46. you will lead our family again.

"Please accept this as a token of my appreciation," Girard stated while throwing a pouch onto the table.

Upon hearing the impact, a smile formed on Luz's face, and he immediately thanked Master Girard for such a gracious gift before slowly taking and opening the pouch. Inside the bag, colorful mana crystals ranging from the colors red to slightly yellow awaited him. 'I sense Mana coming from them… strange.'

Seeing Luz's cluelessness, Girard chuckled before commenting in amusement, "My, My, Have they completely neglected your magic studies?"

With a tinge of embarrassment, Luz admitted, "Well… they left me to my own device to figure the magic stuff on my own with reading books and so forth."

"Right, that Brian is an odd one. He wanted you brats to experience the life of regular people before any of you gets taught by a magician," Girard said in laughter before explaining the situation to him. "Anyway. The colors of mana stones correlate with that of a PH meter. But unlike a PH meter whose color scheme range from acidic to basic, mana stones go from trash to best. It starts with red before moving to orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple…."

"I see…" Luz commented while remaining clueless before asking, "so for what are they useful and what do the colors indicate?"

"Well, they indicate the intensity and quality of the Mana stored inside those stones," Master Girard explained before taking a sip. "As you might expect, red ones have the least amount of Mana stored inside them and are barely enough to completely replenish a mage apprentices' Mana.

Amazed by that, Luz thought, 'with these things, I could, in theory, use my space spells without giving a shit about my mana consumption. I WOULD BE AN UNSTOPPABLE IN MY LEAGUE, MUHAHAHAH.' Nevertheless, he didn't let his excitement and greed get the worse of him and calmly asked, "What about the orange mana crystals then?"

"A red mana crystal would be barely enough to replenish around 10% of a beginner mage's Mana, while the orange one would be more than enough to replenish 100% of a beginner mage's Mana," explained Simon.

Somewhere else, in front of a cave, a creature landed on the ground, and dust began to swirl into the air as the ominous sound of its eight wings beating slowly came to a halt.

After the dust settled, the creature slowly arose before entering the cave. Unlike what one might expect, that insect monster appeared to be bipedal even though it had three pairs of limps.

While strolling through the cave, the insect hybrid emitted various strange noises, including buzzing at a low frequency and rattling its exoskeleton.

These cryptic echoes aroused the numerous insects that inhabited the cave. And it didn't take long for a vast insect swarm to encircle the bipedal creature as it tenderly patted numerous insects of varying sizes with its four arms. "My, my. You all seem to be so excited," it chuckled in y rough and manly voice as a fly the size of a human head landed on its shoulder.

Nevertheless, the bipedal creature continued moving and soon reached a barrier made of pure Mana. "You all…" the manly half-human-insect hybrid stated coldly as it moved its gaze through the excited insect swarm. "are not allowed to enter."

After uttering that, the man gently placed his hand on the barrier. The Mana wall began to fade away, and a primitive laboratory came into sight.

A giant larva the size of two adult people stood in the midst of a laboratory, with a circumference of three persons. But the insect was not the only thing inside the room. Around twenty insects around the size of a human were busy feeding the giant larva.

Upon sensing the creature's entrance, the giant larva grew restless to the point that it squashed one of its feeders as it tried getting closer to the half-insect-human hybrid.

It wanted to scream and shout, but all it could emit were bone-chilling wobbles as it sought to communicate with the man telepathically. 'Dad!? Is it you? WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!? AND WHY ARE YOU AN INSECT, AND WHAT THE HELL AM I!? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LIMPS!?'

Sensing her anxiousness, the hybrid gently rubbed its claws over her white jade-like carapace as it began to whisper. "Daughter… I'm sorry, but I had no choice but to follow through with the experiment. But don't worry. Your appearance will still change over time, and after you are done with your metamorphism, you will lead our family again."

Somewhere else, in front of a mansion, stood a young man that sighed in relief, "I never expected that place to grow on me," before entering it.

As he leisurely walked through the hallways, enjoying the beauty of the statues, the loud echo of steps grew louder with every second. "Please don't let it be, Liv… Please don't let it be, Liv…" he prayed as he increased his pace.

Unfortunately for him, he was correct, as an elf with a large hat leaped onto him and hugged him tightly from behind.

"Wait! Stop, you will get dirty," Luz sighed as Liv pinched his cheeks while cursing loudly, "there you are, brat. I've been waiting for you for like a few hours…."

Before she could finish her sentence, the reek coming from Luz's body finally reached her, and she immediately jumped off him. "Damn, you reek as if you bathed in blood, sweat, and excrement the last few days," Liv stated while looking at her clothes in disgust.

Luz chuckled before apologizing. "Sorry, Liv, but I ended up bussy, hehe. I will visit you in an hour."

"You better do," Liv commented while mustering Luz's leather armor. "Also, I need to inspect your mangled armor later."

"Fine by me," Luz commented before taking his leave.

An hour later, in someone's atelier.

"You brat, I crafted that fine piece of armor; I've even drawn the runes with a sisterly love, and look at this shit now after a single hunt," Liv cursed loudly, dispirited while slamming her hand against her crafting table.

Luz quietly sat there, not daring to say anything as Liv continued inspecting the armor further. "If this continues, I'll have to give up my luxurious lifestyle because I'll have to fix your armor after every goddamn hunt," she sobbed quietly to herself as a pair of mana hands began to patch Luz's armor.

"But sis… I'm sorry that the armor ended up like this," Luz answered hesitantly, making Liv even more infuriated. "You better be sorry, brat. I expected you to care for that armor with love instead of using it as a cheap shirt from Primark," Liv swore.

Luz wanted to argue with her, but after recalling how he was stripped down by her the last time he refused, he refrained from talking as a shudder ran down his back.

After a few minutes of silence, Liv broke the silence as she was in a better mood. "At the very least, the armor did its job and protected your sorry ass. But seriously, what in god's name happened while you two were away for your armor to turn out like that?"