And then, Dila slowly opened her tight hand, fingers uncoiling with purpose. In a faint shimmer of light and soft static hum, her magical staff materialized... tall, elegant, and shining with ethereal energy. The Archane Staff.

She gave it a casual, graceful twirl, the orbiting magical shards around its head gliding through the air like stars in motion.

Then—clang!

She struck the base of the staff firmly onto the metal floor. A sharp, resonating pulse echoed through the lab, sending a brief wave of magic across the room, making even the glowing herbs flicker slightly in response.

Zeon, now leaning lazily against the wall with his arms crossed, raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"Hm. Show-off," he muttered, a crooked grin tugging at his lips.

Zib, on the other hand, gasped like someone had been stabbed. He practically dropped the tray of capsules in his hand.

"W-Wait—wait! Is that… Is that the Archane Staff?!"

Dila turned her head slowly toward him, brow raised slightly, clearly puzzled.

Zib's eyes were wide with disbelief. He pointed a shaky finger toward the staff, stammering like he had just seen a divine relic.

"I-I-I… I thought it was lost—long ago! That staff, it was said to be gifted by the Luminous Goddess herself! She… she passed it on to the next chosen inheritor!"

Dila blinked, head tilting just slightly to the side.

"…What?"

A moment of silence passed as she stared at him.

And then, in her mind, she sighed.

"Sigh… here we go again with this nonsense lore. I literally just bought it in the game shop…"

Inside her mind, Nari giggled softly, her delicate voice lighting up like a bell.

☆ Hahaha! Did you forget, Master? This Halo World isn't the same as before~! ☆

Dila rolled her eyes mentally.

"Yeah… right."

Her inner voice was completely deadpan.

Meanwhile, Zib was still circling the staff at a distance, whispering reverently under his breath like he was afraid it might smite him.

Zeon, now watching the scene unfold, leaned further into the wall and smirked.

"Oh, don't worry, Zib. She probably found it in a vending machine right next to the healing potions."

Fran giggled in the background, pawing playfully at one of the floating magic shards like it was a cat toy.

"Ooooh, so shiny~ Can I poke it?"

Dila sighed again, this time out loud holding her staff upright, eyes tired but amused.

It was going to be a long day.

And then Dila let out another sigh, long and tired, holding her staff upright as she looked at the mess in front of her.

"Zib… why did you drop the tray?" she asked flatly, her tone completely deadpan.

Zib froze... then he halfway hunched–and, without warning, collapsed to the floor in a panic bow.

"I-I'm sorry, Princess!" he shouted, his forehead nearly bouncing off the tiles. "It will never happen again!"

He began bowing frantically... tap, tap, tap—like a broken machine apologizing on loop, then scrambled to collect the spilled capsules with both hands. Glass vials clinked and rattled as he scurried across the floor, muttering like a frantic butler under inspection.

Dila blinked, then quickly brought one hand up to cover her mouth. Her shoulders twitched slightly.

She was trying very, very hard not to laugh.

In her mind, she sighed again.

"Even if I'm a king's daughter… he really shouldn't be this startled by me…"

Fran, watching from the side, was no longer trying to hide it. Her face puffed up as she tried to hold in a giggle, but then—snort!

She slapped both hands over her mouth and turned away, her tail swishing wildly behind her.

Zeon, still leaning the wall with crossed arms, glanced up at the ceiling with a smirk. He slowly ran his finger along his chin and down his neck in mock thought, voice dramatically sarcastic.

"Hmmm… perhaps, Zib," he said, drawing out the words like a nobleman, "you should not drink so much coffee. Excess caffeine does cause sudden uncontrollable flailing and panic responses, after all."

Zib, still on his knees and desperately collecting the vials like he was rescuing baby birds, snapped back without looking up.

"Shut up, friend!"

Zeon laughed quietly. "Friend? Oh, I feel honored."

Fran burst into another small giggle behind Dila, whispering, "He's acting like he dropped his whole salary…"

Zib grumbled something inaudible as he gently set a capsule upright only for it to roll away again.

Dila finally let out a soft laugh, shaking her head. For a moment, just a small moment, it didn't feel like a kingdom at war or a daughter preparing to fight her father.

It felt… like normal. And that made it special.

After all the chaos had finally settled. the vials picked up, Zib no longer trembling on the floor, and Fran still quietly giggling into her sleeves—Dila cleared her throat and tapped her staff once against the ground.

Clang.

"Alright," she said, her voice flat as ever, "let's start the alchemist smithing."

She paused, letting her cold stare sweep across the room.

"We don't have all day to keep getting startled… or doing unnecessary moves like backflips," she added, deadpan. "Or interpretive dancing. Or panic yoga."

Fran snorted again. "Panic yoga?"

Zeon raised an eyebrow, still leaning on the wall. "Don't look at me. I didn't do a single somersault today."

Zib, who was now gently patting the vials like they were fragile newborns, glanced up nervously. "I-It wasn't a backflip, it was...uh.... momentum reflex…"

Dila narrowed her eyes.

"It looked like a gymnastic tragedy."

Fran burst out laughing.

Zeon grinned. "Ten out of ten for form. Negative five for execution."

Zib groaned. "Can we please just start before I cry in here…"

Dila simply turned, lifting her staff slightly as the magical fragments around its head spun into formation.

"Then focus," she said dryly. "And let's try not to add 'accidental fire explosion' to today's progress."

The team nodded quickly.

And just like that… the alchemist smithing began.

As Dila calmly released her grasp, her long white staff hovered into the air, rotating gracefully as the orbiting magical shards spun like tiny moons around it. Soft hums of arcane energy echoed in the room as the tip of the staff began to glow with a pale blue light, preparing for the scan.

Dila placed her hands behind her back and spoke in her mind.

Nari, scan all the vials we need to craft. Prioritize the right combinations. What herbs do we need this time?

☆ Master… how did you even do alchemy crafting back then without needing me that much? ☆ Nari asked, her delicate voice half teasing, half genuinely curious.

Dila replied in her mind without expression.

Because now I actually need your help–to scan the most effective herbs to combine with minimal waste. I don't have the brain of a farming bot.

☆ Hehe, alrighty~ activating scan mode… ☆

Suddenly, the floating staff gave off a low beep–BIP–and a narrow beam of light shot from its head to the surface of the alchemist table. The light swept across the rows of vials and dried herbs like a magical barcode scanner from another dimension.

Dila blinked slowly. …Is that a new scanning power?

☆ Nope. You just never used it before. Back then, you only used… Bluetooth-like pings to scan for nearby threats.☆

Dila's mind froze.

…Bluetooth?

☆ Yes~ you always just pointed your thoughts or dispersed through the surrounding to analyse, so the staff part is not being used to hoped the signal paired by luck. It was like watching someone wave a wand hoping it connects to Wi-Fi.☆

The beam pulsed again.

☆ Sometimes it would even go, 'Device not found. Try again.' I thought you liked the challenge. ☆

In her mind, Dila deadpanned so hard the silence was practically visible.

…So I was alchemist crafting like a grandma trying to connect her phone to a speaker?

☆ Pfft—Yes!☆ Nari burst into a gentle, uncontrollable giggle. ☆ You even wiggled the staff like you were adjusting signal bars! ☆

Dila narrowed her eyes at the glowing staff still scanning peacefully slightly above her.

...I feel betrayed by technology.

Meanwhile, across the room, Fran tilted her head and whispered to Zeon, "Why is she staring at her own staff like it just insulted her hair?"

Zeon smirked. "Probably did."

As the scan completed with a chime, the results projected softly over the table in glowing glyphs. Dila slowly sighed and stepped forward.

"Let's craft," she muttered, still slightly dead inside from the Bluetooth like revelation.

As the soft scan-light from the staff faded and the glowing glyphs hovered gently above the alchemy table, Nari's voice echoed sweetly in Dila's mind.

☆ Upon analyzing the herbs… whoa… these have many different properties than I expected! So special~ ☆

Dila tilted her head slightly, eyes fixed on the glyphs. Different how?

☆ Like… really special! Some of them don't even match existing herb indexes. And you know what? Zib was actually right for once! ☆

Dila blinked. Wait. Zib was… right?

☆ Yep~☆ Nari chirped. ☆ He said some of these herbs aren't non existing in this world, and he wasn't wrong. There are traces of foreign ether signatures… like, totally not natural to this continent.☆

The staff glowed faintly, displaying some ancient herb names that even Dila hadn't seen in textbooks.

☆ In fact, I'm picking up signals that say some of these only exist in this very lab. This whole place is like a magical botanical black market that decided to go full secret mode.☆

Dila slowly lifted her hand to her chin, tapping it thoughtfully, her blue eyes narrowed in curiosity.

Ohh... that special, she thought aloud in her mind.

From the side, Fran peered over curiously. "Is she admiring herbs like they're fancy earrings?"

Zeon leaned back with a smirk, arms still crossed didn't budge in his place. "Maybe She gets that face when she's about to discover something illegal or genius."

Meanwhile, Zib standing nervously in the corner, perked up. "Wait, did she just say I was right?!"

Dila didn't reply. She was already too deep in thought, staring at one rare black-leafed herb as if it just whispered the secrets of the universe to her.