I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed.

It's been a few hours since we departed from home to see Mom's brother and so far the only things which are magical I've seen are the awkward silence and the carriage the three of us are riding, a floating autopilot one obviously.

I should remember to ask someday the deal with that, the making everything float obsession I mean.

Sitting on dad's laps I'm looking through the windows but the only thing in sight are fields, fields, sometimes trees and then fields. Are every places which are not humans settlements or forests, fields ?

At least the view is quite beautiful but I expected something more, I don't know, enchanting ?

We can't have everything I suppose. Well, there's still hope as we are still not even remotely close to our destination according to what Mom just said.

"2 days huh ? Ahh, your brother sure lives far away. I hope we have enough food, you didn't forget the milk did you ?" Dad said with a sigh, resting his head on the windows beside him.

I wonder how long is a day here. And an hour too if it even exists.

Mom, slightly pouting. "Who do you think I am, of course I didn't forget." My eyes not missing the way she discretely verifies her ring. Because yes, space rings exist.

"Sure sure." Dad said with a smile, lifting his hands up like a criminal. "What's our next stop already ? Just want to be sure."

"You forgot, don't you ? Why do I even bother telling you to begin with if you always do ?" She said, exhaling her visible exasperation. "Well, it's a small village called Birl which is still a bit far away. We will be there before nightfall so don't worry about that, and because I'm a prepared person I already reserved a hotel room for us."

"Ahh that's great; aren't we lucky to have your mom with us, Silvia ?" Dad asked giggling a little.

"Aye !" I cried with a smile. Acting like a baby really starts to get into me.

Seeing my reaction Mom speaks up. "Hey, do you think she can understand what we are saying ? Sometimes I really wonder seeing how she acts when I say things." She says to dad.

I should be more warry of my own actions in the future.

"No way, she's what ? 6 or so months ? A child understanding speech that earlier is unheard of. You're just imagining things." He shruged.

"Maybe you are right.." She answered him back, slightly squinting her eyes at me for a few stressing seconds at looking away before broking a laugh.

"That reminds me, she still didn't say her first word." He said, scratching his chin. "I bet it will be 'papa' ! Right, Silvie ? I'm papa, repeat after me. Paaaapa." He continues pointing at himself after turning me around. "Paaaaaapaaaaa."

Swiftly getting up she snatches me from his lap before glaring at him. "Stop corrupting my baby ! No, my little fae, what you have to say is mama, it sounds better than papa right ? Maaaamaaa." She said while trying to sound cute.

… birds of a feather flock together don't they say eh ?

When we are together like that I can't help somehow but smile, there is always something funny going on.

Before I realized it, day became night, I guess I fell asleep without realizing it. We were quickly approaching distant lights.

"Before nightfall right ?" Dad smirked at mom with a big yawn.

"At least we are here !" Mom says after raising her voice a bit. Noticing me leaving my sleep with a yawn. "Oh no, I'm sorry for waking you up Silvie." Proceeding then to gently rub my head at which I yawn a second time.

Only a few seconds later, the carriage stops moving and mom gentle rubbing with it. She goes down from our ride using the little stairs set for this purpose before turning her head toward dad. "I will go first to get the key to our room, you will find me in the lobby. Take care of her."

"See you in a bit, you can count on me." He winked at her.

Then she leaves us, disappearing inside the building our carriage stopped in front of.

"It's only the two of us now Silvie, do you want to ride daddy's shoulders ?" He claped his hand grinning.

Eh, why not. I make some baby sounds in approval.

It seems he understood as he picks me in his arms gently before going outside just like Mom before. Once outside, where the chilly nighttime's air reign, he put me on how slim but toned shoulders, my hands on his head. "You like it up there ?" He asked me.

To which I answer with pulling 2 tufts of hair, one in each of my hands. I will make you the best cook in Paris young man, answer my command and go get me some pepper !

"Oww ouch, stop it ow." He said with a pained face as entered the hotel.

"You took your time." Mom said looking at him before noticing the pain he is in. "A grown man being bullied by a 6-month-old baby, I can say I've seen everything now. Come on let's go to our room."

"I'm truly all alone in this harsh world, how poor me." He said, excessively dramatic. "Please Silvie spare me this once." He followed with folded hands.

Ahh, youngsters these days really don't have any gratitude. If you had received my guidance you would have become the best among the bests !

Well, it can't be helped if you reject me like that.

Stopping giving my kindness to his auburn scalp, he thanks me before following Mom who was already walking.

Room 021, it's quite spacious. There is a unique big bed and another room which I suppose is the bathroom. The walls are all, ceiling included, painted black and there's a sole light sphere on the dark wooden table beside the bed. Sphere Mom proceeds to switch on with her right hand.

I didn't note it before, surely because we were outside at the time, but it looks like you can control the intensity of these orbs. I wonder how that works.

"Veressa, go wash yourself and Silvie first. I'll prepare something for us to eat. By the way, can you get me the portable stove ? It's in your ring." He asked Mom.

"There you go." She answered, handing him the stove which suddenly appeared out of thin air.

"Come on Silvie let's go wash, my nose is telling me you need it." She picks me up from the comfy bed.

----

"Ahh, I resurrect. You don't how much you want to shower until you get stuck into a carriage during a hot day." She said, stretching her arms. "Do you like it too my fae ? I bet you do eh eh." She continued, gently pinching my cheeks.

Hell yes I do, some water sure is refreshing after a day of travel.

"Come here sweetheart, I will dry you." She said, tugging me in a black towel after slipping in one of the bathrobes provided with the room.

Leaving the bathroom, a nice smell reaches my nostrils. A nice stew I bet !

"Girls, for dinner an unctuous meat stew accompanied with a mixed salad. And for the little one a delicious bottle of warm milk just as you like it." He said slightly bowing with a towel on his arm like a fancy waiter.

Ah yes, milk, my nemesis. I hope to get rid of it soon.

"Ohh, it smells delicious ! Maybe I should let you do the cooking from now on ?" She said with a devilish smirk.

"Ah yes, well, you know. Work. Can't do." He answered, trying to look away.

"Mhh, if work is the problem then I can speak a word or two to your boss.." Mom continued, enjoying too much the situation.

"Oh no, spare me I beg of you !" He said taking the position of a scared puppy while swallowing a spoon of stew.

I don't know why but sometimes with a warning, they do these acts. I guess it's kind of their thing. Well, it's funny so I like that about them.

"No can't do, If I don't assert my dominance as the chieftain now Silvia will take the wrong idea and try to defy me." She answered strongly, chewing a piece of what looks like bread.

"She's only 6 months !" He objected theatrically.

"As if, I bet she already has a plan to overcome me ! Don't you do sweetheart mhh ?" She asked me right in front of my face.

It's hard sometimes to act as if you don't understand. Why do I even hide it though ?

I answer her with a smiling face and a cute baby sounds. Cuteness is truly the greatest weapon.

"Yeees, who will overcome Mommy ? It's you, yes it's you." She said cheerfully.

Great, I became a dog, or a puppy in my case.

We then finished eating in this happy atmosphere. When came the time to sleep.

"Well, there's no bed for you Silvie so you will sleep between us. You want to sleep with your papa ?" Dad asked me, lifting me in the air while I was yawning.

"Put her down, look how tired she is." Mom grumbled.

I'm not tired at all.

"My bad my bad." He said hands up in the hair after laying me down on the mattress.

They both joined me in the bed a few moments after than. Mom toyed with the lamp for a second, turning it off. "Good night Silvia, Hector."

Hector is Dad's name.

"You too, good night." Dad answered briefly.

----

Turning my head to the left, I see the face of my sleeping mother, her honey hair on it. As she is in front of the window, her body cast a shadow on me.

The sky sure is pretty, filled with thousands of stars but a moon. The little light pollution sure is nice when you can have this kind of picture.

Anyway, it's magic time.

Just in case it can be detected by my parents I will refrain from stretching my mana today so I will concentrate on the inside. I want to try a new idea.

I mentioned how I had like two bodies right ? My physical one and the mana one which is akin to a tank of water. I thought, maybe that doesn't have to necessarily be the case ?

The two bodies are connected that's for sure, for example when I expel mana it has to go first through the physical body to traverse my skin.

And I found out that if I concentrate enough I can sort of liquefy mana to make it go in my veins. Doing so reinforces the zone concerned. For example, I tried with my eyes and even though it stung at first, my eyesight got a lot better, until the mana left them of course.

Mana having this kind of effect of improving body parts when infused is quite common in stories so I'm not really surprised. But it gave me an idea which could be really beneficial if it worked.

What if I compressed my whole mana body and fuse it with my heart ? The hearth is linked with every part of the body thanks to the veins.

If my heart was a mana infused one it would certainly pump mana infused blood. And if my whole mana body is used maybe the thing that produces mana will come with it. Then my whole body would be constantly imbued with mana. The advantages are evident.

The only eventual issue I could think of is how to keep the heart constantly infused. But I thought of that too.

There's a reason why my mana doesn't just leave my body right ? Yes, my skin keeps it all inside.

Now as to why it does, I don't know exactly but if I had to guess I would say the skin gain some property to permit that.

Maybe it happens when a baby is still developing inside its mother's womb. After all, there must be mana there too no ?

In the eventuality my heart doesn't stay imbued, I think reproducing the infusing process frequently will at some point giving my heart and veins the same property as my skin, successfully keeping my mana inside them.

Why would I bother creating my own circuit, as they do sometimes in those cultivation stories, when I already have a network going everywhere inside me ?

Anyway, enough talking let's try.

As usual, I enter my breathing cycle, eyes closed. Then I start to gather my mana where my heart is.

In essence, it's exactly the same thing as when I densify a part of my mana. Only this time I use everything I have.

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds… 752 seconds.

Each passing second, a bit more mana accumulate and my fatigue with it.

There is still half my mana left until everything is compressed and the difficulty is already pretty high. It's like pushing a snowball, the longer you do it the harder it gets.

I stopped counting. Minutes, hours ? I don't know and I don't have the privilege to care.

There's only a third of mana left, a really tough third.

Thinking it would make it easier I began the process from the extremities of my mana body so the more the operation progressed the nearer from the gathering point I would have to work. But it didn't change a thing at all.

And the hardest part is I believe still to come.

The last bit of mana finally gathered, there is a sort of super-dense ball of energy right on my heart. It is denser than anything I manipulated before, at least a hundred or 2.

I have to put all my mind to keep it stabilized, only a second of distraction, and everything would have been for naught.

Now what I need to do is pressing this ball of mana until everything 'liquefy'.

As I expected it's really harder than everything I've been doing until now, the ball tries fiercely to expand while I try to compress it. Sorry mana ball but I don't plan to lose today.

Putting every ounce of my energy, a drop finally appear. Only a drop.

If I stop pushing now I will lose control which I can't permit occurring.

Pushing and pushing, another drop appears, then another one.

Suddenly, as if a plug has been removed, a little stream of mana began pouring out of the ball, infusing my heart more and more.

Unlike earlier when it was getting harder, this time it's the total opposite. Each second I feel more energized.

The exhaustion I had totally vanished, as If it was only something from a distant past. It's like I just woke up from a thousand long restful sleep.

And I still didn't finish draining the ball !

I expected something impressive but that ! It's beyond words. Never once in those billions of life I've gone through, I ever felt something even remotely as good.

I can almost feel the mana flowing through my veins, touching every muscle and organ I have. Improving them as I think. The mana not only

Finally, what was once a ball of energy disappear in the form of a last drop of mana, falling into my heart.

My 2 bodies now one, a new sensation invade my brain.

Then, and honestly, it was to be expected.

I pass out.