Well, best get started on the most urgent matter. Mirage was slowly bleeding, both blood and mana. Her physical wounds seemed to be healing far faster than they should, likely due to her being a [CREATURE] instead of a normal animal. Her mana was in slightly worse shape. The edges of her form were frayed, leaking mana at a slow rate. But as Lasair watched, the strands began to weave themselves back together. Slowly looping and intertwining with each other to restore Mirage's health. The only problem being speed. Mirage was made of thousands of strands of structured mana, and only a few were being repaired per minute. It would likely take days, maybe even a week, for Mirage to be back to full health. Time for a bit of experimenting. Lasair had unlocked [LESSER MANA WEAVING] a few days back, and the design didn't seem too complicated. This wasn't the mana that made up Mirage's mind, or soul, or power. It was just the border holding all of those things in. And it wasn't like Lasair had a shortage of energy. [A DUNGEON'S PURPOSE] had given her a mountain of the stuff, easily breaching her capacity several times over. The extra energy seemed to function like temporary health in a video game. More than you would usually get, but once it's gone, it doesn't come back. She took hold of the mana at the edges, starting slow as she learned the pattern, and then subtly increasing her speed as her precision rose. About a third of the way through healing Mirage, Lasair noticed something. The mana had a slight green tint to it, much like the red glow to fire mana. Another connection between the two was their resonance. Fire mana called to every 'flaw' she had. Her impulsiveness, her impatience, her constant overestimation of her own strength. It fed into these feelings, and they fed into it. Calling to give in to greed, to anger, to pettiness. To fuel the fire. The green mana was the opposite, resonating with her care, her love, her worry. It was like a whisper in the back of her head, silently and selflessly helping. As Lasair continued working, the green tint got stronger, rivaling the light of fire mana. About at the halfway point of Mirage's injuries, it made itself known.

[LIFE MANA DETECTED. UNLOCKING REWARD...]

[REWARD DECIDED. RESOURCES [MANAVINE] AND [BAR-BULB] UNLOCKED. USE [SHAPE SELF] TO CREATE? Y/N]

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

[FIRE MANA DETECTED. ADDING RESOURCE [FLAMING FERN].]

Plants, and life mana as a source. Checking her status, Lasair saw that the life affinity had not been added. So she would have to make this kind of mana manually whenever she wanted to experiment. She used the next half hour finishing up Mirage. The bird was now fully healed, although still unconscious. Now that she had solved that problem, she took a look around the room. Apollo had gone back to the core room to rest, so he was absent. Elf boy was slumped against the wall opposite Mirage, with his beast having settled on his chest to keep watch. The walls still held the chest, but every bird and wisp was gone. Every single one had been wiped out by that blizzard spell, which had left a small indent in the ground at the center of the room. Deciding to liven it up a little bit, she created a small plant of each type at the center of the room before inspecting them.

[INSPECT]: [MANAVINE]: A VINE THAT HELPS GUIDE THE FLOW OF MANA. CAN BE BREWED INTO A POTION TO LOWER SPELL COST.

[INSPECT]: [BAR-BULB]: A ROCK HARD BULB THAT GRANTS ADDITION STRENGTH WHEN MADE INTO A POTION.

[INSPECT]: [FLAMING FERN]: A FERN THAT HAS FIRE MANA FLOWING THROUGH IT. CAN BE MADE INTO FIREBOMBS.

That last one sounded interesting, but none of these were helpful right now. Neither she nor anything she could spawn had hands. Let alone enough dexterity or materials to make tea. Well, perhaps they would be useful as decoration.

Ah, Apollo was back! He floated into the room slowly, likely just taking a walk after all that had happened. Realizing that she still had quite a bit of extra energy left, Lasair decided to give him a few levels.

Hey little guy, I'm finally going to get you to level ten. Tell me if anything special happens, OK?

"Sure thing Mama!"

Lasair poured mana into the wisp, corralling the strands with her energy until the he absorbed them. He passed level nine, and then hit the goal of ten. The leveling had taken most of the remaining bonus energy, but the prompt that appeared was well worth it.

[[LIEUTENANT] [APOLLO] HAS REACHED LEVEL TEN. [ALLURING SONG] HAS UPGRADED TO [RESONANCE OF MEANING].]

[INSPECT]: [RESONANCE OF MEANING]: CONTROL OF SONIC AFFINITY INCREASES, AND BARRIERS OF LANGUAGE TOPPLE.

That was amazing. If she could talk to the adventures, she could likely stop them trying to kill her! She could even talk to elf guy! That last part was seeming more and more important. Why? One reason.

He was waking up.