17 Chapter 17 - A big help

[Luz Leywin POV]

After our breakfast in that beautiful Sunday, my mother and Tabitha proposed that we go shopping, I accepted, but Arthur declined. Before we left he said that one of the reasons was to have a chat with Vincent.

"I hope it's nothing bad..." I thought, as I was getting into the carriage with the girls to go to the Xyrus shopping district.

I sat between my sister and Lilia while Tabitha and Alice sat in the other seat. We were watching the landscapes, playing some silly games with Ellie, when suddenly Lilia tried to get our attention.

"Ellie, what do you think of your brothers?" She said without even looking at me, seeming to ignore me.

"Uuu... Bruhda Luz is good, and Bruda Artu is meanie for not shopping with us. I wanted to dress him up more." my sister said, chuckling at the end because I was petting her.

"Who do you like most? Me, Luz or Arthur?" Lilia continued to ask, and I looked at her confused.

"Why these questions? Are you trying to show dominance?" I thought, with my mother laughing at my confused face.

Ellie looked at me and Lilia, then answered. "Umm... I like both!"

I could see Tabitha laughing as she asked her daughter why these silly questions, when I was there. And almost instantly everyone could see her face getting really red in the cheek area.

"It's just... Don't you think Arthur and him are scary? How they're so strong, Mommy? I thought children only became wizards when they grew up enough." That was the only answer she could give.

"Well, sort of, we're both kind of scary, but we're like that because, the scarier we are, the less people will want to get in, not just our way, but the way of everyone we love, like Aunt Tabitha, Mom, Ellie, and you too, Lilia." I could see Lilia blush even more at my speech, but my mother caught my attention, making me change the direction of my gaze.

"It's really good that you guys are doing this because you want our good... But I feel like your secret is enough. I mean, it's very easy for me to notice when your brother is lying, but I don't say anything, because I know that if you're hiding things, it's also for our protection. And for that I love you both, even if you're adopted, it's amazing to see how you both have the same motivation." Tabitha and Lilia looked at me wide-eyed when she said it, while Ellie didn't seem to pay attention.

"Didn't you know?" I looked at the Helsteas a little confused.

"No, I didn't want to tell them before because...I didn't see the need for it, since I love you like my own son, and I made a promise to your parents." mom Alice said, making me more confused.

As if she was reading my thoughts, she replied, "No. I didn't know them. It's just that, while you were at home with Art, we took guards there, and we discovered that your parents had marks all over their backs, that seemed to be Noble family marks."

"Wait, so he was rescued from some kind of ambush?" Lilia finally said, me and my mother nodded our heads.

"...They were slaves then..." Tabitha said quietly to herself, but we could hear her.

"The old owner of this body, was he the son of slaves? So that's why I can't access his memories from before the ambush? He was so traumatized by everything that happened in his life, to the point where his body completely stop these thoughts?" All these and more other questions ran through my mind.

The conversation stopped there at that moment, it seemed that the subject got really heavy about it, everyone looked at me with pity as Lilia held my hand and hugged me.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered as she hugged me, it seems that she understood a little of the situation, for her, Arthur and I were very mature for everything we went through, we were separated from our parents, we had lived far away for 3 years, and worse, I had seen my biological parents die.

I couldn't contain myself and I started to have some tears running down my face, it was common for me to go through so much after so many lives. But at that moment I started to think outside the box, a child who has suffered all this and managed to survive, this child would be completely broken. The only fact that we're not broken is that we were reincarnated.

Ellie sensed the mood, and tried to cheer me up by tapping my side lightly as she said. "Bruhders are always wanting our good, I also want to be strong for you."

It made us all look at Ellie and smile at her. I patted Ellie again and give Lilia also light pat on her back so she would let go of me and know I was okay. But then, something came to my mind.

"Actually, you can. You both can..." Mom and Tabitha looked at me confused.

"What do you mean, Luz?" my mother asked.

"Well, think with me, the reason that normally two mages have a chance of having a mage child is big because the child gains an innate talent for sensing mana, and then gathers that mana for the core area, right?"

"Yea, but why are you talking about this subject?" Tabitha was confused by that.

"If we think that as the the only reason a child without mage parents can't form a mana core. That means they can only form it with help." I gave a wide smile, which made Alice look at me shocked at that information, it feels like we were on the same page.

After a few seconds, Lilia and her mother realized where I was going with this conversation, and they looked more surprised than my mother.

"B-but how?" Tabitha said, seeming to tremble a little in her voice.

"It's hard to explain, as it hasn't been that long since I awakened my core, I still have the feeling of the moment in my mind. There is a 75% chance it will work for Lilia and a 100% chance it will work for Ellie. But we'd better see this later, looks like we're coming." I said as the carriage stopped.

After that, it was becoming an exhausting day as usual with them, I was being used as a mannequin again while we shopped for clothes, jewelry and accessories for both me and the girls. I could always see my aunt's excited look, she couldn't wait for us to see that idea when we got home.

Arriving at home, we saw Arthur and Vincent talking on the couch, both seemed very excited, and when they noticed our presence there, they went to us.

"So, how was shopping?" Arthur said laughing to me that he had a tired face.

"Bruhder Artu is meanie! He didn't go with us! Bruhder Luz is the best! He didn't leave us alone!" Ellie said, which made him heave a sigh and our mother laughs.

"I have incredible news to tell you." Vincent said excitedly to his wife.

"What would it be? Because I think I have more incredible news!" She replied

"Luz/Arthur proposed a way to make Lilia a mage...." They said in unison and excitedly, but towards the end their voices seemed to fade, as if they realized they had told a surprise for someone who already knew.

Arthur and I were looking at each other confused. "Did you have the same idea as me?" We say it at the same time, making our mother look at us with a worried face.

"Did you happen to hit your heads together hard after the accident or something?" She said as she took Ellie in her arms.

"Apparently yes, and we weren't even aware of it." I spoke, causing Arthur to laugh a few seconds later.

After some time, it was already afternoon and our father had already arrived, when he heard about what we were going to do, he did what was expected of him again. He was excited and super proud of our ideas.

We stayed in the center of the main room, where there was a big rug, we asked the girls to sit in a meditation position. And we are right behind them, with our parents watching every detail. I was with Lilia while Arthur was with our sister.

"Okay, that's how it will be. We're going to inject you two with mana, little by little in your backs, so we can at least open up your mana channels a little bit, and then keep your eyes closed." I said and they both nodded while closing their eyes.

Arthur and I started to slowly inject mana into both of them, with Lilia's mana channels being very thin and undeveloped, I was going more smoothly. It was possible to hear her making little low noises in pain.

"Relax, take a deep breath, as you don't naturally have developed mana channels, it's normal to feel pain, but I'm going slowly." I told you to calm her down.

"Girls, if you concentrate hard enough, you will see lots of small lights and an even bigger light, I want you to slowly take the small ones to the bigger one." my brother said as he slowly injected mana into Ellie's back.

"Wooah... They're pretty lights, do I have to take them to the big one, eh?" Ellie said cutely and my brother said she was supposed to do that.

"I can't see any light..." Lilia said with a slightly shaky voice, one hand of mine remained on her back while the other lightly caressed her hair.

"I said... relax... I think I'll have to inject more mana, take a deep breath and don't fight against what I'm going to do, okay?" I said it and get only a "mhm" from her in response.

I gave her a sharp shot of mana in the area of ​​her back, we all noticing her making louder noises of pain, but before her parents could intervene, she stopped. I had just pulsed a lot of mana to clear all her channels at once, but now I would have gone back to injecting a small amount.

"N-Now! I-I'm seeing the lights! Th-they're so pretty!" Lilia said very happily, I could see the happy expression on her parents.

"Fine... now... focus on a small light and slowly lead it to the larger one, as Arthur instructed Ellie." I whispered softly to her, and it looked like she was getting it.

Soon I stopped injecting mana, without taking my hands off her back and asked if she was still seeing the lights, with an affirmative answer, Vincent jumped up from the couch and walked over to me.

"Oh my god! Thank you so much, Luz! You don't know how happy I am about this."

"Calm down Uncle Vincent. She can feel mana now, but she hasn't formed a mana core yet. She needs to keep training this daily to form one after some time. Of course, if Art and I are always pumping mana the process speeds up, but since we'll only be staying for the next three months, I'm guessing... They might already have a mana core before our period as adventurers ends. What do you think, bro?"

"It's likely, but there's no way to be absolutely sure, as Lilia had to receive a pulse of intense mana inside her channels, while I only had to inject Ellie lightly...I'd say there's a chance they'll awaken their cores at approximate times or at least Ellie will be the first." Arthur replied as he stopped injecting mana into our sister.

Tabitha was approaching me too, she was analyzing me. "Hmm... our girl looked like she was in pain. You did nothing unnecessary with her, huh?"

"Relax ma'am, I just forced her mana channels to open, they were really quite underdeveloped. It can be compared to a straw that you pulled so hard that you got vacuum, the juice, which in this case was the mana, wasn't able to flow properly, until I gave a pulse. " I replied, thinking of something and then continued.

"At least it wasn't using a mana frequency method, that would be more painful for her with those channels." I could hear a sigh of relief coming from her, at least now she knew the method I did now was the least of the worsts.

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[Lilia Helstea POV]

From that day on, I was always feeling happy and interested in magical things. Mom always left me in Luz's care, so I could always ask questions about basic magic or even his elements, Fire and Wind.

In those moments when we were alone, always when we weren't talking, he meditated next to me. He said it was good for me to analyze the way he meditated or even how the little lights reacted when he did it.

It was so fascinating, when I closed my eyes to try to feel mana, I saw all those lights swirling and swirling around where Luz was, like it was a whirlpool, where the center I could not see. When I asked about it, he said that this was his mana core, and that it's normal not to see someone's mana core when you're at a very low level of the other, or in my case, I could only sense a little amount of mana, and I needed to be touching the thing.

On one of the nights, after he injected mana into my body, he said that I could go to my room, as he would train alone. I was very curious, but I told him I was going to sleep and went to my room. After a few minutes, I walked out of there, dressed in my pajamas and stepping carefully on the floor.

"Hmm... It will be so fun to watch him train, I bet he'll be forcing fire through his hands all the time to see how long it lasts. It's just like him to do that, especially outside the house." I thought as I walked down the stairs.

Arriving on the first floor, I could feel a trembling shiver down my spine, and I noticed a light fog coming from the back door, I approached it. My body started to shake, but it wasn't from fear... it was from the cold. But just now it was getting so hot, it really confused my mind.

Already in front of the door and leaning my right ear against it, being able to hear, Luz was reciting several incantations. "But... wait a minute, he told me he only controlled wind and fire, sound and lightning... Was he hiding something else? Was he a quadra-elemental like Arthur? Or a tri-elemental?" With all these questions in my mind, I opened the door slightly to peek, and what I saw was something unbelievable.

I saw him, his clothes covered in a white and black color, as if it were the fluffiest and most beautiful snow along with the dirtiest and most intense ashs. In one of his hands was a dark green flame, and in the other a flame of icy colors. His hair was completely up, flowing smoothly, still black as night, but some parts had red tips, some green, and some blue.

He didn't look at me, but I could see his eyes, they glowed in the same three colors: red, blue and green. It was so strange, but at the same time so mesmerizing the way they changed between these colors, as if they were liquids that don't get mixed up in a glass.

After observing its appearance, that's when I noticed the surroundings, making my eyes widen in surprise. There were several small pillars of ice, floating around him, but they were very high, the ice that formed them seemed to have a strange layer on the surface, which moved with the wind, it was more like a flame than an ice.

Now looking at the ground, I noticed that there were countless flowers, flowers that I had never seen there, in the field behind the house where I lived. They had countless colors, but most of them were yellow or white. But soon they were shining and turning into beautiful butterflies, the same colors as the flowers, to soon disappear, as if they had been dissolved by the air. I could also feel that cold slowly fading away, but why? Am I getting used to it?

No...

When I turned around to see that boy again, he was looking my way, still not taking a step, he waved his hands up, undoing those little ice pillars and the flames he had with him.

"Lilia... can you come closer?" I heard the wind whispering to me, its tone soft and quiet, as if it were a simple request, and I did, shivering a little as I walked.

"S-sorry... I said that-" I stopped talking when he gave a light laugh.

"It was beautiful... wasn't it? The flowers, this icy atmosphere, but at the same time cozy..." He said without taking his eyes off me, with his eyes still changing color constantly.

"Y-yes... it was beautiful, I've never seen flowers like that..." After a few seconds I finally decided to answer him.

He came closer to me and extended his hand, I was a little confused, but I also extended mine, so he joined his hands at the top of mine and when he withdrew them, I could see a flower similar to those, but light blue in color.

"Lilia... could you promise me not to talk about this to the others? I don't want to get in trouble trying to... explain." He scratched the back of his neck.

I had heard the request, but I was still staring at that flower, it was so beautiful, I've never seen anything like it, but I managed to respond after a few seconds. "Sure, It's another one of those secrets you and Arthur have, isn't it? But..." I tried to come up with an excuse so he didn't have to hide it. I hated when I heard lies, even if they lied so there wouldn't be dangers, I didn't like the idea.

"It's because I don't really know how to explain it to them... To give you an idea, an elf almost had a heart attack when he saw me doing this. I don't want to shock anyone else." I could hear his laughter, as all the landscape he created faded and his eyes returned to normal, even the snow and ashs evaporated in the air.

"Okay... I'll keep this secret... But I want something else besides this flower."

"And what would it be?" He asked curiously, but his curiosity grew even more when I took one of his hands and put it on top of my head.

"Do it like you do with Ellie." I said feeling a heat in my cheeks, he smiled softly and started patting me.

"Silly" He said in a soft voice, and in response I stuck out the tip of my tongue, as if I was irritated.

After that night, our nightly training became more than just him helping me build my mana core. I would always see him training his strange spells, but I never saw them all, because I always slept and he carried me to bed. I didn't want this to stop.

It was so magical, fanciful, a daily situation that I would never have imagined. It was like everything was from another world.