Waking up, I found myself in my room. Looking around, I saw the doll I had created sitting in a chair about three feet away from me. It seemed to be thinking, reasoning, contemplating something. After 10 minutes of staring at my creation, Melania, I finally spoke.

"How are you, Melania?"

After I said those words, the only thing my creation did was stare at me, struggling with something, like a child trying to stay awake past their bedtime.

I hesitated, wondering if I had done something wrong with the ritual. Thinking back to the instructions the informer gave me, I replayed the whole ritual in my head.

I made the body with not only gems but also wood from an old tree and titanium.

I crafted the heart out of platinum and rose quartz, symbolizing the heart chakra.

I made the lungs with iridium, the most rust-resistant metal, and yellow topaz.

For the magic circle, I made sure to use Hebrew because of the concepts I was going to pull from.

And lastly, the incantations—there were supposed to be three, I think.

Oh, the incantations! There were supposed to be three, and I only did two, didn't I?

Realizing my mistake, I walked over to the doll and placed my hand over her head. Activating my magic circuits, I began drawing mana from the air into myself and converting it into prana. Once I had stored enough prana for the task, I began the final incantation I had missed.

"Awake, Melania, by the breath of prana, by the heart of mana, rise and fulfill your purpose!"

After reciting the incantation, most of the prana I had gathered a minute ago left my body and flowed into Melania.

I looked at Melania, whose face now seemed fully awake. I asked her the question again.

"How are you, Melania?"

"I am doing well, David."

"That's good. How are you feeling with everything?"

"Confused, since everything is new to me, but I know some things because of the inherited memories from you."

"Oh, you gained some of my memories! No wonder you know my name," I said joyfully.

"So, how much of my memories do you have?"

"Not sure. Most of the memories are just snippets of your past."

"I see. Well, it's probably best if you didn't gain all of my memories; some of that stuff is very dangerous."

"I have a question."

"What is your question, Melania?"

"What am I?"

"You are an artificial creation of a Nature spirit."

"Then who am I?"

"That, even I don't know. You were brought here only a few hours ago, and there are people who have lived 20-30 years and still don't know who they are. So, I'm sorry, but that's something you'll have to discover for yourself."

"Thank you for your answers."

"You're welcome. Now, how about we go downstairs for some refreshments?"

Walking toward the door, I opened it and gestured for the doll to pass. She walked in front of me as if she were gliding through the air, which was strange to see—but that would be something interesting to study later.

After reaching the kitchen, I prepared some tea and jam toast for myself. Once that was ready, I went down to the basement and grabbed an oval-shaped red gem. I approached my mana generator and placed the gem on top of it. After a few seconds, the gem began to glow. I waited a minute or so before taking it and heading back to the kitchen.

When I returned, Melania was still standing where I had left her.

"Here you go."

"What is this?" Melania asked.

"That is a gem filled with mana."

"What should I do with it?"

"You absorb the mana in it."

"Why?"

"Because it will help you gain more mana. Consider it a meal, like how humans eat."

"But what's the point? I can just absorb mana directly through the mana generator and the bounded field you made."

"Yes, you can, but mana imbued inside crystals gains an attribute depending on which gem is used. To you, it's the equivalent of a human's sense of taste."

"I see."

After saying that, the doll put the gem in her mouth. I began eating my breakfast, and when I was done, Melania removed the gem from her mouth. The red gem had turned transparent and clear. She handed it back to me.

"Hmm, that's unexpected," I said, examining the now-clear gem. I used structural analysis on it, and it told me the gem was now just a normal crystal.

Putting it into my pocket, I decided to study it later.

"I guess I should show you around since you'll be living here," I said to Melania.

I stood up from my chair and walked into the small hallway outside the kitchen, then began to speak.

"Downstairs, there's the kitchen, which connects to two living rooms—one near the front door and one near the back. Also downstairs, there's a guest bathroom and a bedroom. Right outside the back door, in the backyard, there's a shed made of stone. To be honest, it's more of a forge than anything else. I built it a while ago because I wanted to learn how to make weapons, like swords and similar things. Near the large shed is a medium-sized garden filled with different types of plants—some medicinal, some poisonous, and some just for eating. Of course, they're separated, so I know which is which."

Walking upstairs, I told Melania, "There are five rooms and two bathrooms up here, plus a laundry room."

We went back downstairs, and this time I led her to the basement.

"This is the basement, where my workshop is. It's where I make magical tools and experiment with spells. This is also the place with the densest concentration of mana in the whole house. Be careful near those shelves by the end of the wall—there are some unfinished magical tools there, and if you touch them, they might harm you."

With the house tour complete, I said, "You can choose any room upstairs. Also, you should wear this." I went to one of the shelves and retrieved a necklace.

"I made this to prepare for how normal people might react to you. When the bounded field detects people without magic circuits near you, it signals this magical tool to cover you with a small bounded field that makes people ignore you. That's why I combined the Perthro and Ansuz runes—if translated, it would mean 'restricted sight.'"

Ding dong.

"What is that?" Melania asked.

"That's the doorbell ringing."

Connecting with the bounded field, I observed who was outside and saw a guy with unruly hair standing there with a red-haired child.

"It seems we have visitors."