After the initial failures, I'd lost hope in the experiment working, thinking a full person to be off limits even if my smaller body parts made valid targets, so Cluma's disappearance caught me by surprise. Surprise which turned into alarm when her collection of darkness orbs blinked out long before the spells should have expired. I immediately activated [Item Box] again, hoping to goodness that if it let her in, I'd be able to pull her back out. Thankfully, she did indeed reappear.

She didn't seem in great shape, though, dropping to her knees and throwing up over the floor. "That... That... Please don't do that again," she stuttered. "It felt like I'd been buried alive, but I was burning! You said it wouldn't hurt!"

Her eyes scanned back and forth, presumably checking her status. "I lost ten points of health, too."

She'd only been in there a couple of seconds! Nowhere near long enough to suffocate. Being buried alive sounded like a reasonable description, given what I'd felt when using it on myself, but I certainly hadn't felt any burning.

[Mana Sight] showed that her whole mana circulatory system had been damaged, so my guess was that flooding her with my mana like that had been ill-advised. It was a problem that wouldn't arise when testing it on myself. Involving other people in my stupid experiments needed to be a solid no.

Could I use [Item Box] on my main body, rather than just detached bits? Before [Eldritch Mage] I wouldn't have been able to release myself, but now I could leave beacons outside. Maybe I could. It would be a high-speed method of teleportation when I didn't have time for [Redistribute]. Maybe, the next time not-Blobby was about to kill me, I had an option other than a soul affinity blast. Then again, the weakened connection I'd had to my finger while it was stored, plus the way Cluma's inverted lights had blinked out, suggested that external magical links were damaged. I may well lose my link to any detached parts, or not have a strong enough link to them to invoke [Item Box]. No way was I going to experiment with that.

"Sorry," I said. "I wasn't expecting it to be dangerous. It didn't hurt at all when I tried it on myself. I'll look for another way to teleport you."

"Why did you pick now to try that, of all times?" she grumbled, dragging herself back onto her bed. I started cleaning up her mess, which seemed only fair given that I'd caused it.

"Because we're done with the Dawnhold dungeon."

"So? Oh, I see. Given my reaction to being forced to move to the Emerald Nest, you didn't want to be responsible for a repeat."

Not quite the logic I'd used, but it boiled down to the same thing. "Yeah. Now that your dad is back, splitting you up again would be cruel."

Cluma fell silent for a bit. "Maybe, if it was only once every few days, I could cope. Now that I know what to expect."

"No," I answered. "Feeling unpleasant would be one thing, but that injured you. Your mana veins are in even worse condition than after a full speed recharge on the tenth dungeon floor. We'll find another way."

"Speaking of recharging. Since you just made me empty my pool, gimme more mana."

With her mana veins already fried, another inundation seemed like a bad idea, so I started low and kept an eye on the damage, ready to back off the moment I saw the inflammation increase.

"Huh? Are you doing anything? I can't feel it."

"Like I said, your mana veins took damage from [Item Box], so I'm starting off slow. Tell me if it starts to hurt."

It didn't. I increased it to full power, but it didn't even tickle her, nor did I see any further deterioration in her mana circulation. We were on the surface here, not in the denser mana of a dungeon, but even so, that shouldn't have happened. She might have been getting used to it, but only to the extent of tolerating it, not being completely unable to feel it.

If she was adapting to me forcing mana into her, perhaps [Item Box] had the same effect, but on a much larger scale. Which implied that if I hadn't been manually refilling her all this time, giving her some tolerance, the damage from [Item Box] would have, at best, been far more serious. At worst, it would have killed her.

Swearing to myself never to involve another person in my stupid experiments, no matter how well intentioned, I considered the silver lining to that news. That single use of [Item Box] had increased her tolerance enough that she suffered no ill effects from recharging. Then, with a bit of practice, could she tolerate [Item Box] without health damage?

I had no intention of finding out. At least on my own. Perhaps it would be worth consulting Kari, or someone else from the research institute? I didn't know any other spatial mages, but surely someone had, at some point, asked the question of whether living beings could be stored in an [Item Box]. Such researchers would no doubt have started with plants or small animals, rather than people, but that's exactly why I needed to delegate any further safety decisions. Rather than experimenting myself, I needed to turn this over to... I couldn't say an adult, because I was an adult. A responsible adult. One who wasn't [Self-Destructive].

"Instead of the dungeon today, would you mind visiting the institute with me? From what I've just seen, the next [Item Box] attempt won't hurt you as badly."

"... You want to use me as some sort of experiment, don't you?"

"Maybe?"

Cluma sighed and stood up. "If it lets you teleport me, it'll be worth it. Come on."

Thankfully, the weather was improving now that we were into the last couple of days of winter. It was chilly out, but there was no snow on the ground. We still had our enchanted ice resistance rings too, which I greatly appreciated. If we ever travelled anywhere tropical, or to a desert, I'd have to get myself a fire resistance equivalent. The rank two dungeon amulet wasn't strong enough to make high ambient temperatures comfortable.

At the institute, which had thankfully toned down the explosions by now and had hardly any mangled metal littering the surrounding fields at all, we were led to Kari's workroom. Or at least, I was led, Cluma having unsurprisingly engaged [Stealth] in an attempt to catch Kari by surprise.

What was it she actually did here, anyway? It was my lightning glove that had attracted her, so was she doing some sort of weapons research?

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" she asked.

"Did you know that you can use mana control skills to force mana into your thauma and refill your mana pool far faster than the passive rate?"

"I did not know that," said Kari, immediately waving her hands over a row of plant pots, which started visibly growing, before taking on a look of concentration. I watched with [Mana Sight] as she funnelled mana into herself, gently at first, but increasing rapidly. Another interesting data point; she showed no signs of discomfort. What made the difference? Beastkin against humans? Or was it a case of recharging ourselves against recharging someone else? I didn't see why that would make a difference; the ambient mana didn't become personalised just by being shoved around with a mana control skill.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"And to think it was only a few years ago that delvers considered mana control skills useless. If they knew they could do that... I imagine that in the denser ambient mana of a dungeon, a mage would have practically limitless capacity. No, not just the mage. If you can recharge yourself, I see no reason why it wouldn't work on other people."

"And so begins the interesting topic. Cluma here has seen the light. Or the darkness, possibly."

Kari looked around in confusion, before staggering backwards. Cluma became visible a few seconds later, arms still wrapped around her.

"Grover has a lot to answer for," she muttered, hugging back. "So, you saw the error of your ways and switched to the path of magic? So few beastkin do. I'm glad for you."

Cluma giggled and detached. "Nu-uh. I just needed [Darkness Mage] before I could get the class I really wanted."

"Anyway, as a beastkin, she has the nasty penalty to her mana pool, so I tried to use my mana control to refill it faster."

"And it didn't work?"

"No, it worked, but the process was incredibly uncomfortable if I pushed too hard. As long as I held back, it was fine. I'm no expert, but it looked like I was damaging her mana veins. I've tried it on Vyre's party too, and they showed the same sort of symptoms, but they had it even worse."

"Hmm... I see no reason for there to be a difference between recharging yourself and others. You've not tried it on another human?"

"Nope."

"Easy enough to check, then. Dump half of your mana."

ding

Skill [Analysis] advanced to level 14

Huh? But I'd only recently levelled that. Did it count as a meaningful use even though I didn't care about the results, and only spammed it on everything in the room in order to waste mana?

"Done."

I watched with [Mana Sight] as Kari controlled the mana around me, forming streams, then sending them into me. I braced for any uncomfortable sensations, but none came. My mana simply ticked upwards, as it did when I was the one controlling it.

"I don't feel a thing," I said.

"Presumably the problem is to do with the weaker mana systems of beastkin, then?" Kari pondered. "But you could have done that to any human yourself. It doesn't explain why you're here."

She peered at Cluma, still using [Mana Sight]. "I see what you mean about the inflammation. That must be painful. Here."

Kari cast [Heal], and I watched the mana flush through Cluma's body, taking the swelling with it. That was Kari's mana, at a similar density to my own, so why did it heal, while mine caused damage? Was it the different affinities?

"That damage wasn't caused by recharging," I answered. "In fact, with each recharge, Cluma was able to endure it better. Now she doesn't feel discomfort at all."

"Yeah, that came from a completely different stupid experiment," she complained. "He shoved me into his [Item Box]! It took ten points of health off me!"

Kari stared at me. Thankfully, it was a stare, and not a glare, or anything else that expressed 'you idiot' at me. "That shouldn't be possible. You can't store anything living inside [Item Box]. People have tried. All living things have their own mana, and it interferes with the spell."

"I imagine that the people who tried did so on smaller animals, and not Clumas who are capable of emptying their mana pool on demand."

"Emptying their pool... Oh, I see. No, people have tried that too. Inducing spell-casting monsters to use up their mana, or using mana shackle enchanted items. It still doesn't work. The residual mana interferes, no matter how little there is of it. Hmm... Unless... Try it on me," she demanded.

"Um... That's not... safe," I pointed out.

"Yet you did it to me," complained Cluma.

"I didn't know it wasn't safe back then! It went fine when I tried it on myself. Anyway, when I started, I didn't think it would do anything!"

"If you didn't think it would do anything, why did you try it?" pointed out Kari, using infuriatingly impeccable logic. "You must have had some hope, or you wouldn't have bothered. Anyway, if I'm right, it's completely safe for you to use on me, or any other human. As long as you let me back out before I suffocate, anyway. There's no air in [Item Box]."

"Fine, but no complaining if this goes wrong," I answered, putting a hand on Kari and invoking [Item Box]. Nothing happened.

"Great," said Kari, and through [Mana Sight] I watched her pool rapidly emptying. There didn't seem to be any spell-casting going on. Was she using [Analysis], too? "Okay, try again."

I did so, but once again, nothing happened. Despite her empty pool, the small amount of mana circulating within her still interfered with my spell, preventing it from taking effect.

"And one last time. And to warn you, I expect this one to work, so make sure you let me straight back out."

As far as I could see, nothing had changed since the last time, but I followed her instructions anyway. Kari vanished with a crack. Or maybe 'followed by a crack' would be more accurate; paying more attention this time, I felt the rush of air as it flowed in to fill the space she previously occupied.

Thanks to her warning, I wasn't caught by surprise, and immediately ejected her.

"That was horrifying," said Kari, looking haunted, but managing to keep her stomach contents on the inside. "I felt like I was being squeezed on every side, completely paralysed. Like I'd been buried alive."

"That's exactly what I said!"

"Actually, you also mentioned being burnt," I pointed out.

"It was a bit warm, but I wouldn't call it burning," said Kari, and indeed she was showing nowhere near the damage that Cluma had taken. [Analysis] showed the loss of only two points of health. So not completely safe, despite her assurances, but certainly not dangerous to any healthy individual. "It's a question of intent. I have to want to let your spell take effect, on top of having a sufficiently low quantity of mana that your spell is able to overwhelm it. No wonder no-one has succeeded before; they've never tried on a conscious subject! What an amazing discovery! Right. Now do Cluma again. It won't hurt her as much as last time."

Cluma backed off, shuddering. "Nope. Once was enough."

"Aww. Please? It's not that bad."

"Kari, stop with the puppy-dog eyes already. If she doesn't want to, I'm not casting the spell. Besides, you literally just called it horrifying."

"Bah. Now I'm going to have to find another spatial mage... What a pain."

"You know, you could try convincing her by explaining your theories, and why you think it's safe, rather than just begging."

Not to mention convincing me. She'd claimed it to be safe to use on herself, but she'd taken damage. I came here to find a responsible adult! Perhaps I should have found someone more responsible than Kari, but I didn't know any other researchers of pure magic.

Kari blinked. "Isn't it obvious? The mana circulatory system of a beastkin is weaker than a human's, and can't cope with such high density mana. When you use your recharge trick, you've been producing the highest density mana you could, instead of matching it to what her body normally circulates, resulting in a burst of higher than usual mana density in her system. [Item Box] floods the target with your mana at your full density. Her poor veins can't cope, and get damaged as a result. But each time they do, they heal stronger. You've been gradually adapting her to a higher mana density. Each repeat will cause less harm, until she acclimatises completely. It's no different to weight training to increase your strength stat, except that the stat isn't visible in your status."

Cluma tilted her head cutely, in an expression that could be summed up most simply as 'huh?'

"To put it simply, each time I use [Item Box] on you, it'll hurt less. The first one was the worst."

"And you promise it'll let you teleport me?"

"Yes."

"Wait, teleport?" interjected Kari. "No, that's too dangerous. With how slow your weird [Redistribute] spell is, you'd need to keep someone inside for far too long."

"I wasn't going to keep her inside while teleporting. I can eject something from [Item Box] wherever I've left a detached body-part."

"You can do that?!" gasped Kari in shock. "The implications for logistics would be... No, the mana cost of [Item Box]..."

She deteriorated into a series of incomprehensible mumbles, so I left her to it and turned back to Cluma. "Fine," she said. "But you'd better let me straight back out."

Cluma once again cast a bunch of darkness orbs, which I dispelled with my own mana control to prevent the room being plunged into darkness. I dragged Kari's attention back to us, then briefly sucked Cluma back into my [Item Box].

Once I let her out, she didn't collapse like last time, nor did she vomit, but she still had a look of disgust, with her tail fully puffed up.

"Five points of damage," she said, after taking a few seconds to calm down. Was that because I'd let her out more quickly than last time, or because of her increased tolerance?

"Interesting. And last time it was ten? That rate of adaptation is truly impressive."

"We aren't really making accurate measurements of the time between entry and exit," I pointed out. "That was quicker than last time."

"You might not be, but I was; that took point-eight-seven seconds. But yes, the shorter time may have had an impact."

Kari spent a minute giving Cluma a close inspection, casting another [Heal] partway through. "Okay, give it one more go," she said, once she'd satisfied herself with whatever she was looking at. "Aim for the same gap between entry and exit as last time."

Cluma gave a resigned nod, so I did. This time, though, when she came back out, she was shaking and gasping for breath, and I had to catch her before she fell.

"Cluma!" I yelled, but she didn't respond. "I thought you said this was safe!" I shouted at Kari.

"It should be!" she answered, casting [Heal] repeatedly, to no effect.

"New... trait..." managed Cluma, still struggling to breathe.

New trait?! Please tell me I hadn't just inflicted [Self-Destructive] on someone else! No, that was a title, not a trait. Whatever had just happened?