“Ahh,” he squirmed weakly, a tight grasp sinking into the flesh of his right arm. Peeking down as he sat on the edge of the bed, Raeyine’s figure invited itself to his eyes. Sitting right beside him, the girl had her left hand wrapped around his elbow firmly, slowly washing the dark red stains with a moistened cloth.

  “Sorry, I have to clean it thoroughly since Folvana didn’t bother today,” apologetic yet somewhat indignant near the end, the girl spoke out. Keeping attentive around his bare torso, she steadily cleansed the wounds, no blood coming out despite not being healed yet.

  “No, don’t worry, it just itches,” he said a breath later, watching her venture up around his biceps. Cleaning the deep gash on the side of his arm with a calm face, she circled the cloth around, loosening the hardened blood with ease.

  With only a few sweeps back and forth, the blood was already transferred onto the cloth. Yet, before the fabric turned crimson, something prompted it to turn pale white, dissipating the stains completely.

  “Still, although there are fewer of them, she doesn’t spare you, does she?” The girl asked, tracing her fingers along the groove-like gashes scattered across most of his body. Tending to the man gently, she approached the shoulder next.

  “Yeah, but it’s also my choice. We could have ended it earlier today,” he said, making her stop suddenly before a puzzled glare drilled into the side of his face.

  “So, you purposefully got yourself injured more? Do you want me to have more work?” she pried for answers with a dubious eye, only for it to widen before she glanced down. Rubbing through her inner thigh his hand slowly made its way towards the triangular crease near the crotch.

  “I can always help you out. You don’t have to do it alone right after I close the doors,” Lutiel said whilst staring deeply into her flustered, amber eyes, only for her face to fall down yet again.

  “When did you hear me?” She asked momentarily, clasping his cheeky hand with both of her thighs.

  “After our first session, though I wasn’t sure if I heard correctly,” he said promptly, making a faint rosiness appear around her veiled cheeks.

  “Eh-ehem, alright, enough. We’re here to heal you. Besides, I won’t need your ‘service’ for now since we had just done it last night,” she said through a meek tongue, beginning to reach for the shoulder again.

  “Okay,” he replied lightly, swiftly taking his right hand off her thighs before nestling it between his own legs, simply enjoying the treatment. Though, a few breaths later, he parted his lips again. “Are you teaching me about magic after this?”

  Although she kept her eyes around the wounds, Raeyine couldn’t help but glance up at the question, only to fall back again. “Yeah, I promised you. We’ll start from the very basics.”

  “Thank you,” he said through the closed eyes, shutting his lids tighter as she cleaned one of the deeper wounds.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Saying so, the girl leaned to the side, raising the arm to reveal his beaten up sides. Although there were not nearly as many bruises as compared to their first session, they had been replaced by deeper cuts. Regardless, she kept moving the cloth around his torso, intermittently glancing at his relaxed face.

  One area after another, the girl swiftly finished both of the arms and the sides of his stomach. Then, she stood up, clenching his thighs together with her legs before sitting on his lap. Swiftly, the man’s eyes opened at the sensations, however, he could only notice the girl’s deep attentiveness around him.

  Staring around the wounds without doing anything for a few breaths, she suddenly stumbled across his gaze. Stumped somewhat, Raeyine didn’t linger on the manner for much longer, simply raising the cloth in her right hand before grabbing his chin with the left.

  Firstly, she took care of the cut at the top of the forehead, as well as the tear of hardened blood in the center. Cleaning the skin, as well as the tainted strands of hair, she revealed a gruesome, deep gash which looked to be a result from a fierce thrust.

  Nonetheless, getting rid of the dried up blood, she had swiftly descended to both of the cheeks, as well as the parted chin. Before long, Raeyine prepared the man for healing. So, standing up from his lap, a gesture fell about from her arms.

  “Lie on your back,” she said, receiving a prompt reaction. Doing her bidding, Lutiel rested on her bed. However, his eyes scoured abruptly after feeling something grind against the base of his torso. “Don’t mind me, I will have better understanding this way,” she said, sitting on top of him whilst grazing her fingers along the sides of his stomach.

  “Okay…” he uttered, finally laying his eyelids down. And right after, he tensed his jaw, tightening it more and more as the wounds clenched up to fully heal. ‘It’s more painful the more I come here,’ he thought to himself while his eyelids crinkled away, imagining as though his flesh was being mended back together by tight ropes.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Still, he couldn’t deny its effectiveness. Within a few breaths, he felt as the lady fully finished clearing his torso off the wounds, nimbly moving to get rid of those around the arms.

  Similarly, only a few deep breaths were needed for him to forget about them, the same thing happening with his face. For yet another day in a row, his injuries had disappeared just like that.

  Getting up from the bed, Raeyine stood there calmly, the lethargic experience from their first day not appearing. Staring as the man also raised himself to sit on the verge of the bed, she still searched through the bruises around him.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to heal them?” She asked before he glanced down at his abs, seeing a few purple areas scattered around. “I can easily do it now that we have this little deal,” adding quietly near the end, her face raised itself at the man.

  “No, reserve your energy. I don’t know why, but any bruise I get usually disappears the day after,” he said straight away, making the girl glance eerily.

  “Really?” She asked out loud before falling into a faint reverie. “Well, you should be more regenerative with more magical energy, but only ever so slightly, so it’s abnormal. That being said, I did wonder why your nose healed faster than it should have back then,” pondering on the matter, Lutiel started to dress back up into his tattered clothes.

  “Are you saying my body heals faster naturally?” He asked, buttoning the pale shirt of his.

  “Yes, that must be the case.” She said with a nod, to which the man stopped all of a sudden and glanced around her.

  “You said that energy increases regeneration, right?” Sending a swift question at her, she quickly nodded again. “Why?” He asked tersely, making her smile, having expected the question.

  “Alright, I guess we should start from the very beginning, huh?” Muttering weakly as she looked around the space, Raeyine corrected her glasses a bit before moving towards her desk and taking a pencil. Turning around, she swiftly faced the wall ahead of the bed, once again angling herself at the man as she stood beside it.

  On the side of the room, Lutiel sat down on the duvet once his torn jacket fell into place. As soon as his bottom touched the bed’s edge, the girl pointed at the pale yellow wall, her tongue speedily sprawling through the room.

  “First of all, whatever you’ve learnt or seen of magic around here and the city doesn’t really translate into anything.”

  “What do you mean?” He asked immediately, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

  “I’m saying that you should erase any ideas you have of it since you can’t truly understand or visualize it,” she said in a brief manner, which only left him wondering even more so.

  “Why?” Again, he asked, making the girl tap on the wall a few times.

  “You can’t use or perceive magic. What happens in the world can’t be witnessed or seen by you because you’re not capable of using it. That’s why, don’t hold onto the false thoughts you may have created.”

  Hearing the voice rumble through his internal walls, Lutiel stared deeply into her chained glasses, nodding his head before parting the lips. “I will,” he said, the girl smiling faintly.

  “Good, since you know now, let’s begin,” she spoke without turning around, yet her right wrist carved a circle into the wall with the wooden pencil. “What do you think is the most important when it comes to magic? You’re encountered it countless times already.”

  Lowering his head for a few breaths, Lutiel wondered silently. Yet, he didn’t need too much time to raise his eyes again. “The energy,” he spoke confidently, making her tap the center of the sphere she carved into the wall.

  “Exactly, without the energy, nothing would be possible. Not even in magic. It’s the driving force of everything you can see. Every single surface you step through, every entwined fiber you’re currently wearing, every food you’re eating, and every creature you see, it would all fall down without the energy we call Mana.”

  Immediately, as he heard the voice fall through the space, Lutiel once again lowered his sight. With his face as straight as ever, he asked suddenly. “Is that why I feel weaker whenever you heal me?”

  “Correct. I take away your mana to heal your flesh, hence your slight exhaustion,” she said to the constantly thinking man, raising her brow somewhat as he finally looked up.

  “If it’s so prevalent, why can’t humans use it?” Asking with his eyebrows creased, the man let a solemn stare at the girl, who immediately put her smiles behind, turning firm around her whole body.

  “That’s because of the continent you live in. Yes, the mana as a whole is abundant here, however, there is a little stream of it compared to the outside world. There was no need for your bodies to change according to your surroundings.”

  “I see, but our hearts still carry mana, no? Don’t yours do the same?”

  “Of course, it’s just that we have developed an organ inside our bodies known as the core. However, it would be easier if you thought of it as a second heart.”

  “Why?”

  “Just think of it like that for now. I don’t want your mind to clutter up. We’re straying off when we should be learning the basics.”

  “Yeah, sorry, I got a bit excited,” he uttered with a nod, promptly straightening his back before intently listening.

  “Alright, as I was saying, mana is the main factor of magic, however, magic itself isn’t mana. Rather, magic can be described by the broad term of consuming mana to create an effect, but it’s not as simple as that sounds.”

  “Like creating wind?” He asked swiftly, the girl not minding his curiosity.

  “Of course, however, we will leave the topic. Elemental magic needs you to understand mana on a deeper level.”

  “Okay,” he uttered, somewhat disappointed. Yet, Lutiel briskly turned towards the girl, seeing her tap away at the circle in the wall.