“Do you still have a couple of spare points left you can use for spells?” I asked.

  “I’m keeping two in reserve, like you do. Why?”

  “I have an idea.”

  She laughed…not quite hard enough for tears, but it was laughter all the same. Better tears of laughter than sadness.

  “Of course you do. Now what masterly plan have you devised to solve all our problems, reverse what the System did to us, cure cancer, and write the next best seller by dinner tomorrow?”

  “That’s lunch time the day after,” I said. “The editing and rewriting will take at least until breakfast.”

  “Oh right. You do more editing than writing. You’ll be slower than I was thinking.”

  We both laughed at that.

  Casting a quick REVEAL STATS on Blaze, I saw she didn’t have the spells I was thinking about.

  “We’ve talked about Mages taking DETECT MANA and TRANSFER MANA so they can refill their own MANA Batteries,” I said.

  “Yes.” She nodded, leaning forward. “And…?”

  “And if you take it, you can see the Ley Line that goes through the garage to the pizza place. When you take the other, you can always be topped off before you leave for work or anything else.”

  “Yeah. So? What’s that got to do with the guy outside?”

  “Sit down, and I’ll explain.”

  By the time I finished explaining, Blaze had stopped laughing. She agreed to try. She used one of her saved leveling points to take the spell we’d discussed before…then she used another and added its companion spell. The DETECT and TRANSFER MANA spells.

  She was close to another level anyway. After everything that had happened lately, she’d have her reserve points back soon enough.

  While she practiced my other idea with coffee cups and a bottle cap, I stepped into the garage. The air smelled faintly of rain, wet concrete and musty things sitting too long on the garage floor. At least the garage didn't leak. Rain pattered steadily on the roof overhead. From a bag on the workbench, I took three medium-sized wooden beads from the Amazon pack I’d ordered about a week ago…one blue, two black.

  Channeling energy into them, I enchanted each to become a 25-point rechargeable MANA BATTERY. The blue bead I filled with MANA.

  On my way back inside, I grabbed three foam coffee cups from the party supplies shelf.

  “Now the fun begins,” I muttered.

  Blaze sat at the kitchen table, I gave her the foam cups and beads to practice with while I pulled a folding tray table from the rack by the kitchen door. I leaned it against the wall near the entryway.

  “How you doin’? Got it yet?” I asked.

  “Mostly. Good enough for this. What if he finds it?”

  “Then we go to phase two and we’ll see how he does with that.”

  “If he passes that one? How can you teach him something you can’t do and the Game says doesn’t exist?”

  “Uh?” I scratched my head. “Make it up as I go along?”

  “That’s what you’re already doing,” she said with a grin as she shuffled the cups again.

  I held the front door open for her while Blaze carried the table and cups out to the porch.

  The porch wasn’t deep, or long, but the overhang kept most of the straight-down rain off. Water streamed from the roof corners, pooling on the steps. The air smelled of wet earth and distant ozone from the lightning earlier. For now, it was just rain.

  My porch was wider than the Whitford’s front step. It could hold four or five chairs.

  Blaze leaned against the house, setting up the cups. I went back to the couch and sat on the far end, watching her through the window.

  “Li-chen!” Blaze called out once the setup was done. “The Mana Mage says you want to learn to cultivate MANA. Is this true?”

  Her voice carried clearly through the rain. I could easily clearly hear her.

  He didn’t move. Water dripped from his hair and robe to the grass. The rainfall was a little heavier now, steady and from Blaze’s shiver, cold.

  “Look, he’s not going to come out,” she said. “If you stay, I’ll arrest you for trespassing.”

  She paused, letting it sink in. “I’m an FBI agent and go by the game name Blaze. You might’ve heard of me. If so, you know I’m a Fire Mage.”

  That got his attention. He glanced up at her.

  “I’ll also contact the police and have you taken to jail. There are a few on the force who can handle your martial arts level now. If you resist, they’ll call for backup, have you sedated, and transport you.”

  He shook rain from his eyes and face. She was probably wearing her cop face. I preferred her happy face…or her there’s finally enough garlic in the food face. That one could peel paint off a wall if she breathed too close.

  If he said anything, I couldn’t hear it.

  “He’s a good man,” she continued, “but you have to prove that you can feel MANA, not just use it to power your skills. Mana Mages can feel and see MANA. So can other Mages with the right spells. No one else can…not yet.”

  He didn’t look like he had moved a muscle, except for looking at her, while she’d been talking. “I’ll give him the self-control.”

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  “He gave me two tests for you before he’ll talk to you and give you a third. Pass all three, and he’ll see if he can help you. Fail one, and you leave…or I arrest you.” Blaze’s face went blank for a moment, her eyes unfocused…the telltale sign of game chat. “There’s a police car on the way,” she added. “Decide before it gets here.”

  Lifting her hand, she ignited a FIRE BOLT but didn’t let it loose. The flame hissed and popped in the drizzle. That got him moving.

  It finally got through to him she wasn’t joking.

  My expectation…and hope…was that he’d fail the first test and walk away. Handling a Mana Battery, you can see its charge, but only if you mentally query the System.

  He rose stiffly from where he’d been kneeling, looking like a determined but drenched, unhappy puppy.

  Taking a few slow steps toward the porch, he asked, “What do I have to do?”

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [Didn’t think he’d do it. Should I call off the police?]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [Not yet. Have them stand by. It’s not an emergency, so no lights or siren. We want him to leave, not get arrested. Less paperwork for you, and so far, he hasn’t hurt anyone.]

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [Thanks for that much.]

  He stopped just off the porch, water running down his sleeves.

  It’s about two feet off the ground at that point. Add another two feet for the table.

  “Li-chen, this is simple,” she said, lifting each of the three cups one by one. “The beads are Mana Batteries. The black ones are empty. The blue one’s full. If you don’t believe me, check for yourself.”

  “You should be able to feel it, or verify it with the System.” she continued. “I’ll mix them up. Pick which cup has the blue bead. Do it two times in a row, and you pass to the next test.”

  “Could you do it?” he asked.

  “Yes. Will had me test it before I came out here. I got three for three…without DETECT MANA. I’ve noticed I can do that with batteries since Level 5. It gets easier for Mages as they level up from there. With it, you can feel it and the MANA glows blue, if you look at it the right way.”

  She lifted the middle cup, revealing the blue bead. “See? You can feel it. Go ahead.”

  She uncovered a black battery. “You can feel this either one or both of these if you want. He wants it to be a fair test.”

  He did, handling each carefully. The blue one lingered longer in his hand.

  “I can feel it,” he said. “I’ve heard of them but never felt one before.”

  “Most people haven’t,” Blaze said. “Usually, only Mages or Healers have them. Most aren’t high enough level to recharge their own.”

  He nodded, handing the beads back.

  “What did it feel like?” she asked.

  “It’s hard to describe. It just felt…different.”

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [He says he can feel the difference. We should test this on other people.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [Agreed. I’ll message Phillips. Maybe the convention center crew can test it.]

  While I sent the chat message, Blaze mixed the cups again. Phillips sounded interested; we hadn’t had much new since the World Boss fight.

  After sending the message, Phillips replied, sounding interested. We hadn’t had much new since the World Boss.

  By the time I looked up, Li-chen was trying again. He hovered a hand over each cup, eyes half-closed. After a few passes, he tapped the one on his right.

  Blaze lifted it. The blue bead gleamed against the wet table.

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [He did it.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [One in three odds. Show him the others. Have him close his eyes next time…might’ve tracked the cups.]

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [OK]

  She was just loud enough that I heard her tell him to close his eyes while she shuffled the cups. The expression that momentarily crossed his face said he wasn’t happy, but he did it. Blaze waited a moment before she moved the cups around. When she stopped, he opened his eyes.

  He took longer this time. Long enough that the idea he’d followed the cups correctly was possible. Probably probable…then chose the same cup.

  She lifted it. Blue again.

  The second time, he volunteered to close his eyes. This one took even longer. My gut twisted as I watched through the rain-speckled glass. He shouldn’t be able to do this.

  If he hadn’t been standing in the rain, he might have been sweating. If he was, I couldn’t tell from where I was. Finally, he chose one. The right-hand cup. Blaze turned it over.

  It was the blue bead. She exposed the other two and both were black beads.

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [He did it. Two for two.]

  There was still the second test. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and made a quick search on this type of cultivation and how the stories did it.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [That’s why we have the third second test. Give him the battery. Call it a win for now.]

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [Will do. Next test? What if he passes that one?]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [Thinking on it. Without DETECT MANA, he can’t.]

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [Hope so.]

  “Li-chen,” she said aloud, “we didn’t think you’d pass. Here's the next test. If you pass this one…and the final…you’ll get to speak with him about cultivating MANA.” She handed him the blue battery in the foam cup. “This is yours, for passing.”

  He bowed slightly, his right fist covered by his left hand, before accepting the cup. “Thank you. What is the test?”

  Blaze pointed across the street. “That building’s a spawn site. All of them sit on Ley Line junctions. Find one of the four lines and mark it with the bead. Don’t mark in the street or on the building’s property. You have an hour and a quarter before the next spawn, and no help allowed.”

  From inside, I saw his shoulders sag. He looked defeated already. I hoped he was.

  “Any questions?” Blaze asked.

  “He shook his head. He looked like he felt he was already defeated.

  “When you’re ready to tell me where you think it is, and have marked it with the cup, ring the doorbell. We’ll see if you’re right. We usually watch the guild fight the spawn from here.”

  I stood, grabbed a dishtowel, and opened the door so she could bring the table back inside. I dried the table's surface as she returned to her seat at the kitchen table.

  “Will? Are you sure we’re doing the right thing?” she asked. “Any Mage with DETECT MANA could do this. He’s not a Mage, and he’s not dual classed.”

  “I know. He’s got six points of MANA, though…enough to power skills. The Rules say he gets two to start and one per level, plus two at level five. His skills cost more as he levels. He can use a battery. Anyone with MANA can. He just can’t recharge it himself.”

  “I know that.” She frowned. “But we’re still leading him on. You called it cultivating MANA. If you can’t do it, how can he?”

  “He probably can’t,” I admitted, staring at the table. “I looked ahead in the Game Rules…both for MANA and his class. Nothing yet.”

  Blaze shook her head. “What happens if he guesses right? What if he finds the line?”

  Staring at the table, I sighed. “Then I tell him the truth. I made the tests so he’d fail. The System doesn’t include cultivation. Maybe it never will.”

  She didn’t look happy. Neither did I. “This isn’t going to be a happy time for anyone.”

  Thinking fast, I added, “The other option? I remember enough from old cultivation stories to fake it. Maybe get him to explain how he’d do it. He knows how to meditate. That’s something. I can start there and do some quick research.” I wasn’t happy with myself for saying this.

  Blaze’s expression softened. “Will? What if you can do it? What if trying hard enough unlocks something new?”

  “If it does, it does,” I said. “I’ve been improving my shield shaping, and adding shaping buffs lets me do more with them. Like the umbrella trick today with my cane handle. Works for me…but what about him?”

  She looked thoughtful. “Fire magic has shield shaping too. So, most mage types probably have it. How could he shape the MANA he uses for fighting? Or Shadow uses for hiding?”

  “Or Ingrid uses for HEALing? Good question. We don’t know. Maybe Albert does, but we can’t afford his rates. Still gives me a place to start. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” She smiled faintly. “So, great Mana Mage, how does shaping work for a Martial Artist?”

  “I don’t know. Yet.”

  The doorbell rang.

  Blaze shot me a look. “I’ll check. Be ready.”

  I nodded and stood, arms crossed, watching as she opened the door.

  A soaked Li-chen stood there. “I have finished,” he said, stepping aside, pointing to his right.

  Blaze walked out just far enough to see the garage door…and the foam cup sitting in front of it.

  “Will,” she called. “Come out here and take a look.” She made room for me to look for myself.

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” I muttered.

  Stepping onto the porch, I cast DETECT MANA. The faint blue glow shimmered where the cup sat in front of my garage door.

  Right on the edge of the Ley Line.

  I have a channel. (John.Malkin.Writer) if you want to ask questions, make suggestions, or just talk about the story, come join it. You can go directly to the channel. It is a never expires link. In case it doesn't work, you can always contact me for a current join request.

  My is now open for anyone who wants to read ahead. $5.00 US for 5 days ahead and $10.00 US for 15 days ahead. That’s each month.