{2 years later.}

“Yui, the doctor is calling you.”

An 8-year-old Yui looked at Nera. It was as if she knew what was going to happen to her. Her eyes flickered a little, but then she smiled and said to her best and only friend, “I’m going, Nera.”

Nera had a sad expression; she knew what was waiting for her friend. She had been in that place for 3 years and had gone through many experiments.

“Yes, I will be waiting for you here,” Nera said and tried to smile, but it was almost impossible for her to be able to smile at this moment.

Yui held Nera’s two hands when she said, “You once asked me if I was sad to come here, remember?”

“Yes,” Nera answered, recalling the subject.

“Actually, I’m glad it happened.” Yui smiled kindly. “I was able to meet you thanks to this, and even though I had to go through all this, I felt and discovered what it was like to be happy when I was by your side.”

“I am also happy to have met you, Yui.” said Nera. But finding it strange, she asked, “But why are you saying this now?”

“No reason in particular,” she replied with a smile. “I just wanted you to know that.”

Yui went to hug Nera, but the man lost his patience and entered the room, dragging Yui out from inside.

Nera didn’t know why, but she felt her chest tighten. It was different from other times. She felt that this was not right. She started screaming, wanting them to bring her friend back, but they didn’t hear her call.

Day after day, Nera waited for her friend without sleeping. Minute by minute, hour after hour, day after day.

Every day she screamed, asking them to bring her friend back. But no one replied or brought her friend back. After a week, she didn’t want to think about it, but … she thought that her friend Yui wasn’t able to resist the experiments and died.

“No, no… Yui is a strong girl! She would not die!!” She screamed out loud, wanting to convince herself.

But even 1 month later, her friend did not return…

“You bastards! You killed my friend!!” Nero screamed out loudly, “I’m going to kill you all for what you did to her…”

*

“Yui!!!” Nero woke up shouting that name. She was crying without knowing why she was crying. Suddenly, she remembered the things that happened in her dream and the tears continued to fall.

“Nero, everything is fine.” Choko, who was sleeping next to Nero woke up and hugged her. Although confused, she comforted Nero, “It was just a nightmare; you are fine. I am here for you.”

“En…” Nero nodded but was still frightened. She became afraid to sleep again. Everything she saw in her dreams was too real and the tortures were inhumane. She couldn’t believe that something like this could be real.

Of course, the possibility that this happened to the former owner of this body was something that Nero considered. If not, there was no logic for her to be dreaming about these things, since she had never seen anything like this before.

After having that nightmare, Nero didn’t sleep anymore. She stayed awake outside next to Jana who was on guard.

“Are you sure you don’t want to sleep any more?” sitting on a tree trunk, Jana asked her.

“I’m sure.” Nero, who had learned a few words before, was able to respond naturally. Even the conversations she saw in her dream, she had remembered each one.

“Can I ask you a question?” Jana looked at Nero and asked softly.

“You just asked a question, but yes, you can,” Nero smiled.

Jana laughed a little and asked, “I was wondering: why did you come to help us?”

“This… Mm.” Nero was thoughtful. She then replied, “It was not out of any sense of justice. As I flew with my wings, I heard very loud laughter. It was disgusting and reminded me of two thieves who tried to do disgusting things to me. So, I went to see what was going on, and that’s when I saw you and the rest being attacked by a group of thieves, and I also recognized one of the thieves who has been one of the thieves who before came to attack me with impure motives.”

“Wow! What an incredible coincidence!” Jana smiled widely, “It is our luck that this happened, or else, we would have died.”

The possibility of being raped, which was the intention of the thieves, did not cross Jana’s mind, since just as Choko had the chastity pill, she also had one. Of course, something even more extreme could have still happened, with Choko and her being captured and tied or knocked out before they could even take the chastity pill.

“Could you tell me a little about how to use magic?” Nero blinked her eyes as she waited for her answer.

“Sure. What exactly would you like to know?” Jana saw no problem in talking about it.

“I’m mainly interested in how to conjure up mana.” Nero expressed her doubts. “I know more or less how it works, but I still don’t know exactly how to use it.”

“See this?” Jana manifested a small flame on the tip of her index finger. Nero nodded and Jana went on to say, “Conjuring mana is a lot like moving any part of the body, although a little more difficult. But just as we move our bodies automatically, if we train a lot, we can conjure up mana as an extension of our body. Now we come to the most important part: which is how to conjure up mana.

When we reach a certain level, mana starts to be present in our body. We all have the ability to raise or lower our vibration of mana based on the thoughts we choose, the emotions we feel, the actions we take, and the alignment of our soul. For example: suppose for a moment that there is an aspect of you, your ‘higher self’ if you like, that is so deeply powerful and vibrates at such a high heat that it could potentially melt the sun…”

Nero closed her eyes while doing what Jana said and she began to be surrounded by a dark grayish aura, like smoke from a fire that was extinguished by water.

Although surprised, Jana continued to speak, “Just as you train your body through physical exercise and you train your mind through reading, mana also needs to be ‘exercised’. Someone who wants to use their mana must always exercise their mana, but given time, they will succeed. This includes you; just using it every day, even for small tasks, can improve mana control. This is also similar to learning to walk. In the beginning, you may stumble several times, but with practice, it makes perfect.”

When Jana stopped talking, Nero opened her eyes and was surprised to see that she was surrounded by a dark grayish aura. “What is this?”

“What you have around your body is called a [Mana Field],” Jana explained, “Many wizards use this to defend themselves against magical and physical attacks. Of course, if for example I, who am a fire mage, were to make a field of fire mana, it would naturally have a greater defense if I am attacked by fire than not. In your case, I believe it is against dark energy, but of course, it will also help to defend against the other elements – although the result is less.”

“Mm, I understand, but I feel that my mana is being sucked up very quickly.” Nero asked hurriedly, “How do I stop this?”

{Edited by: Azurtha}