Kian did not care about the tiny traces of natural energy hidden inside the sapphire-blue skin. To him, it was just food.
But to Lumina's cracked and empty internal container, that raw, unrefined energy was exactly what her body needed to bridge the broken pieces before her heart stopped completely. The natural energy coated her throat and stomach, and it flowed directly into the fissures of her shattering core without needing any alchemical conversion.
At this time, the Magic Research community remains unaware of this minor effect of the fruit. No one actually paid attention to it.
"Is she... is she okay?" Red muttered.
Celia kept her palms pressed against Lumina's small chest, and she felt the slow, erratic throb of life returning to the girl's body. The terrifying void in the air began to fade away, and a normal warmth crept back into the child's pale skin.
"We need to get her back to the inn right now," Celia said, and her voice shook violently while she lifted the small girl into her arms.
Kian turned around and started walking toward the dungeon exit without waiting for the others. "Fine. Let's go home. Today is a complete waste of time anyway."
He was secretly pleased in his mind. If the kid was sick or weak, she would probably stay in bed for weeks, and that meant the party would have to stop their dungeon runs entirely, or she might even decide to quit the Feeble Soul out of sheer embarrassment. His ultimate goal of dissolving the party was still on track, so he did not mind the sudden interruption at all.
---
The oil lamp flickered on the small wooden table. It cast long, irregular shadows across the cramped room. Lumina lay flat on her back under the blankets, and her entire body throbbed with a deep, agonizing ache that felt like her bones were filled with heavy stones.
Every single muscle refused to move, and even breathing deeply made her chest hurt, yet her dark eyes remained wide open as she stared at the cracked plaster on the ceiling.
Celia sat on a wooden stool right next to the bed. She held a cloth in her hands and used it to gently wipe the dried purple stains from the corners of Lumina's mouth.
Celia lowered the rag and stared at a half-crushed, sapphire-blue berry resting on the edge of the table.
Is there something hidden inside this fruit? Celia wondered. She frowned in the dim light. Lumi's heart completely stopped beating in that dungeon. But the exact moment Ki crushed these against her tongue, she started breathing again.
She swallowed hard. A profound awe washed over her.
Did he know? Is that the real reason he brings a bag of these specific berries every single day? He must have predicted Lumi would push herself to the absolute limit. He was entirely prepared to save her from the very beginning.
The room stayed completely quiet for a long time. Eventually, the heavy weight of the silence became too much for the Healer to bear.
"You almost died today, Lumi," Celia whispered, and her voice sounded completely drained of strength.
Lumina did not look away from the ceiling. "But I didn't."
The flat, empty tone hit Celia. She just stared. A hot, frustrated tear finally broke loose and rolled down her cheek, completely driven by the sheer lack of fear in the young girl's eyes.
"The researcher at the Institute said it was a one-in-ten-thousand chance," Celia said as she gripped the cloth so tightly that her fingers turned white. "The rats died. Every single one of them died in agony because their containers shattered into pieces. Your heart completely stopped beating, so do you have any idea how terrified I was?"
Lumina shifted her head slightly on the pillow, though the tiny movement made a sharp pain shoot through her neck. "Kian told me I had to die many times over before I could make it. He knew exactly what would happen, Celia. He didn't even look surprised when I fell."
Celia let out a shaky, jagged breath.
"Please, listen to me. I am the Healer of this party, and my job is to stop people from dying, so I am strictly prohibiting you from ever doing this again. It's insane."
A small, stubborn smile appeared on Lumina's pale lips, but her eyes held a cold resolve that did not belong to a nine-year-old child.
"If I can stand up, I'll do it all over again," Lumina said.
Celia gasped as she leaned forward to grab the girl's small shoulder. "Are you crazy? You were just lucky this time! But next time you won't survive. Your Mana Core will just break completely. Lumi... you... will leave me behind!"
"Then I die," Lumina replied flatly. "If I'm too weak, or if I'm just a useless burden to the party, then dying doesn't matter to me. I want to be strong enough to stand beside everyone, and I'm going to expand my container until I can hold enough power, or I will die trying."
Celia stared at her friend in horror as she realized that no amount of logic or begging would change the girl's mind, so a deep worry took root in her chest.
---
A full month passed before Lumina was allowed to leave her bed. She spent those four long weeks drinking bitter herbal broths and resting her aching limbs, while Kian spent his days lounging around or complaining about the rainy weather.
The rest of the party went into the dungeon without her, but their progress was slow because they lacked a proper offensive mage to clear the smaller swarms of monsters.
Lumina used that time to quietly observe her own energy flow, and she could feel that the internal glass bottle inside her chest had changed. It felt rough and uneven around the edges, but it was slightly wider than before. The total amount of energy she could hold had grown by a tiny fraction.
On the first day she finally rejoined the party, the air inside the stone dungeon was cold and damp. They walked down the grey corridors, and Lumina immediately raised her staff to cast the floating spell on Kian.
Celia walked right behind her, but she did not look at the monsters or the stone walls. Her eyes were glued to the back of Lumina's head, and her right hand was buried deep inside her pocket, where she tightly gripped fresh Glisberries she had purchased from the market that morning. She had spent the entire month preparing for this exact moment, because she knew Lumina's stubborn nature too well.
Three hours into the exploration, the light around Kian's body suddenly flickered out.
Lumina did not say a word, but her knees buckled instantly and she crashed forward onto the floor.
"Lumi!" Celia screamed before the child even hit the ground.
The elf Healer rushed forward with a desperate speed as she dropped to her knees beside the fallen girl while Brown and Red were still turning their heads around in confusion. Lumina's face was completely pale, and her breathing had stopped entirely, so the terrifying void had returned to the air.
Celia did not waste a single second on CPR this time. She pulled the blue fruit from her pocket and used her left hand to pry Lumina's small jaw open with a frantic force. She jammed the berries into the girl's mouth and crushed them against her teeth until the sweet, natural juice poured down the child's throat.
"Breathe, please breathe!" Celia sobbed as she pressed her glowing green palms against Lumina's chest to force the muscles to move.
A long, agonizing silence filled the dungeon. Then Lumina suddenly gasped for air, while her body shook violently from the sudden influx of energy. She coughed up a bit of the purple juice, but her dark eyes slowly opened and she looked up at the stone ceiling with a dull, exhausted expression.
Kian walked over and sighed heavily. "Again?"
---
That night, the room inside the inn was filled with the sound of Celia's angry, heartbroken weeping. She stood over Lumina's bed, and her body trembled with raw fury and terror while she pointed her finger at the young mage.
"You promised me nothing, but you still did it!" Celia cried, and the tears ran down her face in thick streams. "Do you have any idea what that does to me? I'm terrified that one day my fingers will slip, or the juice won't reach your throat in time, and I will be forced to bury you."
Lumina lay stiffly under the sheets, and though her limbs felt like they were being pierced by hundreds of needles, her voice remained steady and quiet.
"I need you to support me, Celia," Lumina said, her voice small but steady in the quiet room. She turned her head slightly and looked directly into the Healer's swollen, bloodshot eyes. "I'm not worried at all, because I know you're always standing right behind me."
"Lumi..." Celia choked out, her hands trembling against the edge of the mattress.
"Please, Celia," the young Mage whispered, her dark eyes reflecting the flickering lamp light with a cold, terrifying resolve. "I want to do this."