"Nn~!"
I wake up and start doing my morning stretches, and it feels good like always. I had a really good sleep last night, and it's kind of refreshing! It's been a while since I felt so refreshed.
Also, I'm eight years old now! The long-awaited day has finally come! I'm finally getting permission to explore Lindis for a day!
...Eh? What's this... feeling? Today is supposed to be a great day, and it's my eighth birthday, but... Why do I have a bad feeling about this?
"... Where's everyone?"
I only just noticed it, but nobody is here with me. Usually, at least Fluffy or Tails is by my side when I wake up, but today, everyone is gone. Not even a single Silverwolf or White Fox is present. In this open area, I'm the only one remaining.
I look up at the sky to see what time it is, and... The sun is rising. Wait, it's only sunrise!? Where is everyone, then? Why am I the last one to wake up when it's still this early in the morning?
As I look around trying to find anyone, the bad feeling, which I had earlier, starts to become worse.
"Someone! Anyone! Is anyone there!? Please tell me that I'm not alone..."
Wait, I just noticed, the air smells really nice all of a sudden. What is this smell? This fragrance... Is this sleep magic!? This is... bad... I can't sleep now... Not yet...
----------
"Ah! What happened-"
(-You're finally awake, Mimin.)
When I woke up this time, Tails is beside me. And she's greeting me like she usually does when I oversleep.
...Eh? Tails? What are you talking about? I already woke up earlier!
(What happened to me... Ah! Sleep magic! Tails, do you know what happened...)
As I looked around, I tried asking Tails about the situation, but I cut my sentence short. Because I realized that everyone is back, minding their own business in their own groups. Everything seems to be perfectly fine now, except that I was affected by sleep magic earlier.
I look up at the sky and see that the sun has already risen, around three hours ago. Does this mean that I fell asleep for three more hours? What is going on here...?
(A dream? Was I... dreaming?)
But, somehow, I know that's not true. I know that whatever happened three hours ago, definitely wasn't just a dream. But I don't have an explanation for what exactly happened...
(Is that so? What did you dream about, that made you sleep for three hours longer?)
(...No, it's nothing.)
Somehow, I still have a bad feeling about this. Even though it's not true, I can only try to convince myself now, that it was all just my imagination.
It doesn't seem like this bad feeling is going away, or getting any worse now. For now, I'll continue my day as usual, and see what happens.
...
(Tails, today's my birthday!)
(That's right. Happy birthday, Mimin!)
I still... can't get rid of this bad feeling. It's going to constantly annoy me for today, isn't it?
(Since it's your birthday, I have two things I want to give you, as your birthday gifts.)
Tails pulls out two shiny, silver-coloured gems from her storage, using telekinesis, and brings them in front of my face. One gem seems to be the same size as my fist, and the other gem is slightly smaller.
Wait, are these...!
(Silver magic stones!?)
(That's right, Mimin. As expected, you can tell what they are from just a glance.)
(But... But... Tails, where did you get these silver magic stones? Don't tell me, you went all the way to Sylvein just to...)
(Of course not, silly. It's way too far away. I just had spare silver to make these magic stones with. Go on, take them.)
(...Can I really?)
I reached out both of my hands to hold the silver magic stones, one in each hand. Both magic stones shine brightly like gems, reflecting a bit of sunlight into my eyes.
(Of course you can take them. Those are your birthday gifts which I prepared for you, after all.)
(Eh!?)
Tails went out of her way to create something so valuable, just for my birthday... And these silver magic stones are big, too...
(Thanks, Tails! I'll cherish these silver magic stones!)
I smiled at Tails as I thank her for these wonderful gifts. This is probably the happiest I've ever been...!
From what Fluffy has taught me, silver magic stones of this size are very valuable. Silver magic stones are difficult to create and mass produce, so only a small portion of these magic stones are actually created successfully. From statistics, only about 10% of silver magic stones are created successfully.
Since silver magic stones are this difficult to produce, which causes a huge waste of silver, magic stones are made with other metals instead, because it's much easier. To think that Tails managed to create two without failure...
(You're amazing, Tails!)
(This is nothing. My master taught me about this long ago.)
(...Your master?)
(Ah, never mind that. You don't need to know about him.)
Eh? Now I'm curious. I've never heard Tails mention about her master or anything like that before... Is this master supposed to be her owner or something?
(One more thing, Mimin. The smaller magic stone is actually different. You can use it to measure your magic capacity instead.)
Oh! I see! I've learned about this from Fluffy too. If that's the case, let's try this thing out right now! I put away the bigger magic stone inside my storage for now.
I close my eyes and concentrate on my magic flow within my body, and feel the familiar sensation of dense, cold air. Holding the magic stone in my right hand, I allowed my magic to flow through the magic stone, as if it was part of my right hand. The magic stone becomes cold from my magic, and... A bright light starts to shine from it.
I open my eyes to take a peek at the magic stone, to see if it works, and... The bright light forms a bunch of numbers, which I recognize. If everything works out, that means my magic capacity is...
21,379.
Wait, what!? Isn't that actually a really high number!? The average magic capacity of a human is only around 5,000!
(Hm... Not bad. Don't look so shocked now, Mimin. The average White Fox has a magic capacity of 250,000. I don't know what you're comparing yourself to, but you really shouldn't be surprised, even if you're making great progress.)
Ah~... That's right, I stopped being human soon after I was born. I need to stop this habit of mine...
For now, let's swap magic stones. I'm going to start storing my magic in the bigger magic stone, so that I can use the extra magic when I need it.