Startled by the aeromancer, I temporarily lost control of my mana. I spluttered as the backlash caused me to taste mana in the back of my mouth.

Passing a look over my shoulder and hoping that Chogu didn’t notice, I replied to the girl.

I am not cutting. Consider it a form of protest over Kalli getting unfairly suspended.

Wendy giggled. Do you mean for punching another student?

Kalliphae joined the giggle-fest. He’s totally cutting.

The girls were teaming up on me, so I groaned.

I’ll have you know I got a job and I’m working very hard right now.

The male voice in my ear reminded me that we had more members in our group now. Joe commented. You got a job already, Melvin? What do you do?

I work for a blacksmith.

The group started talking about various jobs available to magic students while I returned my focus to mana purification. It was more challenging than Chogu made it seem. No matter how much I filtered the mana, it refused to get clean.

It was so bad that I began following my mana as it flowed through my body. Mana seemed to pick up impurities as it passed through my body and bring them back to my core where they were then deposited.

The natural process of mana flowing through my body was somehow flawed. I needed to rebuild the magical portions of my body from the ground up. When I filled my channels with mana, I did so with no regard to how it would flow or where it could go.

I assumed that new mana was generated from within my core. Beyond that, it didn’t make much sense. Did mana get generated in the same way as muscle and fat through the food and drink that I consumed? Was there mana floating around in the atmosphere that I could somehow absorb?

Turning to Chogu, who was hard at work on another ingot, I asked, “Master, where does mana come from?”

The smith laughed and set his work down for a moment, “Don’t call me master. I am far from being one and that title reminds me of my great great great grandfather. Before you ask, yes, he is still alive. What I am teaching you will prolong your natural life. It’s a beneficial side effect of mana purification. To answer your question, we accumulate mana in a variety of ways. Mana is an expression of your life essence. You replenish your core in the same manner that you regain energy for a new day when you sleep. While it is possible to siphon mana from the aether around us, that is an advanced technique and not necessary for your training.”

Chogu waited for a moment to see if I had questions before returning his attention to the ingot. Kalli, who was listening, commented through mate chat. That blacksmith is very smart.

The Masamune family is famous for their craftsmanship. I had no idea that they were awakened until I stumbled on Chogu.

Redoubling my efforts on creating a mana refinery within me, I began placing filters inside of my mana tracts. The idea was for each one to slowly remove any foreign objects from my mana.

The problem arose almost immediately. The filters themselves quickly became dirty and required replacing. There was also the issue of what to do with the impurities. If I channeled those into my body, could I just pee them out? Would that make me sick? The last thing I needed was mana poisoning.

Grunting in frustration, I turned to the smith again, “Chogu, how do you do it? Refine your mana, I mean.”

Chogu cocked his head to the side at the sound of his name, “I don’t think I like that either. Just calling me Chogu is too informal. Call me Chogu Sensei. I am your teacher after all.”

I grinned at him, “Yes, Chogu Sensei.”

My teacher chuckled at the sound of his name and answered, “There are no shortcuts. Just like a blade must be tempered over a thousand times, so must your mana. You have to refine it by hand, constantly meditating and refining it over and over until you get as close to perfection as you possibly can. I never said this was going to be easy.”

Heaving a sigh, I refocused on my task by removing all of the filters from my mana channels. With my eyes closed, I focused on the mana and the way it passively flowed through my body. My core was acting as a heart and driving the mana out where it circulated through my body before returning to complete the circuit.

None of these required any active effort on my part. Purification was going to take active involvement from me. I plucked a tendril of mana from my core and focused on sifting it as it passed through my grasp.

To my horror, my body absorbed the impurities as they collected around the site where I was working. The mana glowed just a little bit brighter as I passed it back into my core.

Hours had passed by the time I opened my eyes. Kalliphae towered over me holding a bag that had a strong smell of teriyaki. She grinned and offered the meal to me. Are you hungry? You’ve been working so hard that it even made me tired.

She wrinkled her nose at me as we both noticed I was covered in a black sweat.

“Pvruzth”

The impurities in my sweat reacted violently to the magic as her flame touched me, causing an explosion that sent Kalli flying backward. The flames that touched my skin were not the gentle caressing magic that I was used to from Kalli. Instead, the murky sweat flared violently before being consumed by the fire.

I watched in awe as my skin grew red and even cracked in some places before quickly healing itself and looking as though nothing had happened.Unfortunately, the pain was very real and I rubbed my arms tenderly.

Scanning the room, I began to worry.

Kalli? Are you okay?

She groaned from the corner of the room. I triple-checked that my BUFF was still sharing the Enhanced Regeneration skill with the girl. Kalliphae was sitting on her butt in the corner checking herself for injuries. What was that Mel? I tried to clean you and you exploded.

I was trying to clean my mana. Those are the impurities.

Kalli cringed in disgust. Is that going to happen to you all the time now?

I don’t know. I’ll have to figure something else out I think.

By that time, Chogu was coming out to see what had happened, “Are the two of you alright?”

Looking down at the burnt sack that used to contain my lunch, I sighed, “It looks like everything came out okay except for the food.”

Kalli ran over to the sack and ripped it open. Oh no. I made that for you.

Grinning at her, I tried to comfort my girlfriend.

Don’t worry. It’s the thought that counts.

The blacksmith rummaged through the forge, looking for the source of the explosion before asking, “What happened here?”

I did my best to explain, “I didn’t know what to do with the imperfections when I refined my mana. It came out as sweat and Kalli tried to clean me with fire. It sort of exploded.”

Chogu cocked his head back in laughter, “This girl knows the way to my heart. Clean a mess up with fire. If I had such a skill, I would use it all the time. As for you, it is far more sanitary to pass imperfections through your urine. It might change the color but it should be somewhat safe.”

A groan escaped my lips at the smith’s words, “What do you mean somewhat safe?”

The man shrugged as he replied matter of factly, “Nobody ever said the ancient techniques were 100% safe. You have to accept the drawbacks when you push the boundaries of humanity. It’s the price we pay for greatness.”

Kalliphae insisted on making lunch for me again. I sat in the back of the ramen house and watched as she chopped vegetables under the watchful eye of the head chef. I’m learning new things here too, Mel. I was listening to Chogu when he taught you how to clean your mana. I am going to work on that for myself too.

I smiled at the girl, always impressed with her passion.

That’s awesome. We can master it together.

Her nervousness seeped through our connection. Will you teach me?

She didn’t have to ask me twice.

Of course, I will.

Kalli smiled and started to hum as she prepared the food.

While her food fell a little short of restaurant quality, it was the best thing I had eaten in months because she made it just for me. The smile on Kalli’s face made my heart swell. She could tell too.

Halfway through my meal, I watched Kalli take out the nesting doll that she had received as a loan from the carpenter Barney. Her hands glowed with flame when she infused the egg with her mana.

I watched in mild curiosity as she frowned down at the doll. I’ve been giving it my fire every night and it never changes.

Weren’t you supposed to give that back?

She shrugged at me while continuing her work. We never saw him again. Besides, I had the feeling that he wanted me to hatch it rather than return it.

I quietly scooted my chair away from the table and rose to sit next to my girlfriend. She raised an eyebrow at me. What do you think you’re doing?

Using the usual grin that I liked to employ when I was about to do something that would get us in trouble, I gave her an awkward wink.

I have an idea. Trust me.

Kalliphae groaned in response but didn’t do anything to stop me. Placing my hand over hers, I allowed my mana to wash over her hand before mixing with her mana. We were both used to the blue flame that we created together.

What we were not used to was the egg suddenly developing an appetite and pulling the flame into itself. As we were both channeling the mana, we struggled to keep up with the demand. I noticed that Kalli was starting to tire as her mana pool ran dangerously low, so I quickly BUFFed her with my Enhanced Mana-Regen trait.

She heaved an audible sigh of relief, but it was clear that the two of us would not be able to keep this up indefinitely. Kalli’s mana ran out first. I felt her vision blur as the sickness overwhelmed her. I wanted to catch the girl as she fell from her chair, but the egg refused to release me. With the flame gone, my white mana seeped into the nesting doll through invisible cracks.

Kalli was just starting to pick herself up from the floor where she had been retching when I felt my body begin to fail. Even though I was seated, I found it difficult to remain in my chair. The egg was firmly glued to my fingers which it continued to drain mana from.

The short drop to the floor felt farther than it was. When I shifted my weight to avoid falling on Kalli, the egg made contact with the floor ahead of me.

CRACK

At first, I thought I broke it. Kalliphae and I exchanged a nervous glance and I could tell she thought the same thing. Did you just…

Before I could answer, a fissure spread around the circumference of the nesting doll. The smooth line glowed blue for a moment before spidering off into thousands of tiny cracks that spread to the entire surface of the egg.

I was still holding it when the outer shell crumbled in my hands. I was left holding a blue-green ball of scales with two glowing red eyes and a snake tongue sticking out. When it unfurled itself, I thought I was holding a lizard until I noticed translucent wings on its back. It was a baby dragon.

The owner came running over once again, cradling Byakko in her arms like a house cat, “No vomiting in the restaurant. It makes people not want to eat and when that happens I lose customers. Oh, is that…?”

Byakko hopped down to the floor and sniffed the dragon before raising his voice to sound like an overexcited cub, “If it isn’t Seiryu. I was wondering if I was ever going to see you again.”

“Who?”, Kalli stammered, looking at the tiny dragon that was staring back at her from my arms.

Byakko stood between Kalli and me, explaining, “This is my counterpart, the guardian of the east. He is also known as the Azure Dragon. His name is Seiryu.”

A small puff of smoke came from Seiryu’s mouth but the little dragon didn’t speak. It wiggled in my arms until I let it go and dropped to the floor to walk over to Kalliphae. The two locked eyes and then it clambered up her dress to perch in her arms.

Byakko chuffed and explained, “It appears that he has accepted you as his mother. I take it that you were responsible for hatching him?”

Kalli nodded, “I fed him fire every single night. Hey, did he say that to you?”

The tiger walked up to the dragon in Kalli’s lap and bit it on the tail causing the tiny creature to hiss in pain. Kalliphae pushed Byakko away and growled at the cub, “Don’t bully him you evil kitten. I’ll whack you if you do it again.”

I laughed and informed the tiger, “She’ll do it. She already punched one person this week.”

Byakko’s fur stood on end at having been shooed, “I’ll let that threat slide mortal. The wyrm can talk. He’s just stubborn.”

Kalli cooed at Seiryu, “It’s okay. He can talk when he wants to. I don’t mind. Are you hungry? Do you really eat fire?”

The dragon nodded and Kalli tried to summon her flame.

“Pvruzth”

Nothing came out. Kalliphae looked at her hand dejectedly. I put my hand on her shoulder to comfort the girl.

It’s the mana sickness from using all of your mana. It’ll pass. Just give it a moment.

Miss Himiko was getting impatient, “Is somebody going to clean up this mess?”

I looked at the vomit next to Kalli and moved over to it, “Sorry, ma’am. I’ll get it.”

“Pvruzth”

Feelings of panic came from Kalliphae. She didn’t want me to clean up after her. No, don’t. Just give me a moment.

I ignored her pleas as I let my flame wash over and consume the mess.

Don’t worry about it. You once cleaned up after me this way. Consider this me returning the favor. I just wish I had been able to move your hair out of the way like a good boyfriend.

That just made it worse.Kalli desperately started to look for signs of puke in her hair.Once I finished with the floor, I moved my hands up to clean her as well, but Seiryu had other ideas and started lapping up the mana on my hand.

Kalliphae and I watched in fascination as the dragon ate the fire. After a quick snack, it looked up and said, “Father?”

We exchanged a confused look and Kalli laughed. I guess he thinks you’re his dad.

Laughing nervously, I wondered if it was only mana that I had contributed to the egg. A short moment later, Kalli regained her mana.

“Pvruzth”

Fire sprouted from every part of her body, cleansing her as well as providing flame for the dragon to snack on.One of the diners walked over to where we sat on the floor and announced, “Wow, this place really does employ the phoenix princess as a waitress.We will definitely be back.”

Miss Himiko was visibly pleased and thanked the patrons profusely before ushering them back to their table so we could have some privacy. Byakko pranced over to the guests. I was curious about what sort of role the tiger cub played in the restaurant but decided to ask him later.

Seiryu, for his part, was busy sampling Kalli’s flame for the first time since hatching. Once again, it stopped and said, “Mother.”

I laughed and Kalli frowned at me.

He’s a dragon of few words.

My comment made the girl giggle. Indeed.