“So, what do you think?” Lucinda is looking at me with a wide smile on her face. She’s clearly extremely satisfied by the outcome of her negotiation.

“I’m really impressed,” I laugh, “what else can I say? I didn’t expect you to be so merciless.”

She’s almost jumping up and down while we go toward a restaurant.

“I bet you liked it,” she wiggles her eyebrows at me.

Wow.

Is she flirting?

Or is she only on a power-high?

Whatever, I’ll take whatever bone she throws.

“Oh yeah, you bet,” I answer with my signature wink without missing a beat. “You are killing it. I bet you will take the magic world by storm if you are even half this good with that.”

She smiles so wide she looks like a mix between the Cheshire Cat and Julia Roberts.

Lucinda winks at me and keeps her stride.

My heart flutters because I’m sure this is a little step forward in our relationship.

“You are incredibly flattering, you know, Joey?” she laughs.

“You make it easy,” I nod, “since you are so incredible.”

Now, she blushes a bit and avoids my gaze. Compliments are usually not this direct in the world, I bet. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Earth or whatever this planet is called, people are not used to others being nice.

And to be honest, I mean it.

I do think this woman is incredible.

It’s not just from what I observed – which I recognize is little – it’s from how she carries herself. She gives off the distinct aura of a person who…

“You do give me the vibe of someone who’s going to do important stuff, you know?”

I also hope she’s going to do me, but that’s another topic altogether.

“Have me swear it on truth-stone, if you don’t believe me,” I wink again.

She looks at me from head to toe, evaluating something.

Damn, this is the test.

Oh boy, here we go.

See, this is the window of opportunity that either makes it or breaks it.

When a woman starts the test, you have to give your most incredible effort. With Lucinda, I’m not sure I can give her exactly what she wants, but she’s riding high on adrenaline and this look just told me that she might be considering me as a potential partner.

I might be tired from the magic, talking with Augustus and the negotiation, but I’m ready as hell for her.

I loathe what I’m going to do, but this is a dance that must be played following rules.

I know what makes Lucinda tick.

Oh boy, I know it.

There is something I have to do. This something is not really me. It’s not who I want to be. But shouldn’t I tap into it just a little bit? I mean, where’s the harm?

Yeah, yeah. Maybe you don’t even know what I’m talking about, right?

Harm?

What harm?

Well, when you wear a mask and pretend to be someone you are not, part of your face gets stuck there. And you can only wear that mask so many times before it starts ripping the flesh off your face.

“You know, I learned a little magic trick. I still don’t want to be a mage – let that be clear – but I had a little fun with it. Do you want to see?”

She perks up.

Now, there’s hope in her eyes.

You know when you go to a movie and your hopes are sky-high, right because of your mood, your anticipation and all that? Well, she’s in a similar state.

Lucinda saw me as a man and now I just threw a little bait in front of her.

I want to make this clear again maybe even more for my own sake than anyone else’s: I don’t plan on becoming an [Archmage] or an adventurer or anything that doesn’t involve baking and dodging danger for my entire life.

But relationships are as much projection as they are reality.

So, I do have to feed this beautiful creature something if I want her on the hook.

“Look at this,” I say with nonchalance.

I don’t even stop in the middle of the road; I just look at my palm and visualize three matrixes.

[Advanced Mana Sense]

I materialize a little phallus-shaped formation of [Lights] in my hand.

Her eyes go wide.

Oh, boy.

I exhale.

I wasn’t sure that multi-casting [Lights] was indeed something so difficult for [Mages].

“Not to be crass, but I can guarantee you that the real deal is nothing like that,” I nod toward the little spectacle of [Light].

Lucinda looks back and forth from my face to the hand.

“Did you just multi-cast [Light], and in different shapes too?”

Now, poof. I dispel the magic and go forward as if nothing happened.

I still remember my high school times. You know, I already told you how terrible I am at approaching people. This meant that I can look a bit aloof even if I’m your neighborly loud Italian American.

Anyway, what happened in high school was that I got some terrifically beautiful girls because they thought I was mysterious.

How would they even think that I was mysterious?

It’s beyond me.

I always thought of myself as someone who would speak of anything in front of anyone. Go on, ask me my deepest and darkest secret and I’ll tell you. I don’t even need a drink or the cover of the night. I have no shame, what can I do about it?

But this ‘dark and mysterious’ thing was something that worked wonders for my dating life. And when they discovered my passion for baking? I don’t know what they thought exactly, but it looked as if Bruce Wayne had just showed them his sweet house-husbandly side.

Beats me if I’ll ever understand why it works, but it works.

So, I now shroud myself in this halo of mystery.

I’m honestly still quite surprised that this stupid trick worked.

You know how unlucky I am.

I could have expected a meteorite—no wait, a [Meteorite] hitting me on the head or something while trying this. Or maybe discovering that multi-casting, simul-casting or whatever you call it, is more common than I knew.

But no, this thing worked.

Look at her, she’s groveling, isn’t she?

“Joey, where did you learn that?” she grabs my arm.

Now, I am the one smiling like a Cheshire cat.

“Lady, I can’t divulge secrets like that. You’ll have to get it out of me somehow,” my signature wink hits her like Cupid’s arrow. I mean, that’s how I think it hits her.

There’s an understanding in her eyes.

Her interest is piqued.

But now, we gotta dance the dance.