165: Examined
As I made my way back into the kitchen, Lily was nowhere to be seen, but I saw Crisplet was still working on a statue. From a distance, it looked to be humanoid in silhouette; however, there appeared to be a haze of ash blocking me from seeing it clearly. The moment I tried to get closer and have a good look at it, the whole statue faded to dust as Crisplet burst from the fire.
“Secret project?” I asked with a grin.
Crisplet just let off a burst of sparks as we made our way out of the kitchen.
“Liane didn’t just convince you to do a statue of herself, did she?” I asked.
The lack of a yes or no from Crisplet was curious, but the mana I sensed from him showed he was excited about it, so I didn’t push any further. When it’s ready and he’s happy with it, I’m sure I’ll see it.
Entering the foyer, I couldn’t help but notice just how quiet it was. There really was no one around right now. I also noticed that Crisplet was trailing behind me, burning away the wet shoe prints I was leaving behind as I slowly made my way to take a quick wash before I went to sleep.
I found Lily when I went to my room, stretched out as usual on my bed, but I didn’t care. I was too exhausted, so after a quick wash in the private bathroom, using the runes to refresh the water three times, and leaving my clothes except for my clean jacket in a pile, I went to sleep, squeezing against Lily.
***
I was woken by a loud knock. It felt like I had barely slept, but the voice of Hari came through the door. “Trev! The doctors are waiting for you downstairs. Please get dressed and come down.”
I didn’t want to move, too tired.
“Trev? You’re awake, right?” he said.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” I grumbled as I slipped into some clean clothes.
As we were walking down the stairs, Hari poked me in the arm. “You were told to have an early night, you know,” he said with a chuckle.
I didn’t even bother trying to defend myself. I wasn’t sure what time I went to sleep, but it felt like I had not got more than a couple of hours, my limbs were already feeling incredibly heavy and I couldn’t help but smell the lingering metallic tang of blood that seemed to cling to me.
“The burnt shoe prints on the ground were an interesting touch. Archie already cleaned it all up,” Hari said.
“I think we need a bath closer to the butchery room,” I muttered.
“I agree, but I also think you need to make sure you don’t overexert yourself again. I heard about your incident in Grey Rock, by the way. The capital is no place to overwork yourself and pass out.” Hari said.
“Sorry.” I muttered as we entered the study.
Milo was already seated there, and inside were a man and a lady, both dressed in well-worn white robes. The man looked very old, with a wrinkled face and grey hair, but the lady wouldn’t have been past her twenties, with long blond hair that looked almost unnatural.
“Greetings, Lord Ashmoon. My name is Ebbot. I am a senior medical official for the royal family, and this is my apprentice, Gwen, who will observe today.” The old man bowed, with the lady behind bowing as well.
“We have been informed of your issues and that it was a powerful mana regeneration overdose that caused it. However, they have been less than forthcoming about what caused it,” he said.
I nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid the direct cause we cannot discuss.”
“I see. Then would you be able to inform us of your mana levels, and just how much you were regenerating at the time the issue occurred?” Ebbot asked.
Milo let out a small cough as Hari took a seat against the back wall.
“Before we get to all that, we have a lot of people digging around for information on Trevor here, so we will require you to take an oath, saying that anything learned here today will not be spoken of outside without permission,” Milo said.
Ebbot looked offended. “We would never dare!” He said before Milo interrupted.
“I understand a medical professional would never normally share information; however, it’s important we are sure,” Milo said calmly.
Ebbot looked hard for a few moments at Milo, then at me, before nodding.
“Fine. I swear I will not speak of anything I learn here today to anyone outside this room without permission,” Ebbot said, before Gwen repeated it.
“Very well. Trevor, from my understanding, passed out immediately, so likely won’t know the mana regeneration he was getting. However, rough estimates I have worked out: he would have been restoring upwards of eight to nine hundred mana per minute for several hours, with a maximum mana pool of roughly six hundred that was also boosted to around nine hundred,” Milo read off from a small notebook.
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Ebbot’s eyes just grew wide.
“How are you not crippled? Come here, let me see,” he said.
I walked forward as he placed his hands on my shoulders before they glowed a yellow-green that quickly turned blue, then a deep violet. Throughout my body there was a strange sensation, like a bead of cold water was running through my veins.
“Hmm, yes, they are very damaged, I can see that, even now, but the damage doesn’t appear close to what I’d expect from the numbers you mentioned,” he said, his eyes closed as the cold bead turned hot.
“This might be uncomfortable, but I’m going to put pressure on the channels,” he said.
Uncomfortable might not have been the word I would have used. It was painful all over my body and my veins felt like they were on fire, then it all ended suddenly.
“Curious. I can see it’s begun to heal, but it’s also siphoning off a small amount of mana when under high pressure, which is likely what has saved you. I’ve seen it before, especially when the individual has a companion. The mana will siphon to that companion, which would more often than not hurt or damage the companion,” Ebbot said, his eyes closed.
“We believe Crisplet is a being of pure mana, so it’s unlikely he could be overloaded in such a way,” Milo commented.
“That would explain that part at least. I should note, though, that having a companion like that won’t save you entirely. If you’re far from your companion, or the burst is substantial enough, it will cripple you. Your mana channels are also far more brittle now,” Ebbot said, removing his hands from my shoulders.
“Is there anything we can do?” I asked hopefully.
“Yes. I would encourage you to run your mana low regularly and allow it to recover naturally. Be sure to exercise it constantly. It will take a few years, but you can rebuild strength. I would strongly suggest that you avoid significant mana regeneration items. Even with the siphon to a mana being, a slight rupture will be permanent.” Ebbot pulled out several potions that looked to be a deep black, as if they were absorbing the surrounding light.
“These potions will drain your body of mana entirely. Use with caution, but a sip of these in the evening will help drain your body and allow it to naturally regenerate. Be sure to train using your mana channels outside of just your abilities. It will strengthen the walls,” he said.
That part confused me a little, but Milo was nodding, so I trusted he knew what it meant. Perhaps it had something to do with how I was sensing mana?
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Lord Ashmoon. If you have any further complications, please make sure you call for us,” he said warmly, bowing again.
Soon I was left in the room with just Hari, Milo, and Crisplet.
“That was easy,” Milo said with a smile.
“The strengthening the mana channels, is that just sensing mana like I was doing?” I asked curiously.
Milo half shrugged. “Sort of. It’s closer to how Crisplet communicates, pushing emotions and feelings through the mana, forming it into something, so a little more in-depth than simply sensing it.”
“So, nothing else today, right?” I asked hopefully.
“You might have a visit from Kathrine later, but otherwise no. Rumours reached us this morning that there were royal guards visiting the household of Valrith, but we don’t know what occurred yet,” Hari said.
“Then could I borrow you to make me a couple of vessels so I can start the bacon?” I said excitedly.
“Is that why there were footprints through the house this morning? I thought someone might have been injured, well until I saw they were all burnt up,” Hari said.
“I butchered the belly from the titan boar and the drake. We’ll also need to make repairs to the butchery room’s wall. I might have broken it. Also, somewhere to wash closer to the room would be useful too,” I said, trying to remember all the things we needed to fix.
“Sure. Let’s get that done then. We’ll find Archie, then I’ll make you the vessels. I want to see these bellies you plan to turn into bacon anyway,” Milo said.
It didn’t take long to find Archie, as he was in the foyer directing two of the new staff who had just been hired.
“Archie, if we could borrow you for a moment, I believe Trevor here has done some damage to the new room,” Milo said with a chuckle.
Archie just bowed and followed us.
Entering the butchery room, it smelt horrible. The floor was clean, but there was splattering on the walls. There was a stench of old meat and the metallic tang of blood in the air.
“We might need airflow in there too,” I muttered.
Milo nodded before approaching the clear crack in the wall.
“How did you even manage this, Trev?” he asked, inspecting it before placing his hand on the wall, sealing it up.
“The drake got rolled over and when it got pressed against the wall, it broke,” I said.
“I see, so we need to get all the walls reinforced,” Milo said, as Archie nodded.
“I can see to that,” Archie said.
“Airflow I can manage, but you said you wanted a place to wash closer. What we can do is probably have an outside basin where you can wash up enough to walk through the house without leaving bloody footprints,” Milo said with a chuckle.
“That would be ideal, sir. We had a hard time this morning scrubbing the scorch marks off the floor,” Archie said, bowing.
“While we’re doing that, any chance of adding on a room for smoking meat?” I asked curiously.
Archie was about to respond, but Milo just waved it away.
“It’s okay. I can manage a temporary smoking room. We don’t need to fill the yard with random additions,” Milo said.
I just nodded. It made sense. We could look into it in the future.
“If that is all, sir, I shall take my leave. We are preparing for another royal visit from the princess,” Archie said with a bow.
I was about to stop him and let him know not to worry about doing anything special, but I needed to remember the royals were a big deal, and everyone treated them as such.
“Thanks, Archie,” I said, as Milo was about to move back to the kitchen.
“I think we’ll need to stay in here. The bellies won’t fit into the kitchen,” I said, scratching the back of my head.
“Okay, let’s see them then,” Milo said.
I pulled all three bellies out. Unfortunately, the skin was still on the drake, but I didn’t think that would take too long to remove, and it was useful to not have the meat land directly on the floor.
“Dear goddess, that’s going to make a lot of bacon. Do you know the curing time you’ll need for this? This will take months!” Milo said.
I felt my heart sink at that. “Months? Surely there would be a way to speed it up?”
“If there is, I don’t know what it would be. Let’s get started now. I’ll make the basins for them to go in with the salt, and you get the skin off those two,” Milo said as he went to the side of the room and started working the stone.
Maybe the royal chefs would know how to speed it up. They should come to teach me soon, right?