B4 - Chapter 25 - Idyllic Period

With nothing too urgent on the immediate horizon, the weeks seemed to fly by. Classes continued as usual, and the class trip to the third floor kept getting delayed, apparently at the request of the students, who were so close to earning the achievement themselves.

Lily's group exploration of the floor also slowed down as it seemed like if they pushed to reach the next island too quickly, they always encountered something to block them, like the abominable jellyfish. One time they had returned to their island after encountering them, called it a day, and then came back ready to tackle the jellyfish the next day, only to find them no longer surrounding their destination. It was weird, but considering everything else they had encountered so far in the dungeon, the tide changing the island's inhabitants wasn't too outlandish.

Her private lessons in Arakil's library continued as usual, following the trend of focusing more on inscriptions and checking her Astral Mana's progress. Lily felt pretty glum about the lack of progress, but Arakil always seemed delighted when he showed her how much more had been accumulating around her Mana Core. It wasn't until her third revisit to the library that Arakil gave her the good news.

"I estimate that in the next week or two you will finally reach the tipping point. I must say I'm quite excited to see the results."

"But if I spend this Astral Mana I've been building up, won't we need to do this over again?" Lily asked curiously. It was something she had been growing concerned with as they progressed.

"No, I fully believe that once you've accomplished it once, it will be like kickstarting your Mana Core's ability to produce it. In fact, I suspect that for a time your Mana Core will only be able to produce Astral Mana until it equalizes, and then you should be able to convert between the two."

"Wait… Isn't that really bad? How long will I be stuck with only Astral Mana?"

"Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure. It could be a week, it could be a month, but I don't see it being longer than a year. As for it being a bad thing… With your current training, no, it shouldn't affect you at all. Your glyphs and inscriptions will remain just as before, if not better, if you can trace them on your Nebula Veil. Your Astral spells, on the other hand, will receive a boost, since you are using their optimal Mana type.

As for the rest of your spells… They will possibly see a small downgrade, but considering you don't actually cast them, that shouldn't be an issue, since you can always fall back on glyphs. You were already pretending to be poor at them, and I suspect they might be around that level."

Lily frowned. "What happened to Astral being neutral?"

"An Astral-aligned Core is neutral, hence why it has been producing neutral Mana for you to this day. Astral Mana, while somewhat compatible with other spells, barring those few exceptions I mentioned back when we aligned your Core, is not. It's still partially compatible, but not a good fuel for your spells. This isn't the best analogy, but think of a furnace: instead of using coal or wood, you could use twigs and branches. You'll manage to light a fire, and it will burn, but it won't reach the heat levels of a better fuel source."

Lily thanked Arakil for the explanation as it mostly resolved her concerns. It was true that she didn't use other spells, and she'd even told Arakil she'd focus only on Astral and glyphs, but she had to admit she liked the idea of having those in her back pocket should the need ever arise.

Arakil, however, was right, and she could just bridge the gap with a talisman or glyph, just as she had been doing up till now. She supposed the only real non-astral spell she used often was the telekinesis spell for Professor Melina's class, but he reassured her that spell in particular should see no detriment. It was, after all, a neutral spell too, although if cast with Astral Mana it might take on a bit of a side effect like Rose with heat or Lotte with toxic acidity.

Ultimately, if Arakil wasn't worried, Lily felt she shouldn't be either, so she focused on the present. It was an idyllic period, where she could go with the flow and spend her time however she wanted.

During her solo trips into the dungeon, she tried a variety of glyphs and inscriptions, and even realized this was the perfect opportunity to use crystals! Lily had to admit she had barely used this amazing gift from Arakil, relegating it to making trinkets or lenses for Hana. But with an ocean of water available, she could do so much more!

Her previous crystals had been rather inefficient because she had to use water-crests to fuel them, but now she could draw directly from the source. She and her friends had been lamenting that none of them were water mages, while Lily had been sitting on a gold mine the entire time! It required her to redesign them, but soon she had a new batch of crystal seeds that were perfect for use in the sea.

And if that wasn't enough, she realized she could draw them directly too. The seeds had the downside of needing to grow toward her target, normally a small price to pay for the on-demand convenience, but if she drew them directly, she could form a crystal directly next to her target, which was far more effective.

But the real prize wasn't new ways to attack; no, Lily realized that if they wanted a boat, she could probably grow one out of crystals. Arthur was set on buying one for his team, and Hana had expressed similar interest; meanwhile, Lily was, as always, trying to see if a glyph or inscription could solve it. Lotte suggested an ice boat, but it wasn't practical at all. Obviously Lily couldn't make one out of rock or earth, as it would sink, but water-based crystals were a real possibility. It would just take her time to design the right inscription, since it needed many perfect parts to guide the crystal growth correctly.

Other times, Lily also brewed with Lotte, who had gone potion-crazy to meet the high demand on the third floor. Arthur and Thomas were fully addicted to her brews and kept bringing her new supplies, so much so that they didn't even need to backtrack to the second floor to gather the Crimson Fungus, since the boys had asked Wallace and Garet to handle that.

Speaking of the boys, Lily heard from Thomas that things had been going well with the new scroll. He hadn't instantly clicked with it like Lotte, not having the benefit of a bloodline, but now he could shield himself from his own spells. This meant any excess lightning would be redirected to him, preventing collateral damage to friends or otherwise. The barrier not only drew in the excess but also nullified it, which was only simple because it was already his Mana to begin with.

While Thomas didn't know this, Arakil told Lily afterward that if he combined both scrolls and worked hard, he should be able to come up with a better solution: turning his target into a lightning rod. That way, any excess lightning surging through the water would go straight back to his foe, and he wouldn't need to draw it to himself to protect his allies.

Of course, Lily kept helping Rose when she could, although her big sister revealed that she had already started taking short flights on her own and was evidently very proud of it. Lily still hadn't uncovered what had set her back so far, but she was glad Rose was finally getting over it. She knew she needed to follow her lead and work through her own shortcomings with flying, but for now, there were more important things to focus on.

Finally, the last noteworthy thing that happened was Clarissa. The girl approached Lily and mentioned that her parents should be visiting again after the interschool tournament, which was coming up pretty soon. Admittedly, Lily hadn't been paying much attention to that, focused on enjoying the quiet time of the past weeks. Still, after Clarissa's reminder, she noticed it was definitely in the air around Regarth.

Lily had already agreed to participate, so she figured she'd hear about it from the headmaster, one of her professors, or maybe even Bradley, the Maranix student chairman. Lily asked her friends and was surprised to learn that there had already been meetings about it at the Maranix house.

"I went to a few of them," Thomas said during lunch. "Others asked if you were going to come to the meetings, but Bradley said to let you continue focusing on your studies. He was worried that forcing you to come might make you change your mind about participating. I think the headmaster might have said something too, as it was a bit unusual."

Lily was grateful for the peace and quiet, and realized it must be because of her nightly activities. On a few occasions, Arakil had mentioned that someone had checked on her after the fact, but she had never been interrupted during the process. The headmaster must have seen this as Lily trying her very best, and decided to make sure nobody interfered.

Thomas went on to summarize a few of the meetings, which honestly Lily was glad she had skipped as it sounded very boring. They mostly focused on selecting participants for each year of the tournament, since only a few spots were available. There was going to be a grand event where pretty much everyone could participate, so others would still get their chance to represent Regarth. Lily's participation in the tournament had basically been assured, as it seemed that even if she wasn't currently top of her class, the prestige of the first Lagia and Astral mage was enough.

Lily wanted to cringe at the thought of all that attention, as Alice had warned her it would become a spectacle, but she suppressed it. If it furthered her goal towards glyphs and helping Arakil, then she would take it in stride. Still, she had one slight worry: Arakil had reassured her, but it seemed the tournament would convene when she might not have access to her regular Mana.

I really hope Arakil is right… I know he normally is, but he admitted he didn't pay much attention to Astral magic before meeting me. Not to mention the notes he does have on it haven't been the most reliable.

Lily even considered trying to pause her development until after the tournament, just in case, but it looked like it was too late to stop. The Astral Mana she had been generating was now visible to her even without Arakil showing her the focused state of her Mana Core, and from what she could feel, it was growing even when she wasn't meditating under the night sky.

Then, one evening, it finally happened. Lily had given up on preventing it and hoped to push it through sooner, so maybe she could resolve it in a week or two before the tournament. She was meditating under the stars when her Mana Core suddenly reacted, and she quickly pulled her vision inward to witness it firsthand.

The swirling cloud of Astral Mana slowly collapsed inward, drawn together by an unseen force, and in shock and horror, she watched her Mana Core begin to shrink. As the pressure intensified, her Core began to glow, brighter and brighter, until something seemed to ignite within it. Immediately, the darkness of her inner world was banished, and in its place was no longer the silvery moon, but instead what looked like a tiny sun, or as Lily preferred to call it, a star.

But the changes didn't stop there; she suddenly felt more connected to both the stars above and the ones cast in her Nebula Veil. She didn't want to break the meditative trance, but she felt compelled to look at her cloak, and when she opened her eyes, she saw it had taken on a new appearance.

Previously it had already looked like a genuine recreation of the starry night sky, but now… Now it looked as if Lily had somehow carved out a portion of the cosmos and draped it across her; she could hardly believe it. It was magnificent, it was beautiful, and it was all hers.

[Well… That was unexpected.]