February 4, 492 U.C.

Glancing up from the beaker, I looked at the wall. Eggshell white is the worst color. Shaking my head, I looked away and saw more of it. I need to get out of the house.

Standing, I stretched and walked out of my room. Then I ran right into my father who was giving me a look. I knew exactly what was coming. Preparing myself, I gave him puppy-dog eyes.

Dad sighed. “Progress?”

“I don’t know how to do this.”

“You need to figure it out. We have a timeline.”

“I don’t know what that is! It just says some gibberish!” I protested.

Dad frowned and pulled me back towards my room. “We got the ingredients for the potion.”

“All but two!” I corrected while following. “Where am I supposed to get fae blood? It says that I need it. I know that we wanted to do it without, but it isn’t working.”

“Just use yours. I told you that already. Do you have one without?” Dad dragged me inside.

I followed over to my desk, glaring at the boring paint. Then I sat and handed him a beaker with orange liquid in it. “It won’t work.”

“Casey, don’t start this again. I’m not in the mood. We need magic.” Dad studied it.

I rolled my eyes. “I know that, but that potion will not work. There is no magic in either of them. The other one has it.”

“Can you add magic to it?”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“What if you do it like an enchantment?” Dad asked.

I stared at him. Then I shut my mouth. It was possible. I took the beaker back, carefully feeding mana into it. I tried the enchantment spell. That didn’t work at all. My mana just scattered, bursting out of the liquid and beaker. I tried binding it into a ball. That worked, but it remained the same yellow-orange while the ball just sat there. Nope. Doesn’t work. Where’s one of those mana crystals?… Wait.

I reached into my pocket dimension and pulled out a glowing mana crystal. It dropped into the potion. Then I began stirring. The potion shifted to a glowing gold color. I sniffed. It smelt right. And it had mana now.

“That’s promising,” Dad said as he saw it glowing. “Do it to the other.”

I dropped my mana crystal in the yellow one without blood. Stirring, the mana crystal began disintegrating and leaking out. “Try bleeding into it,” I ordered him.

Dad didn’t wait. He cut his hand and bled into it. Then he bandaged it using the nearby medkit.

I stirred, turning it a brown color. The mana crystal appeared to be trying, leaking mana out into the liquid. The rate grew exponentially. Panic slammed into me. I used haste, grabbed the beaker, and placed it in the containment cube on my desk. Slamming the thing shut, I let out a long breath.

“Was that necessary?” Dad asked.

“You should back up,” I replied.

The beaker exploded. Glass shot everywhere and made a mess inside the box. I was glad that I’d liberated it.

“You were right about that one,” Dad said with a sigh.

I picked up the containment box. “I think it has to bind with magical blood.”

“So, a magical human would work,” Dad mused.

“It worked with my blood, so yes.” I rolled my eyes. Dad could be so dense sometimes.

“Sorry, I meant one that hadn’t been turned into a fae or half-fae.”

“Oh. – I’m not sure. We’d need a self-awakened that didn’t turn into fae. I don’t know anyone like that, but let’s move to the next issue. I’m not sure how to get the spark of magic in you. I’m not letting you eat one. I could try it, but that seems like a terrible thing for you to try.”

“Enchant me?” Dad asked with a raised brow.

“I think I’d need to enchant you with mana inside of you. That means you need mana inside of you. You know what that means.” I waggled my brows and forced myself not to giggle hysterically.

“Oh, shit,” Dad replied as he realized. “You’re saying that you need me to kill something?”

I couldn’t stop the smile from breaking out across my face. It spread further and further. A giggle burst out.

Dad groaned. “How bad is it?”

“It’s not so bad,” I lied. “Remember, you told me that?”

Angry eyes locked onto me instantly. I looked away innocently before I ended up with punishment. Then I followed him out of my room. The empty hall made me hate eggshell white more than ever.

Dad grabbed the fishing gear from the training room. I followed him outside and through the streets. While I waved at people, Dad pulled out a bottle and started drinking. I refrained from commenting about that. He was already in a mood.

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I began whistling as I studied a shop nearby. They were selling meat from Earth. I was so tempted to steal a steak. It cost a hundred credits for half a kilogram of beefsteak, and it had been ages. I whistled while considering it.

“Quiet!” Dad barked irritably.

I scowled. Then I looked up at the dark clouds and sniffed the air. “I think it’s going to rain.”

“Let’s get this over with before that shit hits.” Dad rounded a corner and nearly ran into a uniformed man.

“Fishing?” an officer asked. Then he saw me. “Oh. I should have known. The fisherwoman of Vuln.”

I grinned at him. “My Dad’s coming with me, Officer McGregor. How are you? How is the family doing?”

The officer looked at me with an expression of bewilderment. He shook his head. “Is he forcing you to do this? Why, Casey? No one understands.”

“Fish sticks!” I proclaimed and giggled.

“You’ve got problems.” The officer sighed.

“That’s true. Want a fish? I could show -”

“No. Have a good time.” The officer turned and walked away.

Dad took another drink. I skipped off towards the river with a very gloomy dad in tow. He was not happy. But we made our way through the streets while I cheerily waved at people. This did not help my father’s mood. The concrete streets were busy. That happened on the rare oxygen-alarm-free days.

Hearing a scooter, I looked back to see my dad puttering forward. “Where’s my scooter?” I asked.

“Casey, don’t start with me,” Dad replied with the surliness of a sailor on a sinking ship.

Since he was clearly in a mood, I moved at a brisk pace, passing one of the apartment complexes. It was twenty floors and was maximized to house as many people as possible. I was grateful that we didn’t live there. Next to it was a small store. The windows were flashing ads.

I ignored them as we passed by the terraformer which was spewing oxygen into the air. Maybe they’ll keep it running this time.

Turning back, I headed to the prime spot and tied off the spear. Then I handed it back to Dad. He walked down the banks, slipping on one of the rocks.

“God damn it!” Dad yelled as his feet got wet. “Mana heavy shit hole!”

I giggled while he perched there. Minutes ticked by. I got bored and started studying dark clouds, pondering when they’d dump.

After a few eternities, I started humming to myself.

“Quiet!” Dad barked irritably. He has never appreciated my singing.

“I’m bored.”

“Focus,” Dad snapped back.

“On what?”

“No singing, whistling, or humming! You are part banshee.” Dad scowled and turned back. Then he released the sling. It shot forward and hit a fish. Then he reeled it in. “That wasn’t bad.”

“It’s not dead.” I held out a knife.

With a grit of teeth, Dad killed it. With a look of exasperation, he walked up the bank. “Seriously? You whined for days! And I can’t feel – Shit! God damn this…”

I shall refrain from sharing the remainder of his cursing. After a long string of it, he took a long drink. It did not help. I walked forward and touched him. Then I began forming an eggshell around the glowing mana inside. I imagined it was like a little seed. Finally, I used the enchantment spell to try to hold it there. I hoped that would help carry it along.

I gave him a sympathetic smile. “I’m done, Dad.”

Dad stormed forward while cursing everything in existence. People fled from his presence. The clouds grew darker. Thunder cracked through the air as he cursed God, the fae, mana, magic, the government, Vuln, and anything else that came to mind.

I carried the fish and gear, lagging behind him. A few of the nearby people glowered at him, which encouraged me to lag further.

“What sort of block-head goes fishing if he can’t handle it?” a man yelled.

“Shut your damn mouth, or I’ll fucking kill you!” Dad bellowed back.

Praying that no one realized he was my father, I followed him down the profanity-paved streets. I did consider offering him the same advice he’d offered me, which was to “tough it out.” My survival instincts won out as he spewed wrath on anyone he saw.

I’ll admit that I grew a bit embarrassed at this point. I cowardly tried to remain unseen as I followed him past some homes. Slinking along like I was hunting, I hid behind scooters, buildings, and trees.

“Keep it down!” a man yelled.

It was met with a deluge of cursing that crashed through the area like a tidal wave. The man staggered under the assault. I wondered if that would impact Dad's magical abilities. I could totally see him with a curse spell. It seemed fitting.

“Sir! Stop cursing!” an officer said sternly.

Dad glowered and kept marching. An eerie calm fell upon the area; it was just as terrifying. I did not want to be there when the dam burst, but I followed down the eerie streets, trying to calm my instincts.

Passing into our home, he erupted, nearly peeling the paint off the walls. The expletives took on a life of their own, forming some profane chorus that echoed around him. Walking down the hall, he walked into his room and slammed the door.

Letting out a long breath, I skinned and gutted the fish. Then I broke it down and started cooking it, adding some lime and salt. Cursing continued to stream from behind a door.

I finished cooking the fish filet about ten minutes later. Then I headed to his room, poking my head in. “Dad? Feel like eating? You should?”

“You made that hell-fish? What the fuck?” Dad shouted, his face turning red.

I looked at the floor. “You said it would help. It seemed to.”

“My body is on fire!” Dad’s arms quivered.

“You can try it? I’ll get rid of it if it doesn’t help.”

I think it was just desperation to try anything. But he tried his fish. To my surprise, he took it and started eating. “Thanks. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Yell if I can help.” I stepped out and left him to it. There wasn’t anything else that I could do. Then I went to my room and resumed my studies. Dad had promised I could attend when I was fourteen, and I was going to be ready.

Current Level 6 Current XP 52.71% Current Max Mana 382.94 Regen per minute 1.06 Growth Time (Days) 3.96 Potential Mana 29.81 Reputation 1000

Tier Skill Cost Tier 5 User Time Dilation (Haste)

- User experiences 32 seconds for 1 earth second.

- Force transference limited to 25%. 1 mana per earth second. Tier 2 Pocket Dimension

- 8 cubic meters of pocket space. 8 mana Tier 2 Time Stop

- Caster leaves spacetime. They may remove and place things back in spacetime.

- Time does not pass in the demiplane. 200 mana to cast.

Variable cost to move items in and out. Tier 2 Teleport.

- Teleports the caster or a willing creature.

- The range is limited to 500 kilometers. 50 mana for the caster.

100 mana for a willing creature. Tier 2 Attire Swap

- Locked to a single outfit. Current outfit set to Magical Girl Uniform.

- Attire cleaned on swap. 20 mana. Tier 1 Enchanting. Variable cost. Tier 1 Potions. Variable cost. Tier 1 Free casting

- Cast any spell you can replicate. Variable cost. Penalty of 8x mana. Tier 1 Familiar Manifestation. 20 mana to cast. 1 mana for each additional minute.