Lupri, the First's Castle:

No one laughed at Bristlecone's joke, but he didn't seem to care, all he did was head to a random seat and sit down, he showed no care for how he was treated.

Nulara didn't know if it was on purpose or not, but the seat Bristlecone took was right next to the one she had been sitting on before he entered, she didn't know if it would be better if she changed her seat or not, but in the end, she decided against that when she saw that Amathira said nothing.

And so, inside that big, luxurious hall, they all sat in silence waiting for the arrival of the other members of the Pact of Ten.

***

The Beasts' Forest:

Next to a small stream going through the forest, Adam and Susan, who had just finished their lunch, were sitting face to face.

The place they chose was quite beautiful, with the bubbling sound of water, the gentle warmth of the sun that passed through the leaves, and the comforting breeze going through the land, Susan felt relaxed and drowsy, and her heartbeats started slowing down as she lost herself in the moment, she knew that if she laid on the short grass she was sitting on, she would fall asleep in no time at all.

"Okay then, it's time to talk about some important things I guess..." Just as she was studying the viability of turning those ideas into reality, she heard Adam's lively voice as he clapped his hands, "... I have given you a promise after all," he continued.

Susan practically jumped in her place as her wide eyes flew towards Adam, studying his face closely. Her heart beat faster and she felt her muscles contract as if she was facing a horrible adversary.

"Calm down, there's no need for you to be so flustered, take deep breaths," Adam tried to console her in a gentle tone of voice.

'It's easy for you to say that!' She shouted internally, she had been waiting for this moment ever since Adam told her that he was going to explain to her what had happened before.

She had enough time to think about what happened on her own, and with that, she concluded that what occurred the day before wasn't because there was a special element that refused to react to adam and for some reason reacted to her, no, from how Adam put things that day, it was somehow clear that she had the unique element that made the wall and the floor react when she touched them, something was wrong with her.

Susan took a few deep breaths as she tried to calm herself down, she understood that Adam was right and that overreacting won't help in any way, a while after, her breaths calmed down and she could control her nerves again.

"That's good," Adam nodded with a chuckle after Susan finally calmed down before saying seriously, "what I'm going to say right now is all I've noticed about you till now, you must have noticed it yourself, but there are quite a bit of weird things about you."

Saying that Adam stopped and looked at Susan, he appeared as if he was waiting for a reaction from her. Susan from her side, just took more deep breaths as she nodded at him, telling him to continue.

"...hmm, where to start then," he laughed as he scratched at his chin, "I know that you want to know what happened yesterday, but there are many other things I think deserve to be mentioned... Well, let's start with the first thing I've noticed.

"Actually, the first weird thing I have noticed about you I noticed even before meeting you."

Susan couldn't help but show a weird expression as she tried to understand what Adam was meaning with those words, but she remained silent, knowing very well that he was going to explain anyway.

And just as expected, he continued, "You remember how that night was, right?"

She nodded slowly, she actually didn't think that she would be able to forget that night even if she wanted, it was engraved in her memory forever.

"That night was moonless and the forest was extremely dark, running through the forest, under those circumstances, isn't easy, even for individuals of some other races, not to mention a human..." Here Adam stopped shortly as if to give Susan the chance to realize what he was implying.

With the push from Adam's words, Susan started realizing something she had ignored till then, something she hadn't noticed till that point. That night, as Adam said, even though it was supposed to be as dark as possible, and with no real sources of light, she didn't trip at all and continued her escape without any similar problems, as if she wasn't running through a forest in a dark moonless night, but through an open meadow in a sunny day.

She never noticed before because she was strongly fighting the memories of that night, stopping herself from remembering what happened to her and what she went through, that was a night she would wipe of her memories gladly if she got the chance.

"... But not only you didn't trip at all," he continued, "you also avoided all the trees and obstacles in your way as if you were able to see them... Were you able to?"

"I... I think so..." With trembling lips, she answered Adam's question with some hesitation and confusion.

Adam nodded lightly as if he already guessed that that was the case before continuing:

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Were your senses always this sharp?"

She knew that that was quite important because it would show if that was her normal or something that only happened when she was running from the village that night.

"No... No, I don't think so, my senses were always normal, none of them was even above no..." She answered truthfully before realizing what he had said:

"Wait, you said senses? Do you mean...?"

"Oh, look at me, how hasty I am," he laughed lightly, "yes, your vision wasn't the only sense that was unusual that night, your sense of hearing too was quite sharp."

"I don't want to boast, but I'm quite good at sneaking, and even though I didn't put many thoughts into following you that night because I saw that you were but a human, there was still no chance that you should have been able to hear me at all... Yet you did..."

Again, Adam's words reminded Susan of what happened back then, she could remember hearing Adam's advancing footsteps quite clearly too.

Adam didn't continue, he stopped for a bit, as if giving her the chance to calm down, seeing her in a better state and that she was with him again, he went on:

"Those are not the only things I discovered that first night we met, your speed then was another such a thing, you were moving fast, faster than a normal human would have been able to, and even some of the weaker races would have trouble keeping up with that speed, especially for how long you kept it going."

Adam didn't see any reaction from Susan to this, that wasn't because this didn't affect her, no, it was because she was turning numb after taking hit after hit and her mind was still trying to process all that she heard and was feeling.

"The next thing I'm going to talk about is something I discovered just as I caught you," added Adam, taking Susan's lack of reaction as a sign for him to continue, "back then, when I caught you, your hand got injured, and your feet were wounded from you running around barefoot and all, so I tried to heal you, healing magic isn't something I'm skilled in, but I know more than enough to heal the kind of wounds you had."

"But... It didn't work...?" She asked as she gulped audibly.

Adam not healing her and the way he used to avoid the subject when she brought it up was something that made her warier of him than she was at first, that made her feel as if he had a hidden agenda, or was hiding something from her, so getting an explanation out of him then was quite relieving, but then the truth that magic didn't work on her settled in and fear of the unknown came with that.

"Exactly," he continued as his expression turned graver, "at first I assessed that your wounds weren't that serious, so I didn't use much mana and only cast a simple healing spell, but then I noticed that I didn't succeed, your wounds showed no signs of improvement, thinking that that was because I didn't use enough mana and that your wounds might have been worst than expected, I used another healing spell on you, one much stronger and using way more mana, but, even that didn't work..."

All Adam's attention was on Susan as he concluded:

"That finally made me stop and reevaluate the situation, the problem wasn't from the spell, the mana or any of that... The problem was you."

It appeared as if he wanted to see if Susan was going to show any indication that she knew what he was referring to, but whatever it was that he wanted, Susan didn't have the luxury to care about any of that, she just looked at him blankly, as if in a deep shock.

Seeing her in that state for a long time, Adam sighed, took his bottle of water and handed it to her.

"Here, drink a bit of water and try calming yourself down," he said as he patted her shoulder.

Susan took the bottle with shaking hands before lifting it to her lips, taking a tiny sip, even as she did, she was still lost in her thoughts and what she had just heard.

She didn't understand what all that meant, she didn't know a lot about magic and she didn't know if magic not working on her had any other implication for those who did, and most importantly, she didn't know if that was of any danger on her.

Everything about the situation was outside the limits of her understanding, after all, just a few days ago, she was but the daughter of a farmer, a human who had no link nor understanding for magic.

"Should I continue? We can stop here, we're still going to be together for a while, we can come back to this any other time," noticing that she wasn't taking the news that well, Adam suggested with a small frown on his face.

"N... No, I'm alright, I'm just trying to understand what this might mean... I'll be alright in a bit..." She answered as she returned to herself.

"Okay..." He proceeded again, "back then even I didn't know what that meant, but in the last few days, after spending more time with you and after many things happened, I noticed some things, and I... I have a few suspicions about what this might be."

Susan sat straighter as she heard that, her heart calming down a bit, at least, there might be an explanation for this, and things might not be as bad as she thought.

"What I imagine is happening to you," he started, "...is that somehow, and for some reason... You can absorb mana."