Chapter 25: Mana Sickness

Finally arriving at their location, Ellia couldn't find a receptionist desk anywhere. So it seemed they wouldn't have a receptionist for a simple resting area. Instead was an elevator leading to higher floors.

"Your room should be on upper floor 6," Ruth said just as Ellia slid her black card over the scanner. The moment she did, the door of the elevator slid open.

Then stepping inside with Alex, she tried to find the buttons for the higher floors and found nothing. It was only Alex who silently watched Ellia, finding her confused expression amusing.

It was then a mechanical voice entered both Ellia's and Alex's ears. "What floor would you like me to take you to?"

Hearing the voice, Ellia was awed in amazement but quickly pulled herself together. "Upper floor 6," Ellia spoke with a slight cough.

"Understood. Now teleporting to upper floor six."

"Wait... teleport?" Ellia said, startled, but by then, it was already too late. Both the figures of Alex and Ellia blurred before disappearing. Then quickly reappeared back on upper floor 6.

But the moment they did, Ellia felt her stomach squeeze in pain. With teary eyes, she tried her best not to puke despite the overwhelming sense of queasiness.

[A large amount of mana has been detected!]

[User is not used to magic!]

[Magic sickness has been inflicted!]

[-70% to all stats.]

Ellia watched as serval blue screens popped into her blurry vision, but she wasn't in a state to read them.

Notching Ellia's staggering movements, Alex glanced over at Ellia. 'Huh? Mana sickness?' Alex thought, watching Ellia's sicked expression.

Feeling her body go weak, Ellia tripped over her own feet, causing her to fall backward.

"Whoa..." Alex voiced while stretching his arms forward, catching Ellia. Then bringing her head towards his chest, he started to crass Ellia's forehead, wiping off her cold sweat. 'This is her first time experiencing magic like this?' Alex thought inwardly with doubt.

It was then the door suddenly opened, catching Alex off guard.

"The fuck? Doing it so early in the morning..." The young lady spoke with disgust. With dark purple hair and a pretty face, which came with a downfall of the same haughty expression and a nasty mouth, the girl was indeed Jona.

Alex didn't know her, nor did he understand how she got to such a conclusion, but it was evident she misunderstood the situation.

"No, it's not wha-" Alex tried to speak, but Jona didn't let him.

"Don't talk to me, you horny motherfucker." Jona said harshly; the gaze on her face was pure disgust. "Now, get the fuck out." She said, pointing outside the elevator door.

Alex wanted to deny her words but suddenly found himself being pulled out by a strong force. Looking at his left wrist, he saw Ellia pulling with the same queazy face.

'I'm going to fucking puke...' Ellia weakly muttered, her face turning green.

"Heh, that's what I thought. Looks like the bitch understands." Jona scoffed, which was heard by Alex.

'That bitch!' Alex angrily cursed as he turned around, but by then, the elevator door was already closed.

After that, Alex wasn't given much time to think about what had just happened. Ellia was aggressively pulling in his wrist, weaving left and right. Although her stats had dropped by 70%, it was more than enough to toss Alex around.

'Where the hell is the room!' Ellia shouted. 'Ruth!'

Hearing Ellia's desperate cries, Ruth immediately responded. "To your left! Uh-huh... okay, another left! Alright... the room is to your right!"

There was no way she was going to puke on the floor right now, especially not with Alex watching.

"Calm down, Eli!" Alex shouted as he watched Ellia struggle to scan her card agast the scanner, but when she did, she ran straight into the room.

"Bathroom...!" Ellia yelled, which was followed by heart-wrenching screeches.

Alex was left completely speechless. Completely flabbergasted.

Slowly taking a step into the room, Alex watched her stagger out of the bathroom. She now had a face of relief. "I made it."

[Recoved from magic sickness.]

'Magic sickness shouldn't be this bad, even if it's the first time experiencing it, so why...? Unless she's super sensitive to mana, this won't happen...' Alex thought, examining Ellia with a severe gaze.

"Argh..." Ellia grumbled while looking around the room. Because of her urgent need to puke, she couldn't tell how lavish the room was, but now swishing her head left and right with sparkling eyes.

All around, the room was filled with high-end tech, from automatic cleaning bots around the living room to an automated cooking system in the kitchen. The place was filled with everything a man or woman would need in life.

"What's with the look?" Alex asked as he approached Ellia in soft steps. "It's like you've never seen something like this before."

"I haven't," Ellia said without much thought.

"But you did. Remember that time you visited my place?" Alex said, causing Ellia to flinch. "You had the same exact expression as you did now."

"Ah... did I?" Ellia heartily chuckled with a thin smile.

"But either way, how are you feeling?" Alex said, noticing Ellia's condition worsened why a small margin.

"I'm fine now, but what the hell was that?" Ellia asked. "It was so sudden.

"It was magic sickness," Alex answered. "It's when you're exposed to massive amounts of mana when you're not used to it."

"That was magic...?" Ellia asked, but she soon realized. "...Wait, it did said teleport, right?"

"It did." Alex nodded. "Did you not know?"

"Well, I was too busy on other things, so yes, I didn't know. Either way, magic could be used like that? If magic could simply be used like it just did, then wants the point of casting it?"

It didn't make sense to Ellia. If you had tools that could cast magic for you, then casting it yourself would be irrelevant.

"Well, you see, teleportation magic is a spell that uses a lot of mana, so not all can cast such a spell," Alex explained. "And since we wanted something more efficient, we created something like the quick transfer elevator."

"It didn't seem to be a lot to instructor James," Ellia said when she remembered James using it as if it was nothing.

"He's different." Alex sighed.

"Then it also looks like I'm different, huh. Will I need to puke every time I take that elevator?" Ellia asked. If she were to puke every time, then she'd be damned if there weren't any stairs.

"No, you'll eventually get used to it," Alex said, causing a little relief to Ellia. "It's just hitting you hard now."

Mana was basically like alcohol. The more you drank, the more tolerant you became towards it. As of now, Ellia had her first shot of whiskey.

"Well, that's good to hear." Ellia smiled as she looked around the room again. "You do know why you're here, right?"

"Of course I do." Alex laughed. "I'll start right now." Then looked toward Ellia as if he was waiting for something.

Notching, Ellia raised an eyebrow. "What do you want?"

It was Alex's turn to be surprised. "Huh...? You have the materials, right?"

Hearing his words, Ellia was taken aback. "Materials?"

Alex brought her hand to his face. "How do you think I'm going to make you your arm?"

Ellia hadn't thought this one through. "I..."

"Haaa... forget it." Alex sighed, then looked towards the automatic cleaning boots and the automated cooking system. "You're fine if you have to make your food and clean yourself, right?"

"Yes, I'm fine with that," Ellia said, smiling at Alex.

"Great! Then it all works out. I'll get started ASAP." HE said with a determined look on his face.

"Speaking of materials..." Ruth spoke. "We need to get some ourselves."