Clara stood in front of the table, to the left of Johan.

"So, to start, what magic are you currently learning?" Clara asked.

"I'm currently learning about healing magic. I'm already somewhat familiar with both water and light mana, and I figured that learning how to use healing magic for both would be useful." Johan replied

"Good. Both light and water healing are quite good to know, especially in the case of potion alchemy. In that case I would recommend you imbue some sort of water with the spells you want to use to heal someone. It doesn't have to be long lasting. Imbuement rarely lasts too long anyways before it needs recharged."

"Why water though?"

"Well, that's because water can hold onto light, and because when you imbue something, it matters what you are imbuing. For example, you don't imbue a gem with *only* fire magic. You first layer an earth magic imbuement, then fire, then earth again. That results in far better and stronger effects. The first earth spell primes it, then the fire is the effect you want, and the last earth spell is meant to keep the imbuement contained. It lasts longer this way as well." Clara explained.

"Intent. Of course it is." Johan said. He understood it as, it was about intent. You couldn't just imbue something and be done, there was a process, almost like a ritual in a way.

"Yeah, I guess it is kinda based on intent." Clara nodded. "Now then, let's see what your progress is on your healing magic."

"Alright." Johan displayed the water spell he had been working towards.

"It's not bad, but it's also horrible in some places. Let me show you." Clara created her own version, and pointed out some spots where Johan had messed it up just enough that it would be worse, or less efficient in some ways.

"Ah. I get it now. You can't do any sharp points for water."

"Exactly. You want all sharp points to be beveled instead. A nice rounded corner."

"Thanks. That feels much smoother now."

"Yeah. Ah, also, what do you mean it feels smoother?" Clara asked, tilting her head a bit.

"Well, don't you feel the manaspace around you?" Johan asked.

"No. I can only *see* manaspace, but I can't *feel* it. That's a strange ability."

"Huh. I thought everyone could feel it. Nath never told me otherwise."

"Who's Nath?"

"He was the man who started teaching me magic, and the one who helped me create my mana heart."

"Is he...?"

"Oh, no, no, he's fine, as far as I know."

"I see. Anyways, let's get back to work. You now have your water healing spell figured out more. Now lets look at your light healing spell."

"Oh, that one I actually have figured out entirely." Johan displayed the light spell quite easily. He used mana blocks to prevent it from escaping the formation he had created from the mana.

"Wow. That's amazing. I am still amazed that you use mana blocks like this. I have never met someone who does that. This is even better than my own spell." Clara displayed her spell and changed it to match Johans.

"You did that quickly. I wish I could do that."

"It gets easier as you get stronger. I want to test this real quick."

"Alright." Johan watched as the woman rushed around a little, creating a potion. He then felt the manaspace as she imbued the potion. It was weird. Like a portion of the space was distorted, and the spell in that spot was pulled into the mixture.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Whoa." Johan said softly

"This is amazing. The effectiveness should have increased by around 40% That's a huge increase!" She turned around and hugged Johan. "Thank you so much! I've been struggling to improve that recipe for so long!"

"Um... Uh. Yeah." Johan said distractedly

"What's wrong?" Clara asked

"So when you imbue... It seems to distort the manaspace. It just felt odd is all."

"Oh. I didn't even think about that. I knew from how it looks that it tended to distort a bit. What did it feel like?"

"Kinda like when you get that knot in the pit of your stomach, like something is wrong in some way..." Johan said, trailing off a bit.

"Ah. That sounds kinda bad." Clara said

"A bit. Sorry, it's just.. It's a pretty big distraction. I am more curious about spatial mana now though."

"Huh? Why?"

"I'm wondering if spatial mana could be used to prevent the distortion effect."

"Oh, that's a neat idea. If you find out, let me know!"

"Will do. Also, can you, uh, let go please." She was still kinda hugging him.

"Oops, yeah sorry, got a bit distracted." Clara let go of Johan. "You have a nice body by the way."

"It's fine. For now though, I think I'll hold off on learning more about imbuement." Johan admitted, while also ignoring Clara's statement about his body. "Sorry that you brought me here and I didn't even do any of what we came here for."

"It's fine. I benefitted from it quite a bit, and you also corrected your spell. It was still a win-win scenario. Do you... wanna do anything else before we leave?" Clara asked

"No, not particularly... Actually... You make potions? Could I get a few from you directly? If you are willing to give me some that is." Johan said. He was aware that she was asking about, well, *that* but, he didn't really want to do anything, especially with that creeping feeling still lingering in his stomach. Though the potions sounded useful. He'd buy a few before leaving.

"Aw... No fun. Anyways, I'm going to change again, look away. Unless you wanna watch I guess. Then I'll see about getting you those potions." She started peeling her clothes off as Johan looked away.

"Thank you again for today... And the potions. It helped me learn a lot, and has set my next goal."

"Of course. Also I'm done changing now."

Johan turned and saw Clara in her original clothes. Even if it was green and brown, it just seemed to fit her.

"Alright. Want me to walk with you back to David's?" she asked while grabbing a few vials

"Nah, I need to stop by someplace anyways." Johan replied, thinking about the bracer that he had commissioned.

"Okay. And remember, if you change your mind, I'll be here."

"About what?"

"About imbuement, or even about whether you'd like to have fun..."

"Ahahah. Maybe about imbuement, but as pretty as you are, I don't want my relationship with you to be like that."

"Again, you really are no fun." Clara shrugged her shoulders.

"Perhaps. I'll see you later then Clare." Johan turned and left.

"Bye Johan. Let me know when you leave."

"Will do."

------

Johan walked through the town, looking for the alleyway. Clara was such a tease. If he was to be honest Johan wouldn't mind if she had tried to go farther with him, but... It also made him sort of uncomfortable. he was only 17... no, maybe now he was 18, it had been a while since his last birthday but he didn't know the date. Well, it wasn't even that if he really thought about it. It was more that she had been so forwards about it...

Johan shoved it out of his mind, he needed to pick up his commission today. It wasn't as if he would never be able to get it if he didn't get it today, but more of it would be more convenient to get it now, rather than later, since he was still out.

Finally, Johan found the alleyway he was looking for, and walked into the shop. The smithy smelled of soot and he could feel the immense heat on his body once more.

"Oh, you're back today. Good. I made it already. Let me go get it for you." The short smith said. "It was a lot of fun forging this bea~uty, let me tell you. It's not too often that I get a commission for a bracer, specifically, so it was a nice change of pace." The man returned with it.

The bracer was made of a silver like material and seemed to fit him perfectly. It was light, but felt quite sturdy.

"You wanna test its strength kid?" The man asked, and Johan nodded enthusiastically.

The man took it and set it on the ground. Then he picked up a mace from the wall. "Smack it with this. It should be fine."

So Johan did that. The mace hit the bracer, and a loud metallic clang rang out. Pulling the mace back, the bracer didn't even get dented.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Johan said, "Are you sure that this was worth what I paid, and not more?"

"Yep. I used a bit of mithril, so it's very sturdy, as for what you paid, consider it a special deal. I had fun making it, and that's the part that I really care about."

"Thanks. I'll be sure to come back here again the next time I'm in need of something metal and I'm in the area."

"That's good, recurring customers are always nice. Maybe I'll see you again someday kid." He smiled. "Now get, I have other things I need to do."

"Alright. Have a good day, sir!" Johan said as he left the small smithy.

Johan headed back to David's. It was midafternoon by this point, roughly 3:30 by his watch. Arriving back he found everyone just kind of hanging out in the shop area.

"Oh, You're finally back!" Anne said as he walked in.

"Welcome back." David added.

"Yep, I'm back. I see Markus still ain't back yet."

"He's probably going to be gone all day kid. Tends to happen when you meet people you haven't seen in years."

"Alright, well I got some stuff I need to work on right now, I'll be in the storage room."

Johan once more set himself to learn more magic, this time his goal was spatial magic.