Lucinda's deep purple eyes flicked over the meticulous instructions penned in Joey's handwriting, then glanced at the array of high-quality steak scattered on the table. After Flaminia had ushered her into Joey’s cozy apartment and shared the story, she finally understood how big of a problem this was going to be.

"You think Joey's really onto something with this?" Flaminia murmured, her voice tinged with doubt. She toyed with the corner of the paper. "I've tried, you know? Came close a couple of times. I swear I could almost feel the magic coalescing, but then, it just...slipped away."

Lucinda chewed the inside of her cheek, her fingers tracing the intricate lines of the [Greater Nourishment] rune. "A Tier 4 rune, Flaminia. And a 'simplified' one?"

She shook her head, disbelief evident in her eyes. "All my years studying magic, and I've never even heard a whisper about ‘simplified’ runes. It's...it's unheard of. Just this one drawing could make thousands of golds, perhaps even more."

Joey's audacity puzzled her. The audacity of simplifying a Tier 4 rune, the audacity of entrusting it to Flaminia, the audacity of having it in the first place. The enigma of Joey's machinations left her more confused than ever.

She plucked up a sprig of rosemary, its fragrant scent wafting up to tickle her nose, and peeked into a bowl overflowing with creamy butter. Her brow furrowed in confusion. "He wants to use these to...what? Sketch out the rune onto a steak?"

Flaminia nodded, and Lucinda looked even more confused. She shoved the rosemary branch in the pink-haired [Chef]’s face. “This? This is what he wants to inscribe the rune with?”

Flaminia shrugged, a wisp of a smile playing on her lips. “Not inscribing. He said that it’s all about the pattern and magic and that inscribing shouldn’t actually be necessary. He just told me to work on the pattern with Mana-infused butter and use the rosemary as a brush while the steak cooks. He even said it didn’t matter whether I interrupted the process to turn over the steak.”

The [Mage] pinched the bridge of her nose. "Only Joey would think of something so...so unconventional."

“That Human…” Lucinda muttered before raising an eyebrow. “Wait, if you have already tried, where are the failed results?”

Flaminia took out some bowls with a wooden lid out of her bag of holding and opened them in front of Lucinda. There laid several golds worth of Ethereal Cattle, and the rather broke [Mage] immediately started salivating.

A sheepish grin lit up her face. "Do you mind if I, uh, snack a bit? Thinking on an empty stomach isn't in my roots,” Lucinda asked shamelessly.

“Go ahead. I’m sure Joey wouldn’t care,” Flaminia’s words were amiable, but Lucinda could spot an edge in them, almost a pinch of jealousy.

That Human is truly something.

Lucinda hesitated for a heartbeat, her eyes darting from Flaminia's face to the rich textures of the Ethereal Cattle on the table. "Are you and Joey...?" She let the question dangle, unfinished.

Flaminia’s expression was a mix of exasperation and resignation. "No, we're just friends. And frankly," she added, a hint of acidity creeping into her voice, "I think he's more taken with you than he ever was with me. Or with Irene, that wench.”

Lucinda responded with a noncommittal hum, her focus already shifting to carving a piece of the tender meat with the dagger she always carried on her. The first bite, soft and succulent, melted on her tongue. She groaned appreciatively.

“Mmm, this is really good meat,” Lucinda said, almost crying in joy. Like every [Mage] in the world, sustenance was always a problem. Her mother tried to feed her as much red meat as possible because everyone knew it was a great source of energy. But she would usually only eat the cheapest and hardest meat her mother could find, usually in the form of a stew. She had never been a picky eater, though. And her mother was actually a decent cook.

However, what she was eating right now was worthy of a noble—or, at the very least, a rich [Merchant]. That she could savor such quality meat at Joey’s apartment made it worth the trouble of coming here.

If I can keep eating the failed attempts while trying to help…

Absently, Lucinda pondered the prospect of consuming such meat on a regular basis. Ethereal Cattle, brimming with Mana, could potentially augment her own Mana reservoirs if she incorporated it into her diet. The allure of such an opportunity was tantalizing.

“So, will you help?” Flaminia asked the now distracted [Mage].

“I’ll try,” Lucinda said with a full mouth. “I’m not a [Chef], though. Joey wants to inscribe meat? That’s unheard of, Flaminia. It would be revolutionary. No one has ever tried anything remotely similar.”

“He said that too,” Flaminia nodded, her eyes shadowed with a mix of hope and concern.

“Where is he anyway?” Lucinda craned her neck as if Joey could suddenly jump out from behind one of the walls in the cramped apartment.

“Training,” Flaminia replied, not offering more information about the Human.

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Lucinda studied Flaminia carefully, reading between the lines of her expression. The latter's evident unease betrayed more than mere friendship with Joey.

She said they were just friends, but she looks plenty jealous about him, she reasoned.

“You never cook anything?” The pink-haired [Chef] inquired.

"No, never really got around to it," Lucinda admitted, a hint of defensiveness in her voice. She didn’t want to let the older woman know her opinion about classes like [Chef].

Magic and cooking? It sounds preposterous, but perhaps…

“I’m willing to help,” Lucinda reiterated. “But did Joey give you any specific directions on how to approach this?”

Flaminia hesitated for a brief moment before confessing, "He said I could enlist anyone to assist me. And well, seeing your...interest in him, I thought maybe you'd be eager."

Lucinda's eyes flashed with indignation.

"I'm not interested," she protested, nearly spraying her latest bite across the table.

“Anyway,” Flaminia continued, “he also had me learn a skill. He said that using this, you should be able to do it as well.”

Flaminia moved some stones in front of Lucinda, and the [Mage]’s eyes widened. She immediately grabbed one of them and studied it closely. She could feel the extreme Mana density contained in it on her skin.

“Rotten roots,” Lucinda almost choked on the meat, “is this a high-grade Mana Stone?!”

“I don’t really know,” Flaminia shrugged. “He said to close your eyes and try to see them. There are some kind of special enchantments on them. Maybe. I don’t really know how it works. Just close your eyes and try to focus on them. Once you manage to see them with your eyes closed, you should get the skill.”

“Wait,” Lucinda turned her head slowly to Flaminia. “What skill?”

…

Lucinda had always been rooted in her beliefs, steeped in the tradition that magic was the heart and the soul of existence. For the Elves and every other sentient race, magic wasn't just a tool; it was the very fabric of everything, unparalleled and unchallenged. But like a late-blooming flower, her introduction to its wonders came much later in life than to most of her kin. Yet, rising from the bed with a newfound skill and level, her once unshakeable faith seemed a tad shaken.

“I really just got [Mana Sense],” Lucinda muttered, stunned. “This skill… this is… Give me a second.”

She closed her eyes and mentally summoned the spell matrix for [Flame Whip], suddenly feeling her jaw drop when she finally saw the fiery pattern of the spell. It was slightly fuzzy and hard to pin down, but it was a thousand times better than simply imagining it.

Rotten roots of the World’s Tree and all the rotten Humans in the world, Lucinda swallowed multiple times, suddenly choking on her saliva and coughing herself out of the spell.

“This is…” Lucinda looked wildly at Flaminia, a [Chef] who had most likely never done any magic in her whole life and that had somehow landed a skill worth of an [Archmage].

“Pretty great,” Flaminia nodded.

Great? Does she even know the value of this? I could study magic on my own and progress at a faster rate than any average Nine Towers student with this. Rotten roots, I wouldn’t even trade this skill for an apprenticeship! That’s how valuable it is!

In the world of magic, a skill like this meant the difference between someone destined for the [Archmage] class and the lowest [Lantern Light] replacer!

“Well, we can get to work, then,” Flaminia sighed, clearly not feeling the same excitement Lucinda was just experiencing.

…

Lucinda watched as Flaminia followed the same steps that had been outlined in Joey’s instructions. The pink-haired [Mage] infused her Mana inside the butter and then casually took out a very bright potion from her bag of holding, tipping it up to have a few mouthfuls.

“Huh?” Lucinda looked closer at the potion. “Sorry, can I look at that?”

Flaminia frowned but still handed the potion to Lucinda.

Lucinda was no [Alchemist], but she had blown enough money on Mana Potions to know what a Mana Potion should look like. And she had never seen a Mana Potion look this bright.

She brought the neck of the bottle close to her nose and sniffed it. It was pure luck that Lucinda had expected it to be slightly stronger than she was used to because she recoiled so hard she almost doubled over.

“What are you doing?” Flaminia asked as the [Mage] sneezed.

“Rotten roots, what is this?!”

“A Mana potion? Joey left me a bunch.”

“He was drinking this?!” Lucinda suddenly looked disheveled, almost manic.

“Yes? Is it bad? I’ve never really drunk a Mana potion other than when I was a teenager to try it out.”

“Bad?” Lucinda looked at the older woman as if she was stupid. If she didn’t have some naturally instilled respect for someone with a much higher level than her, she would have started cussing Flaminia out. “This is the strongest Mana potion I have ever smelled. Where does Joey get this stuff? I don’t even know where you could buy one!”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but he’s blowing hundreds of golds on steak.”

Flaminia returned an annoyed look and turned to the butter, starting to infuse it with her Mana again.

“This…” Lucinda was left speechless.

Who is Joey? Where in the rotten world of Humans did he come out of?

It was getting spooky. Joey not only somehow got his hands on some extremely rare Mana Stones, so thick with Mana that one could use them to practice, but they were also probably enchanted to train a skill. On top of that, he drank the highest-leveled Mana potion she had ever seen. Lucinda had read that Royalty did something like that, but how did Joey do something like that?

Does he have some kind of an [Archmage] training him?

“Joey is training physically, right?” Lucinda asked to be sure.

“Yes,” Flaminia replied with an irritated voice, bothered by the fact that Lucinda interrupted her again. “Joey will die if we don’t do this.”

“I still don’t understand,” Lucinda replied with a strained voice.

“How is he going to die if we don’t make this magical steak? Is this all a joke?”

That was apparently the last straw for Flaminia, who whirled and slammed her hand on the countertop, making the heavy butter bowl jump.

“A joke?! Is this a joke to you?!” Flaminia shouted at the redhead, who suddenly went still. “Do you think I would bring you here because of what, Lucinda? Just because Joey likes you? You are the only [Mage] I know with half a brain in this town and one that is also close to Joey. Otherwise, I would have just gone to the Mages’ Guild! You’ve just earned a good skill, haven’t you? How about you shut your rotten mouth and trust what Joey said!”

Lucinda felt a pang of guilt. Normally, she would have erupted too, but it was true that she had already gained something beyond what she could have ever imagined. If Flaminia had told her that she would have gotten [Mana Sense], she would have accepted instantly, without even asking half a question.

“I’m sorry. You are right,” Lucinda nodded apologetically. “Let’s go over this process. You said on the way here that you already tried it. If it failed so many times, maybe there’s something missing.”

Flaminia nodded begrudgingly.