“Alright, where to begin...” Hendricks stroked the cane in his hand while he pondered. The cat beside him on the sofa lazily scratched his robe with its claws. Lisa smiled a bit at the sight as she waited for Hendricks to gather his thoughts.

The refreshing breeze and white-red scenery all around them through the windows made her patient enough for every delay. She was only missing a nice chocolate drink. Nevertheless, Lisa felt finally relaxed, the earlier turmoil out of her mind, as she leaned her cheeks on the palms of her hands while resting her elbows on the table before her.

“Firstmost, there are some things you should understand about magic itself,” Eventually, the old man Hendricks hit the ground with his cane to gather Lisa's attention and spoke up. “Magic, or rather the ability to turn essence into mana is an inborn talent. An ability not creatable or changeable by human hand. Even if those old fools tried to with their nonsensical experiments, it would still be useless, hmpf!”

Finished, Hendricks looked over at Lisa, his wrinkled forehead becoming even more distorted as he frowned.

“Of course, a special case like yours bends the rule of that by a large margin.” Hendricks eyed Lisa for a moment before deciding not to bother with her leisurely posture and continued his monologue. “But there also lies the problem with you learning magic at the moment.”

Lisa quietly listened to the old master's explanation and although she was rather comfortable sitting on the sofa in a relaxing positing, something was just missing. She could already hear how this would take a while, so it would be better for her comfort to ask before it's too late. Even if it was a bit rude to interrupt him when he had just begun.

“Master~” Lisa interrupted Hendricks, who was about to speak again. He thought about shushing at her to quiet her down, however, seeing her face forming a small smile as she leaned on the table, he changed his mind. His long sleeves swayed with the waving motion of his hand, gesturing for Lisa to speak her mind.

“Do you mind if we could get something nice to drink while we talk? Like a hot chocolate or so,” Lisa said with a bit of a pleading voice. Even if her small lazy smile didn't show any of it.

Hendricks thought for a moment and nodded eventually. He hit the ground with his cane once again. In the wide-open room, one of the shelves with drawers began to rattle. With a sudden plop, a drawer opened and from within three mugs and three spoons flew out. Another drawer followed and a brown package floated out from it, tailed by a white canister. They gathered by the table in the middle of the room and slowly sat down before Lisa, who was observing everything with fascination.

Then, the brown package opened and took to the air again. It flew over a mug and poured the fine black powder into it, then it repeated that process at the other two mugs. Lisa could clearly smell the chocolate scent of the powder as it the packaged sat down on the table again. Then the white canister began to fly. It poured milk into the mugs before settling down on the table again.

Next were the spoons, as they floated into the mugs and began to twirl the drink. The smell of hot chocolate slowly began to course throughout the room, while Lisa could see the air above the mugs become hazy.

Lisa leaned back and waited for the drink to finish warming up. Her favorite drink prepared in such made her anticipate it even more. She could even see the cat staring at it with eagerness. It also made her realize as to why there are three mugs instead of two. So the third one is most likely for the cat, but it also made her wonder if it is okay to give the cat hot chocolate. Probably not as she remembered that chocolate is the same as poison to cats, but then again, this is another world so maybe cats were different here.

Her musings were quickly answered as the cat faded from Hendricks's sofa. The next second, it was already on the table, it's tongue tapping into the hot chocolate. Lisa reached out and tried to pat the pat the teleporting cat. The cat only lazily glanced at her before continuing to drink. Taking it as acceptance, Lisa lightly brushed the white fur. The fine hairs felt so very soft beneath her fingers.

With her other hand, she took the only other mug left on the table and took a sip of her own. The comfortable heat and sweet taste of hot chocolate lingered in her mouth after she gulped. Lisa let out a sigh of satisfaction before taking another sip.

One the other sofa, the old man also sighed after he drank from his mug. However, he was also stealing glances at Lisa the whole time. Of course, Lisa saw them as she looked over to him and smiled sweetly. His eyes practically begged for praise.

“Master~, That was a wonderful display, and the chocolate tastes just as fantastic,” Lisa said softly while she smiled. The old man harrumphed once and muttered a quiet acknowledgment. His subtle embarrassed expression caused Lisa to giggle. It seems the old man really loved his chocolate.

While enjoying the serene atmosphere and the scenic view of the white-red city, the two of them plus one cat sipped at their warm drinks.

Eventually, some minutes later, Hendricks remembered and coughed lightly, garnering Lisa's attention. He quickly took another sip before he began to speak again.

“So, where was I… ah yes, your problem and the nature of magic.” Hendricks looked over at Lisa, who was stroking the cat while drinking from the mug in her other hand. “Magic, as I said, is an inborn talent, and it is impossible to artificially change this. The problem you now face, however, lies not within your innate talent but your soul. The body and soul work deeply together to form the ability to use magic, and without the soul providing the essence and the concept for your own magic, you can't make real use of your magic talent. Of course, your standing here fine as you still have your soul, so what is the problem?”

Hendricks stared deeply at Lisa after he paused, his eyes gleaming with starry light. It felt to Lisa as if everything of her was laid out before those eyes. The feeling faded the next second when Hendricks looked away and took a sip of his warm chocolate. Lisa copied him with a small smile while stroking the cat.

“Souls were never a metier of mine, so I can only speculate.” After a sigh, Hendricks continued his explanation, “but from what I witnessed within the confines of your memories, your soul was forcefully taken from your old body and squeezed into your current body. However, this body does not belong to you originally so it should normally reject your soul. Why you can still use this body or why your soul didn't vanish during that process, I am not clear off, but it was probably the doing of that intolerable woman, hmpf!.”

Lisa listened quietly while she relaxed. She didn't comment on the matter regarding souls even though she could faintly guess the reason for it. Of course, as Hendricks said, Era had probably also a big role in this.

While tilting her head, Lisa twirled the chocolate drink with the spoon in her right hand. The soft fur beneath her other hand felt heavenly and along with the breeze grazing her skin, even a long monologue became bearable.

“For now, all this old man can tell you to do is to wait. Wait for your soul to become accustomed to your new magic talent and let it settle in until your body longer rejects its new soul. Perhaps, if those reckless younglings from the Mirael Kingdom were here, they could help you out. They have always been well versed with souls, but it would probably be in your best interest to shy away from them if you value your freedom.”

Blinking her eyes a bit perplexed, Lisa didn't know what to make of this. This was already the second time she was advised to stay away from the Mirael Kingdom. It really made her curious as to what the original owner had done to warrant such advice.

“Regardless of that, there is still a way for you to practice some sort of magic while we wait,” Hendricks said. After he finished his explanation, he took a big sip from the mug in his hand and let out a long sigh.

The next moment, Hendricks let go of the mug in his hand but instead of falling down, it began to float beside him. While leaning on his cane, He stood up and walked to the table Lisa and the cat had nestled themselves on or in. Both of them eyed him curiously for a moment before they sipped from their respective mugs again.

Hushing at Lisa to make some space, he sat down beside her on the sofa. After he made himself comfortable, Hendricks took the mug in his hand again. Lisa smiled at the sight of the old man sitting beside her drinking some hot chocolate. Along with the purring cat under her hand on the table, it really made her feel part of it, despite only knowing them for a short time.

Lisa let go of the white cat and leaned back against the sofa. It was a shame, she couldn't pet it while leaning back as her arms were a bit too short for that. However, It seemed the cat also felt so as it meowed in protest after she stopped stroking her. It glanced at Lisa and a second later jumped on her lap. Just like with Hendricks, the mug it drank from followed by floating behind it.

Once it settled on her tighs and she resumed stroking it, the cat began lapping away at the coca drink again. A chuckle escaped Lisa as she looked at the strange scene of a cat drinking from a floating mug while being petted willingly. She doesn't remember cats being quite like that in her old world.

A cough from her side caused Lisa to focus on the important matters at hand again. She looked at Hendricks beside her and waited for him to speak.

“A method for you to practice some simple magic is to force essence from your soul through your body, till your body converts the essence to magic,” Hendricks said while he eyed the unlit candles still standing on the table. “First you'll do a simple practice of creating a flame. As long as you succeed here, the rest will become easier.”

Hendricks waved his hand at Lisa and all of a sudden the cat and its mug, as well as Lisa's own mug, began to fly away. They floated down to one of the shelves and sank down on it. The cat meowed once in protest but didn't do anything else and just laid down.

“Put your hands on the table under the candles. Let them rest on it while having their palms face upwards, towards the candles.”

Although Lisa had some questions, she still followed her master's instructions. She leaned forward and let the back of her hand rest on the table, right near the candles.

“Close your eyes and look within your heart. Imagine essence flooding your body from within the depths of your heart. Imagine it filling every part of your body. And when the change to it comes, and the essence has become mana, wish for it to light aflame the candles.”

Lisa closed her eyes to Hendricks's confusing instructions. She tried to look within her heart but only found the steady heartbeat of it. Beat after a beat she felt, as her heart pulsed in a hypnotizing rhythm. It continued on and on, becoming stronger after every beat.

On and on it went as she felt the heartbeats grow. From her heart to her whole upper body to her entire body. In that same steady rhythm, her heartbeats pulsed throughout her body.

And every beat became stronger than the next. As if tremors of an earthquake, the pulsing of her heart traveled through her body, shaking her up.

She couldn't tell how long it had been when her body began to cry out. It hurt her so much. Every beat that came threatened to tear her open, and every tremor that followed further pushed against her body from within.

Then, suddenly, the darkness before her eyes began to fade into white. Lisa raised her head and stared at the familiar white scenery. The pulsing within her still continued, yet she didn't care at this moment. There was only a single thought in her mind as she stared dazedly at the white canvas.

She really wanted to ink it black.

Lisa opened her eyes and stared at the candles before. As her senses slowly returned, she felt the ink flowing through her veins. Even faster than the heartbeats, it began to fill her up. When her body reached its limit, cracks began to form on her exposed skin. Ink began to leak from within those cracks.

Unable to move due to the pain, Lisa could only stare ar the candles before. Then she remembered the instructions of her master. Wish for it to light aflame the candles he had said, and she did.

Lisa's face illuminated by the flames burning the candles began to smile, a wide proud smile. From their base to the top, the candles caught fire and within second become nothing but dust. Lisa turned her head to the side but instead of saying anything she only smiled warmly.

Her master was half laying on the sofa, snorting a bit as he slept. She wanted to chuckle but rested that urge. From the looks of it, it took her quite a bit of time to succeed. Her guess was further strengthed when she looked around and saw the sunset filling the room.

Through the many windows in this wide room, she could see the two suns already on their journey to rest, as they slowly were going down the horizon. The beautiful sunset doused the city in violet and orange.