After catching up with Rose some more and having dinner, Lily was technically supposed to go to bed. The only issue was she was struggling to sleep thanks to the excitement of her mind bouncing around from topic to topic.

Since Lily was lying there with her eyes closed anyway, she decided to take the opportunity to try the meditation technique and hoped it would settle her down. At first, she did a full cycle of the regular one to help calm herself down; once that was done, she proceeded with the new method Arakil had described.

It took her some trial and error to get the right mental image of her Mana Core spinning and spreading out rather than gathering everything into it like a spiral. Eventually, she found minor success and felt the strange energy flow throughout her body.

She felt strangely rejuvenated like a thirst she never even knew she had was finally quenched. Once the flow had spread to her furthest extremities, she swapped back to the regular technique to reclaim the Mana.

Despite her initial expectations, the practice didn't leave her fatigued. Instead, she felt a lingering sense of rejuvenation. Lily was determined to make this practice a part of her routine, even if it would take more than a single evening to establish a habitual rhythm.

She was about to start another cycle when she yawned and realized she was ready for bed. She sighed as she broke out of the trance entirely, and after shifting to a newfound comfortable position under her blanket, she soon drifted off into slumber.

***

The next morning, Lily woke up feeling remarkably refreshed, as if she had just experienced the best night's sleep of her life. The fear of feeling terrible and unwell due to her excitement had vanished, replaced by a sense of relief and well-being.

Before fully getting out of bed, Lily eagerly practiced a few more cycles. She felt a sense of accomplishment as it only took her three tries to get her Mana Core to spin. The feeling of Mana flowing through her body was exhilarating, and she couldn't wait to learn how to use it.

"Hopefully, it isn't too hard to learn to imbue ink…" Lily mumbled to herself.

She was about to get up and talk to Arakil when there was a knock at her door. She grumbled a silent complaint before heading to open the door. She opened it to the expression of a slightly concerned Margit, although the woman suddenly brightened up when she saw Lily was up and about.

"Good morning, Lily, I hope you are feeling well?" Margit asked.

"Good morning! I'm feeling much better after getting some bedrest!" Lily exclaimed energetically, hoping it would be enough to cancel the doctor's visit entirely.

"That's a relief. Rose had mentioned you were feeling better, but once we have it confirmed, we can all rest easier," Margit explained, dashing any hopes Lily had of evading the doctor.

Lily reluctantly nodded.

"The doctor should be arriving within the next hour, so make sure you've washed up and are ready for him," Margit added.

"Okay…" Lily grumbled.

After a quick wash, changing clothes, and breakfast, Lily headed towards the nurse's office. One of the staff members was a retired nurse, and she foresaw most of the minor illnesses and injuries that the kids had accumulated over the years.

Lily didn't really like the woman. In her mind, she was barely qualified to put bandages on scrapes and bruises. She'd certainly never been able to help Lily in the past, which was why she was forced to see a doctor so often.

"It's too bad we can't afford a cleric; they're so much more interesting than doctors…" Lily whined.

From what Margit had told her, they'd needed to use a cleric to heal her shortly after her birth, which claimed her mother's life. Obviously, she was far too young at the time to recall even the most minor details of that encounter, and she regretted never having witnessed a miracle cast since then.

Clerics were either expensive or eccentric, depending on which church you sought aid from. Ceedale only had one church capable of producing healing clerics, Piety, and one of their doctrines was to always be paid their fair share.

"It's too bad we don't have one of the nicer ones, like Purity…" Lily sighed.

From what she had heard, they healed almost anyone without question. She realized that was probably why they had so few churches—struggling to survive on goodwill alone. This also explained why Piety was so successful in demanding payment for everything, which was also attractive for potential clerics, as everyone wanted proper compensation for their time and effort.

When she finally reached the nurse's office, she stared at the door before finally resigning herself to knocking.

"Come in!" A cheerful old voice said.

Lily sighed, opened the door, and headed inside. The nurse's office was relatively small, effectively just a waiting room with two adjourning private rooms, each with a bed.

The nurse was a froggish woman of Raninia heritage. Most of the kids seemed to like her, but Lily and her had a history. When the old woman saw who it was, her demeanor visibly soured.

"Oh, it's you…" She grumbled as her jowls puffed out in annoyance.

"It's me…" Lily grumbled back. "Margit said the doctor is coming."

The woman snorted. "You don't look sick, but I guess it's not my time being wasted… Go sit and wait." She said and pointed halfheartedly at the chairs lining the far wall.

Lily nodded and took her seat, quietly minding her own business. Since she had nothing to do but wait, she practiced trying to get her Mana Core to spin on demand.

"Lily!" Margit's voice interrupted her concentration, bringing her back to reality. The woman was also gently nudging at her shoulder.

"Huh?" Lily said, blinking confusedly and looking around.

"Did you doze off?" Margit giggled. "The doctor is waiting for you."

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Oh… Sorry!" Lily said, realizing she must have been deeper in her trance than she realized.

The nurse snorted and went back to reading her book.

Lily followed Margit to one of the private rooms where the doctor awaited her. Although his heritage was relatively minor, he was a man of Equinia origin in his thirties. Besides his slightly horse-like ears and equid-hooved feet, he looked virtually human.

"Ah, Lily, good to see you again!" The doctor said cheerfully.

"Shouldn't a doctor not want to see people again…" Lily mumbled.

"Lily, don't be rude to Doctor Teofelis!" Margit scolded.

The doctor, however, laughed.

"Very true! But hopefully, this will be just a minor checkup, and I'll be able to give you a bill of good health. It's been ages since our last checkup."

Lily nodded.

The doctor then proceeded to perform various tests. It started with taking her temperature before ultimately moving on to checking her breathing and heartbeat. With each test that went by, the doctor seemed to be getting more bewildered.

"Interesting…" Doctor Teofelis murmured as he scratched at his chin.

Oh no... Did he notice my Mana Core? Lily worried.

"Interesting, good or bad?" Margit asked with concern.

Lily was silent, fearing something was wrong.

"Interestingly good," Doctor Teofelis replied, seeming to be double-checking some of his old patient notes. "Very good, in fact!"

Both Magit and Lily seemed confused by his exclamation.

"Lily, could you perhaps do a few jumping jacks for us?" Doctor Teofelis asked.

"Doctor, she was bedridden for almost two entire days!" Margit said, evidently concerned.

"I understand. Trust me." Doctor Teofelis replied.

Lily nodded and proceeded to do a few jumping jacks. Margit stared with visible concern while the doctor seemed eagerly watching. When Lily finished five, she stopped, and the doctor took her heartbeat and checked her breathing again.

"Remarkable!" Doctor Teofelis said happily as he seemed to scribble down something in his notes.

"What?" Lily and Margit both asked together.

"Forgive the pun, but little Lily here is as healthy as a horse!" The doctor replied excitedly.

Lily immediately felt relief; it was clear that the doctor hadn't discovered her Mana Core. She hoped to keep her magic a secret until she was ready to pass the test with flying colors.

"But she was bedridden?" Margit questioned.

"It must have been an amazing nap!" Doctor Teofelis joked.

Margit looked extremely unamused, and so he elaborated frantically.

"I promise you I'm telling the truth! This is the healthiest I've ever seen her. I double-checked my records, and she should have been wheezing from just doing two or three jumping jacks. But look at her! She looks ready to do another five if I ask."

Margit looked at Lily, who just shrugged her shoulders.

"How?" Margit asked.

Doctor Teofelis laughed. "Well, if I were with the Church of Piety, I'd claim it was a miracle and charge you an arm and a leg."

Seeing neither laugh at his attempted joke, he continued. "Part of me wants to say that perhaps she's finally growing into her body. Maybe her new routine of frequent fresh air and walks has done her a world of good."

"I somehow doubt a few walks would solve what we went through… But I must admit she's been much more active lately…" Margit admitted.

"Well then, perhaps old Camilla felt bad and fed her a magic potion?" Doctor Teofelis suggested. "Although I somehow doubt that old penny pincher would be convinced to give up an elixir worth that much."

Margit turned to Lily for an answer, but she frantically shook her head to deny it, her ears flopping as she did.

"So the sky won't be falling from Camilla suddenly becoming charitous," The doctor teased.

Margit frowned, and Lily just hoped the attention would be off her.

"Does that mean Lily will eventually be normal?" Margit asked.

"That's a little mean, I'd say she's plenty normal," The doctor teased.

Margit looked unamused. "You know what I mean…"

Doctor Teofelis sighed. "I don't know… I don't want to give false hope and say yes, but it's possible. However, I don't think a sudden bout of good health will undo years of underdevelopment. At the very least, I don't foresee her condition deteriorating, and while she won't be sprinting around like a rabbit, she might eventually be on par with humans."

Lily was shocked by that revelation. Was this bout of good health from the two dire hawks that died? Rather than gaining strength like Rose, had it improved her constitution? Or was this an unexpected side effect of her Mana Core? Arakil had certainly not mentioned this outcome.

"I see…" Margit replied. "Thank you, doctor."

"Anytime! When you contacted me, and I heard it was Lily, I was growing a bit nervous that somehow things had gotten worse. I'm very relieved to see her in such glowing health."

He gently touched her head and ruffled her hair and ears. She flinched and grumbled a minor complaint, to which the doctor laughed.

"You can run along, Lily. You'll need to get ready for classes and work since you've been given a clean bill of health," Margit said.

"Oops, should I have said you need another day of rest to get out of classes?" Doctor Teofelis joked, and this time, Margit finally laughed with him.

Lily thanked him for the checkup and hastily left, dodging the accusatory looks sent her way by the nurse.

When she reached her room, she was somewhat startled that she was hardly out of breath. Her walks to and from the ritual site were never this easy, which meant that it was a much more recent development than the dire hawks.

She reached for her door handle and paused.

Am I going to get better? Lily wondered.

She had always imagined what it would be like if she were a normal Lagia and could run and sprint around like the other kids.

But… Lily shook her head.

No. She didn't care about that anymore; her new goals and dreams lay with magic!

She closed her eyes and tried spinning her Mana Core. She clicked her tongue in annoyance when it took two tries to get it right.

That would have been the perfect moment to get it on the first try!