The church was at the end of the district, its back facing a forest behind it. A small path between the trees led to a stone altar. It was still in the perimeter of the church's ward, just hidden and never visited by anyone.

The stone altar was slightly elevated above the ground, surrounded by the trees, away from the prying eyes. Stone pillars, twelve in total, surrounded the dais.

She felt the cold stone beneath her bare feet. It was nice. The thickness of the branches overhead almost made it seem like she was in a lightless hall.

The metal boxes were already here. She carried them here by herself along with everything else. Of course, the priest had offered to help, but Aeryth had already asked too much without anything to give in return.

Finally, I can awaken.

The elders of her village used to perform the awakening ceremony. She had seen a lot of children go through it. Some found it ticklish, while others agonizing. One of them even died. The reasons were unknown to her. His mind couldn't withstand the impact. A very rare occurrence, yet it was a possibility.

She would most likely be on the closer side of danger. By choice. Since there was no guardian of her, she could do whatever she wanted, so she took the liberty to increase her mana pool, along with awakening her perception.

Her awakening circle would be nothing like the one in the village. For one thing, they didn't require such expensive bone marrows. A simple elemental stone sufficied, a much more affordable alternative.

On the day of awakening, a person's mind heightened and grew receptive to elemental energy and mana. As the day went on, Aeryth lost all her sensitivity to it. Right now, her mind was no different than a person unawakened.

Thus, she required a substantial amount of elemental energy and mana. Lightning element specifically, because it heightens mind sensitivity and accelerates the metal capabilities, allowing a person to feel the ethereal world for a brief moment. That instance was enough to awaken a person.

Grade three should theoretically allow an unblessed human to feel the presence of mana, though not granting magical powers itself. Many unblessed scholars caring only for the theories of mana used this method.

"I can draw here?" Aeryth asked, standing in the middle of the altar. The runes on the pillars were alarming, though she failed to fathom the meaning behind them.

"You may," the priest said, "I'll establish the suppression ward first. You can take off your bracelet after that. I shall hold on to it for the time being."

Aeryth hesitated but agreed with a slight nod.

The priest went about for a few minutes, sticking runes on the pillars, and then he entered inside. Aeryth stepped back.

"By the blessing of Holy Mother, I call thee." He clasped his hand. The rune on each pillar lit up. Winds swirled, the trees shivered as the world beyond the pill distorted like a window frosted by breath in the winter—a smear of green and grey on the canvas of darkness.

"Now, you can release your binds."

Aeryth raised her hand, looking at her wrist. She flipped her wrist and pressed at the joint. A pin protruded from it. Aeryt pinched it and pulled up. Slightly pressure, and the hook was unlatched. She held the thing in her hand. It was cold still, even though she had never taken it off her wrist. Was the metal cold, or did she lack the warmth of the human?

The priest's face turned red visibly as if he was under pressure. His throat tightened. She could see the fear in his eyes. He was a strong, capable man, yet her presence seemed to scare him on a primal level.

Light must've felt it, whatever it was, and still decided to save her. Her gratefulness for Light grew, as did her scintillate rage at the unsaid farewell.

He held out his. She placed it on his palm, he turned and left without a word. His steps were mechanical. She tried to tell herself it was a good thing. She had so much power to leave a priest breathless. But it only showed how much of a risk she was to her own being without Light's gift.

"Uhm, are you okay, Mr. Herbert?" Aeryth asked. Was he hurt?

"Ah, yeah, of course. It's nothing to worry about. I can finally understand what worries Light. And I can only advise you to keep this on your wrist in every situation."

Aeryth nodded. Herbert swept his eye on her purchases and frowned.

"Are you using your blood as ink?" the priest asked.

"I tried it before. My blood possesses mana, and it is neutral."

A mana beast's blood could possess an inclination towards certain behaviors. Few enhanced the spell, some resisted the effects, and some blood outright had destructive tendencies. Neutral didn't affect the spell in any manner, so it was best for a novice such as her.

"Even so, why not use a magical beast."

Aeryth looked down. "I want to try it. And my neutral blood reaction is a safer method than the mana beast I can afford."

Herbert nodded in understanding.

Aeryth lowered to the floor. Picked up the knife. There was a container, and she had already mashed the dead spirits' ashes into dust. It was black.

She knife-slit her wrist, and she let her lifeblood pour into the container, mixing with the ashes, turning into the ink. According to the book, it should be black upon mixing, if a mana beast's blood was used. But, her blood remained completely red. As if it suffocated the ash's color completely.

The runes required precision; the blood was too thin. The dead spirit was the only material that could be used to thicken the blood without affecting the mana blood in some form.

"You can leave... it might take a few hours," Aeryth said.

"Go ahead. I will leave should the need arise."

Aeryth nodded. She walked across the altar, using her foot as a measurement. She had already memorized the circle, divided it into sections, and calculated the size of each section. And had used entire pages to make sure she was proficient in making bigger runes.

The awakening circle should be big enough that she had space to sit in the middle without brushing any part of it.

She dipped the brush and painted on the rock. The smooth, broad stroke forged the outer circle. It dried as quickly as touched the rock. There was no spill.

She drew the inner circles. The geometry of a spell circle should never overlap, so she had to break the inner circle at precise places to house the other structures she would draw later.

The book provided many options for the awakening. She had chosen one that gave a bit more surety, at the cost of being painful and dangerous. She would sit in the center as the lightning rod, and the spell would shock her for fifteen seconds, then a five-second interval, another thirty-second shock, then a fifteen-second break, and then one one-minute shock. A total of two minutes was all the power this bone marrow had. All this effort for just these two minutes. If she failed, it was over. There was no redoing the awakening.

It took her an hour to make the base. She looked at the priest. He studied the circle patiently.

"Take your time, you're faster than I had expected," he assured her with a smile.

Aeryth refocused. Her ink pot was empty by the time she was done with the second layer. Using a knife, she slit her hand and dropped the blood into the pot. She had some ash left since she had taken into account this happening.

The third layer was the hardest. All the runes and rules were already laid and the circle was already complete, and yet, she had to leave the space for one more layer, the ballast rune to harmonize it.

She looked up once she had completed the circle. "How long did I take?" She asked. Grace stood at the edge, instead of a priest. Aeryth's brows knitted.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I didn't even notice him leaving.

"About seven hours," Grace replied. "As there was nothing urgent to do here, Priest Herbert shifted to another task. Are you going to start?"

Aeryth nodded.

"Then, I'll inform him. Wait a minute."

Grace left.

First, she placed two mana spheres to awaken the circle. Poured the lightning bone marrow into eight different spots in the outermost circle. It was a thick purple liquid that smelled sharp, almost cutting her nose as Aeryth breathed. Then, the intelligence variation mana spheres in different places, holding the last one in her hand.

The spell would start once she placed the final mana core.

She looked outside the dreary cage. She was alone in a misty and smeared world. No way of escaping. Yet, it didn't make her panic. She was safe here.

Before long, the priest was here. Outside of the cage.

It's a ward. She reminded herself. I am not trapped.

"Ready?" He asked.

Aeryth nodded. "How will you know if something goes awry?"

"I am experienced enough in the art of spell casting to notice a mishap. So far, I see none. You've drawn an excellent circle. A few unduly uncalled-for alterations, yet it is not my place to question your choice."

Smiling, Aeryth took a deep breath. This thing was costly. Hundred thousand jades. She found herself unwilling to let all those go to waste because of a problem. Her body self-healed.

"I have set a spell in a manner that I will have a moment to breathe, if I feel I cannot continue, I'll inform you. Even if the spell goes wrong, please don't interfere. My body can heal, injuries are not something I worry about. But this is the only chance I will have. If I don't awaken today, I won't ever."

"Lightning affects the mind severely. In a manner that healing magic cannot deal with. You will not die but may never be able to produce a thought again. If, at any moment, I feel it is affecting your brain, I will not wait. That's my duty, and the promise I made to Light. So long as the complications are physical, I'll wait."

Aeryth nodded. "Thank you for understanding."

It was for the best. Pushing any further would only make his job difficult.

Aeryth deposited the final mana sphere. It turned dim, devoid of all its mana, slowly melted like metal in a forge.

The purple streak danced in the circle, turning the red into violet and purple. She shivered, feeling the energy.

She clenched her jaw as the tingling began down her back that was touching the circle behind her. She scooted forward slightly, embarrassed.

One...

Zero...

The counting in her mind stopped. The lightning ripped through her body. It was painful, more than she had ever imagined. It was similar to when the knight had cut her in half. Yet worse. She could retrace where that cut had been. It ached.

It danced on her bones, like a serrated knife, scrapping her skin from the inside, like a magma flowing in her veins, and like a claw made of ice stabbing her heart until it was frozen and stopped beating.

She felt nothing but pain.

It vanished as soon. Her breath was sharp. And urge to fall on her back grew stronger with each passing moment, but there was only lighting and pain if she did.

The brilliant luminance and shade of the spell circle was a sight to behold, yet all this energy pulsating in it would course through her.

"Will you continue?" He asked.

Aeryth nodded, looking at him. Of course, the pain had brought out tears that she had no control over.

Then came the second of the three. Even mightier than last time, her numb sense rekindled, aflame, and melted at the might of the lightning. Her mind throbbed. Vision whitened.

A part of her felt panic. She didn't feel mana as she should, as the books had described. This pain was not the mana. She didn't know how she should be sensing it, but there should've been something. Yet, only pain. Nothing more.

Then, the second one vanished.

She had used one-third of the mana and elemental power at this point. The final strike would burn through her entire being with sixty-six percent of the power—the fail-safe if the first two failed. Calling it the brute force method was not too farfetched.

Her bones became jelly at the thought of incoming pain.

"I suggest you stop," Herbert said, because, of course, he could see what she was attempting. "I fear I had misjudged the situation. After this point, there is no stopping the spell."

Aeryth didn't say anything, she was unable to move let alone affirm or deny his words. A part of her wanted to nod her head. A minute part, belonging to the weak and scared girl, shivered at the thought of pain. She would strangle that part of her today and sacrifice it to the mighty lightning.

Herbert sighed. "A tragedy..." he whispered, as her vision whitened. Her body fell to the side. She felt something. An unimaginable pain. As if bones inside her skin were melting.

Soon, a painful, burning numbness shrouded over the pain.

At the fringes of her life, she felt something. Alive, powerful. A warmth so familiar and yet so distant.

She knew. What? Everything around her, yet none of it. She couldn't see, yet feel. The liquid, gas, solid—a malleable continuance that morphed and weaved into the physical world. It was everywhere, in everything.

Inside of the leaves, yet around it. It loved everything, yet hated them. Moved away from them, the leaves, the trees, the ground. Yet, it yearned to be with the priest. He was a lot, a bonfire capable of burning a forest, yet calm and serene as the lake reflecting the sapphire moon.

For an instant, she knew everything. How many trees were around them, the leaves in each of them? How they swayed in the air. Every corner of the church. She floated toward the city. The people. Some had it, while others were vacant.

She felt Tor's old spirit as he hammered the iron. He must've felt it, as he too looked in her direction, toward the altar. And Fiya's, who read something, laying on her stomach, leg kicking the bed.

Then, it all left. Like a chain yanked her back into her body. Her eyes opened after much. She looked at the moon. A hollowness filled her heart, along with cold darkness, seeping into blades glinting under the moonlight.

How long had she been here? She wondered. She pushed herself up to the sitting position, feeling extremely tired.

[Awakened state has been reached

Perception: +5

Active Skill: Mana Sense acquired]

[Life Blood Assimilation: 5%->10%

All Physical attributes +5

Constitution +5

Intelligence +7

All physical attributes +5%]

[Passive Skill: Lifeblood stream acquired.]

How will grow stronger from here? She asked herself. And she realized she had no idea. Huh. Back to the square again.

She stared at the sky. "Mr. Herbert."

"I am here."

"How long have I been here?"

"It's midnight."

"I am sorry for making you wait for so long."

"It is fine. How are you feeling?"

"Great. I had not known I could feel this happy, I want to dance," She tried to laugh. "Though, I am extremely tired. Please leave my bracelet here and go. I'll return once I can walk."

She heard a sigh.

"There's something more that I want you to see. I shall wait. I've informed Grace. She will bring mana fruit. Mana in it will provide you strength."

"Thanks," Aeryth sighed. The pain was numb. It was everywhere, but quiet. If she tried to move, it would burn her like flames. "Now, I can feel my presence. I understand why I need to wear the bracelet. I should not exist."

I should not exist...

"The world is a bizarre place, filled with wonderful muses that challenge your rationale at every step. Are you different from normal? That much is true. Are you someone that I would believe to not exist? No, you're not the biggest anomaly I've ever met, and I am not much of an adventuring type. You underestimate the chaotic and wild nature of this world."

Aeryth didn't reply. She had nothing to say to him. He walked inside and put back the bracelet on her wrist. "Grace does not need to know about your salience. Less the people know, less people know, the better."

"Right."

It suppressed her presence, not to herself. She could still feel the bittersweetness of overflowing life energy. What could she do with it? She wondered.

"Oh my god," Grace rushed into the ward without pause.

She was fed while lying on the floor, much to her shame, but the mana from it made her feel stronger instantly. Her body was warm and in less pain, less numb. After a few minutes, she found the strength to sit up.

The first thing she noted as she sat up was that her hair was red. Crimson as the blood and its length reached the floor even as she sat. Though the some tips were white.

A part of the assimilation. It's only ten percent at this point. What will happen at a hundred percent? I will probably lose everything that even remotely resembles Aeryth from the village.

She pushed those thoughts back along with her hair, tying it into a bun. At least, they didn't have the volume, so it didn't feel like she had a pumpkin on her head.

She didn't have any injuries, it seemed, and the pain had subsided, mostly, leaving her mind capable of processing everything around her.

"What's this?"

In front of her, there was a flower.

A black stem protruded from the stone altar, about two feet tall. Atop, there was a fist-sized violet flower, hundred petals, thin as paper, arched toward the blood-red nucleus—like a droplet of blood shimmering under the moonlight.

She reached over and touched the flower. Its dreamy beauty caused her to doubt her eyes.

The petals were sharp as a knife, a slight brush nipped her finger. A droplet of blood fell on the nucleus as she jerked her hand away.

A jolt of lightning shot out of it. Dancing around the stem and flower. Humming and crackling in the air. The violet lightning illuminated the altar.

"What is this?" Aeryth asked. She didn't dare to touch it again. She still remembered the pain from lightning, and she had no intention of trying that again. At least, right now.

"I do not know." The priest replied.

"Neither have I seen anything like this. It feels alive." Grace added.

Aeryth nodded. She could feel life in it. Only the flower itself had life and absorbed mana to sustain itself. The black stem was as dead as the rocky altar.

The lightning flickered out of existence soon. It had not lasted long. But, its presence had been strong. Did it use her blood to power itself?

"Is it a result of the liberties, I've taken?" Aeryth suggested.

"It never happens. I have done many ceremonies, still do, and never have I seen anything like it before. An alive elemental flower is unheard of in the human realm." Priest replied.

"It must be my blood. It is filled with life, and mixing with such pure elemental essence and an ungodly amount of mana from the cores, it birthed this flower." Aeryth suggested. Her mind reeled at the prospect. What could it do? She didn't want to ruin it. Could she sell it for money? Stop. Do I need to sell it? If not, then there's no need to attract any more attention to myself.

"I was of the same mind," Herbert nodded. "It's getting late. It's not my area of expertise. Try asking Elder Tor tomorrow."

"Should I take it?" Aeryth asked doubtfully. "It will not die, right."

"It is sustaining itself purely of mana, so it should not die. But, we cannot say for sure, after all, this is an enigma."

Aeryth nodded, reached over, and plucked the flower from its stem. It didn't have any roots, and the stem was hard as rock.