Chapter 4

Quinn

The cottage returned to its usual quietness after lunch when Liam and Maria left for their duties at Bedford Manor. Alone, I got out of bed and when to sit on the chair near the hearth that still had the fire going, giving out heat in the chill autumn air.

I folded my arms across my chest, my brows furrowing as I stared into space, my mind racing, the scientist within me working hard.

If only I could come up with a method to check what sort of essential vitamins and minerals I was deficient in, like those analyzers in a hospital diagnostic lab. If I could do that with the blood from a finger prick, then wouldn't that be a miracle?

First, however, I had to find out if I could use magic to create a pill or supplement. If I could do that, then in a world where medicine itself was so far behind, this would also be another miracle.

Quinn had liked to learn about magic, despite not being one of the few lucky ones who had been blessed. Thanks to her tireless pursuit in acquiring the knowledge in that field, I knew the basics of how each class of magic worked, via her memory.

Healing, limited to only the physical injuries, did not require performing a magic circle. One could simply chant as I had done before. Although it would be great if I could do it without having to chant, too. I'd figure out a way to do that, since I was a scientist through and through, after all. I supposed in a way, magic was like science. Everything about it was mysterious and unknown until it was observed and experimented upon and then, voila!

Creation and destruction magic, unlike healing, did require magic circles. Once blessed with either of these almighty abilities, one needed to go through vigorous training in a magic academy run by the kingdom. In Athol, there was only one magic academy, and that was in the capital, St. George. Once graduated, the blessed ones would automatically be required to work for the kingdom.

As for the foresight blessing, well, there wasn't much about that in Quinn's memory. In fact, there was none at all. From the name itself, I would imagine it was something similar to clairvoyant.

Since Quinn had been so studious about the theory of magic, doing whatever she could to read those books in Bedford Manor's library, I wondered if she wanted to go to the capital and work for the kingdom. The poor girl. She probably thought that if she acquired enough knowledge, she might be able to get away from here and live a better life working in the capital.

I didn't know. Whatever the case may be, I was with Quinn one hundred percent in leaving this hellhole of a place.

Now, then, let me try it out and see if I had been blessed with the creation magic. Let me see if I could create something like an analyzer that could test my blood.

Spreading my hands out over the table, I chuckled nervously, my heart pounding just a little harder than normal. I closed my eyes and started picturing it, an analyzer, like the ones in a diagnostic lab.

Suddenly, like a film flicking before my mind's eyes, all the different types of analyzers I had encountered or seen, even via the internet while I had done my research during my university years, flashed in my mind's eye. Then the type of tests, liver functions, thyroid functions, full blood counts, hormones, and more, hundreds of them that I was familiar with. There were even ones I wasn't familiar with, too, ones I had only read or heard about. This was followed by the normal range of these tests and then the abnormal and their diagnosis.

Picturing all that took me back to my old life, to me learning how to take blood from my classmates and performing the tests as part of the lab work. It was rather nostalgic. Growing colonies of bacteria in the microbiology lab was quite fun, now that I thought about it, and we students chided and compared which of ours were the best.

A smile on my lips, I opened my eyes, wondering if I could do that again, growing bacteria on an agar plate and using it to test which antibiotic worked best on certain bacterial infections.

My mind was still on bacteria, infections, and antibiotics when I noticed the glow before me. I widened my eyes, stunned. Holy smoke! Did I really create a magic circle? Clearly, I did not expect it to work, but…

There in front of me hovering just above the tabletop was the mark of some sort of magic circle, very complex with signs, symbols, and scripts, and it was glowing.

I leaned forward and closely inspected it, excitement building within me. I chuckled. I couldn't believe I could even do this. Didn't that mean I had the creation magic?

I tilted my head to one side. During the magic circle summoning phase, I had been thinking about diagnostic analyzers and all the different types of blood tests; didn't that mean this magic circle was, in fact, an analyzer of some sort?

There was only one way to find out. Test it.

I reached over the table and grabbed the kitchen knife. Desperate times called for desperate measures. If this magic analyzer worked, then I'd figure out a way to make needles for finger pricks later.

I sterilized the blade by placing it over the flame of the fire for a few seconds, and once it cooled down, I made a small cut to the tip of my index finger and then squeezed the blood over the analyzer magic circle. My eyes glued to the circle, I watched as the blood, thankfully, seeped into the circle instead of landing on the tabletop. I knew then that this was the real deal. This was my magic analyzer.

The analyzer magic circle glowed, and the signs, symbols, and scripts turned like gears. It took only a few seconds and then a hologram-like screen popped up.

Wow! It was so damn awesome. It was just like the computer screen attached to analyzers with results.

I leaned in closer and read. The language was written in English, and I assumed this was because it had taken the background data from me.

At the top, it had my name, which was Quinn Fairchild, gender, which was female, age, which was eighteen, and blood type, which was O Positive, Rh-negative. Below that, it had blood test results. I saw the complete blood count, clearly showing very low hemoglobin and I knew I was anemic, which didn't surprise me. White cell counts were high, so I had an infection, too, eh? Again, that didn't surprise me due to the broken ribs and being beaten to the brink of death. That reached the bottom of the screen, and knowing there were more results, I suspected I could scroll down the screen with my fingers.

I reached out and touched the screen. It felt no different from a touchscreen back home. I began to scroll down, noting the liver function tests, thyroid, hormones, and then all the vitamins and minerals. At the bottom, I was overjoyed to find the list of diagnoses.

Anemic, yes, I knew that one. After that there were iron deficiency, B12 deficiency, folate deficiency, Vitamin C deficiency, Vitamin D deficiency, and more lows in vitamins and minerals.

Great, I thought in exasperation. There was so much lacking in Quinn's body. No wonder the citizens in this world had such a short life span. The lucky ones, mostly those that were wealthy, could live up to sixty to seventy years of age, but the poor could barely pass their mid-thirties. I guessed Elizabeth was lucky to have passed her forties and still survive despite her poor health.

Now that I had all the diagnoses, should I figure out how to create a pill that could cure all my deficiencies?

I reached my hands out over the analyzer magic circle and closed my eyes. My aim was to combine the analyzer magic circle with a medicine maker, or rather pharmaceutical magic circle, so that one could obtain the diagnoses from the other and create medicine as prescriptions accordingly.

In my mind, I imagine a cutting-edge instrument, like one in a pharmaceutical company, that could create medicine that was connected to the diagnostic analyzer magic circle.

Once again, images of all types of instruments, medicines, and supplements that I had encountered, seen, or read about flashed through my mind. When it ended and I opened my eyes, I saw the magic circle turned a different color; this one was blue instead of gold, and then the signs, symbols, and scripts rotated. Instantly, pills—small and round in white color—materialized just above the magic circle. On the screen it said: Personalized pills - take one daily for seven days until levels return to normal.

Huh? Only seven days? If I remembered correctly, severe deficiencies took ages, something like three to six months, to bring back to normal levels. But I guessed it was different here in this world, and the medicines from a God-given blessing of a magic circle would be very potent.

After grabbing the pills, I terminated the magic circle by saying, "Cancel magic circle." Then I eagerly popped one pill into my mouth and downed a cup of tea.

Seven days, eh? That'd take no time at all.

After securely storing the remaining six pills in a pouch and leaving it near my bed, I left the cottage. Now it was time to explore the town and see what it had to offer.