The Prophets were the only ones capable of performing the Mana Implantation Ritual. They had a Skill that allowed them to phase through bodies, allowing them to feed a Mana Core to the Mana Circuits thirsted for it.

As Eliza walked through the long, stone corridor that led to an underground chamber, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of fear. The thick stench of what could only be feces or rotten flesh permeated through the corridor and the damp stone floor started to feel even more disgusting than it was underneath her bare feet.

Why this had to be done in a ritual chamber, Eliza did not understand.

She placed a thick napkin before her nose and breathed through her mouth, trying her best not to inhale any more air than necessary.

After she descended, she found herself in a room with a stone floor that seemed to have been scrubbed with sandpaper until it was perfectly smooth. The comfortable sensation from the stark contrast between the craggy stairs and smooth floor made Eliza pull her napkin down, only for her to almost gag.

Swiftly, Eliza covered her nose once again and stared at the cloaked figure. His flesh was an unnatural dark, verging on pure black and even his palms weren’t exempt from the color. Both eyes were covered by a dirty, white rag and his crimson hair was tied into a disheveled ponytail.

“You aren’t a human,” stated Eliza.

She didn’t even need to see his Soul to know that.

“Is that a problem, child?” asked the Prophet, his voice hoarse. It was like shattered glass, the pitch wrong yet oddly harmonic. It was so grotesque that it bordered on acceptable.

“How do they see you?” asked Eliza, her voice filled to the brim with disgust.

It was a Shade.

Humans shouldn’t be able to see Shades.

They were Souls in their barest form, pitch black and invisible to anything but Soul Vision. Created by… created by someone. Someone she did not fancy.

Eliza knew that, somehow.

“As they see you. With their eyes,” said Eliza.

That ought to be wrong.

They couldn’t be visible.

“I assume it is your first time seeing a Prophet,” said the gaunt Shade and uncomfortably tilted his head exactly 110 degrees to the left.

Eliza shuddered.

“It is mystifying… How you are alive. You died in your womb. Must have,” said the Shade and its face zoomed onto Eliza’s.

His corporeal form dissipated and formed inches from her, the cloak left behind where he stood previously. That revealed the Shade in its full glory —a creature of slithering shadows, devoid of a form.

“Your death has passed,” declared the Shade and slithered around her, “Impossible.”

“I’m alive,” retorted Eliza, glaring at the Shade as it circled her, spinning around as she did so. She felt his confusion and surprise. It was genuine and that slightly calmed Eliza, oddly, “How else would I be standing here?”

“Reincarnated,” said the Shade and formed into its humanoid shape, a pitch-black humanoid without any defining traits. Its face was blank and it did not have muscles nor genitals. Its body was gaunt and tall, easily reaching four meters in height yet the width of half a man.

“Reincarnated?” asked Eliza.

“Yes, reincarnated,” parroted the Shade, its voice now resembling a growl, “You died yet your Soul has not passed. You are neither alive nor dead. Yet… it is not against the natural order. You have your Soul still, burning as it would in life.”

Was that why she could think?

Was that why she was different?

“Who… was I?” asked Eliza.

“Stillborn. Died before you were born,” said the Shade as it closed in on her, “Red… Human, yes, yes. Must have been. Only humans are red.”

That didn’t explain anything.

Why would she be conscious from the moment she was born if she was merely a stillborn? It’d be obvious if she’d been an adult before yet she wasn’t.

“See your death, I cannot,” added the Shade and a grotesque cackle left its non-existent lips, sending a shiver down her back, “Immortal. Can not die. Interesting.”

It got closer and smelled her, which uncomfortably tugged on her Soul as if it was about to be ripped out of her chest, yet it remained there.

“Your Soul… familiar. Ah, already died. Once one of us,” said the Shade and gestured at the stone bed in the center of the room. It was as smooth as the floor, roughly the size of Eliza’s bed, “You cannot die. There is nothing to fear.”

“Immortal?” asked Eliza.

“Yes. No death,” whispered the Shade and flew past the bed as if it wasn’t there, turning into smoke as he did so, “Come. It is time for the ritual.”

Eliza slowly and uncertainly walked over to the bed and a Status Screen appeared.

Worldly Contract Notification

Condition: You will be considered “inanimate” until the Mana Core is inserted into your body while upon the table.

[Accept]

[Decline]

Phasing and leaving something inside someone…

It was a terrifying power but having her agree to be treated as inanimate surely had a purpose. Maybe the Shades couldn’t phase through the living and could only do so through inanimate objects, which she would be treated as for a certain duration.

A Worldly Contract was essentially a Contract that was made with the world which would allow for the System itself to modify the accepting party’s status in a manner. It wasn’t elaborated much but depending on the conditions, it seemed to be able to do anything ranging from granting conditional immortality to making someone immune to sicknesses.

They often had massive costs but being considered inanimate in itself was a cost, for that forwent the protection all living beings enjoyed.

Eliza consciously made the decision to agree and the Worldly Contract was solidified.

She stepped onto the table and closed her eyes. The cold stone beneath her made her shudder slightly but Eliza shrugged that off. It took only a few seconds for her body warmth to extend to the table and she made herself comfortable despite the hard ground.

“It will take time. Your circuits are large and the core is small,” said the Shade and walked over to her, holding a blue pearl in its boney hands. Its fingers were thinner than Eliza’s but at least twice as long as a grown man’s. After a slight pause, the Shade added, “There will be pain.”

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“Do it,” said Eliza and closed her eyes.

She’d endured the pain from the first time she used Qi so it couldn’t be all that bad… right?

It wasn’t.

The Shade shoved its hand into her chest and Eliza felt the chill travel along its trajectory. The core that it held in its hands, on the other hand, seemed to be burning hot. It was an uncomfortable mixture of hot and cold, making her gasp. She could barely breathe and tears streamed down her eyes.

It felt like she was being branded while being frozen to death, except all of it was focused within her chest.

Then it spread through her entire body —all of her Mana Circuits.

The hot Mana surged through her entire body once, twice, thrice, and… she lost consciousness.

***

Bright light could be seen even through closed eyelids and Eliza could see it. It was clear that she wasn’t in the ritual room anymore and her eyelids felt heavier than ever. Her eyes felt like they were sealed shut but Eliza pushed on until they were open, only to be assailed by sunlight.

She covered her eyes with one hand, which felt heavy as well. She recoiled from the light and closed her eyes again, her eyes unused to the brightness.

“Ugh,” said Eliza but the voice of someone she didn’t recognize came from her mouth.

She groggily opened her eyes, using her Mana Vision to get rid of the light. With the cover of the Mana, the light was hidden away behind a veil of darkness. With that, she could only see the gentle blue light of ambient Mana floating around.

It was far thicker than she was used to.

Eliza climbed up to a sitting position and looked around the room, checking for anyone with Mana but there was none.

System Notification

The [Mana Implantation] process has succeeded. You are now able to use Mana.

That was good.

Eliza summoned her Status Screen, intent on checking her status and more importantly, ready to see her Mana Pool.

Status Screen

Name

Eliza Fairman

Level

1

Race

Human

Title

Miss Fairman

Strength

4

Durability

12

Agility

4

Mana

57 / 60 (+0.1 per minute)

Dexterity

5

Willpower

∞

Eliza turned off her Mana Vision and closed her eyes.

60 Mana and Mana Vision took 0.1 Mana per second, meaning it was costly to keep up. She needed other Spells for reference but if she could only use it for 10 minutes before going dry, it wasn’t something she could use all the time.

Especially if she was going to fight using Mana and it regenerated so slowly.

Then there was the fact that some of her stats were lower. Strength, Agility, and Dexterity had grown smaller while only her Durability remained the same.

“How long has it been?” mumbled Eliza and heard her new voice again.

She knew that after Mana Implantation, she’d be unconscious for a period of up to a month but it didn’t feel like a month. Her voice couldn’t have changed so much in such a short period of time —it didn’t make sense to.

Finally, she opened her eyes and the light wasn’t enough to blind her again. She looked around the room and could see that it was her room. It seemed like her bed was smaller and that was all.

Wait…

It wasn’t her bed that was smaller.

She was taller.

“How old… am I?” she asked, this question not rhetorical, but directed at the System.

It has been 12,435 years, 5 months, and 2 days after your original birth.

It has been 7 years, 6 months, and 5 days after the birth of your current body.

“What?” shouted out Eliza, her eyes wide.

Twelve thousand!

“How?” she mumbled but the creak of the door snapped her out of her stupor.

A man that looked to be in his thirties adorned in a white shirt and dress pants walked in, clearly a stranger as Eliza didn’t recognize him. The man nodded his head after seeing her awake and walked up to her without a care in the world, clearly someone that was allowed entrance into her room. From his hips hung a small, brown pouch and that was the only defining feature of the man who looked completely unremarkable.

“You’re awake,” said the man as he calmly walked up to the bed and took a seat on a chair resting next to it.

Eliza didn’t use Appraisal on him, for it would be rude as she still remembered Miss Corbin’s etiquette classes, even if she had barely attended them.

“I’m awake,” said Eliza and stared at the screen that had yet to disappear, for she hadn’t excused it yet.

She was seven and a half years old now and that meant more than a year had passed.

A year of no movement at all meant that her muscles were atrophied. Perhaps that was why her stats had decreased despite her body growing more mature. It helped her grow up faster, in a way. Being stuck in the body of a child had many disadvantages, after all.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Fairman. This is the first time we’re meeting, I believe,” said the man and gave her a short bow, only with his torso, “Well, while you’re awake, at least. I’m what you’d call an Alchemist. That said, here’s your daily potion.”

He fiddled through his pouch and pulled out a vial with bright red liquid. It looked watery but seemed to be almost glowing.

Potion?

There were things like that?

“What’s this for?” asked Eliza, now holding the vial. She was more interested in her own hands than the potion. Her fingers seemed to be longer and leaner than she was used to. More importantly, her skin was as pale as her mother’s, completely unnatural.

“Condensed nutrients in liquid form,” said the Alchemist, “It’s the expected amount of nutrients you’d have absorbed from all three meals throughout your day.”

She didn’t know that.

“Mind the speed. It should be taken slowly,” said the Alchemist as Eliza put it against her lips. She sipped it slowly as if drinking hot tea. The fact that it felt like hot tea helped the matter. Perhaps a sort of spice, as the vial was cold but hot when it came in contact with her body.

After she finished it, Eliza felt full, like she’d eaten lunch.

“Ah, I didn’t fully introduce myself, did I? I’m Jonas. Your father hired me to make potions for you until you woke up,” he said and flashed her a smile, “I suppose that’s the end of that. Don’t think you’ve inconvenienced me. Exclusively working for a Noble is an extravagant deal on my end and for a year at that.”

“Where can I learn it? Alchemy, I mean,” Eliza asked bluntly, her eyes slightly wide and a smile on her face —it seemed interesting.

“That’d be the Imperial Academy,” said Jonas and raised an eyebrow, “I assume you’ll have plenty of time to study after being wed to the Third Prince. I don’t mind writing a recommendation letter to the academy if you wish to attend earlier, though. Lord Fairman will compensate me fairly, after all.”

No, it was too early to leave the mansion.

Eliza knew little of the world outside and her trip before the Mana Implantation Ritual had her shaken.

What if the Academy wasn’t what she expected it to be?

“I’d rather wait, thank you,” said Eliza and tried to get off her bed, only to find that her shoe was nowhere to be found. She sighed. It was an entire year since she’d last walked so that was an excusable mistake. As she was used to, Eliza yelled out, “Iris!”

No one came.

“Well, I’ll be taking my leave now that my job is done. I don’t mind informing the servants of your awakening. It’s rather… unexpected so not many are around this part of the house,” said Jonas and got up to his feet with sluggishness you’d expect to see from an old man.

“Please, do,” said Eliza and lied down again, almost winded.

Eliza activated her Mana Vision and looked at Jonas. His Mana Circuits were smaller than Fabian’s, which reminded Eliza to look at her own body.

Hers were smaller as well, but relative to her body, they were the same size as Fabian’s in width and length. Perhaps that was the maximum her body could hold for now, which would be reasonable. She was only two-thirds of the way to full maturity and 60 was a large number compared to her other stats.

Again, she needed reference.

When she lied down, a strand of hair fell before her face and Eliza’s first instinct was to push it away. After her brain realized that her hair wasn’t as she remembered it to be, her eyes widened —they were the same pale blonde color as her mother’s, now long enough to reach her lower back. Her hair hadn’t been cared for much and was now disheveled, almost rough.

Was she even bathed during her hibernation?

Against her better judgment, Eliza hopped to her feet and walked over to a mirror in her room. It was a large one that was as tall as Iris, which meant it was still far taller than Eliza. She was clearly taller than before and considering that she was almost eight years old, it was clear that she had much to do.

Her eyes had become the color of a sapphire rather than the brown she was used to and her hair color had completely changed.

“I’ve become… mother,” mumbled Eliza and checked her hair.

The slight waviness of her hair was still there. Not prominent, but present —that was good.

She liked that.

“Six more years. That’s a lot of time,” said Eliza, thinking about the arranged marriage that was forced on her. She couldn’t spend all that time at home, could she? She’d done everything she could at home barring reading all the books.

Microscopic Vision!

She needed that.

However, the very thought of reading books was dreadful.

They were too boring.