Chapter 231: The list

"Can you at least tell me what the effects are?" Sasha asked, increasingly worried of the rolled up piece of paper wrapped in a thin velvety ribbon that Evin' held.

"Okay, the first effect will be the increase of the amount of mana you can work with. I don't quite remember if it does so by increasing the size of your horn, or by increasing its quality… so depending on which, it might hurt a bit," Evin explained simply.

"No! I-I don't really w-wish to increase the size of my horn, thank you," Sasha hurriedly replied, remembering the agonizing pain she suffered during the Horn Ceremony. 

"Wait, wait! I don't think it's going to hurt. Ssatsko went through the same thing and as far as I've noticed, he didn't react at all. So, you should be the same as well," Evin reassured her. 

"I really don't mind! And besides what's a small increase of the mana I can use will do anything for me? At best I can create some more believable illusions," Sasha vehemently refused.

"Don't worry about that. There's a World of Thoughts imprint inside it, that describes a unique method to use the World. Apparently it's the closest you can get to playing dragon with the World of Thoughts," Evin replied meaningfully.

The last sentence caught Sasha's attention. Naturally she knew what "playing dragon" meant. It meant that she could use the legendary World of Creation that was sung in the unbelievable tales of the Authorities.

"What's it about?"

"Well, you'll know it when you see it, won't you?" Evin said temptingly.

"No, tell me what's it about first," Sasha said imposingly. 

A bit too imposing for comfort, but she couldn't pull back her usually authoritative tone from slipping out accidentally.

Though, Evin didn't seem to mind it at all and playfully replied.

"Well, if you don't want to take it, then I suppose I can't help it. I'll try to teach it to someone more willing~"

'Damnit! What do you mean?' Sasha ruminated with difficulty. The curiosity was killing her.

'Wait, he could be just bluffing! After all, why would he want to give something so amazing to me. It would be much better to use it himself… There must be something he doesn't want inside that thing!'

"You think me so naïve to so easily take your bait? If there really is something so magical inside that, then why don't you use it yourself?" Sasha asked victoriously.

"Truthfully, I first tried to learn it myself, but unfortunately, the method was incompatible with a Child of the Empress, or anyone who lived a long enough life. Apparently, the thing is much better suited for a teenager or a kid. And since I don't really have anyone around me that fits that bill, you became the lucky winner. Actually, this is one of the reasons why I wanted to come back in the first place," Evin shrugged.

'That does make sense… And besides, why am I so opposed to having my Horn capacity increased? It's just some small pain, I'm sure it won't be anything too dramatic like what happened during the Ceremony…' Sasha thought unconfidently.

"Alright, let's just get this over with," Sasha said and lied down on her bed.

"Great! Here you go," Evin smiled and scroll above her.

Fearfully, Sasha reached for the piece of paper, constantly reminding herself that everything was going to be alright. But after she made contact with it, half-expecting a wave of agony to assault her body, nothing really happened. As Sasha was wondering whether anything was supposed to happen, an unbearably stinging pain came from her horn.

She tried to scream, but the pain was so great she couldn't do anything else, other than grasping at her horn, with hopes that it might help somehow. But, she didn't have to suffer much longer, as her mind blanked out and off she went to dreamland.

But something was fundamentally different about this dream. It was too real and too interactive to be just a dream, although a bit boring. The only thing Sasha could see was a vast expanse of endless white.

But eventually, the white landscape shifted drastically and a scenery of a forest appeared in her vision, with the one gigantic tree towering over every other one around it. Weirdly, some of them even seemed connected to the big tree, further adding on to its splendor. 

Then, she noticed that a she also had become a tree, a very active one at that. Her roots excitedly wiggled through the ground, apparently searching for something. Sasha had a hunch that she had to find the roots of the giant tree.

…

Evin stood guard near his sister, who had fallen into slumber after touching the Velvet Contract. 

"Ssatsko and Arza took only a couple hours to wake up, so she should be in a few minutes. Maybe a bit longer since there's the added bonus of whatever Lady Veidra chucked into it," he thought idly as he observed Sasha. 

Thankfully, the girl seemed to have gotten over her initial distrust and invited Evin to her room to subtly apologize for her behavior. Obviously, Evin accepted the apology without issues and the two started idly talking about some things. Sasha later asked about his origins, which lead Evin to talk a bit about Earth and its mysteries, so his sister felt more included.

'If only the Cosmics got me married to a spy of their control, then they would've learned about every little detail about Earth in a few months or so,' he joked smilingly.

As he waited, Evin sighed and glanced at the list (which was more of a handbook) that Devin had delivered for him the previous day through Rith.

The Cosmic had explained to Evin that he could preorder anything he wanted from the list, and the Cosmics would deduct the payment from his future profits with a small interest of 3 percent. Evin could literally buy things that were worth millions of gold coins and just had to wait a year or so to start making money again. 

After all, both the Cosmics and him knew that the banks would make money, so they didn't really mind if Evin wanted to spend as much as humanly possible. After all, they could even get a few dozen thousand gold worth of interest from an otherwise normal purchase.

Sighing, Evin focused on the list.