The Imperial Medical Institute stood as a bastion of pristine white stone, its towering arches and gleaming spires reflecting the pale, silvery light of Youdu Star's twin moons. Inside, the air was cool and sterile, infused with the faint hum of advanced medical machinery and the subtle scent of antiseptic. The corridors, lined with softly glowing panels, whispered of cutting-edge science melded with the empire's ancient grandeur.
Baisha, feeling rather like a chick tucked under a hen's wing, was ushered into the institute by Cecil Ronin, the emperor himself. Her boots echoed softly on the polished floor as they approached the consultation room where Cen Haiyun awaited.
"Your Highness," Cen Haiyun greeted, her expression grave yet professional, her dark eyes sharp with focus. "His Majesty has briefed me on the situation. I'll need your full cooperation for a thorough examination." She rolled up her sleeves with a determined flourish, as if preparing for a battle rather than a medical evaluation.
Baisha, slightly taken aback by her fervor, nodded. "Alright."
The three settled around a sleek, obsidian desk in the consultation room, its surface faintly reflective under the ambient light. Cen Haiyun sat opposite, while Cecil Ronin took a seat beside Baisha, his presence a quiet anchor.
Cen Haiyun began, her stylus poised over a holographic tablet. "You mentioned a shadow appearing around your mental entity. When did this start?"
Baisha thought back, her gaze drifting to the room's high ceiling, where delicate crystal fixtures cast prismatic glints. "About three days ago, when I and the other cadets first encountered the starbugs."
That day, Little White Cheep had unleashed a startling display of power, shocking everyone—including Baisha. A shadowy form had flickered around it, though it lacked the distinct outline of the Xuan Bird.
"How did your mental entity behave then?" Cen Haiyun asked, jotting notes. "Any signs of excessive agitation or loss of control?"
Baisha paused, considering. "No, I wouldn't call it excessive." Little White Cheep was always a bundle of frenetic energy, prone to darting off and causing minor chaos. She blinked, recalling an earlier incident. "Although… it did leave my body on its own once, to consume an energy core from Jiang Gui." She explained the event briefly.
Cen Haiyun's stylus faltered, her eyes widening. "You're saying your mental entity consumed two energy cores?"
"Three, actually," Baisha corrected, holding up three fingers. "It ate another in the mangrove forest. That's when it launched its mental force attack, and the Xuan Bird's shadow appeared."
Cen Haiyun fell momentarily silent, then pressed a hand to her forehead with a sigh. "Your Highness, you should have told me about this sooner."
Baisha, immersed in the rigors of dual-major studies at Tianquan Military Academy, had always been robust—eating heartily, sleeping soundly, her physical condition surpassing most mech pilots. Health management hadn't been a priority, let alone scheduling checkups with Cen Haiyun.
She opened her mouth to downplay it but caught Cecil Ronin's piercing stare. "I'll be more careful next time," she said quickly.
Cecil Ronin: [...]
"So, the Xuan Bird traits emerged after it consumed energy cores," Cen Haiyun summarized, her tone analytical. "Frankly, typical mental entities can't absorb energy cores. Their mental force derives solely from their host's own reserves. Your entity's ability to draw mental force from external sources is unprecedented…" Her eyes flickered with intrigue, a spark of scientific curiosity.
"Your mental entity is unique," she continued, her voice rising slightly. "Whether it's truly a Xuan Bird or not, it's extraordinary."
This raised two pressing questions.
First: Was Baisha's mental entity evolving toward a Xuan Bird, or was it inherently a Xuan Bird, its current form a regression due to past deficiencies, now gradually recovering?
Second: Why could her mental entity absorb external mental force to bolster its strength? What did this imply?
Cen Haiyun's mind raced, already mapping out a battery of tests and experiments.
Cecil Ronin frowned, interrupting. "Are we done with questions? The energy core issue can wait—as long as it's harmless, we can investigate later. First, determine the state of her mental entity."
"Understood," Cen Haiyun said, rising. "Your Highness, please follow me to the examination room."
The exams were solitary, no family permitted. Cecil Ronin remained outside, leaving Baisha to face the process alone.
The routine was familiar. Baisha summoned Little White Cheep, and the silver-throated sparrow materialized in her palm. She studied it, then exchanged a silent glance with Cen Haiyun.
Little White Cheep had grown plump.
Once a delicate, ethereal creature, its fluffy feathers lending an air of grace, it now resembled a stuffed dumpling, sprawled in Baisha's hand with unabashed roundness.
"You need to lose weight," Baisha told it.
Little White Cheep: "Cheep-cheep—squawk!" It puffed up indignantly, as if Baisha lacked taste.
Cen Haiyun, unfazed, shrugged. "I've never heard of a mental entity gaining weight… But since we're here, let's test everything."
The examination room's machines whirred for hours. The final report mirrored Baisha's last, declaring her perfectly healthy. To Cen Haiyun, however, subtle shifts in the data might hold significance.
Report in hand, they returned to the consultation room to face the emperor.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," Cen Haiyun said, presenting the report. "With the institute's current capabilities, we detect no abnormalities. Her Highness is exceptionally healthy—healthier than her last visit. Her bodily metrics are approaching an optimal state, and past nutritional deficiencies have largely been corrected."
Baisha's diet, whether on Youdu Star or at the academy, was nutrient-rich. Her youth and resilience had facilitated a swift recovery, with no apparent lingering issues.
"Her mental entity is also healthy," Cen Haiyun added, glancing at the rotund sparrow on Baisha's shoulder. "If anything, it's… recently gained some weight. I suspect it hasn't fully absorbed the energy from those three cores. While it expended significant mental force hunting starbugs, it took in far more than it released. Over time, this surplus accumulates in the entity… but it's not harmful."
Mental entities were, after all, pure constructs of mental force. Little White Cheep's roundness signaled Baisha's growing mental strength—a positive development.
Cecil Ronin: "So this isn't caused by regression?"
"No," Cen Haiyun said firmly, tucking the tablet under her arm. "If it were regression, Her Highness wouldn't be this comfortable. Regression is a harrowing, unnatural decay, straining both body and mental entity. It destabilizes the entity—but as you can see, Her Highness's mental force is remarkably stable."
Her certainty stemmed from experience with unstable entities, like her relative Cen Yuehuai's.
Cecil Ronin's expression remained stoic, but Baisha caught the subtle relaxation in his posture—a quiet relief.
"Not regression—then evolution?" he asked, glancing at his niece. "Her mental entity can evolve?"
Absorption leading to evolution seemed a logical leap.
"I lean toward another theory," Cen Haiyun countered. "Her mental entity was always a Xuan Bird. Its current form as a silver-throated sparrow is a mimetic response to prolonged malnutrition in her past, adapting to conserve energy for survival."
The Xuan Bird, she argued, was a unique mental entity. In nutrient-scarce conditions, it could revert to a less demanding form, like Little White Cheep, biding its time. The shadowy Xuan Bird outline was the entity shedding its disguise, revealing its true nature.
This unveiling required conditions: Baisha's improving health and Little White Cheep's consumption of energy cores.
"By this logic, her mental entity will eventually revert to a Xuan Bird," Cen Haiyun mused. "Perhaps we should focus on accelerating this process to reveal its true form sooner."
"That's all speculation," Cecil Ronin said coolly.
"There's no precedent," Cen Haiyun admitted, her mouth twitching. "Her Highness may be the first Xuan Bird in imperial history to be… starved. Without other cases, we're working from hypotheses."
Cecil's expression grew complex, a flicker of discomfort crossing his face.
Baisha, unfazed, looked down at her chubby sparrow. "Are you really a Xuan Bird?"
Little White Cheep: "Cheep-squawk."
"Masquerading as a silver-throated sparrow? You're quite the trickster."
Little White Cheep: "Cheep-squawk!"
"Alright, alright, I didn't say you're not adorable now…"
Baisha and her sparrow chattered effortlessly, a seamless dialogue.
Unnoticed by her, Cecil and Cen Haiyun exchanged hushed words.
Cen Haiyun lowered her voice to a near-whisper. "Your Majesty, her mental entity exhibits extraordinary autonomy."
Cecil glanced at Baisha, engrossed in her banter. "Clearly."
In the empire, few interacted with their mental entities as Baisha did, with such lively engagement. Mental entities accompanied imperial citizens from childhood, not as pets or allies but as extensions of self—an external organ tied to mental force. One might mutter to oneself, but who conversed with their own limbs?
While mental entities reflected a facet of one's consciousness, their will typically merged with the host's. Cen Haiyun could direct her entity with a thought, an instantaneous process. Baisha, however, considered Little White Cheep's reactions, its willingness, its desires.
It was the mindset of a beast-tamer.
In essence, Baisha had separated her mental entity's consciousness from her own, granting it strong independence. It obeyed her but could act on its own, even slipping away to roam.
Mental entities and their hosts were fundamentally one. Baisha hadn't fully grasped that Little White Cheep's will was her own.
It wasn't the sparrow disguising itself—it was Baisha, unconsciously masking her true nature. It wasn't Little White Cheep craving energy cores; it was Baisha needing their power. Yet, conditioned by a harsh past, she suppressed such desires, as acknowledging them once brought only pain. Indifference was her shield.
"In short, she was starved too harshly as a child," Cen Haiyun sighed. "Her mental entity is now compensating for that deficit. Further changes may occur, but they're likely benign."
Like a chrysalis awaiting its emergence, Little White Cheep would grow stronger.
"Everyone has their way of bonding with their mental entity," Cen Haiyun said. "We shouldn't force her to see it as her own will."
This stemmed from Baisha's upbringing. The Federation lacked mental entities. To Baisha, returning to the empire and gaining Little White Cheep might have felt like acquiring a magical companion or summoned beast.
Must she be made to accept that her mental entity was her very self? Not necessarily.
The only downside was Little White Cheep's persistent willfulness, like a sentient pet only partially obedient.
Cen Haiyun was at a loss for how to address this.
Cecil hesitated briefly before saying, "So be it. As long as she's healthy."
"But if her mental entity is a Xuan Bird, it might possess 'resonance'—"
Cen Haiyun's words were cut off by Cecil. "You needn't worry. Whether she becomes heir depends on her choice and will, not her mental entity's nature."
Cen Haiyun faltered, then fell silent.
Cecil's stance was clear: Baisha's health was paramount.
The Xuan Bird's imperial legacy—its unique significance and abilities—mattered little if Baisha never engaged with them.
Yet, even without the Xuan Bird's "resonance," Baisha's entity had a rare "absorption" trait. If wielded well, it could rival the Xuan Bird's gifts.
With this in mind, Cen Haiyun addressed Baisha. "You can keep feeding it energy cores. Your mental entity knows its limits and will stop when necessary."
Baisha blinked, a wry smile tugging at her lips.
Energy cores weren't cheap. Had Little White Cheep officially become a gold-devouring beast?
"But keep its absorption ability hidden for now," Cen Haiyun added earnestly. "It's a dangerous power."
Its talent was absorption.
Did it consume energy cores because it preferred them, or… because it refrained from devouring others' mental force?