With the threat of tax evasion gone, Leo sat down in the living room with Marem. He still hadn’t found a way to pass the time, or a way to spend his EXP. Leo fiddled with the magical stone that he’d gotten.

He felt certain that he’d seen these runes before, or at least something similar. He just wasn’t sure what he could be thinking of. Marem started to read while he tried to figure out how to use the stone.

He pressed the runes, shook the rock, and even pointed it like a wand. Despite his scientific testing, he couldn’t find the way to activate it. Leo wondered if it could be a magical paperweight, and he just couldn’t feel the difference in weight.

Marem coughed, “So, not to judge, but what are you doing? You’ve been playing with that cleaning stone for, like, 10 minutes.”

“You know what this is? I just picked it up earlier,” asked Leo.

“Ew, like off the ground?” questioned Marem.

Leo paused, “What? No, I got it from a store. Why would I grab a rock from the ground?”

“Why would I know, dude? Maybe you wanted to save money on getting a new one,” she shrugged.

“Well I didn’t get it from the ground, so can you tell me what it does?” he held out the stone to her.

She didn’t grab the stone from him, “Honestly, I need to stop being surprised by what you don’t know. It’s a cleaning stone, you use it to clean yourself. Fill it with a bit of mana and most of the adventuring grime gets washed off.”

“Aw, what? That’s so sick. How do I make it work?” Leo looked over the stone.

“Just shoot some mana into it?” Marem had another confused look on her face. She kept ending up confused whenever talking with Leo.

“Yeah, I don’t know how to do that,” admitted Leo.

Marem sighed, “Alright, I’ll show you how.”

She took the stone from Leo’s hands. Marem rummaged underneath Philips’ couch until she pulled out a hand coated with dust. With a swift motion she placed the stone on her hand. Leo saw her eyes flicker pink, ever so slightly.

A burst of light erupted over her hand. Only moments after it appeared, there was no trace left behind. Neither of the light, nor the grime. Her hand was cleared of any mess. She flipped her hand over to show that it was entirely clean.

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“Man, I wish I had one of those earlier,” was all he could mutter.

She handed the stone to him, “Okay, now you do it.”

Leo dirtied his hand and gripped the stone. With the stone held tight, he concentrated. He thought about the generic magic advice from the stories he’d read. He let his mind flow like water, and his body move like air. This accomplished nothing.

After a few minutes of trying different breathing techniques and attempting to figure out what a chakra is, Marem decided to intervene. He felt her place a hand on his shoulder as she gave him a pitied look.

“I’m going to be honest, I have no idea how to do magic. All I do is hit things really hard,” admitted Leo.

“Okay, it’s easy. Everyone has mana veins where magic flows through. Yours are likely weak from not being used enough. If I send mana into you, then it’ll flow through you into the stone. That should also help out your veins,” explained Marem.

Leo felt his excitement surge the longer she talked. He’d been so caught up with strength that he forgot about magic. If he could learn how to cast spells, then he would be able to fight without brute force. Hitting somebody with a firebolt would be better than atomizing them.

He remembered how badly his encounters against Philips went. Sure, Philips was a powerful mage. But, Leo couldn’t believe how difficult it was to go against him. The frost burned with a blinding pain. With that type of magic under his belt, he’d be unstoppable.

While Marem had her hands placed on his shoulder, Leo continued to think about the possibilities. He had so much EXP saved up that could be used. Who knows what two hundred thousand points of EXP could accomplish for a spellcaster.

“Ready?” she asked.

Leo was prepared, “I’m so ready.”

He felt it start to flow in from his back. It was not physical, but he still felt it. As if an ethereal energy began to spread through his body. Light danced inside him, for he was a conduit of energy.

Those were the words he thought before collapsing. Leo went unconscious as his entire body stiffened. He didn’t know if he heard a panicked shout from Marem, or he heard the universe calling to his soul.

Splash. Leo felt ice cold water run down his face. The lights blinded him as the room swirled. He felt his brain pulsate with every thought. His body felt neither cold, nor on fire. It felt as if he’d suffered from everything, yet he was now nothing.

His eyes focused on Marem. Her eyes screamed in fear as she had a bucket of water in one hand, and her staff in the other. Whatever words she attempted to say were drowned out by the ringing in his ears.

Leo managed to string together a few thoughts, “Sy… Systaim. Points into majik.”

His view of Marem was blocked by the appearance of a blue textbox. As his mind began to process, he figured out what it would say before he could read it.

[UNAVAILABLE]

“Why?” was all he could ask.

[LACKING COMPATIBLE BIOLOGY]

He felt himself start to pass out, “Gods dammit.”