Once everyone is eating I try to think of who else could bond to the carriage. It can't be Sarah or anyone else who isn't going to be traveling with us. The carriage is a very powerful magical item, it needs to be someone that I can trust.

It can't be any of the beastmen for the same reason as Myria, which limits my options. Isabella won't work since she is off doing her own thing and won't be traveling with us. After all the people that are eliminated, there are only Windy and the kids left.

The kids will all end up as sacred beasts, so they won't always have mana. Even Windy, I expect to one day become a sacred beast, so I'm not sure if she will work either. It being limited to someone with mana is a real pain, but it was built by humans so it makes sense.

It looks like I am going to need to add a human to my traveling companions. That just means I need to find a human who isn't bothered by a bunch of beasts, easy. The only other option would be to somehow make someone else able to use mana.

There are plenty of humans that I trust, but all of them have other responsibilities. Ambrose and the others have guilds and a city to run, Mercy would hunt me down and kill me if I stole Zamart. Same with Mericel and Alannis, and the goddesses already have plans for Leyla.

That is pretty much all the humans I really trust, there are others I know, but not well enough. So I wait for everyone to finish their lunch and leave to continue their tour. The only ones who stay are Kechara and Asuna, who haven't left my side the entire time.

"Yui, can I get some more information on that experiment to give beastmen mana?"

Yui says "Sure, what would you like to know?"

"Tell me how it is supposed to work and the odds for an adult to survive it."

Yui says "Well, rather than a spell it is a ritual. In theory the ritual will slowly feed mana into a body at a rate that it can be absorbed. The ritual is designed to also support the body and hopefully keep the subject alive. Of course, this was never tested so I cannot be sure it will work. I would estimate a healthy adult's odds of survival at about forty percent."

"How much would the odds increase for a child?"

Yui says "A child between the equivalent ages of twelve to sixteen would have roughly a seventy percent chance of survival."

"What is the basis of the difference in chances? If the theory has never been tested."

Yui says "The higher chance is based on the younger body's ability to adapt easier. Younger bodies are also less likely to suffer from system shock during the process. Again, in theory."

"So if an adult were more adaptable and protected from system shock, they would have better odds?"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Yui says "Correct. In theory. It is entirely possible that it won't work at all."

Core says "Are you thinking of using Myria to test the ritual?"

"I am thinking of giving her the option to try it, but I won't force her."

Core says "And you are thinking that you can use your abilities to increase her odds?"

"If she wants to try it, then yes. I am also hoping that if it kills her, that I can resurrect her."

Yui says "That might be possible, but I can't be sure."

"I am aware that there will be risks, and I will make sure Myria is aware as well. Right now I am just considering the possibility."

Core says "This ritual, is it already prepared?"

Yui says "No, it never got past the theoretical stage."

Core says "Can you show me the ritual?"

Yui says "Of course!"

Above the table appears a complicated image, made up of seven overlapping circles. Each circle has magical text written within the lines and as the lines overlap they form new patterns. Just looking at it gives me a slight headache, trying to understand it would probably drive me nuts.

Yui says "Do you understand it?"

"No!"

Core says "Yes. Don't take this the wrong way but your magic is much simpler when compared to ours."

Yui says "I am not offended, after all you had thousands of years to gain knowledge."

"Core, does that mean you could do it better?"

Core says "I would have to, from what I can see this ritual wouldn't work in the way you are hoping."

Yui says "What do you mean?"

Core says "The original ritual to create the beastmen was flawed and this ritual is designed to fix that flaw. It may have worked on the original beastmen, but the current beastmen did not undergo the original ritual."

Yui says "Oh, I see what you mean. The original ritual was to fuse a beast core with a human, but a human isn't compatible with a core. So the ritual shattered the core and infused the pieces into the human. Then the humans that survived absorbed the mana from the pieces. This is what changed them into beastmen."

Core says "Right, but this left inert pieces of a beast core throughout their bodies. The problem is, do current beastmen still have the same fragments?"

Yui says "I don't know."

"I think I followed all of that. Can't we just scan Myria and see if there are fragments present?"

Core says "Yes, that would work."

"I am sure Myria won't mind. Yui, could you call her?"

Yui says "Sure."

It takes Myria a few minutes to arrive, but as I expected she instantly agrees to being scanned. After all, it isn't a big deal, Yui just won't scan anyone without their permission. The scan itself takes a couple of minutes, but as it finishes a transparent image of Myria appears.

Core says "As I thought, there are no core fragments in her body. The ritual the mages came up with is useless."

Yui says "Agreed. There is nothing for the ritual to work with."

"Core, can you think of another way to give the beastmen mana?"

Myria says "Give us mana? You mean we would be able to use magic?"

"That is the theory we are working on, yes. Or at worst you would have a core so that you could progress like the mana beasts do."

Core says "The problem is that we don't know of a way to create an artificial mana core."

"Couldn't we use the original process? Wouldn't the beastmen be more compatible with real cores than the humans were?"

Yui says "Even if they are more compatible, there would still be a fairly high mortality rate."

"Well, isn't a mana core just highly condensed mana?"

Yui says "That is correct, but we have never found a way to make mana become solid."

"Maybe it has something to do with being inside a body?"

Core says "Maybe, a body is a natural container for mana after all."

Yui says "True, the mage's experiments all involved trying to use artificial containers."

Myria says "If you need someone to experiment on, I volunteer."

"Not so fast! We have no idea what might happen! This could kill you!"