Alice put on her new semi-formal dress before going to the meeting. The [Waiter] confirmed her identity before moving her to a private room, where an older man was waiting.

He had lower [Charisma] than Alice had expected. On Earth, people were born with their looks, meaning that people’s attractiveness tended to vary quite a bit. In this world, [Charisma] was a stat that was easy to improve if one put effort into it, boosting one’s physical attractiveness. Most people didn’t mind looking a little better, and since raising [Charisma] required doing things most people already enjoyed like hanging out with friends, most people in this world were physical attractive. Alice hadn’t seen very many people her age or older with less than 100 [Charisma], and Alice wouldn’t be surprised if [Charisma] was the highest average stat on this planet.

The Mage Alice was was meeting was certainly below 100 [Charisma]. He still probably had 80 or 90 [Charisma], but Alice could very quickly tell that he didn’t like socializing enough to raise it much. His teeth were slightly crooked, and his sitting posture wasn’t great. He had black hair and blue eyes, but both features were slightly mismatched with his face. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and had average rainbow mana in his body for a mage, indicating an average-ish level. He was wearing a semi-formal set of clothes; though they had some care put into them, they were slightly creased, showing a certain lack of awareness and care towards formal etiquette.

The man’s physical body was far more interesting. The amount of rainbow mana actively operating inside his skull made Alice think the man had six thinking Perks active every second. Since the man was only average level, it was obvious just how much time and energy he had devoted to acquiring and raising his research-related classes. The Mage simply sat at the table in the center of the room, lightly drumming his fingers as he stared into space. When Alice sat down, he seemed to jolt back into awareness before looking at her.

“Ah, Lady Alice, yes? I have heard that you acquired a rarity nine Achievement from your research. Is that true?” The man asked, giving her an intense and focused expression.

Alice felt slightly taken aback before she started to think more carefully about the person she was meeting. She thought that she had a better handle on this man’s personality now, despite having only seen him for ten seconds. At the same time, she was beginning to understand why Rupert had recommended him as a potential Patron. She felt herself relaxing a bit – she might be able to get along with this person.

“Yes, indeed. I’ve put a lot of time into researching the nature of mana and the intricacies of its interaction with the human body. I’ve looked into many related topics, of course, but I would say that my primary focus has just been trying to figure out the underlying principles of mana. At least in Cyra, I couldn’t find any books on the topic, so I had to start guessing and working on getting a baseline of knowledge myself,” Alice said before frowning.

She suddenly realized that the man hadn’t introduced himself yet. Alice was certainly happy the Mage seemed interested in her research, but she felt that introductions were still improtant. Right now, she didn’t even know this Mage’s name, and a little bit of extra information about who he was and what he had worked on in the past certainly wouldn’t hurt either. Since the man seemed like a pretty direct person, he probably wouldn’t mind if she just brought up the topic herself.

“May I ask what your name is, sir Mage?”

The man seemed shocked before he turned slightly red. “My apologies, Lady Alice. I jumped to the topic that interested me the most and skipped over introductions. My name is Ezrien, though you can also call me Ez for short. It’s nice to meet you.” Despite the man’s awkwardness, Alice felt herself relaxing even more. Although this guy’s manners were a little lacking, Alice was sure it wasn’t out of malice – he was just someone who devoted most of his attention to things he cared about. Although Alice had started to get used to the formal manners of Illa, it was certainly relaxing to know that Ezrien didn’t pay much heed to noble manners and etiquette. And now that she had brought up the subject, he seemed more than happy to introduce himself to her.

“Let’s see – I guess I should introduce myself a bit before asking more questions, yes? I am Ez, as I already mentioned. I have a lot of different topics that interest me, and I have made a few deals with nobles to research more specific topics and sell the results in exchange for funds right now. I have done quite a bit of research with kinetic and thermal mana, and I’m currently working under Count Aelraeda to refine a few specific ideas further. I recently led the research team that discovered a way to make cooling boxes easier and cheaper to produce, making a number of smaller improvements to the design along the way. However, my passion lies in pure mana innovation. Sadly, while I can never find anyone interested in funding research into the topic, it is still the concept that interests me the most. When I have spare time and funds, I devote them to researching pure mana further. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he said, extending his hand. Alice shook it.

“I’m Alice. As I’ve already said, one of my bigger focuses thus far has been trying to figure out how mana and the human body interact with each other, as well as trying to observe the underlying principles of mana. As you have already heard, I have a rarity nine Achievement due to my studies into the topic, which gives me hope that I might figure out how everything actually works someday,” said Alice.

The two of them started discussing their research. Alice quickly affirmed her earlier suspicions- there was no reason to bother with ‘manners’ the way she might have needed to if she were dealing with Illa or a noble. Ezrien wouldn’t even notice if she made a few mistakes, Alices time spent trying to pick up a few points about etiquette meaningless here. Heck, Ezrien probably wouldn’t notice if she stopped addressing him as ‘sir,’ even though Mages were all supposed to be addressed as ‘Sir’ or ‘Lady.’ If she wanted to communicate with this Mage, it was best to be blunt and know the topic well enough to debate or agree intelligently. Alice was delighted to discover that, while Ezrien did have a stronger foundation of knowledge on this world’s scholarly works related to mana, he was more than open to debating the minutia of smaller points. When Alice talked about how Attributes and Perks grew weaker in the absence of mana, but magic seeds didn’t, Ezrien seemed intrigued even as he pointed out the research done in this world that suggested her results shouldn’t be possible.

At no point in time did Alice find herself bored – Ezrien often had minor insights that Alice found interesting. She found herself impressed by the breadth and depth of his knowledge about the history of magic and enchanting. Knowledge such as the fact that ‘broken mana’ had been referred to as ‘corrupted mana’ several centuries ago, and had previously been believed to be the source of monsters and evil in the hearts of men. While this kind of information wasn’t critical, it gave her context and ideas for where to look for more information whenever she had access to academy libraries, and would have been hard for Alice to find out on her own.

By the time the food had arrived she was deep into a discussion on what broken mana might actually be. The two had also started debating why broken mana was so much more likely to kill someone during a mana baptism. While no in depth research had ever been done on the topic, due to ethical reasons, it was a topic most Mages and scholars found interesting, and Alice was more than happy to discuss Ezrien’s thoughts on the topic and compare them to her own experiences.

By the time the two of them finished the meal, they were chatting amiably about Alice’s research so far. Ezrien was intrigued by the notion that humans didn’t need mana in their environment to survive. Although dubious, he did say he would consult some records and try to see if there was any historical precedent on the topic. He did also warn her to be careful about experiments related to the topic – after all, ethics committees were quite strict in Illvaria, and while using yourself as a test subject was allowed, it came with a lot of caveats and truth-detection and questions. Alice was gratified by the fact he was willing to listen to her thoughts on the subject.

“All right, Lady Alice. I will be upfront with you. I do think that I enjoy speaking with you about research,” said Ezrien, tapping his thumb against his chest as a nervous habit. “Although you’re still quite young, you have ideas that break the mold of more traditional academia in some fascinating places. Your foundational knowledge is a little lacking, but you aren’t afraid to work at fixing these flaws. I appreciate that, but I also don’t want to make up my mind from just one meeting.” Alice supposed that was fair.

“In that case, what do you propose?”

Ezrien grinned at her. The smile was a little crooked, but it held a certain good-natured mirth. “I want to see how you think and approach new problems and ideas. So I want to hear one thing you’re working on as an experiment and see how you go about learning more about it. The experiment can take as much or as little time as you want, and I don’t mind even if the results end up being ‘boring.’ What I want to test is how you think about problems and how you go about solving them. If you manage to impress me, I will make you an offer. I personally lead a team of Mages and have made some small but valuable discoveries throughout my time as a [Researcher]. If you are willing to work with me on some of my passion projects and less critical work for my research team during your spare time, I am willing to pay for half of your tuition outright. While my money is kind of tight right now, I am also willing to loan another 20 golden crowns – on the condition that you are willing to work for me to pay for it during your time at a magic academy. One of the research assistants that I hired recently simply isn’t meshing well with the team, and if I can replace him, I would be able to cut down on some costs over the next year and pay off the balance of your loan. As long as you can make up the last five golden crowns on your own, you would be able to pay for your tuition. Are these conditions acceptable to you?”

Alice’s brain kicked into gear as she tried to think about the current projects she was working on. Replicating the System …. Obviously wasn’t suitable here. Not only was that a distant goal, even by her standards, but she had strictly avoided discussing her research into the nature of the System. There was no need to cross one of the few genuinely problematic lines she could touch. Alice loved learning about the nature of this world, but when it came to some of the deeper secrets of this world, she wasn’t going to publicize her results until she had a way to ensure it wouldn’t blow up in her face.

However, that was far from the only thing Alice had recently looked into. Ezrien had said that he wanted to see how she investigated problems. In that case, what could she use?

Alice felt a grin tugging at the corner of her lips. She had recently been thinking about energy sources and perpetual enchantments, and during her conversation with Ezrien she confirmed that the knowledge about ‘how Artifacts work’ wasn’t well-known object for most people. And nobody, at least as far as Ezrien knew, had bothered trying to figure out how System Enchantments worked through the lens of mana. She had found the time to briefly glance at some of the System-enchanted dresses for sale in one of the shops nearby, and she had confirmed that they were filled with rainbow mana, even if they had no normal-looking enchantments in sight.

There was something to investigate there, right?