“Well, you should probably go get washed up.” Lily stood up from the armchair and stretched. “The ferry arrives early tomorrow morning. Andric and I have some chores to attend to, but you can probably get some good rest.”

Zoe tilted her head. A ferry? They were in the mountains. She hadn’t seen any water — at least, not in liquid form. Shrugging, she stood up as well. She glanced at the pile of alchemy equipment. “What sort of chores?”

“Clearing out an infested mine,” Andric said as he finally returned his attention to the table of chemicals and equipment. “We couldn’t just arrive in a shitty mining town in the middle of nowhere and sulk around until you showed up. Well, we could, but it would have been suspicious.” He paused as he concentrated on one of the flasks for a moment. “Conveniently, there was a simple bounty posted. One with a good enough reward to justify two highly rated juniors like ourselves making the trip.”

“Can I come?”

Andric blinked, and Lily snickered. Zoe shrugged. “I mean, I would probably just be sitting around in here cold and bored to tears anyway. I don’t feel tired at all.” Which was strange. She should have been collapsing into bed already, but she felt like she could run a marathon.

Was it due to her new status as a demon?

Lily shrugged. “Sure. Might as well get some more practical experience. I’d like to see how you fight.”

Zoe nodded. “Great. So when do we leave?”

“As soon as I’m finished.” Andric didn’t look up from his work. “Which won’t be for another hour — plenty of time for you to get a bath and some real clothing.”

“Why do I have to get a bath?”

Frowning, Lily tilted her head. “Because you’re completely filthy?”

“But if we’re going to be clearing out a mine and fighting something, I’m just going to get dirty again anyway.”

Lily laughed, but Andric just glared. “What, are you a child? Go get a bath. You stink.”

“Come on, come on, he’s right.” Stepping forward, Lily took Zoe’s hand and practically dragged her into the adjoining room. A large metal washbasin occupied one end, and it was already full of water. Which thankfully appeared perfectly clean and unused. “The mana crystal for the heater is missing, so I’m afraid it’s going to be quite chilly,” Lily said. “Sorry about that. This was actually the nicest place we could find.”

Frowning, Zoe stared at the still water. She dipped a finger in and pulled it back. “No way. Absolutely no way.” It was so cold she didn’t understand how it wasn’t frozen. Unfortunately, Lily began to push her forward, and so Zoe had to think fast.

“Stop! Stop! What about if we use this?”

Reaching into her storage ring with her mind, Zoe pulled out the last mana crystal and held it up for the other woman to see. “Would this work?”

Snatching it out of Zoe’s hand, Lily inspected it. “It would if it had any mana.” Her lips peeled back into a predatory grin. “Sorry, but in you go.”

“Wait!” Zoe practically screamed the word. “Give it back to me.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Taking the mana crystal in hand, she activated {Mana Manipulation} and began filling it up with a small amount of demonic mana. “How much does it need?”

Zoe waited for a response, but it didn’t come. Looking up, she saw that the other woman’s mouth hung open, her brow furrowed and eyes fixated on the crystal — which was now beginning to glow a faint, dull red.

After a moment, she blinked. “How are you doing that?”

“Uh, I’m just using {Mana Manipulation}?”

Why did people keep thinking that was weird?

Lily blinked again. “You have {Mana Manipulation}?”

“Yes?”

Steadying herself, Lily took a moment to breathe and recover her composure. “Do not tell anyone else that. I guess since you’re a new worldwalker, you wouldn’t know, but…”

Zoe tilted her head.

“That is an insane ability,” Lily finally explained. “Normally only archmages and a few other highly advanced magic classes have it. Or sometimes crazy people who end up exploding or setting themselves on fire.”

“Oh.”

“Not even most worldwalkers have it. Though I guess you people do usually end up with at least one kind of insanity.” She shook her head. “Anyway, you can definitely stop filling it. That’s more than enough.” Taking the crystal, she opened a metal panel next to the washtub and popped it inside before turning a lever. “It shouldn’t take long to heat up.”

“Thanks.”

“Oh also, since you do have {Mana Manipulation}, you should probably figure out how to purify and refine your own mana.”

Dipping her finger back into the still cold water, Zoe tilted her head. “What?”

“That mana you just used? That was completely raw, unfiltered demonic mana. Most people wouldn’t know it by sight, but enough will that it could cause problems. You need to figure out how to alter the composition of your own mana if you want to get very far with that ability.”

“Oh.” Zoe scratched her eyebrow. “Do you know how to do that?”

Lily had already stepped halfway out of the room, but she popped her head back in to answer. “Nope!” And then she was gone.

Sighing, Zoe bent over the tub and looked at her faint reflection in the surface of the water. Her hair was a mess, of course — but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it should have been, just tangled. After all, she had been on fire multiple times and been literally eaten alive, so that was a bit weird.

The rest of her was smudged with ash and blood, but not too bad. Except for one thing that stood out horribly.

Her eyes.

Not only were they a rich, vibrant crimson — they literally glowed. It wasn’t very bright at all, but there was definitely a distinct luminosity to them which she suspected might be clearly visible in the dark. Which was just great, because it would make her stand out. Like if she were trying to hide in the dark…

But even worse, it made her look downright edgy.

Fantastic.

She spent several minutes after that just playing around with the water. It was heating up very quickly, and before long she was ready to get in.

The warmth seeped through her, oozing into her muscles and bones. To say it felt nice was a gross understatement. She stayed like that for several more minutes, simply basking in the warmth supplied by her own mana.

But eventually, she knew she had to get to work. After all, what was the point of getting wet if she didn’t get clean? Sighing, she grabbed a lumpy bar of suspicious looking soap and got to work.

By the time she emerged with a threadbare towel wrapped around her, the other two were packed and ready.

“There she is,” Lily exclaimed. “Doesn’t she look wonderful?”

Andric rolled his eyes. “It would be difficult to not consider it a small improvement.”

It was Lily’s turn to roll her eyes as she picked up a messy bundle of leather and cloth and tossed it at Zoe. Just barely managing to catch it, Zoe frowned. “What is this?”

“My spares.” Lily shrugged. “It probably won’t fit you perfectly, but it’s better than nothing.”

Andric looked both of them up and down several times. Zoe stared down at the smaller woman. “Right.” Looking around the room, she saw that the alchemy equipment had disappeared. Where had it gone? But the other two were looking at her expectantly, so she hurried back to the bathroom to figure out her attire.

“Oh by the way, she has {Mana Manipulation},” she heard Lily exclaim to Andric, “Can you believe that?”

“Hey!” Zoe poked her head back around the corner. “I thought you told me not to tell anyone that!”

“Yes. I told you not to tell anyone,” Lily replied, sticking her tongue out. “And besides, Andric doesn’t count anyway.”

As the alchemist began to grumble and protest, Zoe shook her head and retreated back into the bathroom. She chuckled to herself. Just what the hell had she gotten into now?