I woke up with a headache. Thankfully I know now spending time in my mind palace won't harm me though I have to be mindful of my Ether. Tomorrow when it fully recovers I’ll have to test out how long I actually spent there. It still must be early, Tani is sleeping in my hair still. Her face is kinda cute when she's asleep. I really wish I had some way to tell time. Maybe my Mind Palace? I’ll have to ask Tani how to tell the time when she wakes up. If it weren't for this headache I’d go back to sleep. Guess I’ll just practice my Sigils. 

     “Good Morning Lilli,” Anna said as she gently tapped my shoulder. I opened my eyes to look at her. Well I mean I didn't have to but it felt more natural to do so. Though the pain in my head made me squint. “Please send the doctor,” Anna said, tapping the intercom(?). After that, she put the black of her hand on my head. A short time later there was a knock at the door and the usual doctor showed up.

     “Good morning, what seems to be the problem?”

     “She’s squinting and has a pained look on her face.” 

     He knelt close to me and began to examine me. He pulled something from his bag and waved it over his hand which activated with a silver glow. Immediately after he stuck a finger from that hand in my mouth. I expected his fingers to taste bad, but they didn't taste like anything. When he touched my gums the pain flared, and accidentally I let out a cry.

     “It's nothing to worry about, her teeth have started to come in. However, if she gets any worse or other symptoms show up, call me,” he said as he used the thing on his hand again. 

     “What's going on?” Tani said as she settled down on my shoulder.

     I'm teething, it hurts. I wanted to tell her about my Mind Palace but Anna decided it was time to feed me. Thankfully it was still mashed food so I didn't have to chew but man this pain was starting to get to me. I see why babies cry when teething. Like thirty minutes later? I was fed, but eating was a little more difficult. After a bath and change of clothes, I was sitting in my playpen again. The bath was nice, it’s really gross having to wear diapers. At least I get daily baths, so it could have been worse. 

     “Hey, Lilli, what are you thinking about?” 

     Oh, I was just musing about being a baby. I can’t wait till I'm not anymore. It’ll be nice when I can use the actual restroom. So last night I accidentally discovered something. It's taxing but I created something. It looks like my old computer but it has all my memories on it. From Earth and here, it even stored the sigils you taught me.

     “Really?” she said with a shocked expression. “I've never heard of something like that before.” She put her hand on her chin thoughtfully.

     The only thing is that it takes a lot of Ether. It actually made me pass it out. So if I'm going to use it for extended periods I need to increase my capacity, but it's gotten so much harder. And I don't know if the mind palace counts. 

     “Lilli…”

     Sorry, I was thinking.

     “Your face is so cute when you think like that,” she said with a giggle. “Anyways let's continue with the sigils.”

     Tani spent the rest of the day teaching me more sigils. My room was pretty active, Mom showed up. Even big bro and big sis seemed excited by something. Another birthday perhaps? Couldn’t be mine though it's still a month and a half  away. At least according to what Tani said and what I gathered by my estimation. Mom stayed most of the day which was a change. She's usually so busy that she only spends a few minutes. It was strangely nice.

     “My precious Lilli, if I could I’d drop all my work and spend everyday with you,” Mom said as she held me in her lap. For what felt like the fiftieth time today there was a knock at the door. This time however Anna called Mom over, they spoke to someone in hushed tones before Mom turned around. 

     “I’m sorry Lilli Mommy has to take care of something,” she said sadly. She picked me up and started kissing me all over my face. 

     “Ma, buh,” I said to myself. She smiled happily and hugged me tighter. From behind her, Anna made a squee noise. Mom handed me off to her and left the room. Being fawned over like this was embarrassing, but I have to admit it was kind of nice.

     “That was really cute. And sweet,” Tani said with a mischievous grin. “You really love your family don't you?”

     In my old life, my parents were pretty absent. Mother was a high-profile businesswoman and Father was a famous fashion designer. I was raised by a nanny.

     “It’s kind of like that now isn't it?”

     No, despite the similarities it's much different. For one, that nanny didn’t care about me at all. Anna loves me like I was her own kid. I also didn't have any siblings. But the most different are my parents. My old Mother and Father, when they were around, treated me like an object. They gave me a good education, tutors, the best schools, and the latest equipment. But to them, I was merely something to increase their status. It was awful, being paraded around at social events and after-school events. I was never even allowed to make my own choices, always forced to wear what made them look the best.

     “It sounds like you had it rough,” Tani said, hugging my cheek. 

     It's ok, it's what made me, well me. My education, My upbringing, it’s what shaped me into who I am now. My only regret is I didn't make my first true friend until I was twenty. 

     “Tell me about them.”

     Well, she was my senior at the company I was working for. She was famous for creating the VitaChambers. They were a marvel of modern medicine, in fact, they were used in the first colony ship. They could heal nearly any injuries. And could prolong someone's life, however, they couldn’t reverse aging.

     “That sounds powerful. How did you two become friends?” she asked excitedly.

     Well, she was in the biological division, she was researching the cure for aging. And it was the company Christmas party. She was forced to come by one of her friends. I was there for the free food, and because I didn't want to spend ANOTHER Christmas alone. I began to tell her when she interrupted.

     “What's Christmas?”

     Oh, it was an old holiday that was based on the birth or death of the son of one of the religion's gods. 

     “Your old world had gods too?”

     Maybe? There was never any proof.

     “So your gods don't give out blessings?”

     Not that I'm aware, if any god is in that world then they are silent. But that's neither here nor there. I happened to run into her at the party, she hung out by the food. I was there getting my first Christmas dinner that wasn’t theater. She was talking to a few people and made a reference to an anime show. It went lost on everyone but me, she got a little embarrassed and excused herself. 

     “What’s anime?”

     It's a form of entertainment but would be too long to explain right now. I made my way to her and complimented her reference, I made one in return and we ended up talking about anime all night. After that, it became a regular thing for us to hang out and watch anime. I'm pretty sure I was in love with her, but I never got to confess my feelings. I wonder. Did she cry for me? If so she'd probably be the only one. After I graduated from university mother and father dropped all pretense, not that there was much there in the first place. Maybe I’ll delete those memories? Actually on second thought no, they shaped me into the person I am now. As painful as they are, I'd rather keep them. 

     “Lilli,” Tani said with a smile, poking my face. “It sounds like you had a hard life. But this one seems to be much better for you.

     They are definitely more caring. Mom is so caring when she has the time to spend with me. And my father works hard to support us. I kind of miss him, hopefully, he comes back soon.

     “Well he's subjugating a dungeon, they are usually pretty regularly cleaned so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

     Dungeon? Times like this made me wish I watched more fantasy isekai anime.

     “A dungeon is a place where wild mana gathers. We aren't exactly sure why, however. It attracts animals to it, but no one is exactly sure how though. The animals will become mana tainted. And will become monsters, in humans dungeons cause mana sickness if you stay in them too long. After a certain amount of time has passed the monsters will exit the dungeon and cause problems. This is called a dungeon surge, it's the job of the subjugation teams to prevent these. Every so often either a request will be made to the union, or a kingdom will send a team.”

     Besides preventing surges is there any other reason for them to be cleared? I’m sure there was an anime or manga like this. Though, there is something exciting about starting from nothing. I’m getting a little excited, sure it's magic but what is magic but a form of science? Who knows what kind of possibilities exist?

     “Well besides some materials from the monsters you have the cores. The bigger and stronger the monster the better the core it has, which means higher quality crystals. The country you live in has a central crystal that was taken from an ancient dragon.”

     A dragon? Also, what are the crystals used for?

     Tani went to explain when there was a loud knock at the door. Anna jumped up and stared at it for a second before going to answer. A large man was standing in the doorway. He said something to Anna in a quiet voice but he was speaking quickly. She simply nodded and then closed the door. She went to the intercom and tapped it twice. After speaking a couple of words I couldn’t make out the whole room began to fill with ether, it changed colors to a deep blue and settled along what I assume was the walls. 

     A line of ether ran around the perimeter of the room at was I presume were the ceiling and floor. Between the lines of ether, it formed into a solid wall as well as the floor and ceiling. Anna picked me up and held me close to her. She was calm but I could tell she was worried, though she wasn't frightened she was more… anxious?

     Tani, what's happening? 

     “I don’t know I can find out though give me a moment and I’ll be right back.” she floated away, momentarily getting stuck by the barrier before passing through. Anna made a gentle cooing noise, probably to calm me down. I was starting to get worried a little. Anna held me for a while before there was another knock at the door.

     “The full silver moon has risen,” came a voice from the other side of the door. Anna went to it and put her hand on the knob, she said a few more words, and the barrier opened around the door. Immediately after it opened my brother and sister were gently but forcibly pushed into the room as the door was swiftly pulled shut. The wall of energy closing again, I took advantage of the distraction to look at the energy on the floor more closely and saw a sigil, I memorized it just before I was picked up by Lia.

     “Anna, what's happening?” Lia asked.

     “Nothing, just have an important visitor coming so we have to clean.” That was an obvious lie, the maids kept the house very clean. But they bought it so Anna looked relieved. Something was going on here hopefully, Tani would be back soon with info after what felt like an hour she returned

     What did you find? I asked though the look on her face said it wasn’t good. 

     “Some men broke in, they were looking for you.” My heart dropped when she said that. The others noticed and started worrying about me.