Emily said goodbye to Non with a mixture of emotions that were quite plicated for her to uand.

  As she gathered several bags taining her new clothes, along with what she had worn before ging, she felt strange, as if the weight of the objects she carried was much more than just garments.

  She had also been given food to take with her: a carefully ed package taining a delicious bread filled with spiced meat, apanied by soft cheese and aromatic herbs, along with some fresh fruit and a small cake that looked fit for a noble.

  It was much more than she had expected, and the generosity of Non and his staff overwhelmed her.

  When she finally left the mansion, she felt an abrupt ge as she left behind the warm fort of Non's home.

  The cold of the street hit her, reminding her how different her world was from his.

  Despite the nervousness iomach, she quied her pace, eager to get home as soon as possible.

  This time, the guards didn't stop her as she left; they merely watched her with a slight nod, whily added to the tension she felt inside.

  As she made her way through the streets, people's eyes turoward her.

  The shine of her new clothes and her slightly ged demeanor did not go unnoticed, and many whnized her from the bakery watched her with curiosity.

  Emily felt her nerves increasing with each step, fearing that rumors might start spreading about her drastically different appearance.

  However, to her relief, she entered no problems along the way, though her heart was rag by the time she finally reached her home.

  Emily stopped in front of the worn wooden door and took a deep breath.

  Her hand trembled slightly as she knocked several times.

  The sound of footsteps oher side approached, and Emily swallowed hard, fighting the nerves building up in her chest.

  Finally, the door opened, revealing the figure of her grandmother.

  At first, the elderly woman's expression showed annoyance, surely because Emily had taken lohan usual to return. But that expression quickly ged when she saw how her granddaughter was dressed.

  "Emily!" her grandmother excimed with a big smile on her face, her tone full of affe. Without saying more, she hugged her tightly, making Emily unfortable.

  "e in, dear," her grandmother said as she guided her inside.

  Emily, though still on edge from everything that had happened, obeyed without saying a word.

  The house, small but cozy, offered her a sense of familiarity that allowed her to rex a little.

  "Tell me everything you did today, please," her grandmother asked, her eyes shining with curiosity and pride.

  She knew something important had happened, and she was eager to hear every detail.

  Emily sat down, the bags beside her. She took several deep breaths, trying tanize her thoughts before speaking.

  She knew her grandmother was expeg an answer, but it wasn't easy to expihing that had happened in just a few hours.

  ◇◆◇

  Non was in his study, looking out the window as the afternoon began to turn into evening.

  The day had been productive, more so than he had expected, especially teag Emily.

  He was excited, thinking about what he could show her tomorrow. It was fasating to see how quickly she learned, as if she had a natural talent fic.

  However, as his mind wahrough ideas and lessons, something dark and uling crossed his mind.

  Suddenly, his enthusiasm faded when he remembered his own dition.

  He couldn't use magic… or rather, he shouldn't.

  Every time he tried, the risk of his mana core breaking was too high. He had pushed himself to the limit practig regression, and sihen, he now felt something strange inside, a fragility that kept him on edge.

  " I really not use my magic because of this…?" Non asked himself, feeling that something didn't add up.

  It was true that his core was at risk, but there was something deeply troubling him.

  Every time he used regression magic, everything around him went ba time… except him.

  His body didn't ge.

  If he suffered an injury before activating the magic, even though the attack would never have hit him now, the damage remained.

  He learhis especially when he suffered a sword wound due to a mistake, and when he rewound, the injury was still there.

  This was how the physical strain on his body was geed, and it made him think about the dition that pgued him now.

  When he rewound time during his st practice, he felt a strange pain in his chest, a pain that disappeared when he rewound, but that returhe moment the same seds passed again.

  That didn't make sense… or had he taken his regression magic to a new level again?

  What if that pain wasn't just an act?

  What if… the breaking of his core was the step in the evolution of his magic?

  The idea was as absurd as it was terrifying, but he had already learhat time magic didn't follow the same rules as the others.

  It was a kind of magic that defied the fabric of reality itself.

  There was something more he didn't fully uand, something that didn't fit with what he knew about magic.

  That's why he decided to iigate. He had read a lot about mana cores during his time as a student, but he didn't remember exactly what happened if a core broke.

  Non quickly got up from his chair, ign the words of the servants who greeted him as he walked briskly to his library.

  They were already used to Non's sudden impulses, so they weren't too surprised to see him pass by, deep in thought.

  When he reached the library, Non began frantically searg through the books.

  He took out several old volumes that spoke about mana cores, but what he read was the same as what he already knew: if a person was born without a core, magic was extremely difficult to trol.

  However, there was little mention of a core breaking.

  He kept searg until an unusually colored book caught his attention.

  It was different from all the others, its cover had a modern design, as if it didn't belong in that se.

  He pulled it from the shelf and began to read.

  His eyes widened in amazement as he discovered that what he believed about mana cores was… quite outdated.

  Non had always thought that people were either born with one or not, but the text revealed that cores weren't necessarily something one was born with.

  On the trary, they were often formed and perfected through advanced meditation and mana trol teiques.

  Some were born with the innate ability to create something like a core, but others developed it throughout their lives.

  And even more surprising, there were other, much more advaeiques for maniputing mana, such as creating mana rings around the heart or tattoos imbued with pure mana stones, which made it possible to use external mana.

  Non was stunned.

  Everything he had believed all his life about mana cores was just an outdated and limited version.

  Laughing bitterly, he realized how much magical knowledge had ged while he had been obsessed with time magic.

  Other people had pushed their research to the limit, just as he had doh his own magic.

  Determio learn more, he looked for more books in his library.

  However, all the other volumes seemed outdated, full of information he already knew uely remembered.

  None taihe new perspective he had just discovered.

  Frustrated, he left the library with the strange book in hand, his mind rag in a thousand dires.

  "Someone, e here!" he shouted to the servants as he walked quickly through the halls.

  One of the maids approached, a little nervous at seeing him so agitated.

  "What happened, sir?" the young woman asked, clearly worried.

  Non, still holding the book, showed her the cover.

  "Where did you get this book? I o know where it came from."

  The maid thought for a few seds.

  "I think the librarian brought it, sir… but she's on vacation now."

  Non clicked his tongue in irritation.

  "Vacation?" Noed softly, clearly annoyed.

  Just when he needed ahe most, the person who could provide them wasn't avaible.