Novaris. Sax. 905. AGC.

  Nodel. Waning Crescent ??. Day 26.

  One thing that Jasmine and her brother had been discussing was telling the truth to Lili and Tesilim. At this point, they were fairly confident about sticking with the party and believed it was a good fit for both of them. At first, they had only been there because of Alyx, but as things progressed and they went through various events, they grew more comfortable with the other party members. It still hadn't been that long since they all met, but once someone went through enough danger with people, they would undoubtedly begin to form a bond. Not only that, but all parties involved got to see who their friends actually were, and from what the twins had seen, their party members were all rather good people.

  Of course, they obviously had secrets of their own, at least Lili did, since Tesilim’s situation was rather well-known to them. The thing was that they couldn't fault the white-haired elf for having secrets, especially after having lived for so long. If anything, having someone so long-lived with them was reassuring. Lili had seen plenty of the world, and if she knew of their situation, it was possible that she could be on the lookout for things that the twins might miss.

  Out of everything, the most discussed thing between the two siblings was how easy life would become if the rest of the party knew. They wouldn't have to hide as much from them due to their situation with mana. So far, they had done a good job of keeping things hidden, but it was only a matter of time before the truth came to light, especially if the twins stayed with the party. And at that point, they would rather have them learn the truth from them than find out at an inopportune time.

  Now, although they had discussed this many times, their opinions had shifted toward the positive as they spent more time with the party. And their latest back-and-forth came when they reached the tower late into the night. The two of them were utterly drained after traveling all day. The worst part was that they were out of monsters to drain mana from. They had been running on half a tank the entire time, using celestial mana to compensate. It was one of the biggest issues with their situation, since they only had enough space to hold enough monsters to refill once or twice. As such, they weren't prepared to stay out for long periods of time, at least not without being able to take mana from creatures as they traveled.

  Because the two had been traveling for a while by themselves, they could always just kill things and take their mana. However, traveling with a party they needed to keep secrets from made everything much harder, and the only reason they were able to do so was thanks to Alyx. Using the gnome's special room, they have been able to bring the monsters out and drain them of mana. Even then, things were becoming problematic, especially once they reached the tower.

  They had to refill because they were basically without mana. However, they knew that after arriving so late and having dealt with the aberrations, they would be in trouble if they randomly decided to stay out and about in the forest. The guards would quickly become suspicious of them, even more so if they dragged Alyx and Rose into the mix. Of course, they had talked about just dealing with it and running on pure celestial mana until they got back to the tree, but that could cause longer-term damage. This damage would then bring questions from the team, thus exposing their secrets.

  Luckily, luck was on their side, and when they brought their issue to the gnome and the redhead, the researcher had it covered. For one, he was not going to sleep in the same old beds provided by the guard's barracks. He had already discussed it with the guard captain and would be bringing his door out and sleeping in his special room because he was a special gnome. Obviously, that didn't solve the mana problem, at least until Alyx told them that he always carried extra monsters around for them.

  Though the gnome couldn't really help Tesilim much since his teachings were already considered helpful enough, that was not the case for the rest of them. However, even then, he firmly believed in letting people struggle to greatness. So, he wasn't just going to buy everyone incredibly powerful magical items and have them easily go up in the ranks. Instead, he ensured that his research subjects had access to possible supplies they might need and had spent a considerable amount of gold to have a wide variety of monsters ready for experimentation. As such, that is how the twins were able to refill their mana without drawing the attention of the guards.

  Lili had been in the same precarious situation as Jasmine. Granted, for her, things were not as bad since she could passively refill her mana by eating air. Admittedly, using air to refill her mana was slow, but it could be just as fast as normal mana regeneration for others, depending on what exactly was going on and how fast she did it. Thankfully, she didn't need to rely on air when traveling through the forest. Although people could see in the dark by enhancing their eyes, darkness still provided some cover and murkiness, depending on how well their eyes were enhanced.

  Thanks to this, Lili was able to absorb more than air while travelling. So, as she ran through the forest, she left a wake of footprints on the ground as she consumed dirt, leaves, and grass. Or she would also consume branches, small rocks, or anything she could come into contact with and turn into mana without garnering too much attention.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  Due to all of this, Lili felt her ability was a bit annoying, but in the end, it was something she would not trade for anything else. Lili was essentially an unlimited mana battery as long as she was willing to consume the entire planet. Something she had sworn off a long time ago. Not that she could anyway, since the amount of mana she would gain would destroy her body well before she got anywhere close to destroying the planet. Also, she had passed her “I'm going to destroy the planet” phase, having realized, among other things, that it would mean destroying the planet.

  If anything, during her run through the forest, Lili had to ensure that her mana didn't get too high from consuming matter. She didn't think anyone would check her soul, but one thing she had learned with her condition was to maintain her cover no matter what she was doing.

  Nodel. Waning Crescent ??. Day 27.

  After eating an early breakfast and completing a quick routine, the party decided to leave the guard tower; everyone was still geared up to traverse the treacherous terrain, just as they had been so far.

  The guard captain had asked them to stay until the city's delegation arrived. However, it had been just that an ask, and the party had declined. With their decline, the guard captain hadn't stopped them from leaving. Instead, he had informed them that it was best for everyone if they returned to the city within a day or two. More importantly, it was crucial for them to contact the guard and the Adventurers Guild to clarify any further details. The party had been thinking of doing just that, and readily agreed with the guard captain, who seemed mollified by their answer.

  Not long into their run back to his tree, Tesilim decided to roll his weapon die. The previous day, he had gotten his boxing gloves, and they had lasted an entire day, even though he hadn't used them. That said, the God of Luck decided that he would get the gloves again, and when they didn't disappear after a minute or an hour, he knew he would have them for a while.

  They had a long run back to the tree, but it went smoothly. The previous day had been a bit rough on them, but now they were rested and fully ready to go. Therefore, any of the beasts that tried to mess with them were quickly put down or scared off.

  Another benefit of running through the forest was decompression. Considering everything they were dealing with, there hadn't been much time for joking and fun during the last two days. So even though they moved through the forest at a good clip, they could still easily talk about what they had gone through and what they thought about their latest situation.

  “I think out of everything I have seen, this has definitely been the most messed-up thing I have seen so far,” Tesilim said solemnly, referring to the cruel experiments.

  “Yeah, it's truly horrific and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone or anything,” Alyx added sympathetically, knowing more about the victim's condition than anyone.

  “At the very least, they will be able to get help now, and maybe some will be able to continue living, albeit after a lot of mental and physical healing,” Lili followed, mirroring the gnome's tone.

  “Honestly, I am happy that the churches step up as they do. I was happy to learn how they helped the victims of such experiments,” Jasmine stated positively, attempting to bring some hope to the situation.

  “Or any victims from the dark gods or the Realms as well, because aberrations aren’t the only messed-up individuals,” Rose added as a slice of anger entered her voice, the topic reminding her of what happened to Jasmine.

  “Yeah, I guess that with more magic, gods, and all that, come messed-up things as well. However, I am curious, how do the churches help people like that, with their souls and bodies so messed up?” Tesilim asked, and everyone went quiet as they arranged their thoughts, Alyx being the first to speak.

  “Well, for one, they try to put their minds into order so they can at least decide their own fates. If not, and the victims are too far gone, they will ensure a peaceful send-off. Even if they regain consciousness, there are many cases where the individual is simply unable to live with their trauma, and after thorough talks and evaluations, they can choose to also be put to sleep,” The gnome's words came out in the manner he used when teaching, but the words were much more solemn than the upbeat voice he used when speaking about his passions.

  “From there, the churches sometimes try to reverse their conditions if at all possible, and if it isn’t too expensive. However, oftentimes it isn’t possible, and as much as I wish Sol did more for the victims, I understand there are bigger concerns in play,” Rose added with melancholy.

  “Thankfully, those who still choose to live with their new forms don’t have to worry about much for the rest of their lives. There are large areas dedicated to allowing individuals with similar conditions to live comfortable lives. These areas are endorsed by many of the gods and are among the many good things the gods do. Not all of them do this, but enough do to make a real difference,” Jasmine explained cheerfully.

  “Huh, I see, well that’s good to know. I am glad my new world has rehabilitation programs for those magically handicapped,” Tesilim responded, happy to know yet another thing that made his new world slightly better, at least with all the bad stuff it had running around.

  The talks continued as the party made progress. Of course, not all talks were about dark topics, and many focused on teasing Tesilim and his musical tendencies. His girlfriend and Alyx had decided to share about the time music played all around him for a while, which caused jokes about the fact that he would next be forced to play an instrument for a month. Something which Tesilim dearly hoped did not come true.

  Other talks revolved around the state of their werewolf and general speculation about what they would find when they returned to the tree. They also discussed what they would do when they returned to the city, given their upcoming week of freedom. After all, Jasmine was still in that phase where she could go all doozy on them, so they would wait for it to finish before doing anything else. Of course, that also brought up the topic of Arelion and how they would have to adapt to losing Jasmine as a healing and support member.

  Finally, around noon, the party found themselves in front of the tree, all wishing they could rest before heading out, but sadly, they had things to do. Mainly, dealing with a werewolf chimera.