Nateaser: Reborn As My Love Interest

Nati - Ch. 94

"S-so you remember me!" The shaman yelled, his face turning a bit red. Yes, he told me something about the Academy before and was upset, that Alex didn't seem to recognize him.

"Of course I do, what did you think? You followed me everywhere, while the others complained, that you always chased them off." Alex shrugged, followed by a smile. "Anna especially. She loved to play the mother in that place. She enrolled on her own money too, one of the few beastfolk, that was free and rich."

"And who is Alpha and Gamma? Sounds like the letters of the alphabet." I asked curiously, and the answer came from Omerta this time.

"You heard about them before, maybe just not on these names." The orc witch explained. Her pine staff slowly grew roots, although it was still multiple times faster than nature intended. "The hobgoblin, called Alpha is better known today as the Demon Lord, and his close friend, Gamma was an ogre, that this master chef banished."

She nodded towards Lambert, whose face turned all pale. They said, he banished the other demon-class monster but never paired a name to that story.

"Why the letters though?" I wondered and they all shrugged at the same time. I guess, the Lesser Races could name themselves anything they wanted. I decided to return to my magic stone instead. "So it was a wedding gift from Fang to Anna, right?"

"Wedding gift? No, they were already married for half a century." Alex shook her head. "Even their daughter was thirty or forty? No, it was more of a... Celebratory gift, that she got accepted? I hadn't asked, but I know she wore it from pretty early on and never parted with it either. I'm surprised it's still here, to be honest."

"Why is that?" I asked but realized before her answer.

"Because Anna, the Academy, and the old capital disappeared not long after." The Goddess noted, glancing at the ground. I regretted my question. A long and awkward silence followed. It enabled us to hear how the magical trees started to grow though.

"So... Can't I make a staff with this crystal as its focus point?" I tried to change the topic since that's what we were here for in the first place. "If I can't draw blood... And maybe it's not even your blood that is needed. I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Blood? No, you need a fragment of your soul." Alexandra claimed, and everyone suddenly froze to stare at her. They made hilarious faces, but only Emi dared to laugh. "You see, the body can be replaced, or rebuilt. It's nothing more than a container for your souls, a material shell, that enables it to interact with this world."

I don't know how much the others understood from this. The only thing it said to me, was that I didn't need to prick my finger after all.

"But magic and the mana come from a different plane of existence." The Goddes continued after a little pause. It quickly turned into an academic presentation, she even summoned a few lights and floating shapes to demonstrate her point. "It is interwoven with this one, but the thing it interacts with when magic is being cast is your soul, not your body. So what you need to include in your staff is a fragment of that, to ensure it will grow as a literal extension of you."

"So, um, did we all do it wrong?" Omerta asked while shooting a glare toward Lambert. "The wizard boy said we need our blood to grow it. Did we waste all this time then?"

"T-that's what I read in the scriptures!" The human yelled, still pale ever since the Goddess mentioned his name, especially now, that he got accused of instructing us wrong. "The mages used their blood to grow their staff from a blessed seed. I don't know what else to say."

"Oh well, that's one way to do it if they didn't want to risk their soul. If done wrong, it might shatter." Alex shrugged, rearranging the picture she projected into the air. "In a sense, your blood goes through your heart, and that's the closest organ to the soul. So it can work. But why not use the real thing? Sure, it's not that simple, and I bet they decided it's too dangerous... I'm not surprised if they chose the less efficient method."

"Wait, how do I extract a piece of my soul then? Or should I even try if it's that risky?" I was too worried to ask, but we came all this way already. My soul lived in someone else's body, so using her blood was not an option anyway. I wanted a staff though. I needed every advantage to catch up with the witches at some point.

"I show you." The Goddess smiled, and before I flinched, she reached out, to touch my forehead.

Sensations I felt before and could not ever forget.
Our minds quickly came together, and I felt no regret.
Unable to resist all her beauty, charm, and power.
Lower I sunk subconsciously, lower, lower, lower.
Saw light so deep that I did not expect it to appear.
Passing by my old memories, all looking crystal clear.
"Listen to me carefully now" I heard her voice whisper.
"I don't want your soul to fracture, or grow out a blister."
Not knowing what it all meant, just following on a whim.
The lights that shone all around us slowly started to dim.
Ever the so easy to feel overwhelmed and dumb me.
Returned now from all the darkness, struggling again to see.

"W-what was that?" I asked once the voices no longer stunned my brain.

"I used the elven method, it's a lot clearer cut than what the humans developed," Alex explained as if it made any more sense.

I wanted to question her further but noticed a light floating ahead. It looked no more than a firefly, albeit behaved differently than a bug. I saw right through it, and once I reached out my hand passed right through. It floated above my palm next, and I couldn't help, but stare at it mesmerized. The others saw it too, mouths hanging open.

"That is your shard." The Goddess noted. "I randomly picked a few kind memories and helped you separate them from the rest. Here, a cherry seed, try and grow your tree with it."