MLHRGD 11

#11. Adaptation (2)

Sasha’s “Memory Palace,” built over dozens of lifetimes, was vast in scale.

That’s because she had constructed a building to store the memories of each individual life she had lived.

Upon entering the palace, she first saw a three-story concrete building. This stored memories of her most recent life—when she had been a star tutor on Earth.

A bit further in, there was a cave she had once lived in during another life.

That was when she had been born as a tiger in a wuxia-style world. Her memories from that life were drawn as murals on the cave walls.

There was also a massive royal palace from her time as a king, and a traditional tile-roofed house from her life as an independence activist.

Buildings of all different architectural styles lined up in a row.

Because of this, Sasha’s Memory Palace was larger than most rural villages.

Wandering aimlessly inside could waste hours.

But this time, she didn’t need to check every building.

She had a specific goal in mind.

What she needed were the memories from the life in which she was a physician in this world.

So she only had to go to that building.

With steady steps—neither rushed nor aimless—Sasha made her way through.

She passed several buildings and stopped in front of a small brick house.

This was the building that contained memories from her 18th life, when she had become a renowned doctor in this world, called Lodos.

“This door… it’s the door to the lab where I spent more time than I did at home.”

A smile crept across her face at the nostalgic thought.

Sasha opened the small wooden door with a flutter in her heart.

Ah…

The interior stirred her emotions deeply.

Wooden cabinets filled with medicinal herbs, a large table covered with pharmaceutical tools, and shelves crammed with books she had written in that life.

She longed to browse and reminisce, but held herself back and headed straight for the shelves.

For the past week, Sasha had been pulling out and reading every book on those shelves, one by one, trying to identify Pavel’s illness.

She vaguely remembered treating someone with symptoms similar to his—and after great effort, succeeding.

That meant the record had to be in one of these books.

She had faith that she’d find it if she kept searching.

“Where is it…”

Sasha yanked out books in bunches and read rapidly.

The flutter of turning pages echoed as a tower of finished books began to rise beside her.

One, two, three… until the stack grew tall.

Phew…

After clearing about half the shelf, she rubbed her aching forehead.

Too much information all at once was giving her a headache.

“Ugh… I want to rest.”

Fatigue weighed on her, but she shook her head firmly.

She couldn’t give up now. Not until she found a way to treat Pavel’s condition.

“Okay. Let’s keep going!”

She opened her eyes wide and focused.

Her brow furrowed tightly as she dove back into the search.

Time passed.

At some point, the pile of books she had read outnumbered the ones she hadn’t.

Finally, just as the shelf was nearly empty—

✦✦✦

“Found it!”

Snapping out of the memory palace, Sasha bolted upright, her face glowing with joy.

“I finally found it!”

She carefully processed the memory she had just retrieved.

“It’s not a disease. Pavel isn’t sick.”

Of course the doctors couldn’t find a cure.

They had been chasing the completely wrong answer from the beginning.

Pavel wasn’t afflicted by any illness.

His pain stemmed from a unique constitution known as the Blessing of Mana.

The “Blessing of Mana” was an extremely rare trait in which a person possessed exceptional mana affinity.

In Sasha’s past life, this trait had been found in legendary figures—archmages, swordmasters—hence why it was called a blessing.

However, depending on the person, this blessing could feel more like a curse.

“If the body isn’t strong enough to handle the immense mana… it ends up being crushed by it, causing damage and early death.”

Like trying to pour heavy liquid into a fragile vessel—it shatters under the weight.

Thus, those born with the Blessing of Mana lived one of two lives:

They either trained hard, overcame their limits, and became legendary heroes…

Or they failed to contain the mana—and died.

“But why didn’t anyone realize that Pavel had the Blessing of Mana?”

Sasha pondered the question—and soon found the answer.

Too much time had passed since her life as a physician in this world.

Nearly a thousand years.

As time went by, the amount of ambient mana in the world decreased, and naturally, fewer people could sense or control mana.

“In my past life, mages with average ability barely scraped by. But now they’re revered as archmages.”

So it was no surprise that no one with the Blessing of Mana had appeared in centuries, and the records about it had long since been forgotten.

“Of course no one could’ve recognized it.”

Modern doctors didn’t even know such a condition existed.

All they knew was that patients with Pavel’s symptoms died young—and they assumed it was some incurable illness.

So Pavel had been wrongly diagnosed as terminally ill.

But Sasha knew about the Blessing of Mana. She understood the symptoms, the process, the consequences.

And thus she had been able to reach this conclusion.

“The Blessing of Mana…”

Was it good fortune—or misfortune—for Pavel?

Sasha muttered under her breath, lost in thought.

“If he can fully absorb all that mana, it’ll be the greatest gift. No matter what he chooses to do, he’ll possess power strong enough to carve his name into history.”

But if he stayed like this…

Recalling how frail his body was, Sasha’s expression turned grim.

If nothing changed—

“He’ll die. His body will rupture from the mana pouring into it.”

The Blessing of Mana forces an enormous amount of mana into the body—so much that even trained warriors couldn’t withstand it.

And right now, Pavel’s body was so fragile he got sick just from walking too much.

If he grew up like this, he really wouldn’t survive to adulthood, just as the doctors had predicted.

His body would burst under the pressure.

“…I can’t let that happen!”

Sasha shook her head violently.

She couldn’t allow that future.

“I need to build him a body that can withstand mana.”

Pavel needed a physique that was sturdy, stable, and unbreakable.

The joy of discovering the cause had faded. Now only concern remained.

Sasha sighed quietly.

“The road ahead is long…”

But she didn’t feel overwhelmed.

Even if there was a lot to do, she knew what came first:

Helping Pavel build a healthy, strong body.

✦✦✦

Since the wedding night, Sasha had barely seen Pavel.

Which was strange, considering they lived together in a small annex.

Whenever they did cross paths, Pavel no longer snapped at her like before—but he wasn’t friendly either.

He simply and obviously avoided her.

“Does he not want anything to do with me?”

So far, Sasha had been too busy sorting through her memories to intervene.

“But now that ends.”

If she wanted to help restore his health, she’d need to get involved in his daily life.

“He’s probably in his room.”

She didn’t have to guess—Pavel’s routine was the same every day.

He stayed holed up in his room from morning to night. If anyone knocked, he snapped at them.

That was his entire routine.

“He’s like a total shut-in.”

She was curious—what did he even do in there all day?

“Isn’t he bored?”

Shaking her head in mild disbelief, Sasha made her way toward his room.

It was located at the opposite end of the house from hers.

That had been Pavel’s decision—he clearly didn’t want to run into her.

She hadn’t paid it much attention until now, but…

“I should move my room.”

If she was going to start meddling, she might as well do it right.

Being closer would make everything easier.

With that thought, Sasha stopped in front of Pavel’s door.

Knock knock.

“Pavel? Are you in there?”

“……”

“Can I come in?”

“…Go away!”

“Okay. I’m coming in.”

She heard a crash inside—he had probably tried to stop her—but she opened the door faster than he could act.

“Hello!”

Smiling sweetly at the awkwardly frozen Pavel, who still had his hand on the doorknob, she stepped inside.

Looking around the dim room, Sasha clicked her tongue.

“Pavel, are you a child of darkness or something?”

“What nonsense are you babbling now?”

Rather than answering his confused question, Sasha started lecturing him.

“Staying in a dark room like this will only make your already weak body worse.”

She added silently to herself:

“And it’ll mess up your personality too.”

She believed that much of Pavel’s prickly attitude came from his environment.

Living in such a dark, unventilated space would make anyone sick—and their mood sour.

It was only natural.