With most of the work done, they cleaned up after first eating a small lunch Camilla had prepared. Camilla was busy putting away her raw ingredients, which left Lily mostly to herself.

Lily was curious about one thing after drawing so many of these blood glyphs.

Arakil said you can activate a glyph by placing a drop of ink on the primary crest… What's stopping me from doing the same thing with blood ink?

The question was nagging at her in the back of her mind, so while Camilla was busy ensuring her ingredients were sealed in appropriate containers, she quickly began drawing a very small glyph herself.

The glyph's purpose didn't matter much, as long as it was small enough for her to quickly craft, so she just made a small Light glyph and kept it barebones. No color change, and merely a simple sphere without any movement.

She completed the glyph quickly and then held her breath as she let a single drop of blood ink drip onto the crest. What happened next baffled her. The crest seemed to absorb the drop of ink and neither activated nor showed any sign of change.

If it failed, I would have thought it would at least ruin the crest or something, but it basically ate the ink. What happened to it?

While puzzled over the question, Camilla must have noticed her and came to investigate.

"What's that you got there?" Camilla asked curiously.

Lily flinched in surprise.

"Miss Camilla! You spooked me!" Lily said, catching her breath.

"Sorry, dear," Camilla chuckled. "I didn't expect you to be so lost in your own little world. So, care to explain?" She asked again, pointing to the glyph.

"I read that glyphs can be activated by adding another drop of ink onto the crest," Lily explained. "I already confirmed this with the glyph ink, so I was curious if it would work with this blood one."

Camilla chuckled. "So you already got the glyph ink working for yourself? That's good! As for the blood ink, I'm unsure. I must say I've never heard of such an activation method before."

Camilla held out her hand for Lily to hand over the pen. Lily nodded in understanding and gave it.

"I know the glyph is locked to me, so let's see if this works?" Camilla said curiously.

Lily nodded again and watched with bated breath. Camilla flicked the pen enough to cause another drop to spill onto the crest. Lily had certainly expected it to activate this time, but the glyph consumed it again instead.

"Hmm… Is this glyph broken?" Camilla asked curiously.

"No! I drew it perfectly!" Lily immediately denied it, feeling absolutely gutted by the insinuation.

Camilla nodded and touched the glyph, giving it the usual activation method she was accustomed to and letting a tiny amount of her Mana trickle into it. It immediately lit up and formed a small orb of light, illuminating the room.

"Gods, that's bright!" Camilla complained, wincing as she narrowed her eyes.

"Sorry… I didn't want to make a dangerous glyph and kept it to the simplest one I could think of," Lily explained apologetically.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't make a giant fire or something to burn down my shop!" Camilla cackled. "So the glyph definitely works, and I doubt you were lying about the glyph ink drop activating. So, I can only assume that the blood ink behaves differently, for whatever reason."

"It's so strange, though…" Lily muttered. "One of the other activations I know of involves an extra circle around the glyph, and when it's broken, it triggers the spell. If I drew that with blood ink, would it also fail? Can blood ink only work with Mana being channeled directly into the glyph?"

"Good questions, girl!" Camilla replied. "It's too bad I have no idea. I'd love to answer, but I feel grossly inadequate comparing my knowledge to yours. You're welcome to try drawing that trigger, and we can try it out."

Lily shook her head. "I only know of it; I'm not confident enough to draw it until I'm ready."

"That's a shame, but also wise," Camilla said, nodding in agreement. "I feel much better about giving you the glyph ink now; if I had suspected you were going to explode the entire orphanage or something, I might have to renege on our agreement."

"No!" Lily exclaimed. "I promise I'm being extra safe and not doing anything risky!"

"Easy girl! Easy! I believe you… Sheesh…" Camilla sighed.

I'll ask Arakil if he has any ideas… It's so strange.

They left the page with the light glyph in the atelier, unsure how long it would last but not wanting to tear it in half to break it. When they were finally done cleaning up, Camilla handed her end-of-the-week wages, with extra, the book she had mentioned, and finally, the bottle of glyph ink she promised.

Lily's eyes sparkled with joy as she saw another bottle of the miraculous liquid. She carefully placed it in her basket like a fragile porcelain ornament.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Thank you again for all your work today, Lily. I promise I'll look into getting some of those Mana plants for you," Camilla said happily. I'm so glad I can get back into proper alchemy again. You've really given me a new lease on the alchemical life!"

"Thank you too, Miss Camilla. Even if you don't believe it, this glyph ink is securing my future!" Lily replied confidently.

Camilla cackled with laughter. "Girl, I think I'm actually believing you more and more with each day. I'm almost looking forward to the day when I can say that my shop assistant became a Mage!"

Lily couldn't help but blush, feeling so happy and yet embarrassed at the praise. Shortly after, Rose knocked at the door, and they said farewells.

"Good, no tears this time," Rose immediately said upon inspecting Lily.

"I told you those were happy tears!" Lily professed. "Today was a lot of fun, though, I got to draw so many glyphs! And also got to watch Miss Camilla mixing real potions!"

"So now not only does she sound like a real witch, but she's become one?" Rose teased.

"Don't be mean, Rose… I think she was genuinely worried about me," Lily defended.

Rose snorted. "Sure. Doesn't excuse her for lying about it for weeks, though."

"Yeah…" Lily admitted with an ear-flopping nod. "So, how did your lessons go?"

Rose groaned. "I hate that woman so much… Lady Desthu is a bloody tyrant!"

"That bad?" Lily asked.

Rose nodded. "Her idea of 'lessons' involves trying to piss me off as much as possible. Today, she decided that was by putting me in embarrassing clothing and then shoving ice down my dress!"

"H-how is that supposed to help you?" Lily stammered out in confusion.

"She says if I can control my anger, then I won't burn anyone if I have another fit of rage. Supposedly, once I get a bit older, I'll have much greater control over it and can even actively use it to my benefit," Rose sighed. "According to her, I'm filled with too much teenage angst, and so suppressing it is the only option."

"I think this is the one time I'm glad I'm not a Dragia…" Lily joked.

"I think the sky might fall if you keep saying things like that," Rose teased. "I'm glad you've become more positive with this magic thing. I just hope that book keeps his word."

"Why would he lie?" Lily asked, astounded. "He has nothing to gain from it by getting my hopes up and then letting me down. If anything, it would put him at risk because I might give up and leave him to rot in some cupboard."

"I suppose that's true… You mentioned that only the book's owner can talk to him?" Rose questioned.

"Yeah, that's what he said. And judging by the fact you or anyone else can't see his writing, I believe him. Margit, Camilla, and even Tim just see a blank page."

"You even asked Tim?" Rose was baffled.

"I bumped into him one time, and he knocked some of my pages out of my hands," Lily explained. "He helped pick them back up for me, and then he asked why I was carrying around so many blank sheets of paper."

"I bet that was no accident…" Rose growled. "Maybe I need to pay Tim a visit again…"

"Please don't get in trouble; it was ages ago. You'll end up with Lady Desthu putting ice in your dress again, or worse."

Rose shuddered. "True… I guess I'll let the stupid brat go. This time."

Rather than going straight home, they went shopping. Rose was on the lookout for more suitable clothes for her startling new changes, and she was still sitting on her portion of the money from selling the herbs.

Meanwhile, Lily was looking for stationary, such as a ruler, measuring tape, and perhaps another pen.

I'm going to have an entire collection of pens at this rate. Lily giggled to herself.

***

That evening, Lily pulled out Arakil's book and conversed with him as usual. She explained her day drawing blood glyphs and the strange behavior she experienced when trying to activate one.

"So does that mean none of the activation sigils will work on a blood glyph?" Lily asked.

[No. If the owner channels some Mana into the glyph, it will be "unlocked" and behave as normal. Presumably, if they channeled some Mana into it before the ink drop, it would also work, but that's rather pointless.]

"Unlocked… Wouldn't that just activate the glyph?" Lily questioned.

[Again, no. In this case, the activation sigil would act almost as a secondary lock. The glyph would only activate when both are supplied with Mana from the blood's owner and meet its trigger condition.]

"Sounds kind of pointless…" Lily mumbled. "One of the examples you gave me was an air spell that could save you from drowning. But if I need to also put Mana into it, it might not save me in time!"

[Correct. However, if someone spilled a glass of water on you in that same scenario, it would immediately trigger the air bubble and potentially cause an accident.]

"Oh… I hadn't thought of that," Lily admitted. "I guess there are pros and cons for both situations."

[Well, do not worry too much about that. Once you have your Mana, I will give you suitable manipulation training. You'll be able to unconsciously keep a flow of Mana into a lifesaving glyph and remove it when applicable.]

"Really!?" Lily gasped. "That's so cool! You can control your Mana to that level?"

[In my time, it was extremely common. Most people could even use Mana in place of their hands if they were competent enough. I'm unsure of the level the current world is in, but I certainly would expect any student of mine to eventually reach that level of proficiency.]

Lily giggled excitedly.

I could move things with Mana? How awesome would that be!? It wouldn't matter that I'm short or weak!

"Oh yes. Miss Camilla said she would pay me more money since she can't call me a minor assistant anymore," Lily explained. "She also agreed to order some of those Mana plants for me as long as I pay. Although if I improve some glyphs more, I almost think she'd be willing to give it to me for free!"

[That's indeed good news. We need as many resources as possible. Speaking of which, you mentioned that they use these plants primarily to produce Mana potions. I'd advise asking her to refine at least one of these plants into a potion rather than ink for us.]

"Really?" Lily asked, tilting her head. "Why a potion and not ink? Don't we want to be able to make better glyphs or even inscriptions?"

[Unless potion processing has drastically changed since my time, a potion will offer far more refined Mana than any other source. It'll boost my reserves greatly and potentially solve our resource issue instantly. However, I believe that ink would not grant that same potency level. For confirmation, if we get at least one of each, then I can analyze and compare the two.]

Lily nodded. "I guess that makes sense… I just wanted more ink."

[Remember, these plants are just a stopgap. Once you have your own Mana, you can imbue as much ink as you want. Plus, we might need a Mana potion as a catalyst to solve your predicament. Some avenues I've discovered mention overloading one's body with Mana.]

"Oh…" Lily murmured. "That sounds a bit… Drastic?"

[Which is why I haven't proposed it as a solution. If it had been that simple, I trust many others in your position would have unraveled this. I promised you the best solution with the resources we have available. However, I want one that leaves your potential open for further growth.]

Lily couldn't deny she liked the sound of that. Looking at her small body, she'd appreciate any form of growth at all.