MTLNOVEL Chapter 51: Lucy Heartfilia
With such immense magic power, Layla's body, which was not particularly strong, was constantly under pressure, causing her health to deteriorate further. However, Layla was both lucky and intelligent. The moment she noticed a problem with her health, she retired from her work as a wizard, stopped using magic, and ceased training her magic power.
This caused the growth rate of her magic to plummet. Although it would still increase slowly with age, her physical constitution would also be forced to slowly strengthen under the constant pressure. Overall, her condition stabilized at a level that was poor, but not critical, manifesting as her chronic ill health.
"You're saying my poor health is because my magic is too strong?" Layla's face was full of astonishment. She had never imagined that this could be the cause.
"Madam, one can tell at a glance that you are not a person who exercises much. When you were young, as the daughter of a wealthy family, you probably didn't have many opportunities to do so, so your body was never properly conditioned. And yet, at the age of sixteen, your magic was already strong enough to support opening three gates simultaneously. As a Celestial Spirit wizard, you should know very well that most can only open one gate, and only a very small number can open two at the same time, let alone three. That's because the magic required increases exponentially for each additional gate. Most people simply don't have enough magic to open more than one. And the gates you were opening were not for ordinary spirits, but for the Zodiac, the highest class of keys, which require far more magic than normal ones. For you to be able to open three Zodiac gates at the age of sixteen... one can only imagine how vast your magic power was at the time."
Noah took a sip of tea and continued. "Unfortunately, madam, due to a lack of physical exercise—or more accurately, because the strengthening of your body could not keep up with the growth of your magic—your body was unable to support such immense power. The symptom that manifested was poor health. However, you were very clever. When you noticed your health declining, you stopped working as a wizard and ceased your magic training. This caused the growth rate of your magic to drop sharply. Although it still put pressure on your body, your body had begun to adapt, passively increasing its constitution, which is why your health did not get any worse."
Layla finally understood. As the daughter of a conglomerate, although she had worked as a wizard and done physical training, it was only the standard regimen for a normal wizard. But her own magic power when she was young had far surpassed that of other normal wizards, so that amount of training was naturally insufficient.
"It was only as I grew older that I noticed my health getting worse and worse. It must have been just as you said; my magic growth outpaced my physical growth," Layla recalled.
"Then is there a way to solve it?" Jude, who had been listening from the side, now roughly understood the situation. In short, his wife was an incredibly talented wizard, but her body couldn't keep up. His main concern was finding a solution.
"The problem is very easy to solve. We just need to improve her physical constitution," Noah said.
"Of course, that's the best solution, but Layla's health is so poor right now. How can she possibly do any physical training?" Jude found Noah's suggestion a bit strange.
"Of course, we won't start with direct physical training. First, I will prepare some potions for madam to suppress her magic, relieving the pressure on her body. Then, I will use other potions to temporarily boost her physical constitution. During that window, she can begin to train again and raise her physical strength, which will solve the problem for good."
"What ingredients do you need? I'll send people to collect them immediately." Jude was ready to buy them at once; treating his wife was now the most important thing.
"Let's do this. I'll write two prescriptions: one to suppress magic, the other to temporarily boost physical constitution. However, I hope you can keep the formulas confidential and not let them leak out. I'm afraid someone might use them for evil."
Noah took out a pen and paper, quickly wrote down two formulas, and handed them to Jude. Jude received them as if they were a priceless treasure and quickly put them away. "Of course! I'll have my people purchase the ingredients separately. I will definitely not leak your formulas! I'll send them out right now." Jude hurried out of the room to instruct his servants.
"Madam, as long as you take the medicine and begin to train again, your problem will be solved," Noah said, turning back to Layla.
Suddenly, the door, which had just been closed, was pushed open, and a small figure came rushing in. She threw herself into Layla's arms, and a young, tender voice cried out, "Mama, Mama, are you sick? Why do you need to take medicine? What's wrong?"
Noah looked closely at the little girl. She had short, blonde hair, large brown eyes, and was wearing an orange dress. She was exquisite and adorable. Her face was full of concern, her eyes filled with worry for Layla.
Layla gently stroked the little girl's hair and said softly, "It's nothing, Mama is just a little weak. I need to take some medicine to strengthen my body."
"Then you have to get better soon, Mama."
"I will. By the way, this is Big Brother Noah. He's a wizard. Come and say hello," Layla said to the little girl in her arms. Then she said to Noah, "This is my daughter, Lucy."
The little girl stood up from Layla's embrace, looked at Noah with her big, bright eyes, and gave a radiant smile. "Hello, Big Brother Noah!"
"Hello, little sister Lucy! I didn't bring any gifts with me this time, so please accept this as a welcome present."
Noah took a key from his pocket. It was silver, and the handle was shaped like a clock.
"This is a Celestial Spirit Key. It's a gift for you. May you be protected from fatal harm on your path forward," Noah said, offering both the key and his blessing.
Lucy didn't know whether to accept it and looked at her mother.
"How could we let you give her a gift? And such a precious key at that," Layla said. As a former powerful Celestial Spirit wizard, she could tell at a glance how valuable this key was. Although it was a silver key, its ability was extremely powerful and could effectively protect its holder. Many Celestial Spirit wizards wished to possess it.