"An airborne parasitic disease…" Hester Thornton furrowed her brows with surprise and doubt before saying, "But that still doesn't explain why Young Lady Cyrena is the only affected by it."
Vaan had expected such doubt and prepared a suitable answer for it.
"This just shows how great Cyrena's talent is. She possesses a rare constitution suitable for Water Magic Specialization," Vaan started to explain.
"However, this also makes plant-type substances naturally attracted to her. After all, water nourishes plants. Furthermore, Helia's Castle has a large-scale mana gathering spell deployed under it, drawing in the immense amount of mana from the surroundings."
"This naturally drew in the airborne parasitic substances and brought them to Cyrena, who had an innate water constitution," Vaan stated.
Although it was very likely that Cyrena Ashenborn was exposed to parasitic substances even before Lady Aeliana became a Plant-type Abomination, Vaan could only explain it as such and feign ignorance of the bigger truth.
There was definitely something going on between Helia Ashenborn and the original source of parasitic substances.
However, it wasn't something Vaan could say. Knowing too much gets people killed.
"That does make sense…" Hester Thornton agreed with Vaan's reasoning before adding with a frown," But this still doesn't explain why Young Lady Cyrena is the only one affected, Teacher Cadieux…"
"Well, it's hard to say whether Cyrena is still the only one affected now."
"What do you mean, Teacher Cadieux?" Hester Thornton raised her eyebrow with a startled look.
"Since these parasitic substances originated from the spores of the Plant-type Abomination, let's just call them antimagic spores. There's only so much room for Cyrena's body to contain these mana-filled antimagic spores. Her body naturally wouldn't absorb anymore once it's full," Vaan patiently explained.
"As such, these antimagic spores can only latch onto alternative targets they come across."
When Hester Thornton heard that, she quickly drew her distance from Cyrena Ashenborn with a frightened and alarmed look.
Vaan inwardly smiled at her reaction before adding, "Of course, there's also a chance that Cyrena's body coincidentally absorbed all the antimagic spores before it became full, saving everyone else from suffering the same fate."
"I… I see…" Hester Thornton uttered.
However, Hester Thornton continued to keep her distance.
Magic was a symbol of a witch's authority. Losing the ability to use it meant losing their authority, something Hester Thornton didn't want to take her chances with.
"I apologize, Teacher Cadieux. I won't be keeping you company for the time being. This is a grave matter. Please excuse me as I leave to report to Lord Helia."
Shortly after, Hester Thornton left.
If there were no surprises, Vaan would be expecting to hear from Helia Ashenborn later.
Helia Ashenborn would summon Vaan to try and pry more information from him, but the same would also be equally true for him.
Although Helia Ashenborn seemed to be the mastermind that orchestrated Lady Aeliana's downfall, Vaan couldn't help but feel there was a factor he hadn't accounted for due to the lack of information.
There must be more to the story.
Vaan was bothered by the existence of the antimagic spores.
Nevertheless, after Hester Thornton was gone, Cyrena Ashenborn looked at Vaan with a hopeful gaze.
There was no present cure for the Curse of the Purple Umbala. But when Cyren Ashenborn saw Vaan's calm composure, she felt like he had a solution or would be able to find one—No, she wanted to believe that he did.
Cyrena Ashenborn's hopes were reignited.
"Do you have a way to resolve my problem, Teacher?" Cyrena Ashenborn asked.
"No, I do not. But isn't that what we are trying to figure out? We found out the source of the problem, so all we need to do is come up with the right treatment for it," Vaan's reply shattered Cyrena Ashenborn's hopes before piecing them together again.
Cyrena Ashenborn's gaze fell on the syringe needle with her blood before she paused in thought.
"Are we going to study the antimagic spores in my blood, Teacher? But how can we study something we can't even see with the naked eye? Magic wouldn't work on them either, and neither of us could use magic. Are there other ways to do so?" Cyrena Ashenborn wondered with curiosity.
Even mana couldn't be seen unless they were concentrated.
"Well, there are both magic tools and normal tools that can allow us to see things that are too small for the naked eye," Vaan casually smiled before asking, "Have you never heard of the Atomic Visualizers, Cyrena?"
"Atomic Visualizers?" Cyrena Ashenborn uttered with a startled look before her memory was vague. "I may or may not have heard such a term in my artificer class…"
"Considering you don't pay too much attention to your other classes, I suppose it's not surprising if you aren't familiar with Atomic Visualizers. This type of magic tool has only been introduced in the past year," Vaan said.
"However, it will be strange if you aren't interested after learning about Atomic Visualizers. This kind of magic tool is fast becoming popular among potioneers."
"Why is that so, Teacher?" Cyrena Ashenborn asked, feeling awkward because she knew nothing about Atomic Visualizers.
Suddenly, Cyrena Ashenborn felt she should have paid attention to her other classes, even if she couldn't do what others did in class. At the very least, she wouldn't feel ignorant like she did now.
"Atomic Visualizers make use of lens and magic to magnify items by thousands to possibly millions of its size, allowing people to see a speck of dust as if it's the size of a watermelon," Vaan explained.
"As for why it is fast becoming popular among potioneers, it's because it can allow potioneers to understand the structural properties of their ingredients on a microscopic level, giving them insights into the ingredients and how to better use them."
"So, if we have an Atomic Visualizer, we can look at the structural property of the antimagic spores and figure out how to neutralize them, Teacher?" Cyrena Ashenborn asked with amazement.
"That's right," Vaan nodded.
"However, Atomic Visualizers are pretty new on the magic tool market. I'm not certain if there's one in Helia's Castle or the academy."
"We don't have one here, unfortunately, Teacher," Cyrena Ashenborn replied. Otherwise, she would have known about it.
"That's unfortunate indeed."
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