“How long was I asleep?” said a very tired man’s voice.

  “You were asleep for almost five days,” replied another man’s voice, soft but heavy with concern. “Although… if we count the time you had no control over your body, we’re talking about more than six months.”

  Joel remained motionless for a few seconds. The weight of the words crushed him more than the exhaustion that still coursed through his bones. He brought his hands to his face and sighed, a broken sound that filled the silence of the room. He didn’t need to remember what had happened to understand the impact of those words. He had experienced this kind of emptiness before. He knew what it meant for someone else to take his place.

  “Who was the guest this time?” he finally asked, still covering his face with his hands.

  Ashoka hesitated before answering. When he spoke, his voice had a subtle nuance that Joel hadn’t heard before. “His name is Adam… a rather peculiar man, with a troubled past and a damaged mind.”

  Joel slowly lowered his hands. His gaze was empty, almost resigned. “What do you mean by ‘damaged’?”

  “Let’s just say he turned out to be someone with… problematic tendencies… Very prone to hurting others for pleasure. A real killer, if we want to be more specific.” Ashoka paused briefly. “Although with some semblance of ethics, it must be said.”

  For a moment, the air seemed to vibrate. Joel gritted his teeth and nearly let out a burst of rage, along with an impulse to hit something and scream. But he didn’t. Instead, he took a deep breath, containing that storm beneath the surface. His voice, when he spoke, was low and steady.

  “Tell me everything that happened.”

  Ashoka nodded and began to narrate. The story stretched on for hours, without interruption. Joel insisted on knowing every detail, every word, every action committed by the man who bore his name. At first, the revulsion was immediate. The horror was reflected in his eyes as he heard about Adam's terrible methods for getting what he wanted: the hanging bodies, the confessions ripped out amid screams, and the cruelty that seemed unnecessary.

  But as the story unfolded, something shifted within Joel. Disgust transformed into silent attention, and then into a discomfort bordering on empathy. The atrocities Adam had committed were, in many cases, responses to far worse crimes. Torture, experiments, covert massacres… The killer had revealed the darkest face of the powerful in this world. And in that darkness, Joel saw a reflection of his own past powerlessness.

  Ahsoka spoke of too many horrific things committed in secret, things most dismiss as mere myths. All focused on a single purpose: to increase magical power at any cost. Joel understood then that, although Myrrial was considered a paradise compared to the other three worlds, its nobility remained just as ruthless. They were simply better at sweeping the blood under the rug.

  Joel felt something heavier than weariness settling in his chest: the certainty that the pieces of the puzzle had finally fallen into place, and not without leaving a dark trail. He sat up calmly, conjured a can of soda in his hand, and downed it in one gulp. The fizz tickled his throat; the sweet taste was almost insulting compared to the harsh truth he had just heard.

  "Nana," he said, stretching, "can you come here for a moment?"

  The statue appeared without fanfare: a wooden arm emerged through the wall, and in a few heartbeats, Nana settled herself upon the desk with her usual stony dignity. Her tentacles retracted like roots, settling into the floor of the room.

  "Hello, Nana. I hope my absence hasn't caused too much trouble," Joel murmured, leaning against the edge of the desk.

  "It could have been worse," the statue replied in her stony voice. "Fortunately, we anticipated several scenarios and were able to plan how to deal with them."

  Joel tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Have you had any trouble with the prisoner?"

  Nana allowed a brief, measured silence to fill the room. "On the contrary," she said. "Connor has been an excellent specimen for experimentation. Thanks to him, I discovered new things about my abilities; findings that, if I may say so, will be very useful to us."

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  Joel felt an inner pull: curiosity mixed with a twinge of mistrust. "What did you discover?" he asked, moving closer and resting his chin on his hands.

  “Using the scientific method you teach in your classes,” Nana replied, with an almost ironic bow, “I experimented with Connor’s blood and tissue to discover the root of my absorption abilities. I’ve confirmed that, to copy a mage’s magical affinity, the key lies in absorbing living heart tissue. Apparently, that’s where what we might call the center of magic resides… Blood is simply the medium to transmit it to the rest of the body.”

  “Does that mean…?” Joel stammered. “That you have to consume parts of the heart before the tissue dies?… That sounds terrifying and painful for the donor.”

  “Exactly,” Nana replied. “And yes, it is quite painful. The extraction must be done in stages, with regeneration time between each step. Our prisoner has demonstrated a high pain tolerance and, against all odds, seemed… pleased at the prospect of remaining alive. I’ve synthesized regenerative potions that accelerate regeneration between sessions. With several cycles, I'll be able to extract the magical affinity without causing death. I estimate I can complete the task in a couple of months.”

  Joel felt the room shrink. Guts and ethics intertwined in his mind: the possibility of gaining a new ability that would protect them, and at the same time, the price that came with it.

  “Do you think you’ll be able to master dimensional magic after obtaining it?” he asked hopefully.

  Nana didn’t hesitate. “It didn’t take me too long to master the other types of magic I obtained, considering I didn’t have any help. The power to open portals is much more complex; however, if I can count on Connor to guide me in practice—under Ashoka’s strict supervision—there’s a real possibility that I’ll master it effectively. How long it will take is the only thing I can’t predict.”

  At that moment, Ashoka’s voice emerged from the medallion Joel still wore on his chest. “I’ll do my best,” he said, with his usual solemnity. “I’ll make sure Connor doesn’t lie to us in any way.”

  Joel closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and then let it out.

  "This idea of ??being able to copy the abilities of powerful mages sounds almost surreal," he commented after a few seconds of silence, his gaze fixed on the floor and his brow furrowed. Then he looked up, lost in thought. "I had read about potions made with the hearts of dragons and other magical beasts... It makes sense, then, that in our case, the origin of magic also lies there."

  He began pacing the room in circles, his arms crossed and an analytical gleam in his eyes. "Perhaps the secret behind the most powerful blood potions lies right there," he continued in a low voice, as if speaking to himself. "I recall reading in the Cult of Dawn's library that only royal families and the most powerful organizations possess the formulas to create elixirs capable of raising a mage to level nine or even ten... Perhaps they achieve this by using the hearts of other mages."

  Nana nodded slowly from her desk. "It's true that the heart has a higher magical density than any other organ," the statue explained meticulously. "But my discovery goes further. To steal magical affinity, the tissue must still be alive. A dead heart is useless, and extraction is only viable for a few minutes after separation from the body, before a certain type of magic dissipates. I doubt those you're referring to could harness the heart's full potential if they used it in potion form."

  Joel stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her, trying to grasp the magnitude of what he had just heard. "So what you discovered isn't just surprising, Nana… it's revolutionary."

  He paused, lost in thought, and then added, "But how can we put it to good use?"

  "Perhaps by expanding the experiments we're already doing with the children," Nana suggested matter-of-factly.

  Joel turned slowly, his expression a little incredulous and serious. "What do you mean, 'the children'?" he asked, his voice tense. "Have you had any results with your potions?"

  "That was precisely the first thing I was going to tell you, before we started the experiments on Connor," the statue replied. "The potions were a complete success. Jared and Abigail have both seen a remarkable increase in their magical potential. Abigail, in particular, should be able to reach level one in less than a year, provided she maintains her discipline."

  Joel couldn't hide a satisfied smile. "Excellent news," he said with a hint of pride.

  “But there’s something even more significant,” Nana continued. “Four additional children—who previously showed no detectable magical affinity—have manifested faint signs of awakening. It’s still weak, barely a spark, but steady. With time and training, they could develop full affinities upon reaching maturity.”

  Joel was speechless. His breath caught in his throat for a moment, trying to process what he had just heard.

  Inducing magical awakening in someone without potential was, until that moment, considered impossible. There were no records, no viable theories. The mere possibility of achieving it implied completely altering the social and political structure of the four worlds.

  But before Joel could utter a word, Nana continued in her analytical tone, almost as if her thoughts were flowing without pause: "However, considering this new discovery, I believe I can take a different approach with the children. I've been reflecting on their stage of development... their bodies are still forming, which could facilitate certain magical adaptations if handled precisely. I suspect it might be possible to transplant small amounts of Connor's heart tissue into their own hearts. In theory, that could allow the dimensional magical affinity to be passed on gradually."

  Joel immediately raised his head, his eyes almost glowing, though his face was tense and his voice firm: "Is there any danger involved for the children?"

  Nana remained motionless for a few seconds, as if processing the question before answering.

  "I can't offer you absolute certainty," she admitted, "but in principle, it shouldn't be dangerous if we're working with microscopic amounts of tissue. We're talking about minimal exposure to Connor's magic, barely enough to trigger a reaction. In the worst-case scenario, the children's bodies would reject the tissue and expel it naturally. No life-threatening risk."

  Joel breathed a sigh of relief, though the tension was still reflected in his gaze. However, behind his apparent calm, a spark of excitement began to ignite. His mind raced, imagining scenarios and possible consequences.

  Awakening magical potential in a child with no affinity was already an achievement bordering on the impossible… but transmitting a specific affinity—and even more so one as rare as dimensional magic—was something that could forever change the order of the four worlds.

  Joel placed a hand on his chin, lost in thought, his gaze hardening.

  “If you manage to do it, Nana… if you can truly not only awaken magic in an ordinary child, but also grant them a specific affinity, then we would be able to change the history of magic forever.”

  “So, do I have your permission to experiment?” Nana asked earnestly.

  The man hesitated for only a moment, then nodded slowly.