The next day, David performed more experiments where his talent as an endless mana battery could shine. Literally, in most cases, with a blue glow illuminating the laboratory throughout the day.

  The fairies had him send mana through different materials and substances, measuring devices, and even plants, though he refused to do so on something that looked like an animal, even though the fairies insisted was actually a hyper-advanced form of lichen.

  He believed them, but the lichen's mature form was a six-legged, log-shaped creature with snail feelers that ambled around looking for moisture to soak up, and could even perceive and react to sounds.

  The way it tickled you when petting it, as it tried to brush its “body” against your skin to absorb surface moisture, made it look like it was playing with your hand. And then, when you pulled your hand away, it would puppy-run after it with a clumsy gait.

  The things were, frankly, adorable.

  So Niala adopted one, because of course she would. She called it Lychee, because it kept trying to leech moisture.

  David brought up the point that the cat-sized creature would become rather tiny back in the Mundaneworld, but the fairies preempted Niala's frantic disappointment by explaining that the “Bumblemoss”, as they were called, could grow to enormous size when not regularly trimmed, probably to the size of a small Mundaneworld mammal.

  The last experiment they had David participate in was held in another room, filled with tables, upon which sat hundreds of various jellies, with Kevin's mouth almost managing a tiny smile as they got started. A bell later, with the jellies having exploded, ran away, split into dozens of smaller jellies, taken flight, or teleported to saints-know-where, David was done. Everyone gave their goodbyes, and Apricot came to escort the visitors to the Dean's office.

  Before leaving, however, Niala asked for a minute, and jogged up to Kevin, speaking to her, too far for David to hear anything, and walked back with a smile on her face. He arched an eyebrow, but she shook her head, later.

  Shrugging, they made their way to the top floor of the institute, using an antique brass-cage elevator that played carousel music, and then to the Dean's office. It was a large chamber, with a thick, muffling carpet covering the floor. Everything was wooden and massive, overpowering your sense of scale as soon as you stepped in.

  Everything was also coloured in pastel pinks and purples.

  Dean Velour looked up from a stack of paper on her desk, then at the clock, and nodded before reclining in her chair and motioning for her guests to sit in the cushioned chairs arrayed before her work desk.

  Apricot took her place at the Dean's right wing, standing in silence.

  Velour began speaking as soon as everyone had seated and looked in her direction. “Mr. David, I've heard you performed all of your tasks with proper satisfaction. I was very pleased to hear, as working with mundaneworlders can sometimes be unreliable and tedious.”

  Before David could answer, the Dean opened a drawer and pulled out two pouches, one small, one tiny, depositing them on her desk, in his direction. She dipped her head toward the pouches. “A total of 200 grams of equitable fairy dust, split as per your contract with Ms. Totori Flamrise.”

  She then went silent and stared at David. He eventually understood she was waiting for him to retrieve the pouches. As soon as he did, she resumed speaking. “Now that payment has been received, our current engagements have been completed. We will be in contact with your agent for our next collaborative efforts.”

  The dour fairy allowed herself a semblance of a smile. “It was a pleasure to have you help with our research, Mr. David. I hope our arrangements continue in the same manner.”

  She then drifted her gaze to the door of her office, before silently staring at them once more.

  David blinked before understanding that was the Dean's way of closing a one-sided conversation. He got up, thanked the Dean, and walked out of the room, followed by Niala and Totori. Apricot closed the door behind them, leaving the trio alone in the corridor.

  David glanced at Totori and Niala. “Good conversation.” He said.

  His girlfriend rolled her eyes and latched onto his arm. “I think she's just very busy. I had a teacher like her once, all icy business, all the time. I thought he was incapable of emotions, but when I got into trouble once, he jumped to my defence without me asking anything.”

  He stared at her, eyes narrowed.

  Her ears folded back. “What?”

  “You got into trouble? What did you do? Give too much money to the orphanage?”

  She stuck out her tongue at him. “No, trumpet, I sneaked into the brewing room at night to do experiments.”

  David winced. “Oh, that's how you're going to use that name...”

  She gave him an impish grin as her only reply.

  Totori tilted her head. “Trumpet?”

  David shook his head. “No.”

  “No?” Totori asked.

  “No, if you say that word again, I'm cancelling our contract.”

  His agent's eyes popped out of their orbits before she stood and saluted. “Roger that, boss! No saying the word tru-”

  “No.”

  “Right! No word!”

  “But I can still say it, right, trumpet?” Niala purred.

  David let his head hang as the imp attached to his arm cackled.

  Kevin was waiting for them as they left the main building. Niala gave her a small wave, which the fairy answered by shaking a half-raised hand.

  “Kevin! Thanks for agreeing! I really just wanted to ask you a few questions, if that's ok?” Niala asked.

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  “Ok.” The drowsy fairy replied.

  “Great! Huh, do you know where we could go to have a talk?”

  Kevin ponderously raised a hand in the direction of a nearby building that looked like a dorm. “The agora.”

  “Right, well, lead on!” Niala said, but Kevin didn't move, instead moving her gaze to David and staring at him from under half-closed eyelids.

  “...what?” David asked.

  “Mana, please.” She spoke with the same exhausted drawl he'd heard before, sounding as if she'd just woken up from two bells of sleep after having been up for two full days.

  “I'm not sure I should. Mana injection is very dangerous.” He cautioned, puzzled as to why the fairy would even ask.

  “Mmmh, not for me. Please.” Her last word sounded like a herculean effort.

  He looked at Niala and Totori, both shrugging at him. He approached Kevin and put his hand on her shoulder, unleashing a small stream of mana, as his hand and Kevin's shoulder began glowing blue, ready to stop at the first sign of adverse effect.

  But the only effect it had was Kevin's droopy eyelids raising about a quarter of the way up. By comparison to her usual state, she looked positively bursting with energy now.

  “Thanks, you can stop.” She said.

  David removed his hand, and the fairy turned around and departed for the building she'd pointed at, leaving him and his company with questions plastered on their faces.

  Maybe Niala had hit upon something special, after all.

  And here he thought she just wanted to hear the story about the fairy's unusual name.

  “So, I just wanted to ask about your unusual name, if you don't mind me asking?” Niala said as David gave her a look.

  Kevin gave Niala a small, tired smile. “It's ok. A lot of fairies ask me.” She blinked, her eyelids moving at the speed of a glacier, her head dipping forward before jerking back. The fairy looked around, seemingly slightly confused, before finding Niala and focusing on her once more. “Do you think you could get me a few energy fruit drinks? Sitting down makes me sleepy...” She said, moving her eyes towards a small concession stand set to one side of the agora.

  Niala's ears lopsided, looking at the stand, before giving a smile to Kevin and getting up to retrieve the requested drinks.

  David watched Niala go, then turned back toward Kevin, taking the opportunity to ask one of his questions. “Kevin, why can you...” He trailed off as he saw her closed eyes. She was sleeping upright.

  He looked at Totori, who looked back at him, and asked. “Maybe an Old Woman would wake her up better than fruit juices?”

  Totori's eyes widened, a huge smile taking over her face, as she excitedly got up and closed in on David. “Oh! That's... an amazing idea! Do you think I could get one as well?!”

  David leaned back in his chair, Totori's face a few inches away from his.

  “Niala had to drug you to sleep last night, so no. I'll have Niala make a weaker version of the drink before I unleash it on the Fairlands.”

  “But-!” The fairy began.

  “No. I'm not going to turn a world full of little psychos into a world full of hyper-psychos.” David interrupted her.

  “Boss, please!” She begged.

  “Totori, no. Only during emergencies.”

  Niala cut in as she returned with a few small metallic cylinders with pictures of electric fruits on them. “What emergencies?”

  “Old woman-worthy emergencies,” David explained.

  Niala's ears wiggled. “Oh, yeah. Don't want a repeat of yesterday.” She looked at Totori's pleading face. “Don't worry, Totori! I'll make a refined version for fairies that'll give you all the pep you need, but none of the, huh, excitement?”

  Totori let her head hang, kicking at the floor. “Oookaaaay...” She said, as she plodded back to her chair, slumping down on it, with a pout on her face.

  Niala shot her a motherly smile before approaching Kevin and nudging her awake with one of the cans. The fairy startled awake in slow-motion, before she noticed the offered energy fruit drink can, snapping her hands on it like a striking snake, pulling the tab open, and downing its contents with greedy gulps.

  She repeated the motion with the second can, her eyelids lifting slightly, and opened the third can, but only sipped on it.

  Niala sat back down and waited for the fairy to look back at her.

  Kevin nodded, her movement slightly faster and precise than before. “So, my parents were very big mundaneophiles. They moved to a small community of Mundanelivers, people who try to live like mundaneworlders, and everyone took on mundaneworld names, so they named me Kevin.”

  Niala's tail swished behind her. “Oh! That's so interesting! Why do they do that? Live in a village like that, I mean? What else do they do?! Do they visit our world often?”

  David watched with amusement as the Niala Question Engine revved up, flooding poor Kevin with an unending stream of questions.

  It took a little while, but after half a dozen more energy drinks, Kevin had managed to answer most of Niala's biggest questions.

  There were apparently many such small communities, and they even held “Mundaneworld fair” here and there, attracting tourists who wanted to see how mundaneworlders lived, to taste their food, sample their entertainments, and so on.

  It quickly became apparent, however, that the Mundanelivers had incomplete or incorrect information about the mundaneworld. He was pretty sure nobody in his world had fully-armoured fights over who could take the first bite at the diner table.

  After a while, David put a hand on Niala's shoulder, grabbing her attention. “Can I ask a question of my own?”

  She blinked, her ears wiggling. “Of course!” She turned her head toward Kevin. “Sorry if I'm overwhelming! It's just all so interesting!”

  Kevin slowly dipped her head. “It's ok. I like talking, but, for some reason, fairies seem to think I'm anti-social.”

  David tilted his head. Yeah, he could see why. “Why don't you get mana poisoning?”

  “Oh, that? It's because I'm mana-negative.” She replied matter-of-factly.

  “And what does that mean?”

  “It means my essence overpowers my passive mana regeneration. No mana can pass from the intangible and into me, so I have no mana in my system. Even worse, my pathways act as a sort of drain, sucking in ambient mana and pushing it back into the intangible.”

  She sighed. “And that saps my energy, and leaves me really tired. That's why, when I get a boost of mana, it fills me back up for a short time, and since I don't have any mana in my system, nothing can be poisoned.”

  David and Niala shared a look. Essence...? Didn't Geralkko's formula mention that? They had thought it was just the lich's propensity to use the wrong words, and that he'd meant the soul, but...

  David leaned forward, levelling his gaze at Kevin, while Niala's ears and eyes were both pointed at the fairy. “When you say essence, do you mean the soul?”

  “Hmmm? Soul? That's just an abstract concept, no basis for it in science.” She said, flopping a hand around. “Essence is... I guess you could call it your shadow in the intangible? Or rather, your intangible self. The proper term is phantomatic refraction, and its discovery in 721 by Iridel Appletarts marked the birth of modern protomana-physics.”

  All three assembled blinked as the otherwise lethargic fairy lit up with syrupy energy.

  Niala tilted her head. “Kevin, Rimiri said your thesis was on the insulating jellies, but what's your field of study? Is it...”

  “Yes, I'm studying mana-physics, with a specialization in protomana-physics, which is, huh, the study of mana in the intangible. I'm hoping it helps me find a way to cure or manage my negative mana affliction.”

  “Is it that bad?” Niala asked, concerned.

  The fairy nodded. “The affliction is linked to someone's phantomatic refraction, and mine is not normal. Like everyone else with this disease, my essence is degrading much faster. According to modern theories, it's the reason that I'm almost guaranteed to get mana inversion syndrome, and everyone knows that's a death sentence.” She sighed, before her gaze lowered to the ground, and her tone shifted lower. “Even with regular mana treatment, my life expectancy isn't much more than 30 or 35 years.”

  Niala sucked in a breath as her hand shot to David's and squeezed. He himself didn't move, his mind running through what Kevin had just said with a fine comb.

  The Fairies have mana inversion as well, and they think that whatever essence is, it has a direct link to it. Did Geralkko lie to us about not knowing how to prevent mana stagnation?

  Niala squeezed his hand once more, dragging his attention back to her. He found a warm smile waiting for him, one that reached all the way down to his core.

  He squeezed her hand back, smiling in return.