“Tamako, good to see you!” Sam exclaimed as she came into the store right before closing. Sam waved good-bye to Long and his family, and then turned to Tamako and said, “Jen is in the back feeding her lizards and mice. Before you go see her, if you have a moment, I want to show you an enchantment on a staff that I have been trying to fix for the Joan Guild. It’s just this way in my work room.”

“Arc Guild!” Jen shouted in exasperation from the other room.

“Sorry, Arc Guild” Sam corrected while rolling his eyes at Tamako, who was half smiling at his antics.

Tamako was thinking about how refreshing it always felt when walking into their house, when Sam asked, “Do you recognize what this staff is made of?”

Tamako took a close look and was shocked at what she thought she was looking at, “I believe this entire staff is made out of mana-infused steel. A Deck Dropper with a very high level in blacksmithing must have made this! You could sell this staff and buy half the city!” she exclaimed with only a little exaggeration.

“Thank you Tamako, your insight confirms my thoughts, but leaves me with many more questions,” Sam replied and mumbled while staring intently at the staff, thinking about how much the System shop had shown a staff like this would cost.

Sam hated even having it in their home, and was going to return the staff the next day with his apologies for being unable to repair it.

Just then, Jen came into the room and teased at Sam. “Tamako like your staff?”

Jen often made jokes that didn’t make any sense, but Tamako decided to just ignore it when she saw Sam roll his eyes at her.

“Thank you for inviting me to your home this evening,” Tamako said changing the subject. She liked how direct Sam could be. She knew both Sam and Jen were aware of the formalities that some of the aristocrats used in the City. However, after meeting her a few times, it was clear that Sam just didn’t give a damn about the formalities. Tamako was also very glad that Jen’s father was accepting of their relationship.

Normally, Jen would take the lead on this type of issue, but when they were planning to have this meeting with Tamako, she demanded that Sam do the talking.

Sam gave Tamako a rare serious look before saying, “Tamako, I need you to enter into a magical gambling contract stating that you will not discuss with anyone what I am about to tell you. The information you will learn is of great value, and Jen and I believe it may help you tremendously.”

Tamako looked at Jen who nodded supportingly, and then said, “I will agree to entering into a magical contract if it does not violate my gambling oath to the city or City Lord.”

Sam and Tamako briefly discussed her oaths with the city before Sam concluded, “I don’t see any conflict, and here is the magical contract. I will add an exception regarding your gambling oaths to the city and City Lord.”

After she signed the contract, he asked her, “Do you know how many mana channels you have open?”

Tamako was shocked by this invasion into her privacy. People never spoke of their mana channels except to their families or closest friends. Her father always resented her for only having one mana channel open.

Sam could tell that he had unintentionally insulted her. Sam hurriedly continued “You don’t have to answer; I just wanted to let you know that Jen and I can help you open more mana channels if you are interested.”

Tamako looked up at Jen to see if Sam was kidding around, but Jen was nodding her head confirming what Sam was promising.

“How much would you charge for this service,” Tamako said hesitantly. She knew that this hidden knowledge could be sold for hundreds, maybe thousands of gold, and while she was not poor, she did not have that kind of wealth.

Sam was confused by Tamako’s words for only a second and replied “I will charge you the same amount you’ve charged Jen for all the combat training you have given her all these months.”

“But I’ve charged her nothing, I train her because I care about her,” explained Tamako.

Sam smirked, “Good, the price is agreed on then.”

At this point, Tamako looked down as if embarrassed and said, “I only have one mana channel open.”

Jen was astonished and exclaimed, “How have you become so strong with only one mana channel open!”

Tamako grimaced remembering her childhood and replied, “With a lifetime of training and tempering.”

Sam butted in and said, “Enough pillow talk, we need to get started if we are going to open up one of your mana channels by the end of the week.”

Jen blushed, and Sam was lucky Tamako didn’t know what the expression “pillow talk” meant, and that she was still stunned by his announcement about opening a mana channel by the end of the week!

Tamako was surprised to learn that Sam and Jen could see her mana system when Sam asked permission to take a look. Tamako shook her head thinking how odd it was for someone with that power not to just look whenever they wanted. She said, “Of course, please take a look.”

Sam inspected Tamako’s system and then explained, “Tamako, Jen is going to walk you through learning several skills that you will need before we can open your mana channels. You will need to learn the Meditation skill, Multi-focus skill, Mana inspection skill, Mana manipulation skill, Mana filter skill, the Mana system cleaning skill, and the Mana system illusion skill.”

Tamako was slowly shaking her head, and was almost speechless, but found a way to exclaim, “All of those skills would cost thousands of gold in the System shop! I will never be able to repay you!”

Sam smirked at her and gave her a wink. “We already agreed on a price; you can’t back out of the deal now!”

Sam asked Tamako to lie down on Jen’s bed. “These enchanted rods I’m placing around your body are to help gather mana which will speed up the process, but it also filters the mana going into your mana channels.”

“Interesting, this purified mana actually gives me a feeling of greater power.”

“Exactly, you have commented about how refreshing it always feels in our home, I must confess I was not telling you the truth when I told you it was from my HVAF units. We filter the mana in our home using these rods. Right now, with the rods placed all around your body, you are getting pumped with a high concentration of purified mana.”

“How does this help me long-term? I can’t lay rods around my body when I am fighting.”

“The filtered mana from these rods is not completely clean, but it is much better and more powerful than the ambient mana. We are going to teach you a skill that will allow you to filter the mana on your own. However, until you get your filtering skill level up, it will slow down your ability to draw in and regenerate mana. You will need to constantly filter your mana for the rest of your life.”

Tamako looked over at Jen as if she had figured out something and said, “Are you and Sam Deck Droppers!?”

Jen shook her head and said, “No, we are not Deck Droppers. Sam and I are just very good at trying to blend in and gathering information.”

Tamako still looked a little shocked after hearing all this from Sam and Jen, but asked, “If I change my mind, will anything you are suggesting keep me from using my mana like I always have in the past?”

Sam considered Tamako’s question and answered, “Even if you choose not to stay on the path we are going to teach you, your control and the power of your mana will only be better.”

Tamako nodded in agreement at Sam’s explanation and turned to look at Jen and said, “Let’s get started then.”

Jen sat down on the bed next to Tamako and said, “Listen to my voice and try to open your mind. You are going to feel my presence in your mind when I walk you through learning these skills. The more you are able to open your mind to my instructions, the quicker you will be able to learn these skills.”

Jen used her psych skills to nudge Tamako’s thoughts and understanding in the right direction while Tamako learned and practiced the skills. It took most of the night, but Tamako was able to acquire all the skills, and become proficient enough with multi-focus to clean her mana channels while going about normal activities.

Tamako was exhausted, but very excited with learning so many skills in only one night, and said to Jen, “When I was much younger, my father purchased a sword technique book for me to immediately learn the skill. The technique book left me with a terrible headache just like the one I have now. I have never heard of anyone learning so many skills so quickly without a technique book. What did you do?”

Jen reviewed a system message she received while helping Tamako.

***System Message – psych skill has increased to Apprentice level. You have learned the skill Mind Imprinting ***

Jen forwarded the system message to Sam and he texted back “ I think we should keep your skill private for now.”

Jen looked at Tamako and said, “I would love to be able to tell you more, but I do not wish to create any conflict with your oath to the City Lord.”

Tamako smiled and hugged Jen before saying, “I understand your need for privacy. Thank you both for everything.”

Sam pulled some jewelry from a drawer on his worktable and said with a grin, “Put on these bracelets and necklaces. They will help filter the ambient mana, allowing you to use your multi-focus on cleaning your mana channels. As you are aware, after expelling corruption from your mana system, you will stink, like you do now!”

“Yes, that is true, but you must be very weak to be so effected by the smell of this grime. You need to train more with me and Jen to get stronger.” Tamako replied trying to joke in their strange way.

Sam chuckled at her response and continued. “When you leave the clean mana of our home, you will feel like you only have half a mana channel open as a result of these filter bracelets. If you have an emergency, store the bracelets and do what you need to do, otherwise suck it up and keep filtering your mana and cleaning your mana channel. I want you to focus on cleaning your mana channel and cleaning your mana center. Your mana channel is so full of grime, it is almost closed off. When they are much cleaner, we will then open one of your closed mana channels.”

Tamako was inspecting her mana channels as Sam was talking, and she asked, “How long do you think it is going to take?”

Sam instructed Tamako to inspect his mana channels. Tamako gasped, “Your mana channels are so much larger and healthier looking than mine!”

Sam nodded with a disappointed frown on his face, “Exactly, the corruption has been building up in your channels your entire life. Jen’s been inspecting people’s mana channels all over the city. She believes your capacity for mana is less today that it was when you were young, because of the buildup and clogging of your mana system.

Tamako nodded. “That might explain why children always seem like they can learn new skills and spells easier than adults.”

“Yes, so unfortunately even with just one channel, I think it will take at least a month for you to scrub away the corruption, and then more time for your mana channel to breath and heal after the scrubbing. Additionally, you will need to continue working on cleaning up your tangled mana pool in your center.”

“I will,” replied Tamako.

“You are welcome to come and use the purified mana in our home anytime you like. I’m sorry; I had hoped we could open a new channel by the end of the week. Remember to always keep your mana system illusion going, otherwise, there will be some very powerful people in this city taking notice of you.”

Tamako replied, “Possibly, but I think you are mistaken. The City Lord, some of the nobility, and guild leaders use a spell to hide their experience level so that no one can really know how strong or weak they are. I don’t think they are aware that this spell is also preventing you from seeing their mana system.”

Jen looked a little flustered at learning this, but said, “Just in case, keep the illusion spell going, O.K.”

Tamako nodded with understanding at both Sam and Jen, and said, “No problem. This is so amazing! Just thinking of having another mana channel open in only a month!”