Everyone sat for dinner that night. Jerry praised jet while explaining what happened to Eva.
Nerissa kept quiet at Jett the whole ti while giving Jett a suspicious look. "Was there anything off about the fight?" Nerissa inquired, her eyes fixed on Jett.
"Hmm, it felt like he got faster and stronger during the second trial," Jerry pondered thoughtfully. Then, he turned his gaze to Jett with a discerning look. "Ah, right. Is there sothing you're not telling us?"
Jett, who had been eating quietly, suddenly choked on a piece of at upon hearing his father's question.
"Well... umm... You see..." Jett stuttered, trying to find an excuse. "I got a new skill after we got ho from the appraisal ceremony," he finally admitted, attempting to laugh it off nervously.
"I knew it," Nerissa finally said, breaking the tension.
"It was going to be a surprise. Anyways..." Jett attempted to change the topic. "I get whatever I want, right?" he asked with a smile.
"Yes, if it's attainable. What is it?" Jerry inquired.
"I want you to take to the capital for the Adventurer's Fair. I overheard so tourists talking about it, and I thought it'd be fun," Jett replied.
"Hmmm," Jerry mused.
"C'mon, father. That way I can go with you guys. Mom can co if she wants to," Nerissa chid in.
"Ah, that's true. I also have so business at the capital," Eva added. "We're going," she declared.
"Hehe, is that really your request? A vacation?" Nerissa teased Jett.
"Yeah, well... and ten gold coins too," Jett replied, smiling innocently.
"Ten!?" Jerry exclaid, almost imdiately.
Jerry's reaction was understandable. 10 gold coins was an outrageous amount to give to a six-year-old. 1 gold coin was equivalent to a 100 silver coins, and one silver was equivalent to a 100 copper coins.
"Alright, a promise is a promise," Jerry conceded. "The fair isn't until a month from now anyways..." he added.
"Yes, and tomorrow's my turn," Eva interrupted.
"Your turn for... Oh, right," Jerry realized. "Tomorrow, your mother will be teaching you magic," he said to Jett. "When you're ready, I'll be teaching you about aura."
"I'm so jealous. It took months to get him to teach aura," Nerissa pouted at Jett.
Jett smiled and watched everyone happily. "Good, now I can get so limited items at the fair to secure my fate."
*****
"The next day Jett and Eva went out for a walk.
"Where are we going?" Jett asked, feeling genuinely curious.
"Nowhere in particular. You don't want to be seen with your mummy? Is that it?" Eva teased.
"No, that's not it. I thought you were going to teach magic," Jett whined, feeling impatient.
They reached a stream connected to the river he had originally tweaked for irrigation.
"Alright, you want to learn magic?" she asked while facing him.
"Yeah," he replied.
"Well, then you need one thing. You need to learn how to use Mana," she announced. "Mana is fundantally different from MP. We use MP for skills and Mana for spells. You can't asure Mana with just numbers; unlike MP, we rank Mana by how much it has. Ranker, Grandmaster, Arch Mage, Advance, Interdiate, Novice, Beginner."
She paused, happy to see Jett looking eagerly interested.
Jett already knew all this, but it would be a bit suspicious if he told her that.
"Mana isn't visible to the human eye, but those from Arch Mage to Ranker can sense it to an extent depending on the rank," she explained, giving a sheepish smile. "You know your mother's rank is Arch Mage. I can sense your Mana too. It's a little much for soone your age." She kept smiling.
'Crap, I thought I was suppressing it well enough. I guess I can't beat an Arch Mage with that,' he thought to himself.
"Mana can be controlled, either by condensing it to one point preferably, your gut or by letting it flow internally around your body or," she continued. "The latter is really harder to train but yields a much efficient result. It's not a common thod, but that's the one I use. Isn't Mummy amazing?" She praised herself, feeling so pride.
"That's impressive," Jett said genuinely impressed, considering you can only find one out of 10 people who practice that thod.
"They're called the condensing core and circulatory thod respectively. You have to decide what thod to take and nurture it from now on," she pointed at him. "There's also Lumix which amplifies your mana output, but not much is known about it apart from it being supplentary to Mana and Aura. It's extrely hard to even get and harder to control or understand, even for ," she mused aloud.
"Can you teach that too?" Jett asked.
"Ahh, I don't think you can grasp it right now," she replied nervously. "Just focus on mana for now. I'll give you ti to choose what thod you prefer..."
"Circulatory. I wanna be as strong as Mom," he responded imdiately. It was an act, though, since he had already started the circulatory thod using Lumix and was at the Beginner rank.
"Aww...." Eva felt touched. "Alright, I'll teach you," she said, proceeding to explain the process to him.
*****
The day turned out to be a waste for him but an achievent for Eva who thought the class was a success. They walked ho quietly, with Eva humming a song.
As they passed by the market, Jett felt like asking, "When do I get a sword?"
Eva ignored him, walking faster as though she didn't hear, obviously trying to cook up a good reason. "Umm, it's too dangerous. End of discussion."
"Well... Can we get sothing from the market?" Jett persisted.
"What?" She inquired, surprised, as he hardly asked her for anything.
"A bunch of burn flowers, frost flowers, and venom flowers," he replied.
"Hmm, I don't see a problem with the frost and burn flowers, but why poison flowers?" She asked, feeling worried.
"Just an experint," he replied with a smile.
"Alchemy, perhaps?" Eva guessed.
"Not really, I just need them for sothing important," Jett replied.
"And you won't tell ?" Eva mused.
"An experi..." He began to reply, but she interrupted.
"What kind?" she asked.
"Alchemy," he admitted.
"Aha. As long as you promise it's not dangerous, I'll get it for you," she replied with a smile.
He wasn't really going to use them for alchemy, but explaining his original motive would prove more hectic. She bought and handed them to Jett, and they continued ho.
*****
Back at ho, Jett opened the bags and inspected the contents.
"Better late than never. I hope they don't taste too bad as described," he thought to himself, taking a deep breath before eating a petal from each.
*
*
*
Hope we've cleared the air on Mana
I wonder what he bought those flowers for.
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