“How is she?” Carol Summers came into a room where there was a big bed with a wooden frame and a whole piece of light green crystal as the base. On the bed lay Emilia Corin, the de facto apprentice of Carol Summers.

“She’s not waking up anytime soon.” the main healer in charge sighed and shook her head: “Overexertion of her magical power, as well as the power of her gift has put a heavy toll on her body. Her meridians all over her body had some kind of tearing wounds or lacerations. She won’t die, but it’s going to take a lot of work to fix her. Even if she wakes up, even if we are able to make sure that the effects are not permanent, it’s going to take her perhaps years to recover.”

“What about her gift? Is it damaged? Has she lost it?”

“It’s too early to tell, but I’m not optimistic about it.” the healer turned back and took a look at Emilia Corin: “Like I told you before, the gift seemed to be mostly bound to her soul, if we’re not really really careful, she’s gonna lose it. Then all of the work we did would be for naught.”

“Okay, keep me posted.” Carol Summers walked around the bed and examined Emilia Corin’s conditions carefully, and it turned out the main healer was not lying, in fact, she was putting it in a generous and optimistic way: both the body and soul of this apprentice of hers was falling apart, and with all her experience and knowledge, there was probably indeed no way to heal her: “Dig into my medicine cabinet if needed, and let me know what you need.”

“We’re compiling a list for the medicines that we will need.” the main healer said: “And there are some other things we could name but there’s probably no easy way to obtain. For example, to revert the deep and unforgiving damage to her meridians and her mind, we could only think of using the Dew of the Half Moon.”

“Dew of the Half Moon?” Carol Summers frowned and tried to confirm with the main healer: “Is it absolutely required?”

“It’s the best hope we’ve got.” the main healer answered: “We’re trying to use some recipe of a specific concoction we stole from the Grant Academy, and we will be listing the ingredients in the list as well. It’s an attempt at replacing the Dew of the Half Moon, but from the manual we have it’s not where the original researchers would like it to be.”

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“And I would imagine that the ingredients would be heavily controlled or even restricted?”

“Yes. And a lot of them are hard to come by regardless of their restricted status. They mainly come from Realm Green Rock, there are some other sources, but they’re equally rare.”

Carol Summers let out a long sigh, then said after a long moment of silence: “... do whatever you need to do. At least, make sure that her gift is not going to be lost.”

“Are you sure?” the main healer hesitated for a short moment and asked: “This kind of gift, it’s going to bring great tolls on whoever that owns it. It’s not something that mere humans could wield ...”

“That’s not your concern.” Carol Summers cut the main healer off, turned around and started walking out of the room: “Get that list ready as soon as possible, before the end of today. And we shall see to it that the medicines and ingredients be prepared.”

“Yes, Ms. Summers.” the main healer nodded and said.

“Where are we on who this spy could be?” when her maid, who was also her assistant and the main trainer of Emilia Corin, reported back to Carol Summers to inform her that her guest was ready, she asked.

“We’re trying to narrow the range down for now.” the maid answered: “And it’s very possible that it’s among our ranks instead of Soren Lupei’s, since if it is someone amongst the lycans or vampires they shouldn’t know how important Emilia is. But judging from the fact that they don’t actually know what Emilia’s gift is, it’s not someone from the most inner circle.”

“So that’s about less than eight people.”

“Five, and we’re trying to check their routes and contacts, we will have something very soon.”

“Which is good news for us, since they won't know about, much less leak any information to our dear Mama Reaper about what we’re about to do tomorrow.”

“Speaker of which, Soren Lupei and his team, are here with some … additional help.”

“Additional help?” Carol Summers frowned, and then she came into the meeting place where Soren Lupei and his team were waiting for her appearance: “Soren, you’re here early.”

“Hey, Carol, always nice to see you.” Soren Lupei stood up with the rest of his team, then gently bowed.

“So, I counted two more individuals for your team.” Carol Summers looked around in the room and said to Soren Lupei in a low voice up close: “You should know that this is not going to change the split I am willing to offer you. Sixty percent is already the maximum I am willing to give.”

“Don’t worry, they’re just here as additional help. They have experience dealing with Lucias Vyn’s crew. They battled some of their best power wielders when guarding our plant. Now they’re hungering for revenge.”

“Good.” Carol Summers nodded: “I trust that your team is fully prepared and everyone is briefed already about our plan? It’s a deserted castle, but most of the protection mechanisms should still be in place.”

“Everyone is fully aware of the challenges they will face and the risk they are taking.”

“Good, the blessing arrays will be ready soon, as are your temporary rooms. Everything you asked for should be prepared already. And we leave tomorrow at first light.”