worries about her father back home.
“See, your blessing is amazing,” I tell her. “And you told me your dream is to become a doctor, right? With this blessing, I think you can achieve that dream in this world, Yumi.”
“Yes, I think so too,” Yumi says softly. “As you could tell, I wasn’t very happy at first when I received this blessing, thinking that it was something nobody wanted. But today, I’ve realized how wrong I was. Jack, I’ve decided, I want to become a herbalist! I want to use my relationship with plants to find new and effective ways to cure people!”
“Oh, that’s a fantastic idea!” I give her a thumbs up. "You can always borrow my phone if you need it. I’ve scanned many medical books at the library and can even give you some recommendations on where to start.”
“Yes, thank you for believing in me, Jack.”
“You are very welcome.”
And just like that, we continue to relax. I then go outside to buy some takeout for dinner. When I return, I find that Lumi is already awake, her body temperature back to normal. As she lies on her bed under her favorite blanket, her eyes are open, blue, clear, and pure. She still looks somewhat tired though, but already much better.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” I ask as I sit by Lumi’s bed. Actually, we all sit here, surrounding her. The tiny room feels cozy and warm, filled with the smell of meat buns and meat skewers. I distribute portions to everyone, including Lumi.
But Lumi just hides under her blanket.
“Ah, she’s shy,” Lyon says. “It usually takes her a while to get used to other people.”
“And Lumi,” Lyon continues, fixing Lumi’s hair, “this is uncle Jack. He, along with big sis Sophia, Yumi, and Hana, helped chase your fever away. Can you at least say thank you to him?”
“Thank… you…” Lumi murmurs.
Seeing Lumi like this puts a smile on my face; it makes me feel that everything I’ve done today is absolutely worth it. She reminds me of my little sister a lot. Anna was rarely sick, but when she was, it was always bad and worried me to death. Yet, sometimes, she turned mischievous and faked a fever to avoid school, begging me not to tell mom and dad. Once, I faked my own flu, claiming Anna had given it to me, so we could stay home and play together. Those were such good memories.
“Alright, please rest well,” I say to Lumi and stand up. Turning to Lyon, I ask, “It’s late now, so is it okay for us to spend the night here? And about your father, we will go together tomorrow and deliver him the good news.”
“Yeah, absolutely!” Lyon exclaims. “I'll go prepare your room right away!”
“Oh, there’s no need for much,” I say, patting Lyon’s head. He’s such a good boy. “Sophia and I can sleep on the floor. We just need a bed for Yumi and Hana.”
“They can sleep in my bed then. I’m going to stay with Lumi anyway.”
“That would be perfect.”
And with that, everything is settled.
“Anyways, where is Fufu now?” I ask Yumi.
Fufu was flying around me just moments ago, but now he’s nowhere to be seen. Now that I think about it, Fufu seemed more energized today. Usually, the fluffelcabbage just floats around like a vegetable balloon.
“Oh, he's chasing away some random light spirit,” Yumi replies.
“Huh, a light spirit?”
“Yeah, the spirits sometimes appear randomly and interact weirdly with each other. I can’t see them though. Fufu was saying he doesn't like the light spirit that was following you. Do you think he was jealous?”
“Yeah,” Sophia joins in. “I also noticed a tiny blurry blob of yellow floating around you when we were sitting outside. Fufu was trying to eat it. It was so cute! Too bad you couldn’t see that.”
Sophia has Ethereal Sight, so she can see into the spirit world to a certain extent.
However…
“Fuck…” My heart races and my chest tightens after hearing all of this. A feeling of dread dawns on me. “Dammit! Why didn’t you guys tell me that sooner?” I shout, nearly losing my cool.
“Wait, what’s wrong?” Sophia looks at me, perplexed.
Careless, careless, careless.
I was too careless.
This is very bad.
“Get up, everyone get up! We need to move, now!” I shout, urging everybody to grab their belongings and get out of the house as soon as possible.
It’s because of that light spirit. Spirits can appear randomly and sometimes they follow a person they like, yes, but this light spirit, I highly doubt it was any random occurrence at all!
There’s a reason why Curtis was found, even though he changed his appearance.
Now, we are relaxing a bit and letting Lumi rest in her quiet room. We sit on the balcony of Curtis’ house, enjoying the view of the street and garden. Me, Yumi, Lyon, Lumi, and Hana all received the flower's blessing. However, there’s one person who didn't, and she’s now pouting next to me.
“Whyyy? Why? It’s not fair! That damned flower, how dare it leave me out like that?”
Sophia is a mage, so she really wants the boost in Mana Perception and Mana Manipulation too. However, the blessing specifically stated that it’s only given to those the flower trusts, so no blessing for Sophia because she traumatized it.
“Huhu,” Sophia wails. “Couldn’t you just persuade it a bit more? You didn’t have to expose me like that. There must be another way, right?”
“I’m sorry, the situation was dire,” I reply, “so having him realize the truth of the world is the only way.”
“Huh? What are you saying? What ‘truth of the world’?”
“That chest size can be manipulated, of course!”
“AAAA! JACKK!”
As Sophia reacts and punches me lightly, I can't help but laugh.
"Sorry! Sorry!!! I will compensate you later for this, I promise!"
Another thought crosses my mind: did the Goddess Abyssia pad her chest too?
“Anyways, I’m glad that Lumi’s condition has resolved,” Sophia sighs in relief. “That aside, because you have the blessing, can you sense mana now?”
“Yeah, just a little bit,” I nod.
I now have Mana Perception and Mana Manipulation at level 1, which typically only appear when the Magic stat reaches 50. With this ability, I can faintly sense the magical energy flowing around me. It's not a physical sensation; it's more like a sixth sense, knowing something that's always there without actually seeing or touching it. Even Ruby can't comprehend this feeling yet. I've been trying to synchronize my mana perception with my AI and digitalize this sense, but so far, I've had no luck.
However, from the books that I’ve read, there’s people who're so perceptive that they can even see the mana with their eyes when they concentrate, visualizing it as a veil of blue. Perhaps, I can do that too if I raise the skill to a higher level in the future.
Now, as Yumi and Hana are also sitting and chilling with me and Sophia, “Yumi, you did a great job,” I turn and give the young girl her deserved compliment, “we couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Ah, I’m also very glad,” Yumi smiles in response, and I can see some tears in her eyes.
I notice she’s in a good mood, smiling more since Lumi got better. I remember how rarely Yumi smiled before. She may not tell me, but I know she misses and worries about her father back home.
“See, your blessing is amazing,” I tell her. “And you told me your dream is to become a doctor, right? With this blessing, I think you can achieve that dream in this world, Yumi.”
“Yes, I think so too,” Yumi says softly. “As you could tell, I wasn’t very happy at first when I received this blessing, thinking that it was something nobody wanted. But today, I’ve realized how wrong I was. Jack, I’ve decided, I want to become a herbalist! I want to use my relationship with plants to find new and effective ways to cure people!”
“Oh, that’s a fantastic idea!” I give her a thumbs up. "You can always borrow my phone if you need it. I’ve scanned many medical books at the library and can even give you some recommendations on where to start.”
“Yes, thank you for believing in me, Jack.”
“You are very welcome.”
And just like that, we continue to relax. I then go outside to buy some takeout for dinner. When I return, I find that Lumi is already awake, her body temperature back to normal. As she lies on her bed under her favorite blanket, her eyes are open, blue, clear, and pure. She still looks somewhat tired though, but already much better.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” I ask as I sit by Lumi’s bed. Actually, we all sit here, surrounding her. The tiny room feels cozy and warm, filled with the smell of meat buns and meat skewers. I distribute portions to everyone, including Lumi.
But Lumi just hides under her blanket.
“Ah, she’s shy,” Lyon says. “It usually takes her a while to get used to other people.”
“And Lumi,” Lyon continues, fixing Lumi’s hair, “this is uncle Jack. He, along with big sis Sophia, Yumi, and Hana, helped chase your fever away. Can you at least say thank you to him?”
“Thank… you…” Lumi murmurs.
Seeing Lumi like this puts a smile on my face; it makes me feel that everything I’ve done today is absolutely worth it. She reminds me of my little sister a lot. Anna was rarely sick, but when she was, it was always bad and worried me to death. Yet, sometimes, she turned mischievous and faked a fever to avoid school, begging me not to tell mom and dad. Once, I faked my own flu, claiming Anna had given it to me, so we could stay home and play together. Those were such good memories.
“Alright, please rest well,” I say to Lumi and stand up. Turning to Lyon, I ask, “It’s late now, so is it okay for us to spend the night here? And about your father, we will go together tomorrow and deliver him the good news.”
“Yeah, absolutely!” Lyon exclaims. “I'll go prepare your room right away!”
“Oh, there’s no need for much,” I say, patting Lyon’s head. He’s such a good boy. “Sophia and I can sleep on the floor. We just need a bed for Yumi and Hana.”
“They can sleep in my bed then. I’m going to stay with Lumi anyway.”
“That would be perfect.”
And with that, everything is settled.
“Anyways, where is Fufu now?” I ask Yumi.
Fufu was flying around me just moments ago, but now he’s nowhere to be seen. Now that I think about it, Fufu seemed more energized today. Usually, the fluffelcabbage just floats around like a vegetable balloon.
“Oh, he's chasing away some random light spirit,” Yumi replies.
“Huh, a light spirit?”
“Yeah, the spirits sometimes appear randomly and interact weirdly with each other. I can’t see them though. Fufu was saying he doesn't like the light spirit that was following you. Do you think he was jealous?”
“Yeah,” Sophia joins in. “I also noticed a tiny blurry blob of yellow floating around you when we were sitting outside. Fufu was trying to eat it. It was so cute! Too bad you couldn’t see that.”
Sophia has Ethereal Sight, so she can see into the spirit world to a certain extent.
However…
“Fuck…” My heart races and my chest tightens after hearing all of this. A feeling of dread dawns on me. “Dammit! Why didn’t you guys tell me that sooner?” I shout, nearly losing my cool.
“Wait, what’s wrong?” Sophia looks at me, perplexed.
Careless, careless, careless.
I was too careless.
This is very bad.
“Get up, everyone get up! We need to move, now!” I shout, urging everybody to grab their belongings and get out of the house as soon as possible.
It’s because of that light spirit. Spirits can appear randomly and sometimes they follow a person they like, yes, but this light spirit, I highly doubt it was any random occurrence at all!
There’s a reason why Curtis was found, even though he changed his appearance.
