Kiki didn’t show up at all that week or for our weekend questing class. I wound up unlocking mana for another three old people for Mr. Ramsey on Thursday.

After working every day that week infusing mana into various ingots, Chogu informed me that I was ready to learn the basics of smithing.

I spent my days in mana fencing getting slapped around by my classmates. Mrs. Hawkins also taught me to never be satisfied with my weapon, modifying it constantly.

With some practice, I was able to condense 7 times the normal amount of mana into my blade. Chogu informed me that if I wanted to make a diamond, I was going to need at least 100 times the pressure.

Doing battle with the other students taught me the necessity of infusing my body with mana during combat. I discovered that I could harden my skin and make myself stronger by pushing mana to the right places before combat.

Trying to do it after the fight began had mixed results. One time I pushed mana into my left arm when the attack was aimed at my right. Mrs. Hawkins rushed over with an ointment of some sort but when she saw my arm healing she gasped at me. “That’s some constitution you got there. I can see the wound closing up.”

Congratulations. You have reached level 17

The vampire dreams seemed to stop after Carmilla discovered the demise of her parents. Much to the redhead’s embarrassment, we started sharing Kalli’s dreams. The orphanage had not been a kind place to her. The nuns who ran it treated the kids like hired help.

When there were no chores to do at home, the kids were lent out to the villagers to do any odd chores that were needed. Most of the villagers were kind but it was very clear that Kalli was just an outsider.

The other kids at the orphanage were worse. Kalli had the misfortune of being the only kid in her age group. The older kids bullied her and made her do their chores which included looking after the younger ones.

Kalli didn’t mind taking care of the littles. They were innocent and while Kalli struggled to take care of them on top of her other duties, she vowed to do what she could to make sure they wouldn’t have to.

Most of Kalliphae’s dreams filled me with a profound sense of loneliness. I wanted to reach out and hug the little girl in the dream. She had spent the majority of her childhood by herself, dreaming of a better life. I could see her dream within the dream.

During one of her chores that had for fetching water from a river, a man in a deep cloak knelt before the girl and asked, “Would you like to learn magic, little one?”

The dream shifted to Kalli sleeping in my bed the first night after I summoned her. The room was filled with darkness as she curled into a ball in a lonely new world. Then my mother walked into the room and kissed her on the forehead. “Live your best life today, sweetheart”.

Then we woke up. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and felt for Kalli, who was crying.

Who was that man offered to teach you magic? Was he your master?

She flinched at my connection through mate chat. I don’t think so. I don’t remember that happening. I was so little then.

I worried about her being lonely now that she stopped being friends with Alex and the rest of her classmates. At first, I thought it would help if I went everywhere with her. She made it very clear that was a mistake. Melvin, stop following me.

We both knew I was overacting. She kissed me and touched her forehead to mine. I know you love me and you know I love you too but you need to give me some space. As you’ve seen, I can handle myself.

I didn’t have to worry about Kalli. Our new group loved her too. Stefanie was determined to give her the complete girl experience. That first day she had returned from the spa after a full makeover including bright red fingernails and toenails. She was particularly proud of her makeup, explaining, “In Gaia, only the nobles can afford this.”

Questing during the weekend had been relatively simple. Our team got a new adventurer since Fina was out of town on a special quest. Nobody asked any questions, so I assumed it was a normal thing.

Our group, being short one member, was forced to do delivery and cleanup quests all weekend. While it was fun killing rodents with the greatsword, I was jealous of Wendy’s group who returned to the dungeon.

I had begun to worry that Kiki wasn’t going to return when she suddenly made her appearance. It had been several weeks since I saw her in the guildhall after our dungeon fiasco. Kalli and I were on a double date with Joe and Wendy at the karaoke hall when she interrupted our singing. Melvin, are you there? I need to talk to you. It’s urgent.

Joe turned off the music while I replied.

We’re here. What’s up Ki? Where have you been? We were worried about you.

She seemed flustered when she replied. Never mind that right now. Do you remember the contract I wrote for your job at school? There was a clause where you could tip me with mana. I need you to open that connection. Any amount is fine.

There was no mistaking an undertone of desperation in her voice.

Are you in trouble Ki? What do you need mana for?

Kiki hesitantly replied. It’s not trouble per se. I mean, it kind of is but I’m in no immediate danger. I can’t tell you what the mana is for but I need it. Will you help your sister out? Please.

At first, I was unsure how to do it but with only a small amount of thought, I could feel a minuscule pull on my mana. It didn’t tug at me strong enough to take anything on its own so I had to connect a thread of mana to it before it was activated.

Once I connected to the contract it sipped hungrily at my mana. Kiki heaved a sigh of relief. Thank you, Melvin.

Kalli could tell that I was worried about the girl so she asked, Kiki. Where are you? Would you like us to come to you?

She quickly rejected the offer. No. No. Don’t come here. I’ll be back soon. Just give me some more time.

After that, she wouldn’t answer no matter what we said. Kalli sat on the couch in our tiny booth and said, “I think Kiki is in some kind of trouble.”

Joe rubbed his chin and pointed out, “Yeah. She has always been weird like that. Before she joined our group, she was kind of mysterious. She didn’t really talk to people or try to make too many friends.”

Wendy added, “Except for the boys. A lot of boys used to hit on her. It was like a game to them.”

Joe laughed and explained, “Heh, that’s how it was at first. Then people started telling stories about what happened to those boys.”

I laughed and explained, “Oh yeah, she got them good didn’t she?”

Kalli looked at me with a confused expression on her face. “What exactly did she do? I know it had something to do with her class but did she ever say what happened to the boys? Do you know Joe?”

Joe shook his head and laughed, “Actually no. None of the guys were ever willing to talk about it. I always assumed she humiliated them somehow.”

Over the next several weeks I felt the continuous tug on my mana but didn’t hear from Kiki otherwise. Thanks to Quetzalcoatl’s mana, I was able to spare enough for Kiki and have enough left for my day-to-day activities.

I was quickly meeting my quota for Mr. Ramsey. It wasn’t until the 15th person that I got another interesting one. I was sitting on the bed in my unique classroom when a woman walked in.

At first, I didn’t bother to inspect her. Other than being a very well proportioned brunette, I assumed her to be just another rich person for Mr. Ramsey to exploit.

When she reached into her bag and pulled out a crystal ball, I knew something was up.

Item:

Analyzer

Components

Mana, Crystal, Essense of Sphynx

Item Rank:

S

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Malone

Before I could ask her about the Analyzer, she crushed it in her hand. An explosion of light flooded the room as though the crystal ball had contained pressurized light.

Just as quickly as the light appeared, it retracted back toward the woman. She held a shimmering ball of light in her hand for a moment before holding it to her face. At first, I thought she was going to peer into the light. What actually happened amazed me. The light streamed into her eyes in a long stream until it was gone.

The woman frowned at me and asked, “How is it that a mere level 17 summoner can have such fine mana control? You don’t even have any traits.”

I smirked at the woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties. Once again I was fortunate that Lavender’s masking spell worked so well. “How do my traits have anything to do with this class? Do you want me to awaken you or not?”

She scoffed at me and said, “Awaken? Hah! Don’t mistake me for a peasant. All the money in the world can’t give those idiots true power.”

Shrugging at the woman, I asked, “Are you sure it can’t? They seemed pretty awakened when they left.”

The woman started laughing and replied, “No amount of mana tampering can grant peasants power. It goes against the natural order of things.”

Getting frustrated with the woman, I asked, “Are you here to have me help with your mana, or did you just come here to interrogate me?”

She folded her arms and stared down at me for a long moment before saying, “Let’s say I allow you to do your thing. What will you do?”

Since it wasn’t a secret, I explained, “I guess it depends if you make use of your mana channels. Some mages don’t for some odd reason. If that’s the case then I’ll connect it to your core.”

The woman gaped at me, “Can you see my core?”

I was becoming unsure of myself as the questioning continued, “In a way.”

While I could see cores, I had to be inside of the person to do so. I didn’t want to admit just how intimate the process was. She sighed and sat next to me on the bed. “Very well. Proceed.”

I inspected her quickly before I began.

Name

Elegantia Stain

Class

Alchemist

Level

20

Affection Level

Guarded

Skills

Traits

Formulate

Perfect Balance

Activate

Proficiency: Alchemy

True Sight

She flinched when my mana touched her. It didn’t take nearly as long for me to make my way through to her mana channel. I was mildly surprised not to find any mana in her channels. They were, however, larger than the half-awakened I had been working on for the last month.

My mana snaked its way through her system as it found its way to her core. Again, I was surprised when I saw it. Instead of an orb radiating power, Elegantia’s was liquid. The silver ball reminded me of swirling mercury.

As usual, the instant my mana touched the ball, the feedback forced me out as her power flooded the channel. I was thrown off the bed and I crashed into the floor.

NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: [Formulate]

When I climbed to my feet, I found Elegantia laying on her back, twitching. She leaned forward on her elbows and asked, “What was that? I have a funny taste in my mouth. It tastes like…I don’t know, ingredients?”

I thought about it and offered, “That’s probably your mana. Can you feel it flowing through your body?”

Elegantia sat up and held her hands up in front of her. I saw a silver liquid appear on her fingertip and realized she was manifesting her mana. She looked up at me again and said, “This is a lot more potent than I thought it would be. I can feel the power just beneath the surface. I didn’t think I would be saying this but thank you very much for the service.”

When Elegantia left, I realized she was my last student for the day. I emerged from the bedroom to find Kiki sitting at the conference table. “I’ve been waiting for you, little bro.”

Rushing over to the girl, I said, “Hey, Ki. I missed you. Where have you been?”

She smiled nervously at me as I sat down and said, “I don’t have a lot of time for small talk. I need your help. Its life or death.”