When she got to the Mansion she was panting heavily. She could feel the crystal and her mana cor mixing. It caused her more and more pain as her tear radiated with a bright light.
"Please help me" she pleaded in her head. Luckily Monika has heard her and ran outside to the sight of sweating Alice curled and trembling.
[Whats happening ??] She asked Alice
"I... i touched a crystal inside goblin king's corpse and it started fusing with my mana core" The light emited by her tear was so bright that it could be seen through her skin and clothes.
Monika was very confusee as she heard that. She had no clue how to help the poor girl but she decided to put her in a bed so at least she wont have to suffer through this on the ground.
[Stop trying to reject their fusion]
Alice's screams and pain got more managable as she listened to Monika. She had a high fever and couldn't even open her eyes. For the next few days Alice was bedridden. Unable to even talk inside her head with the guild master. She felt as her mana core was changing. After some more time her fever was gone but Monika still prevented her from standing up
[Did the pain stop ?] Monika asked. She still talked through her telepathy as to not make Alice speak in this condition.
"I think so. I don't know how to describe it but my mana core feels different" she answered.
[The thing that you fused with was a mana core of the goblin king. Unlike us humans. Monsters like goblins dont have a heart. Their core functions as both of those things at once]
"What does that mean ?" Alice asked.
[I have no clue. People don't just absorb monster cores like that] she shrugged while telling her that.
By tbe end of the day Alice was able to stand up and move around. She still felt her core act abnormal but it was managble.
"Now that you are all better i gotta teach you some manners. From now on you will refer to me as master if you like it or not" Monika says
"Is this some kind of joke ? Because of it is it's not funny" Alice was annoued at her antics.
"I'm not joking. You agreed to be my student so now you gotta pay the consequences of that" Monika giggled "And dont worry. You will be allowed to do whatever you want in your free time but I will require your helping hand from time to time.
"Is that the only way you will help me ?"
"Yup ~!"
Alice got all red from embarassment "I understanr master" She looked away to hide her face.
"My student is so cute already ! I can't wait until you grow to be a strong girl that I can show off" She was surprisingly very happy about that. She hugged Alice.
Alice hugged her back. She smelled like roses and was very warm. Then Alice heard a loud click followed by Monika taking a step back.
"I knew it would look so cute on you !"
Alice looked down to see that she put a collar on her. "What's the meaning of this ?" She said. Her eyes filled with anger.
"Oh its a mana restraining collar. Don't worry I did my best to pick you the cutest one. After all we wouldn't want you to go around with just a bracelet" Her master said. She looked proud of her choice.
A loud punch could be heard as Alice hit Monika in the head, leaving a big bump "Just give me the damn bracelet you perverted master !"
"Boo.. what a bummer" Monika said and took the collar off changing it for a bracelet. "This bracelet will disturb your mana flow making it harder to use mana but not impossible. Doing so will increase your control over your mana" She explained while pouting that her collar idea didn't pass. "And you will take part in Redacre's yearly tournament. It's going to start next week so you have time until then to prepare."
"How will fighting in the tournament make me stronger ?" Alice was very confused about her reasoning.
"It won't. I'm just bored and I like watching you fight. Getting so worked up and sweaty hehehe" Another punch could be heard as Monika now had two bumps in her head.
"Fine I will humor you you pervert !" Alice said "But you better prepare me a worthy prize because I will win this" She stormed off to train.
Luckily Monika's mansion had a massive training ground. Way better equipped than the previous one Alice has used. She tried bringing her magic out but it did not work. She focused even harder. But nothing came of it. It felt like the spells she was trying to cast were fizzling out. She had to think of something and do it fast. After trying different methods from brute forcing to trying to conjure multiple smaller spells, she decided to take a jog through the city to calm down and think of a solution. After she finished with her workout she tried again but nothing worked.
...
One week has passed since then and Alice had only few hours before the tournament started. In that time she spent her mornings the same way as before. Doing a physical workout, this time it was way more effective as her master had access to better books. She was worried as she didn't conjure a single succesful spell yet after having the bracelet put on. During her morning stroll she saw a small girl helping her dad with his fruit stall.
The dad picked up a crate filled to the brim with fruits. He was groaning because of its weight.
"Daddy daddy I will help you !" His daughter ran to him excited. She grabbed 10 fruits from the crate and put them in her small bucket. It didn't drasticly lower the weight but this small gesture made it easier for her dad to finish his task.
"I have the best daughter ever !" He said as he picked her up after bringing the crate to the stall. All happy that he raised such a good child.
Alice smiled because of the wholesome interaction then had an eureka moment.
"What if i had 5 kids ??!" She thought to herself all excited about her genius, clearly referencing her mana core. Unluckily for her Monika heard that out of context.
[Huh?]