“Working hard, Anna?” I asked. We were almost done eating by the time she arrived.

She sat down and sprawled herself on the table. “I’d say it was more lengthy than difficult. We had tons of new data to process.”

“Anything you can share with us?” Allison asked.

“Sure,” the elf replied, getting up. “Though I suppose you’ll need some context first. A few days ago, we were able to confirm that it’s possible to determine what each individual will become based on their genes alone. For example, if we look at Nora’s earliest sample, we can say with certainty that she was meant to be an elf, like me.”

I frowned at her. “And you didn’t tell me?”

“Hey, you never asked.” She laughed at my pouty expression. “Don’t look at me like that! I told you about all the important stuff, didn’t I? If I shared everything we learned, I would bore you all to death. Plus, I’ve said this before, but many of our findings become do obsolete almost as fast as they come up.”

I glared at her, but accepted her argument. “Fair enough. You said that was days ago, though. What was it that kept you so occupied today, then?”

“Well, while it’s now easy to tell who will become a metahuman, elf or draell, we still had certain races whose triggers were a bit trickier to identify. Do you remember what I said about vampires being considered elfkin?”

I nodded. “That they share enough traits with elves to be considered close relatives.”

“Right! And that became a fact today. Vampires do have the same genetic triggers as us, elves. It wasn’t until today, however, that we noticed their transformation is altered by an additional element which completely overrides the elven genes, and yet, it’s still dependent on them.

“As you all know, vampires need to consume blood regularly to stay healthy. The question here is ‘why?’. Well, from our experiments, we concluded that this is the result from the MAV trying to fix a blood-related disease or condition.”

Allison hummed, “If that is the cause, why did it take so long to be discovered”

“Because, no matter how strong or insignificant the problem is, they are all triggers for the vampire mutation,” Anna responded. “So, to give you an example, let’s assume Nora was never bitten and had a mild iron deficiency instead. Since she had the genes needed to become an elf, this health issue would've been enough to change the virus’s behaviour and make her a vampire. The problem is that it’s not always that evident. Additionally, it wasn’t the only race with a similar issue, which is why I say it was more time consuming than anything. In fact, as of today, only ghosts’ triggers remain a mystery.”

“Is that why Dr. Blake is still in there?” I asked.

Anna shook her head. “No. Unfortunately, the only way we can confirm it is by finding a suitable candidate, and that is quite difficult. We believe ghosts are also the result of a disease. In this case, a terminal one.” She made a brief pause and bit her lip before she continued. “Anyway, unlike any of the elfkin, the tests we tried didn’t affect the blood samples we have. No matter if it’s a normal human or a potential elf, the virus can’t turn a few drops of blood into a ghost, so we need to find someone who meets all the requirements.”

“It needs the person’s soul, right?” asked Allison.

Anna snorted at her question. “We don’t know. It’s not like we can prove the existence of souls either. I seriously doubt it, but your guess is as good as any, I suppose. Back to your question, Nora, the reason my dad is still in the lab is your little accident with that hawk.”

“It’s just frozen, though,” I commented, confused.

She laughed. “Yes, it’s nothing more than a frozen bird to the naked eye. However, when placed under a microscope, we detected traces of residual mana. Even if it didn’t have anything out of the ordinary, the way it was frozen is still amazing enough. Tell me, Nora, what is cold?”

“That one’s easy. It’s the lack of heat,” I answered. “And heat is the transfer of energy from one thing to the other.”

Anna nodded. “Good enough. Now, without using your magic, how can you freeze something quickly?”

After thinking for a moment, I replied, “The only thing that I can think of is using liquid nitrogen or something like that.”

“Not a bad answer, although not what I was looking for. To make something cold, the energy that system contains must be transferred to something else. For nitrogen to be liquid, it needs to be below 196 degrees, which is way below anything you will find on our planet naturally. Because liquid nitrogen is so cold, most things it interacts with will lose heat rapidly, which is why they freeze when submerged in it. You, however, instantly removed heat from a living being in a non-controlled environment! That’s amazing!”

“That sounds messed up, Anna.”

She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “You know what I meant, silly. Anyway, did you get any results while practising out there?”

“Yes!” I replied enthusiastically. “It was not nearly as powerful as the first time, but I could freeze small portions of one dummy. Oh! And I started feeling tipsy after I repeated the spell a few times. I assumed it was my mana running low, but was it really that?”

She tapped her chin with a finger as she thought. “It’s the first time I hear something like that. As far as I know, no one has reached a similar state. Perhaps, being so young means your capacity is lower. Another possibility is that the magic you used is more taxing than the others we know. There aren’t that many magic users to begin with, so we still lack plenty of knowledge on the subject. Counting us, there are eighteen magic users in total. Six ghosts, three elves, two draell, four vampires, two fairies, and now you.”

“None of the other races?”

She shook her head. “I’ve said it before. It’s still too early for them to use magic. If you pay attention to the list, you’ll see that, save for metahumans who remain ignorant of the true nature of the virus most of the time, and fairies, who seem to be as talented as ghosts with learning, all the races that can currently use magic are those that have been around the longest. You are a special case since you began training daily, even before your transformation was over.”

So Lily’s talent is actually a racial trait?

---<>----------<>----------<>---

Once we finished eating, Anna got the camera back from Sylvia and asked me to follow her to the lab to show Dr. Blake my magic directly. To my surprise, we went through the big door at the end of the corridor this time.

The place looked like something straight out of a science fiction movie. It all was really advanced and spacious. Computers and machines adorned the walls from top to bottom, and you could see many groups of people working on different projects. One of those groups stood next to a number of cages and terrariums of different sizes. Among the animals they contained, I spotted the bat that bit me, a black dog with mismatched eyes, and a bunch of dragonflies of considerable size. Dr. Blake’s team of four was busy discussing something they saw on a huge screen. It looked like an image taken by a digital microscope.

Anna announced our presence as we reached their table, and all of them stopped talking to look at us. They didn’t seem annoyed by the sudden interruption. Rather, they looked eager to see why Anna brought me with her. Well, everyone but Dr. Blake, who greeted me before she had the chance to speak.

“Nora! We were just talking about you. These are my colleagues, doctors Jones and Rogers, and I’m sure you’re already acquainted with my assistant, Gary.”

Dr. Jones was a bald old man with a long beard and a rather thin frame. He looked weak and fragile. His face, however, seemed to be locked in a perpetual state of anger. The woman next to him, Dr. Rogers, was much younger, probably mid-forties, with dark skin and brown eyes. She seemed friendlier than Dr. Jones, as well. I had seen both join Dr. Blake at the cafeteria on previous occasions, but this was the first time I interacted with them. Even so, neither went beyond a casual greeting and shaking hands with me.

“Now then, would you please show us your magic?” Dr. Blake asked, getting everyone’s attention.

“How did you know?”

He smiled confidently. “Why else would you be here?”

“Oh. That makes sense…” I looked around, searching for something I could freeze with my magic. “So what’s my target?”

The old man nodded and walked to the large table full of lab equipment. He then grabbed a beaker, which he filled with distilled water and placed it on a smaller empty table next to it. Finally, he placed a small thermometer in the container.

He pointed towards the glass with his open hand. “There you have it. You called it ice magic, so it makes sense to start by making ice, don’t you think?”

I nodded and walked closer to the table before extending my arm towards the beaker. Anna began recording the scene with the camera. Stopping one metre away from it, I concentrated on the flow of mana and thought about my goal. This time, I took it one step further and tried to only freeze the water in the container.

To do this, I resorted to fantasy shows again. In them, it was common for the protagonists who got transported to another world to be great at magic because of their better understanding of science. In other words, it would be easier if I had a clear picture of how a phenomenon worked.

I was not an expert like all the people surrounding me, but I did consider myself a good student and understood what I had to do. I pictured the water as the only thing losing enough energy to freeze, just like I told Anna when I answered her question.

It didn’t work as well as I thought. While I was successful in freezing the water, mist was still generated between the glass and my hand. It wasn’t nearly as dense as before, though. The sound of everyone clapping brought me back to my senses.

“Well done, Nora!” exclaimed Dr. Blake as he walked past me and crouched to look at the thermometer. “Interesting… Gary, take note.”

“Yessir,” the young assistant quickly readied his tablet and a digital pen.

“The water’s temperature after freezing is minus 20 degrees centigrade for her first attempt. This will be our control sample. Make sure to add the room conditions to the notes for reference.”

Next, Dr. Blake put a pair of gloves on and took two bottles out of a cabinet. After grabbing a new pair of beakers, he walked to a fume chamber and turned it on before placing both containers inside. “I want you to try to freeze these two liquids as well.” He poured the first bottle in one of the containers. “Do this one first, please.”

“Okay.”

The result after using my magic was the same as before. Once more, Dr. Blake got closer to look at the thermometer and told Gary the temperature marked. “Minus 20 degrees for acetic acid.”

He then emptied the second bottle and stepped back. I focused on freezing it as well. There was mist, but nothing else happened. I frowned and tried once more, only to get the same result. I felt slightly light-headed after that. Dr. Blake stopped me before I did it again. “That’s enough, Nora. I’m sure your magic works properly.”

I looked at him expecting answers, although I already had an idea of what happened.

“I’ll explain in a moment.” He checked the temperature of the liquid and read it out loud, “Third sample, minus 20 degrees for acetone.”

“How low is its freezing point?”

He smiled at me. “I’m glad you noticed. Acetone freezes at around minus 95 degrees, which is why you weren’t able to do it. The other substance, acetic acid, freezes at 16 degrees. This first experiment suggests that your magic has a fixed freezing temperature of minus 20 degrees, so anything with a lower freezing point is unaffected. Let’s take a different approach now, shall we?”

“Hold on, Dad!” interrupted Anna. “Nora, how are you feeling?”

“I can continue,” I answered despite knowing I was starting to get low on mana. It felt like I could do a couple more attempts safely.

Dr. Blake frowned in confusion. “Did I miss something?”

“You did, actually. Nora discovered we may have a limit on how much magic we can use before we need to rest. She said she felt dizzy after a while.”

Dr. Blake gave a short hum in response. “That’s a pity, I was hoping to run several more tests after this. Oh well, we can always continue later. Do let us know if you need to rest, Nora.”

“I can do a couple more, I think.”

“Okay.” He grabbed a fourth beaker and poured water in it. He then took the thermometer from the first test and put it in the new container. “The next thing I want you to do is to try to cool down the water without freezing it.”

I nodded and tried. I wasn’t sure how the magic would respond if I thought of an actual temperature, so I thought of lowering it to 10 degrees. There was no visible change, and I didn’t feel anything at work either, so I walked to the table and looked at the thermometer. It showed 23 degrees instead. Probably room temperature.

It didn’t work…

“Anything wrong?” Dr. Blake asked.

“It's fine. I tried something different, but it failed. I’ll do it properly now.”

I walked back and performed my magic once more, this time, by thinking about making the water cold enough for droplets to condensate around the glass. At this point, the world started shifting slightly. I had gone past my previous limit. Since the samples I froze weren’t too big, I assumed I had enough mana for more, but it seemed like I hadn’t recharged completely.

Dr. Blake read the thermometer once more. “Six degrees for the second water sample.” He smiled at the result.

“Now we know that your magic isn’t limited to freezing. The question now is, can you heat things up? Before we proceed, how are you feeling?”

I wanted to continue with the experiment, so I looked at Anna. From her expression, I could tell she knew I was running on a low tank already, so I decided to tell the truth. “I’m feeling a bit tipsy, but I think it should be fine if we do one more.”

“Nora... Please don’t do this again,” Anna said with concern.

“One more time. That’s all.” I looked at Dr. Blake, begging for his help in our argument.

“If you believe you can do it, I think it’s fine. All we need is to see if you warm up some water. You must rest after that, though.”

Anna became furious with his response. “Look at how pale she is! You saw what happened the last time we trusted her judgement!”

Dr. Blake snorted, “Do I hear the pot calling the kettle black, my daughter? Don’t be so harsh on her.”

“Well, someone needs to be the voice of reason!” Anna glared at him and left the camera on top of the table. She then looked at me and spoke in a calmer tone. “Enough experiments for today. Go to your room and rest.”

“Okay...” I said that, and I meant it.

The moment she looked away, however, I felt the urge to prove my point. I extended my hand to the beaker I had just cooled down and thought of warming it up. I supplied the mana to cast the spell, and it froze instead.

The moment it happened, I felt sleepy and my chest hurt briefly. The dizziness made it difficult to stay up. I was forced to take a step back to avoid falling. The stomp I made was enough to alert Anna, who caught me as I was losing my balance once more.

“Why do you have to be so reckless?”

A faint giggle was all that came from me. I was suddenly too tired to say anything.

“Minus 28 degrees...” Dr. Blake mumbled. “Well, you didn’t heat it up, but at least you got a lower temperature. We may need to experiment more on it later.”

“Could you show some concern!?” She looked at the others. “Any of you?”

Dr. Blake sighed in response. “Sorry, dear. I doubt it’s anything dangerous, though. She’s only tired.”

“We don’t know that yet! Her transformation may be over, but we’re still responsible for her safety. We can’t let her do stuff like that.”

“Okay, okay. I get what you mean. For now, we should take her to her room.”

“I got this.” Anna lifted me from the ground and carried me out of the lab, this while making sure my wings and tail didn’t fall and drag on the floor. Once we got to my room, she removed my sandals and tucked me in my bed. It didn’t take me long to fall asleep.

---<>----------<>----------<>---

I woke up to a familiar scene. Anna was sitting on a chair right next to my bed. She was reading something on her mini tablet. Hearing the blankets shuffle, she looked up to me.

“Slept well?” The tone of her voice was flat.

“Y-yes… How long was it?”

“Almost three hours,” she replied as she returned to her reading.

“I’m sorry.”

She looked up again and stared in silence.

“I don’t know why I acted like that. I wasn’t thinking clearly. You even had to carry me all the way here. I’m sorry I made you worry. I really am.”

Anna sighed. “Do you promise you’ll listen to me from now on? I don’t mean to rub it on your face. I know it’s hard enough with the way your transformation is affecting you.”

“Yeah, I understand. I promise I’ll listen to you.”

“Thanks,” she said with a smile. “You can sleep more if you want, I’ll be here until dinner.”

I shook my head in response. “No, I’m not tired anymore. Can I go play outside?”

“I really think you should take it easy for the rest of the day.”

I groaned in response. After taking a deep breath, I accepted. “Okay… Do you mind if I play the fessy then?”

“No, not at all. Do you want me to get it for you?”

I nodded. “It’s in my backpack. The second biggest compartment.”

Locating the bag resting against the dresser, Anna stood up and walked to it. She grabbed the bag and returned to her seat to search for the instrument. Once she had it, she placed the backpack next to my bed.

“It’s pretty,” she commented as she pulled the item out of its case.

It was a small fesselian flute. It had thin green vines and leaves engraved along its mahogany-tinted body. The case was nothing more than a thick black sleeve with the same pattern embroidered in gold and a black nylon strap. Despite its simplicity, it was quite durable.

“Mary made it for me,” I replied with a smile. Her eyes widened in surprise, making me giggle. “She doesn’t look like the kind of person who would sit still and work on something like this, right?”

“Yeah, I’m impressed,” Anna said as she examined it. She handed it to me before asking, “Did she also make the sleeve?”

“That was Mo- my mother. They worked together in secret and made these as a birthday present for me a few years ago. They get along quite well. Both can be really annoying sometimes, so they have common ground.”

“Do you mind if I listen?”

“I don’t. Most of what I can play are movie or video game themes, though.”

She nodded once. Having given my warning, I started playing, or tried doing so, at least. The muscle memory I had worked so hard to develop had become an unexpected enemy. My now smaller fingers kept missing the holes of the flute since they were already used to land on a specific spot.

Anna tried to hide her laughter, and I turned red from embarrassment.

“I should probably practise later...” I said as I lowered the instrument to my lap.

Regaining her composure, she tried to cheer me up. “Don’t let it bother you. I know it must be frustrating, but you mustn’t stop because of it. I don’t mind the mistakes.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s not that. I just don’t like to practise when I’m being watched. I promise I’ll show you when I get the hang of it!”

“Fine,” she pouted. “Do you want to play some chess then? My dad has a set in his room.”

“Sure, I’d like that,” I replied.

After turning her tablet off, she stood up and walked out of the room. I took the chance to practise playing the flute whilst I waited. I didn’t blow on it, though. I simply tried to get used to the new positions my fingers needed to adopt so I could play normally later on.

I put the fessy back in its case when I heard Anna’s hurried steps as she came closer to my room. Having done that, I jumped out of my bed and sat at the table. Soon enough, Anna came in with the chess set in hand and placed the board on it. While it wasn’t my favourite game, I liked playing it.

Unfortunately, I had no one to enjoy it most of the time. Allen didn’t care about it, Mom and Mary always lost to me, and Dad avoided playing with me ever since I finally defeated him once two years ago. He mentioned something along the lines of having nothing else to teach me. He was just a sore loser.

“I watched the video of your training session earlier,” she said, setting the pieces in their respective places.

“Wasn’t it repetitive? You saw the spell directly before that.”

Anna began by moving a pawn. “I learned something from it.”

I perked up at her comment as I mirrored her play.

“Mana is restored rather slowly. After freezing an entire hawk, you managed to cast the same spell eight times during your training, while you could barely do it six times back at the lab. I guess I can’t blame you for thinking you could keep going.”

She was wrong. I knew my limit well, but it was like something took over me and made me disobey her. It was probably best if I didn’t tell her, though.

Anna continued after making another pawn move. “At least we know our bodies have a few barriers to prevent us from depleting our mana. The response seems to be somewhat similar to that of alcohol intoxication. Vertigo, drowsiness, impaired judgement and quite possibly passing out. Other than your stumbling, I didn’t notice an issue with speech or motor skills, though. Not directly, at least. Makes me think it was more caused by exhaustion. Would you say it felt the same?”

I smirked at her. “Aren’t you embarrassed to ask a child that?”

She struggled hard, trying to contain her laughter “Don’t you play the child card on me!”

I giggled in response. “In all seriousness, though, I’ve never been drunk before, so I can’t tell.”

She raised an eyebrow at me. “I find that hard to believe.”

“I’m not a saint, okay? I just don’t like the taste. The same goes for coffee. I can drink a glass of beer to go with my food, maybe some cider, but no more, and only on special occasions. Anything else is out of the question for me. Even more now that I’m back to being a minor.”

“Hmm, I suppose it makes sense.” She placed her finger along her lip and thought silently before moving another pawn.

The game picked up pace after that. Anna decided it needed to be the best out of three after I won, and there was one more victory for each before we went down to have dinner.

Once I was done eating, I returned to my room alone. The night was still young, so I took my tablet out of my backpack and checked my social media.

There was an unusual amount of new messages. It was strange since I didn’t have many friends outside of Danath Online, after all, Mary was the only real life friend with whom I could speak about my hobbies. She forced them on me in the first place.

What I saw made a chill run down my spine. They were all from Mom. The first ones were friendly enough. She wished me a good night and wanted to know if everything was fine. My lack of answers led to anger and then to worry. Thankfully, Dad and Allen calmed her down since the messages cut off after three hours.

That’s what I thought until I pulled out my phone and saw it had one missed call for every hour that passed after that. It was still set as offline to prevent leaks, so I didn’t get any alerts about them.

Not in the mood for another scolding, I hurriedly typed a message apologising and explaining the situation. I couldn’t forget to wish her a good night and attach a heart sticker at the end. With that done, I quickly went to sleep. That would be a problem for the future me.