Chapter 23 - Hearts of Beak

Lilly felt confident in her progress these last weeks, and looked forward to hearing what Myndia would think. She hadn’t spoken to her since the dream, figuring her own understanding of the staff was good enough.

She turned to Eolande. “I’ll be communicating with Myndia now, so I’ll be silent for a bit.” Eolande simply nodded and went to sit in a chair, tired of standing around.

Lilly turned her focus to the amulet. This would be her first time using it to contact Myndia, but she felt it would be simple enough, given the instructions she had been given. She held the amulet in her hand and closed her eyes to focus.

Inserting a spark of flame, she tried reaching out for an answer. ‘Myndia, are you there?’

Nothing happened for a while, but just before Lilly considered trying again, a tender voice sounded in her head. ‘Mnh, Lilly?’ Myndia sounded sleepy like she had just woken up.

Lilly was relieved to find that the communication worked. ‘Yes, it’s me. It’s been a few weeks now, and I was wondering if you could tell me how my progress has been.’

There was a short silence before Myndia talked again. ‘... Do you consent to letting me observe your body?’

Lilly was glad she still asked. ‘Go right ahead, Myndia. I’m hoping you find the results satisfactory.’ She felt a bit proud of her effort, and hoped it was reflected in her results.

The amulet started heating up slightly in her hands, and Lilly thought she felt a force observing her intently, sending tingles down her spine.

‘Oh, wow! You’ve been training a lot! Did you find my staff?’ Myndia asked, sounding pleasantly surprised.

Lilly nodded, thinking she might still see her. ‘Yes, I retrieved it the day after you told me about it. I think I mostly managed to figure out what the enchantments did, but there are probably things I haven’t discovered.’

‘Well, let’s discuss your current flame first. It is very intense at this point, to the point that I’m wondering if you should even continue training. It’s approaching the level I usually keep it at, but I have centuries of experience in controlling it. Have you had any issues with the flame recently?’

Lilly thought through her recent training, but couldn’t think of any situations where her control of the flame slipped. Only that time when her mind had stopped working properly during her first circulation training with the staff came to mind. After that, she had stopped training so intensely, so it hadn’t happened since.

‘No, not really. There was one point where I lost track of time during my training, but that’s weeks ago now. Do you think it could be an issue?’ Lilly asked, hoping nothing bad would come of her honing of the flame.

‘How about any unexpected bouts of strength? Your body is so pure now; any mana or flame would have a great effect on your strength.’

‘Really? Nothing comes to mind, no. But I don’t want to suddenly crush something. Is that likely to happen?’ Lilly felt a bit anxious now, thinking of various scenarios. ‘Hugs would be disasterous.’

‘Oh, you have absolutely no talent as a warrior then. But that works in your favor. Still, you need to take great care if your emotions ever spike. This training of yours is a two-edged sword, so you need to be careful. For your sake, I don’t think you should keep training anymore.’

‘... But, do you think my current strength is enough to defeat Grandfather?’ Lilly asked, getting to the core of the issue.

‘With this much, it should be fine. We’ll still need some preparations just to be sure, but I’m quite confident nothing will be able to escape me with the flame you have now. Especially with the staff included.’

Lilly felt relieved hearing that. ‘Okay, in that case, I’ll halt my training. How should we confront him, then? I’m assuming it will be rather destructive.’

‘Where do you usually speak to him?’

‘Right here, where he teaches me enchanting.’

‘... And you like this office?’

‘Well, I’d prefer it if you didn’t destroy it, yeah. But I’m not sure how we will manage to confront him anywhere else without arousing suspicion.’

‘Then it’s a worthy sacrifice.’

Lilly didn’t disagree, but she felt reluctant to destroy this nice office just like that. ‘I’ll try to think of other ways then. I’ll ask Elly and Selene as well. They’ll assist us in taking him down.’

‘Oh, the archer woman? She was quite strong, that’s a relief. And I know Eolande is a great asset. But fast actions will be key in this. I’ll try caging him in a giant orb of flame before he can react. Can they help during the attacking phase after that, perhaps?’

‘Elly is a decent archer as well, but she won’t be very effective compared to Selene or you. We need a bit more planning.’

‘I wouldn’t mind getting this over with as soon as possible. I would love to take my time with him, but if he escapes, I can hardly expect to catch him again. At least not from this amulet.’

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Lilly heard the sharp emotions in Myndia’s voice, still thirsty for revenge after all this time. ‘We would be better served by taking him out now instead of whenever you return. But if it goes wrong… I hope he at least understands that going after the people I love would be a mistake.’

‘If he does indeed escape, we will at least have reminded him of why he’s afraid of my return. That should be plenty.’

‘... I hope you’re right.’ Lilly was anxious, and with good reason. Grandfather is a man of nearly unlimited means and secrets, making him far more dangerous than any other person in Eldoria.

‘But about the staff then,’ Lilly continued, hoping to shift the conversation to something lighter. ‘I figured out the basics of every enchantment; floating, control, attacking, and healing. Is that about right?’

‘You’ve got the basics, yeah. But they’re all quite versatile. The control speaks for itself, it should be quite simple. The healing is also quite straightforward, but it can only quicken the natural healing process of the body.’

Lilly nodded, satisfied with the results of her own research. ‘Yeah, we got a doctor to explain that to us. He was shocked by the rate of healing, though. Are there any rules to that?’

‘It depends on the mana capacity of the person, so you would heal at monstrous speeds now. Most normal people would still heal most injuries in an hour, but much slower than seasoned soldiers or adventurers.’

Lilly made a mental note of that. She also noted that her capacity for enchanted items likely was above anyone else in the world right now, due to her body’s purity.

‘How exactly does my body differ from a warrior? Can you explain?’

‘Sure. Warriors use mana repeatedly to open channels to their muscles, as you might know by now. But the channels are really just purer muscle, made over time by the mana decreasing the resistance. Those channels keep getting used since they’re greater conductors, making practice the best way to improve for any warrior.’

‘And my body?’ Lilly asked, hoping she would understand the answer.

‘You don’t have channels; your entire body is now so pure that mana can travel wherever it wants. That makes controlling it a lot harder, but it also means that you can use it to easily strengthen your entire body at once, like you probably have done during your training.’

‘... So I’m potentially physically stronger than everyone?’

‘Potentially. Well, there are other gifts like our own, so it’s impossible to say none of them are geared towards strength. And honestly, you’re limited by your size as well.’

Lilly was about to ask about the other gifts, but was annoyed by the last part. ‘I don’t want to hear that from you, shorty!’

‘You want to see my adult form? I’m at least a few centimeters taller than you.’

‘I’ll believe it when I see it.’ Lilly responded, feeling indignant. ‘What about kickback then? Using my strength might make me able to lift a boulder, but normally my bones would snap.’

‘Not in your case, your entire body is pure. Mana goes everywhere. Reinforces everything. Warriors need to rely on instincts and training there as well, but you’ve bypassed that simply by purifying your entire body.’

‘... That sounds like a cheat.’

‘Welcome to the club.’

Lilly needed a moment, finding it hard to come to terms with her sudden potential strength as a warrior. But a sudden idea brought her back to the conversation. ‘Can I purify others as well then, to make a bunch of perfect warriors?’

Myndia responded in her usual neutral tone. ‘Sure, how was it you purified your own body again? Immolating your insides in intense flames and rapidly circulating it throughout your body? You should try that on others as well.’

‘You always did seem like the sarcastic type.’ Lilly said, feeling her cheeks heat up slightly. ‘I get that that method isn’t possible, but I’ve put my flame into others before. Shouldn’t that purify them slowly?’

‘It takes a long time. And you would need a lot of contact with the person.’

Lilly smiled slightly. She could think of one person she would be spending a lot of time with. ‘But there are no disadvantages to it?’ She asked to make sure. Mia was the most important person in her life, after all.

‘... Not that I can think of. As long as it’s over longer periods of time, there won’t be any unexpected increases in strength. You’re thinking of Mia?’

‘Yeah. Even if the strength doesn’t help her much, the toughness she could get would put my mind more at ease. Even if she has a normal amount of mana, it would help a lot, right?’

‘For sure, just much less so than with you; the flame is nearly inexhaustible. You need to get better at empowering yourself without melting your surroundings, though.’

‘I’ll work on it. But let’s get back to the staff.’

‘Right. The last two are quite versatile. The attack is basically only limited by your imagination. You can shoot rapid fireballs, large fireballs, straight beams, simple flames, pretty much anything. My personal favorite is shooting a large fireball and then steering it with the staff.’

Lilly could envision the scene of Myndia hunting some poor beast with giant fireballs, making her chuckle. ‘I think I’ve figured out the levitation, and the stasis. If I think it should float in place, it does, however long I want it to. And if I want it to float somewhere, it does. So I’ve used it for flying by sitting on the end and–’

Laughter suddenly sounded in Lilly’s head, making her realize she had done something very wrong. ‘Ahahaa, you’ve been sitting on it? On the wings? How did that even enter your mind?’

Lilly sent a sharp stare toward Eolande, making her raise her eyebrows curiously. But Lilly didn’t reply, instead waiting for Myndia to tell her how to actually use it.

‘Oooh, I saw that stare. I like Eolande now, she’s funny. No, the way to use it is to spread the field around yourself. That way, you can float alongside the staff simply by holding it. Another potential use is to make it fly around at high speeds while attacking, but that’s quite advanced.’

Lilly felt stupid for not even having tried other potential uses of the levitation, but in her defense, the wings did fit her bottom quite well. ‘Okay, I think I might try that in the future then. One more question, how did you make the staff?’

‘Ah, most of the work was done by a blacksmithing friend of mine. The beast materials, however, are quite sentimental to me. The staff is called “Hearts of Beak”, because my stupid phoenix pet, Beak, always comes to me when he’s close to death. I use his heart for the staff and raise him back to adulthood again. Then he leaves, the ingrate.’

‘Oh, that’s incredible… Is that why there’s one more space in the staff?’

‘Yeah, it’s been a millennia long process. He’s probably waiting for me now, since it has been a while since I was alive. But there’s no need to worry; we will both have several more chances.’

Lilly could hear the emotion in Myndia’s voice as she talked about her pet, perhaps the only companion she had left from her early days. ‘I’ll take good care of it, I promise.’

‘I trust you Lilly, otherwise I wouldn’t have told you about it. Let’s make sure we get that bastard!’

‘I’ll do everything I can!’ Lilly concluded resolutely, as she sensed the amulet lose its connection.