Sirius was awoken by Seth from his deep slumber. He forcefully peeled his eyes open and looked outside. The night sky was filled with bright stars, which meant that the sun have long set. Sirius struggled to understand why Seth kept slapping his face with its tail, until he heard a knock at his door. He carefully walked towards the door and looked in a slit between the door and a frame. Daughter of Whisper was standing there, nervously looking in the direction of city. Sirius finally remembered their deal the other day and opened the door.

  "Sorry, I got too invested and exhausted myself," he apologised after letting her in and closing the door.

  Daughter of Whisper took off her cape and asked, "Is it somehow related to the rockhog standing behind your house, yes?"

  "Yes... It is... I really need to ask Mountain Wrangler's father to take Cobble home."

  She shook her head with a smile. "So, where do we start?"

  "Give me a moment, I just woke up," said Sirius and sat at the table. He gathered his thoughts for a minute and began describing what he came up with, "When Eyes of the Forest was taking out the parasites in my lung pathways, she used some kind of a bell. It made the mana vibrate. If infused with feelings and emotions, mana can be steered a little."

  "And it can be used to cast magic?"

  "I am not entirely sure, but we can try," Sirius said and took out the metal bar from his storage. He placed it on a table and began describing his actions, "It's hard for me to do vibrations, so please bear with me. If I find a frequency of this metal, I can manipulate it a little..." Sirius pointed his palm at the bar and rhythmically pulled at the mana around. After tuning it for a minute, he found a sweet spot, at which the piece of iron began vibrating.

  "It's just manipulation, no?"

  "Almost. The difference is that I influence only a small part of mana away from the object."

  "Got it. And emotions?"

  "It is harder, but if you infuse some of them, the mana begins to act in accordance. I didn't note all of them, but in sadness I tend to manifest a bunch of ice around."

  "I am not sure I got everything but I want to try," said Daughter of Whisper.

  "Go ahead."

  Daughter of Whisper sat straight and took a deep breath. She began humming a song while feeling the mana around. With a will she forced her Astral Body to resonate along, passing the sound into the astral plane. She continued, getting used to the vibrations of the world she caused with her voice. She sat there with her eyes closed, as the world around her reflected the vibrations back. And then, she stopped.

  Sirius sat in silence for a minute and whispered, "Is everything alright?"

  "I understood..."

  "Wait, that fast?"

  "I was talking with the World, and it answered back," she said, her face lit by happiness.

  "Sure... And with regards to magic? Do you think it is possible?"

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  "Oh, I didn't think about that... Let me try again." she shook off her shock and tried once again, now more deliberately. She looked at the chunk of iron in front of her and began singing a low note. The bar began vibrating again, but much stronger. After a second the table underneath began smouldering and she stopped.

  "That we can work with!" happily exclaimed Sirius.

  Days passed, then weeks. On the surface Daughter of Whisper stopped talking to Sirius, but at nights every couple of days they trained together. She was advancing at an incredible pace, finding new ways to form spells. One night she managed to pierce a hole in the wall when Sirius was showing how to make projectiles. As she got more proficient, she took hold of the air magic, something Sirius didn't manage to grasp no matter how hard he tried.

  Sirius himself also didn't stay still. He was interested in mana crystals' structure. He has finally learned why people tend to get harmed if they are too rash with magic, the phenomena he knew by the name of "Mythos' punishment". Crystals inside the mage's body were suited for one or two branches of casting at most. Conductance and resistance crystals would explode if filled with too much mana, resistance and accumulation got ripped away under strong flow, conductance and accumulation were not resisting the current properly. Overall, the mage's method of casting depended entirely on their mana organs. This was due to the sequential condensation of organs. Mages didn't have time to condense the next organ before the first have already altered their body, thus locking the advancement. This gave him some research ideas to pursue. Overall, both of them were quite happy with the progress.

  "World blesses your Path, Silver Song," Sirius greeted Daughter of Whisper with her new moniker.

  "Bless your Path too, Friend of a Snake," she answered with a smile and caught the ever-happy Seth in her arms. "We should get a suitable title for you as well."

  "Meh, whatever. I really prefer to go by my own name."

  "But..."

  "Yeah-yeah, only family, I know. Been there, heard that. I don't strive to be renowned for something, just... be safe."

  "Speaking about that, yes. How are things with the churchmen?"

  "Elders are aware about them. They can't do a thing," Sirius said grumpily and kicked the chair. "They have a deal with Kingdom. Ashbourne royal couple themselves came to negotiate long ago."

  "What are you going to do?"

  "I don't know. Chasing them away is impossible and will endanger the whole city. Running away is the only option I have right now."

  "When?" Daughter of Whisper asked timidly.

  "After dealing with your illness of course, don't worry. Just... I hope I won't attract too much unneeded attention."

  She sighed. "When are we going to conduct a ritual?"

  "As soon as you are ready. How are your lungs?"

  "Not training using my family technique seems to help, yes. Even if I feel weird getting stronger without it."

  "You can go back to it after condensing the Mana Pool. It will help you refill your reserves. Their way of casting will suit you well."

  "I can't wait to try..." she said, her quiet voice painting the mana in sadness.

  "So... If you feel like it, we can try tomorrow?"

  "Tomorrow, yes? It is my birthday tomorrow."

  "Consider your total recovery a present. Let's go over the details once again. At the sunset we will meet on the opposite side of the city. There is a thin leyline passing underground, you can see it with your Eyes."

  "Near the pastures?"

  "Right under them. I found an abandoned barn there, most likely a shack no one uses right now. I will prepare the materials and a diagram and at the midday we will conduct the ritual. The only thing you need to do though is to take off your Life, can you do it?"

  "Take off my life!? You are mad, yes!?" she stood up in outrage.

  "If you don't want the beads to explode then yes! I have shown you what happens if resistance crystal is overloaded!"

  "Ugh, fine! But after a ritual I will put it back on!"

  "Duh, of course! Did you think I would tell you to throw that away?"

  "I... I don't know. It's just I always wear my Life," she involuntarily touched the beads hanging from her hair.

  "I just don't want to destroy it, that's all."

  "Sure..."

  "Ahem... So, after the ritual we will go into the Elders' hall and you will show your Path and explain why you decided to not follow your family's heritage."

  "You make it sound like I am a criminal, yes."

  "Aren't we ones?"

  "Yeah, that's right."

  "Let's have a rest today then. No magic training before a big day."

  "Then... See you tomorrow?"

  "Yeah. Will the World accept your OWN Path."