In the middle of the desert, Lily's¹ group walked under the radiant noonday light, accompanied by Sophie's wind spirits, which lightened their pace.

The air was infused with a mist reminiscent of stars, although none of the members seemed to give it any importance.

Fabio gazed at the sky, tinted with an unsettling spectrum of multicolored lights, feeling as if he were in a fever dream from which he could not wake up.

Above his head, he glimpsed a vague silhouette floating among the clouds; but no matter how hard he concentrated, he couldn't identify its shape.

Nevertheless, he continued to walk calmly through the desert, strolling among the enormous monsters that inhabited it and seemed to completely ignore their group, each going in its own direction.

It was Fabio himself who interrupted the desert’s peaceful serenade when he realized Derick was staring at him.

"Is something wrong?"

"..."

Derick didn't respond and just looked at him.

"..."

"..."

Both stared at each other, one with indifference and the other with perplexity.

Just as Fabio was about to continue speaking, Lily's voice rang out.

"You don't need to talk to him, because he won't be able to answer you."

Fabio turned towards Lily, who walked at the front of the group alongside Sophie, and saw how she smiled innocently at him.

"Derick is under a greater mental control than yours, as he is the only one still resisting."

"..."

"Although, just in case, I'm using some of my mana to strengthen my mental control over all of you. Especially yours, Fabio."

"...That makes sense."

After a brief pause, Fabio returned a sincere smile, as if he were chatting with one of his lifelong friends, and fell silent again, gazing at the silhouette floating in the distance.

The group continued walking for a while until they found themselves in front of a huge carriage fully adorned with ornaments.

Derick stepped forward to open the carriage door, inviting the others to enter, and once everyone was inside, Lily gave the command to take off.

However, nothing happened.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Lily's eyes scanned the carriage until they reached Fabio, who emitted a faint mist that dimly shimmered like stars.

Under her curious gaze, the mist dissipated.

"Once we return, I'll teach you how to better control your new mana."

The carriage began to float, swiftly moving over the desert plain, which got farther and farther away, leaving behind the wind spirits that had accompanied them.

Fabio looked at the ground through the window of his seat, feeling a discomfort and a reluctance that the foreign mana in his body couldn't suppress.

The landscape quickly changed from the desert to a forest, and then from the forest to a city full of stone buildings, of which Fabio had only heard about.

"Where are we headed?"

Lily smiled at Fabio's question.

"To my home."

Soon the carriage landed in front of a fence that surrounded the entire expanse of land visible to the eye.

The gate of the fence opened, revealing a stone path leading to a huge mansion that seemed to be entirely made of marble, surrounded by a garden of colorful flowers.

"Welcome to the Goldenglow mansion, Fabio, Sophie, and Derick."

The three involuntarily followed Lily inside the fence, letting the gate slowly close behind them, separating them from the distant exterior.

...

Tap, tap, tap...

The four traversed the stone path, in a silence interrupted only by intermittent footsteps.

Upon reaching the mansion, the doors opened, revealing two rows of people dressed in black and white, all bowed toward the entrance.

At the other end, a man and a woman stood still, with stoic expressions, waiting for the group to approach.

When Lily and her companions entered, they began to smile.

"Lily!"

"Welcome."

Lily ran toward the man, and he embraced her with open arms, lifting her off the ground as he spun around, laughing as he looked at her.

After gently setting her down and patting her head, he turned to Derick.

"Is this man the infamous Derick? I knew my daughter wouldn't have any trouble against him."

And then he looked at Sophie and Fabio.

"And these are..."

"Sophie and Fabio, sir..."

Sophie stepped forward and made a slight bow, raising an imaginary skirt with her right hand.

"And ma'am, we're Lily's friends."

Both nodded with a smile.

"I suppose you haven't eaten yet. Why don't you come to the dining room?"

"Of course!"

One of the men dressed in black approached the entrance and closed it, and little by little everyone began to move away.

Sophie and Derick followed Lily, going up the stairs, both admiring the mansion’s grandeur in different ways.

However, Sophie stopped when she saw that Fabio was still in front of the entrance.

"Fabio, aren't you coming?"

"...Yes, I'll go now."

Fabio had been observing Lily's father, whose mana also seemed to have a starry nature, but with a dimmer and different colored shine, his being more reddish while Lily's had a purple tone.

But that wasn't the reason he had stayed behind.

His instinct had kicked in, covering his back with a cold sweat.

Deep in the father's eyes... lurked Lily's purple mana.

And not only that, deep in the eyes of each and every person he had seen in the mansion... the same mana could be seen.