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.