Crouched up on the chair, the boy lazily rested on the chair's armrest. 

"What's with your lack of energy?" 

Jack asked. 

"I feel like I couldn't sleep really well last night." 

"You were snoring." 

Jack pointed at Finn who seemed to have curled up into a ball. 

"I don't remember anything like that." 

He countered, however his eyes kept falling back on Jack's left shoulder. 

Noticing his glances, Jack asked him. 

"Are you curious about this?" 

He turned his head, looking at the tattoo on his shoulder. 

The black skull surrounded by two dry roses looked intimidating alongside his presence. 

"You were a knight?"

He asked this, because knights were the ones who mostly tattoed their insignia on their shoulders, specifically the left one. 

"Yes, not just any—"

Finn continued, "—Roshfield, right?" 

"Ah! Indeed, how did you know?" 

Jack was surprised at how the boy knew of his knight order. 

The Roshfield's weren't among the popular ones, it was one of those groups that did all the work but never got any credit. 

Why? 

The reason was quite obvious, they were a group of rag tags. 

They never cared about reputation or being famous, they simple performed their duties. 

Finn recalled the information, and he remembered about the specific member that seemed to meet the criteria of the man standing before him. 

Crimson red hair, built like a bear, and the infamous grey mana, but the feature that gave him up the most was the fact that he was a 'Manakai.' 

Finn finally opened his mouth to answer. 

"You guys are practically legends amongst us common flocks." 

Of course it was not exactly a blatant lie, but they weren't as popular as Finn had claimed them to be. 

"Oh. I've been wondering, your not a commoner with that fancy surname, are you?" 

Jack made a discerning gaze at the boy, however the boy's expression never faltered.  

"I am not. The name is just too elegant, maybe my predecessors were, but as far as I know, I'm not." 

He had conjured up a believable excuse, because the Tenebrion's were one. 

A prestigious family from decades ago, but now one no one remembered. 

But it was not enough to fool the older man. 

However, he didn't enquire any further. 

"But, you..."

He said gleefully. 

"Me what?" 

Jack added to the remark, already half guessing his reply. 

"The rebellious second son of the famous Duke Thorne, the one and only Manakai of our continent, the legendary Jonathan Thorne." 

His cheeks flushed at the overly placed praises, leading to turning away without facing Finn. 

"Please don't say it like that, it's embarassing." 

He murmured, but the praises felt good, and Finn's tone was not mocking like usual. 

Finn had infact meant what he said. 

'I can't remember much about this guy, but I do have memories of having seen him at least once or twice.' 

Leaving aside the hazy memories, Finn looked at him once again. 

"So, you're going with black?" 

"Yes." 

He slid on the black shirt. 

The smooth fabric sizzled against his skin, settling smugly around his broad frame. 

"But white suits you better." 

"I prefer keeping it dark, goes well with my hair I suppose." 

"That would have been the case had it been a deeper shade of red. However you have a proud crimson red, it seeks attention in many ways." 

Red usually sought negative attention among nobles as it was associated with power affinity with mana, however on a different field, the red was portrayed a powerful tool. 

"Relax kid, I ain't going on fashion parades." 

Finn waved him off in denial, clearly displeased by how he was presenting himself. 

"You see, if you were to go grey or white along with those white trousers, it would seem as if you are embracing the red, but black however does not do that. It makes for a sloppy mixture." 

Jack's expression perplexed at the information, but he watched him explain in intrigue. 

To this, he replied, "Quite the fashion sense for a kid, but I prefer it like this." 

"Ha...shouldn't have expected someone with a colorful wardrobe to listen to my words."

"Colorful?"

"Yes. Pink, red, and yellow?" 

"It's floral." 

His cheeks reddened at his words, because Finn was referring to his collection of innerwear. 

"Must be why you're a fifty year old virgin." 

"I'm only thirty." 

He turned off without much ellaboration. 

"Ha!" 

Finn exclaimed, "so you are a virgin!" 

"Why would you come to that conclusion?" 

He made a panicking reply, furthermore proving Finn's point. 

"Because you did not try to correct me for it." 

"That's because—"

"—Hap!"

Finn couldn't help but grimace at the blushing man. 

Jack felt exposed as the boy had read him like an open book, however there was not much he could say to counter it. 

—Knock knock 

Pausing, he tilted his head over to the knock on his door. 

"Well, time for good-bye, old man." 

Finn got up, preparing to leave. 

"What? Aren't you coming with me?" 

He sauntered off towards the door, but made a quick turn at Finn. 

"With you? What are you, five?" 

"Not that you crazy bastard!" 

He opened the door. 

A fresh barrage of deep cologne struck at him. 

Bringing up his hand, he covered his nose with his wrist. 

"What? It's just a few puffs, not the whole bottle." 

The sweet and coaxing voice countered his gesture. 

The brown haired woman pushed him aside, making her way inside the shack. 

Finn reacted at the sudden rush of multiple fragrances entering the room. 

There are those who spritz themselves with a single bottle, and then there are those who empty multiple flavors on themselves. 

"Aren't you here a bit too early, Miss Shia." 

Shia was obviously the latter. 

"Early? Never! I'm right on time." 

Jack left the door open, the scent overbearing the earthy and musty shack. 

"Alright, I'm ready." 

Buttoning up his shirt, he tucked it in neatly. 

No folds or any distortments in his shirt, his eyes sharp and confident, preparing to take the next step in his life. 

"Let's not wait any longer, shall we?"

_________________________

"Phew." 

—Crack crack

She curtly streched herself, the sound of her joints cracking could be heard. 

"So, milady would like to learn the arcane?" 

The beautiful brown haired woman standing in front of her asked. 

"Yes." 

Daniela replied, her gaze lingering before moving on. 

"But why...all of a sudden?" 

She asked cautiously, after all, a servant should never question their master. 

But Daniela was more than willing to answer. 

"I think it's about time I moved on." 

Moved on...

The answer remained in the air; Wyge's eyes flashing small hints of sadness. 

Daniela felt the surge of unknown memories forcing itself in, memories that weren't hers. 

'Tch! I still get flashbacks of this girl's memories, but she really decided not to learn magic for such a reason.' 

The reason was simple, the death of her mother, The Empress. 

But her reasoning? 

It wasn't as simple as the reason. 

"Shall we begin?"

"Yes." 

Tapping on the metallic polished watch on her wrist, a hologram of the human body appeared before them.  

"For all Mages, one of the most fundamental part of cultivation is, a build." 

She averted her eyes back at Daniela who was busy admiring the hologram. 

"A build refers to—"

Yellow spots lit up on the blue hologram showing specific spots. 

"—the guided pathways through which mana can flow."

"My first step is to build one?"

"Yes. I will guide you through it myself," she pointed at the yellow spots, "these are meridians. Mana is able to travel up and down through our veins, and these veins gradually expand to accomodate more mana which pools around at meridians." 

Placing a finger on in her chin, she opened her mouth to speak.

"A build makes the flow happen on its own without needing me to guide it each time, right?"

"Since the Princess had already made a core, the second step is to make a build."

Tapping on her wristwatch once again, the hologram disappeared. 

"Here." 

She held up her closed fist. 

Daniela held out her open hand in response to which Wyge dropped a white seed. 

"What's this?" 

Careful inspection took place around the small white seed which was barely an inch. 

She looked around it as if she was a professional. 

"It's the seed of a canary melon." 

'Canary melon? A yellow honeydew?'

"The seed is from a special melon that blooms only once in every true melon, giving it a special mana infused property."

Daniela made another confused expression, staring at it.  

"It increases mana sensitive." 

"Ahh, I see." 

She replied dumbfounded at the sudden burst of information. 

Although she had it stored within her head, certain things came if as new and uncertain, giving her a hard time grasping it. 

She popped the seed into her mouth and cracked it open with her teeth. 

The texture was dry and coarse with no specific taste, but chewed it thoroughly only to notice Wyge expressing slight terror. 

"Um...you were supposed to crack it open, not mince down the wh...ol...e se...d..."

'Fuck! Why are these thoughts—my head—shit!!'

Daniela felt thoughts, memories, sensations, but most of all, the strange presence squirming around her all mix inside her. 

Almost as if they were individual threads that were not supposed to tangle, and now that they've been tangled, she felt her control slip. 

—Whooop!

She regained her footing, just having felt it slip through her fingers. 

"What was that?!!"

She muttered out the words, her head wrapping around the events that had just occured. 

"That was a feedback, a forced feedback."

She spoke, letting out a content sigh, securing her hand around the vertigo plagued princess. 

"Can you feel it, Milady?" 

The small smile tugging around Wyge's lips meant she expected results. 

"I see..."

And just as she had expected, Daniela did feel it, the strange sensation. 

The same sensation she felt amplified when she had consumed the seed, an unexplainable one. 

"This is mana." 

_________________________