Chapter 37 The Disastrous Outburst
Evernya’s gaze alternated between the books and Meira with an expression of confusion and a hint of disappointment.
Meira chuckled at her kitten’s reaction while explaining. “I believe we should start out with getting your knowledge base up to at least high school level. Your body needs to be healthier before we can start seriously training your physical and magical skills. So while you are studying, I will hunt mana beasts near my property for you to eat. They won’t be overly potent because we are only on the edge of the wilds, but I hope they will be enough. Most are just bigger versions of common animals, such as deer or bear. However, I won’t let you sit around reading all day. You will do light exercise and take tests on the material covered in these books. In a month, we will visit DIOM to run some health tests. If you pass those tests, we will start the next phase of your training.”
“Can I at least have access to the Internet? There are many things I would like to research.” Evernya begged with puppy dog eyes, despite her feline nature.
“The Internet here is useless. Even basic Internet searches take several minutes. The only reason I have Internet at all is because of signal boosters.” Meira replied, dying a little inside as her kitten’s hope became crushed.
Unable to take disappointing her kitten, Meira gave in. “I can give you one of my old laptops to use. Videos or games are impossible, but if you’re patient enough, you could search for information.”
Evernya’s sadness instantly disappeared, replaced with a bright smile. “Thank you! Videos would be amazing, but I can live without them.”
Meira felt her kitten played her, but she didn’t care as long as her kitten was happy. “You’re welcome. Now, excuse me while I cook some breakfast for us. I went hunting after we got back and killed a large buck. So please look over these books while I am cooking.”
After Meira left, Evernya stared at the stack of books, almost as tall as she was, overwhelmed. As much as I enjoyed reading as a human, I have no idea where to start. Oh! Why don’t I practice telekinesis to organize my mountain of books!
With her decision made, Evernya called forth her magic to move each book one by one into five stacks with surprising ease. Ten minutes later, she had her mountain split into five smaller stacks organized left to right by subjects, math, science, social studies, English, and magic studies.
By the time she finished sorting the books, sweat ran down her forehead as she panted for breath. Why am I so tired? I didn’t feel like this while I taught that bastard enchanter a lesson. I think I am going to take a nap while I wait for Meira to finish. Evernya thought as she passed out in her chair.
Thirty minutes later, Meira shook her awake. Evernya’s tired eyes crack open to a scowling elf glaring down at her.
Before she can process anything, Meira commenced her scolding. “Do not practice your magic without supervision! The only thing keeping you alive is your mana! Even using your magic for a few minutes could overstress your body! I know it’s hard to not use magic, but please have patience when you are healthy you can use your magic all you want. If you cannot stop yourself from using your magic, I’ll seal your magic the same way that bastard enslaved you. My seals will be much harder to break than his. I do not want to seal your magic, but you could die if you use your magic too much.”
“I understand! Please don’t seal my magic!” pleaded Evernya with tears in her eyes, sick to her stomach at the mention of losing access to her magic.
Caught off guard by her kitten’s reaction, Meira assured, “Calm down, I would only do that as a last resort. I know you are smart enough to realize something was wrong when you organized those books. For now, please refrain from using any magic for at least the next couple of weeks. After that, I will allow light use of magic only if I am there to supervise.”
Meira materialized a black metallic cuff from her storage ring and handed it to Evernya. “Please put this on either of your wrists.”
While staring at her elf with suspicion, she secured the cuff around her right wrist. Meira then materialized a remote and presses a button. A click sounded from the cuff, startling her. She tried to remove the cuff but found it won’t budge. She looked up at Meira in confusion and worry.
Meira hurt inside from what she did, but explained anyway. “I had a feeling you would have issues limiting your magic use, so I made this cuff. It will beep as a warning, then shock you if you continue to use your magic. This remote will notify me if the cuff goes off and allow me to track you down. I know this seems extreme, but it is for your own good. Please try to lift one of the books with your telekinesis.”
Evernya glared at Meira with growing anger, but still complied. She only moved the book a few centimeters upward before the cuff on her wrist lit up red, beeping loudly. Ten seconds later, the cuff administered a painful shock to Evernya, causing her to lose focus and drop the book. The cuff returned to its dormant state as soon as Evernya stopped using her magic.
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The moment she recovered from the shock, Evernya swiveled toward Meira, screaming in rage, “Why don’t you trust me! I said I wouldn’t use my magic! I am not a kid! I can control myself!”
The cuff beeped again as Evernya lost control of her anger, causing her to blow the stacks of books off the table. The cuff administers another shock, but Evernya’s rage-fueled state shrugged it off.
A few seconds after, Evernya swayed, but she continued to lash out. However, only a few seconds later, before Meira can calm her down, Evernya collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.
A few minutes later, Evernya regained consciousness, finding herself lying on the couch. She tried to sit up, but immediately became lightheaded and collapsed. Evernya’s eyes slowly drifted closed as she passed out again.
Over an hour later, Evernya awakened back in her bed. She attempted to sit up again, but she was too weak to move. Noticing Evernya was awake, Meira rushed over to her side.
“How do you feel?” Meira asked, wiping her tear-soaked face.
“Weak and tired,” Evernya slurred as her eyes drifted closed again.
“Evernya, I know it’s hard, but please stay awake for me!” Meira urged while gently shaking her kitten’s shoulders.
Meira propped Evernya’s head up with a pillow and placed a tube in Evernya’s mouth, connected to a twenty-liter barrel filled with a brown-colored liquid.
“Please suck on this. It should make you feel better.” Meira ordered.
A few seconds later, the liquid pumped through the tube down Evernya’s throat. Evernya choked, forcing Meira to slow down the pump to allow her kitten to keep up.
Within minutes, she regained some strength as the liquid flowed down her throat. As she regained her strength, she sucked on the tube in a frenzy. Meira sped up the pump for Evernya.
Ten minutes later, Evernya somehow drank the entire twenty-liter barrel. After finishing her meal, Evernya passed out into a food coma.
Two hours later, Evernya stirred awake. What happened? Why did I feel so weak? Is my body so bad that I can’t use magic for a few seconds? I suppose now I can understand why Meira tricked me into putting on the damn cuff. Still, she should have trusted me! At least I feel better now. Whatever that tasty brown liquid was, it did the trick.
A few minutes later, Meira entered her room and sat down on a chair next to her bed. “Do you feel better now?” Inquired Meira.
“Yeah, what was that liquid? It smelled and tasted amazing,” Evernya responded, feeling an urge to drool just thinking about her previous meal.
“I am glad you like it. Though I think anything high in mana will taste good to you. All I did was blend around ten kilograms of venison steak and a bunch of edible plants I picked while I was hunting for the buck with about eight liters of mana enriched liquid. You were in no shape to eat anything solid, and you needed sustenance immediately, so I had to improvise. Do you understand now how severe your situation is? You nearly died!” Meira lectured, while staring directly into her kitten’s eyes.
“Why could I use much magic before?” Evernya questioned.
Meira paused for a moment in thought before theorizing, “I think it was because you still had a large reserve of mana supporting your body from spending two weeks in a mana tank. Now you don’t have any mana to spare until we can replenish your reserves and stabilize your body. I think it would be best if you stay in bed for at least the next week. I will bring books and my old laptop for you to keep yourself occupied. With how your body functions, even walking spends mana, so keeping your movement to a minimum would be best.”
“Do you think you can drink some more of my concoction? I don’t want to overfeed you either.” Meira inquired.
At the mention of more food, Evernya’s mouth immediately watered. She took her kitten’s reaction as a yes, materializing another barrel, and handed Evernya the tube. Ten minutes later, another twenty-liter barrel was empty.
Meira’s eyes shifted between the empty tank and her kitten’s flat stomach in amazement. “Wow, where do you put it all? It’s like your stomach is a black hole.”
A few seconds later, Evernya fidgeted, catching her observant elf’s attention. “What’s wrong, does something hurt?” Worried Meira.
With a red face, Evernya mumbled, “Can you help me get to the bathroom? I need to pee.” Unable to help herself, Meira let out a loud laugh, smothering it a moment later under her kitten’s glare.
“Okay, I’m sorry for laughing I just didn’t expect you to ask that.” Meira apologized as she scooped her kitten into her arms and transported her to the toilet in her bathroom.
“Yell, when you finish.” Said Meira as she left the bathroom.
A couple minutes later, Evernya finished relieving herself. She tried to stand up from the toilet, but her legs immediately gave out, causing her to collapse onto the bathroom floor. She called out to Meira for help, who came rushing in a minute later, but stopped and giggled when she spotted Evernya sprawled out on the bathroom floor.
“Quit laughing and help me! I can’t get up! I would rather not lay on this dirty bathroom floor all day!” Evernya demanded with a scarlet face.
“Hey! My floors aren’t dirty! Maybe I should just leave you there as a punishment for insulting my perfectly clean floors.” Meira teased while trying to keep a straight face.
“You wouldn’t dare!” exclaimed the fallen cat girl.
“Oh yes I would, but since you are sick, I will take pity on you and help you.” Meira teased as she scooped her fallen kitten off the floor and carried her to the sink.
“No escaping the bathroom until you wash your hands.” Meira insisted.
“Seriously? I doubt either of us has to worry about germs.” Evernya commented, staring up at her elf transportation system.
“Probably not, but still wash your hands you are in my house, so I make the rules.” Insisted Meira.
Evernya sighed but washed her hands while held by Meira. Once satisfied, Meira carried Evernya back to her bed and propped her up into a sitting position with pillows. She then materialized a laptop and an over the bed table, allowing her kitten to use the laptop comfortably in bed.
“Instead of overwhelming you with books, I should have tested your proficiency in the subjects instead. Luckily, the program I was going to use to test you has a proficiency test. I have it installed on this laptop, so whenever you’re ready, you can take the test. Also, I installed an intercom system on your nightstand. Feel free to page me if you need anything. I have some enchanting work to catch up on, so I have to leave you alone for a bit. Do not use any magic or try to leave this bed without my help.” Meira explained while opening the homeschooling program before leaving her kitten alone.