–AN) Late once again! But 2 more on the way.–

“Princess Gemini.” Lillia had a few questions she had to ask.

“Gemini is fine. I am no longer a princess. I am just a lone Naga.” Gemini smiled bitterly.

“Then, Gemini. Can I ask more about the way mana works? Even during my era, we only took in mana and grew in strength that way. While this did help us evolve and grow stronger, we could never reach the level you speak of.” Lillia wanted to know more. She read a bit about the way to use mana to strengthen the body, but she did not get to dive deep into it.

Gemini smiled as she nodded her head. “Sure. Mana can be used in two ways. First is to keep filling your mana pool up and then using it, causing your mana pool to slowly expand. This process, while simple, can take years upon years to accomplish. You would need many herbs to quickly expand your mana pool to really make any progress in a short amount of time. Then there is the method that was passed down through the ages during my time.

“This is the process of first condensing all of the mana you can in your body. You will then need to continue to condense this mana continuously until you reach your fifth evolution. While it still takes time, it is about half as much time as it would be if you did it the easy way.

“This also comes with added benefits if done properly. Mainly a power increase. My people broke the process down into many stages. The first stage is….” Gemini was interrupted as Blake raised his hand.

“Umm… I do not mean to stop you but. Even with our mana condensed, we still have a mana pool….” Blake explained. You can condense your mana and keep condensing it, but you still have a mana pool. Although adding the mana to your condensed mana would be done automatically.

“Hmmm?” Gemini was confused as she got up off her couch and slithered over to Blake. “Excuse me for a moment. I need to check something.”

Blake did not mind and allowed Gemini to place a hand on his stomach and probe his mana pool. “Hmmm, strange. Your mana pools are much different. No, wait…. I see!” Gemini removed her hand from Blake’s stomach and went to Lillia, and checked hers. “I see! I see!”

“Is there something wrong?” Lillia asked.

“You have yet to even evolve. Both of you.” Gemini’s words caused both Blake and Lillia to look at each other and then at Gemini in confusion.

“Wait, that can’t be! I have gone through the pain of evolution!” Blake had felt the pain very clearly!

Gemini checked the other three girls as well and nodded her head. “Each one of you has yet to actually evolve. What you are experiencing is kinda like growing pains. Evolution is a process that causes your body to shed off part of your mortal bindings. To achieve a true evolution, you will need to do more than just fill your mana pools to the max. The reason your condensed mana is still drawing from a mana pool is that your mana pools are still in their infant stages. We saw this in our newborns. It is something that is usually grown out of by the age of ten.

“To be honest, Lillia, your power is great for having an infant mana pool. I am sure the old men I stuck in the void are the same as you. But this is also due to your race. Your race was powerful, to begin with. Just like my Naga clan’s newborns would be as strong as Blake here.” Gemini’s words caused Blake to blush. He was being compared to a newborn when it came to power!

“Now, now, I do not mean to be rude. I am just giving you an example. From what I can tell, your body was not originally your current race am I right?” Gemini asked. Blake nodded to say that she was correct.

“Your body is like that of an infant who has been reborn. Your power is not bad. But if I am not wrong, your past race was very weak to start?” Gemini asked. She wanted all the details before she began explaining things.

“The humans of my era did not even have the ability to cast magic until the dragonic returned to this world. Then we went through what we called an evolution. Since the organ for mana was added to our bodies.” Blake explained.

“Hmmm.. Yes, you did mention this. But even if it is new, it is strange that they function differently from the way mine does and those of my era does. Was this a kind of degradation as time went on?” Gemini was truly intrigued because she never thought it would be possible.

“Gemini, could it be because the old ways of growing in power and using mana were lost? The organ which contains our mana pool underwent a natural evolution?” Lillia asked.

“This is possible. But you still have yet to evolve. Lillia, you should have reached a high evolution already. The thing you have called evolution is nothing more than your body growing stronger, like I said, growing pains. From what I can tell, you are stuck on the brink of evolution but are unable to pass that line due to the way your mana pool currently works. While you can still follow the old methods of growing stronger, to truly become strong, you will need to undergo your evolutions.

“Did you know that my current appearance was not always like this? I was once more serpent looking when I was younger. But after many evolutions, I finally got my humanoid upper body. Our final form is fully humanoid. In a true evolution, you will not feel anything. You will be surrounded by a cocoon of mana that will put you into a deep sleep while the changes of your body slowly take shape. All life forms have many evolutions. “

–AN) hopefully, the mana and evolution thing is not too confusing. I am trying to make things easy to understand.–