Melina chuckled nervously. Alistair looked less than pleased as he looked at the carnage going on in the kitchen. He had witnessed Melina grinding her skills in the past, so he was well aware what it entailed and how taxing it could be.

"Melina…" he narrowed his eyes. "Please, tell me you are not grinding your skills."

"Well… You see, I got this new skill called Arcane Panacea, which can heal status ailments, but at lower ranks, it can only neutralize weak conditions. The poison used on Sienna was very powerful, so I thought it was prudent to get it to at least Rank B," she explained hastily.

"You were going to grind a new skill to Rank B?!" Alistair nearly shouted, and Melina couldn't help but shrink.

Gilbert, likely having heard Alistair's outburst, hobbled downstairs. "Good evening, Alistair. I'm relieved to see you. Do tell me what it is that my apprentice is doing that requires her to destroy my kitchen."

"It's just a bit messy, not destroyed," Melina defended herself, but she quieted down when she saw Alistair's angry expression.

"Grinding. A horrible training technique devised by Melina herself to quickly improve the rank of skills. I have no clue how, but during our travels, she discovered that by using the skill over and over again in short succession and altering its power, speed, and application, one could increase the rank of the skill very quickly," Alistair explained, rubbing his temples.

"What's the catch?" Gilbert asked, narrowing his eyes at Melina.

"It is extremely taxing on one's body. For the best result, you cannot take breaks or stop using the skills—you have to push your limits," he said, and both men glared at Melina.

"Hey, this isn't anything like grinding spells. I'm just making pastries," Melina tried to defend herself.

"So you haven't been channeling mana through Sienna?" Alistair asked.

"Arcane Infusion requires mana…"

"And you were going to push your limits when your body can't even handle mana!" Alistair growled.

"Clean this up. Right now," Gilbert commanded.

"No! Just a little more. I'm so close to ranking up Arcane Panacea!"

"Girl, you will either clean this up or I'm throwing you out," Gilbert glared.

"I agree with Master Gilbert. Skill grinding is far too taxing. It wasn't so long ago that you collapsed from exhaustion," Alistair said.

"But I'm not overworked right now. I need to improve those ranks," Melina wasn't willing to back down. "At least let me get Arcane Panacea to rank D. I'm very close."

Gilbert glared at her, and she stubbornly glared back. In the end, the old baker sighed. "Fine. But once you reach Rank D, you're ending this grinding thing."

"I'll stay here and make sure that she does," Alistair said and sat down.

"Please do," Gilbert said, and with a big sigh went back upstairs. She could hear him mumble. "I swear this girl will be the end of me…"

That did make Melina feel a little guilty, but at the same time, she was peeved. They were treating her as some sort of an invalid. She knew her limits. Not to mention that this wasn't just about her. Sienna was the one supplementing her with mana, and she certainly wouldn't push her, especially not when she was still recovering.

Melina resumed working, checking the next recipe. It was a recipe for sweet palmiers, made from puff pastry. She hadn't made any yet, so she went over to the storage, wondering if there were still leftovers. Opening the chill box, she saw a small bit of puff pastry in the corner, next to the icy egg.

"Sorry to bother you," she muttered to the egg and grabbed the puff pastry.

Alistair was observing her every move, looking very displeased. But she was a bit mad too, so she ignored him and focused on the recipe.

It was surprisingly easy. Take the pastry, roll it out, and sprinkle some sugar on it. Melina activated Arcane Panacea as she rolled the pastry and guided mana into it, as much as she could muster. After that, she sliced the dough into small strips and rolled them up to form a nice circle shape.

For a moment, she considered using Preservation Glaze, but Alistair's stern gaze convinced her otherwise. She put the palmiers into the oven and then worked on the second batch, once again using Arcane Panacea.

[Your skill has ranked up. Arcane Panacea is now Rank D.]

"It ranked up!" Melina cheered.

"Great, that means you can clean up for the day," Alistair grumbled.

"You shouldn't have told Master about grinding. I'm well aware of my limits," Melina muttered as she sliced and rolled the second batch of palmiers.

Alistair stood up from his chair and walked up to her, looming over her. It was odd seeing him like this. Thinking about it, he's never really been angry at her. Not like this.

"You're aware of your limits? My memory might be patchy, but I still remember how your grinding usually ended. You pushed yourself until your body was completely depleted of mana, then drank mana potions to keep going. To the point where your mana almost became corrupted," he growled, but his expression looked more pained than angry.

"Do you know how hard it was to watch you scream in pain as you tried to get your raging mana under control? Do you know how hard it was—not knowing if you're even going to make it and not being able to do anything to help?!"

Melina flinched. She remembered the incident. It was one of her first grinding sessions when she wasn't as aware of how many mana potions it was safe to consume. It had been unpleasant to have her mana go rampant, but it wasn't something she couldn't deal with. It was just incredibly painful.

But she never thought about it from Alistair's perspective. How frustrating and painful the experience must have been for him.

"I'm sorry… I never intended to push myself so far…" she muttered.

His expression softened, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a gentle embrace. "I understand you're worried that somebody else might get hurt, but rushing and getting yourself hurt isn't going to help anyone. Please, take it slowly, and trust me to protect you."

"I don't want you to protect me…" Melina muttered, remembering how he had died protecting her. The memory instantly made her blood run cold. "I don't want you to die protecting me again…"

"I promise not to die if I can help it…" he muttered.

"You CAN'T do what you did before!" She said frantically.

Alistair smiled at her. "I think we wandered away from our original topic. I just don't want you to collapse again."

"Can we come to a compromise? I could grind a little once in a while," she tried bargaining.

[You've made Sweet Palmier – Rank B. You've gained + 25 exp.]

[You've made Sweet Palmier – Rank B. You've gained + 25 exp.]

[You've made Sweet Palmier – Rank B. You've gained + 25 exp.]

[Congratulations! You've reached Level 29.]

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Oh, look, I reached Level 29," Melina cheered.

"29? How many levels did you gain?" Alistair let her go.

She hurried to retrieve the pastries, Sienna eagerly scurrying after her.

"Today? Four," she said nonchalantly. The palmiers had risen nicely while the sugar within them had caramelized to a beautiful golden-brown color. She tossed one of the still-hot ones to Sienna, who eagerly ate it and begged for me.

"Four?!" Alistair sputtered.

"Making new stuff is a really good way to gain a lot of experience," Melina explained, blowing on one of the palmiers to cool it down. She then offered it to Alistair.

He carefully bit into it. "Wow, this is good! It took you like 20 minutes to make?"

"It's just puff pastry and sugar. If I didn't have any puff pastry, then it would have taken way longer," she noted, trying out one as well. "These are good. Maybe we should sell these in small bags as a snack for kids. No more leftover pastry!"

Alistair sighed. "Fine, fine, I can't deny the result of your grinding, but you can't push yourself to the same limits as you did with your magic."

"Alright, I can agree to that," she conceded.

"And you do this only while I'm around."

"You don't have to watch me. I promise I'll do only light grinding."

"No, that's not why. I want to try your creations too," Alistair said cheekily and grabbed another palmier. "Otherwise, these two get all the good stuff."

Melina nodded. "Alright, if it's pastries you're after, then I can agree to it."

After the most gruesome cleanup of Melina's life, she decided that grinding should really be kept to a minimum. Alistair even came to help her clean, which unfortunately ended with a bag of flour being sprayed all over the place. He apologized profusely, but she wasn't really mad. It was funny seeing him covered in flour from head to toe.

But cleaning all that flour wasn't fun. Washing herself afterwards wasn't fun either. When she tried to wash flour out of her hair, it would clump together, making it even more difficult to get out. In the end, she spent about two hours in the bath, trying to get herself clean.

Gilbert also grumbled quite a bit about her experiments the following few days, saying that she should have adjusted the recipes she already knew rather than rushing to make new stuff. Although he did accept adding palmiers to their assortment. Kids absolutely loved them, especially Gilbert's version with cinnamon.

But with her weekly duties complete came a new challenge. One that she had put in the back of her mind since the festival.

Leon sat eagerly in their living room, looking at Melina. His expression was similar to that of an excited child. She still couldn't believe that she actually agreed to teach him magic. It had to be a bad idea.

"So, where do we begin? I'm sure we'll need a different location. Someplace secret where nobody could see. I know a really good spot—" Leon began eagerly, but Melina cut him off.

"No, for today, we'll stay in the bakery."

"Isn't that kind of dangerous? We could accidentally damage something," Leon said.

"No, we'll be working on the very basics. I have a strong suspicion that your fundamentals are flawed. Can you tell me exactly how you learned magic?"

"From a book," Leon replied proudly.

Melina cocked her head, and Sienna cocked her little head too.

"What kind of a book? Please, describe what exactly was in it."

"It was a very old book I found in the Guild archive. It described how to learn fire magic and ice magic," he said, thinking that it was all that Melina wanted to know.

"Be more precise. How exactly did it describe how you could learn fire magic?"

"It was a rather lengthy process. First, I had to focus on lighting a candle flame. I started with the help of matches, then with flint, then by rubbing it with my hands until I finally could do it without touching it. It took a whole year before I could light a candle without touching it."

Melina was shocked by his dedication. Most would have given up, but Leon kept going for a whole year. Melina wasn't sure if she could keep going for so long for something as meager as lighting a candle.

"And after that?"

"After that, it described how to increase the power of my fire and build up resistance so I don't get burned. Resistance was grueling—spending hours in a hot sauna during summer is not fun," Leon chuckled.

"It described resistance building. Interesting. Give me your hand," Melina outstretched her hand.

Leon touched her hand, and she channeled a bit of mana into her palm. She wanted to check exactly how resistant he was. "Tell me when it feels hot."

He nodded seriously, keeping his gaze on his hand. Melina slowly increased the heat. Leon didn't react at first, then furrowed his brow.

"That feels a bit hot," he said once she had reached the temperature needed to cook meat. He actually had built a resistance to heat. She kept going hotter until he finally pulled away when the temperature reached the water's boiling point.

"That was too hot," Leon said, gingerly cradling his hand. However, there wasn't a burn mark on it. He had pulled back when he felt discomfort rather than actual pain. Melina wasn't sure if her heat resistance was this good—she hadn't really tried to improve it.

"You have a really good heat resistance," Melina noted. "How much fire can you produce? Let's go to the kitchen to check."

They went up to the oven, where Melina urged him to show how hot a flame he could create. This was where problems began. Melina could instantly see how unsteady his created flame was. It flickered about while Leon furrowed his brow and likely pushed mana into it to keep it going.

She could also see stray mana coming from Leon's palm. Lots of stray mana. He had no clue how to properly guide his mana to where he wanted it to go, thus, he wasted a large portion of it. As a result, the flame he created wasn't very large. In fact, it wasn't even enough to heat the oven.

"I see," Melina said thoughtfully. "What other kind of magic can you do? I know you can freeze water."

"I can also manipulate water," Leon said smugly.

Melina gave him the task of transporting water from one bowl on one side of the kitchen to a bowl on the other side of the kitchen. He performed better with this task, losing less mana. His control over water was steadier than over flames, and he lost a little bit of water in the process.

Freezing water was what he excelled at. There was almost no mana lost here as Leon quickly froze water. He was also able to freeze it to varying degrees—by creating a thin layer of ice on top, or encasing the water in a layer of ice, freezing the water solid, or just chilling it. Although chilling water was more difficult for him than just straight-up freezing it.

"Anything else you can do?" She asked.

"No, this is it…" he said somewhat shamefully.

"This is actually quite amazing, especially for someone without a System," Melina said, and Leon perked up. "However, your fundamentals are nonexistent. You clearly have no clue how to manipulate mana, and you rely on your gut, don't you? This is why it's easier for you to work with water and ice. I suspect you have a natural affinity for those elements."

"For ice? But I've never managed to create ice on my own," he protested.

"That's because to create ice, you first need to create water. Even if you happen to have the highest affinity with ice, you need to know how to create water first. These two elements go hand in hand," Melina explained.

"Oh… that makes sense. So you'll be teaching me how to create water?" Leon asked excitedly.

"No," she said, and he deflated. "To do magic properly, you need to be able to control your mana first. For somebody without a System, it is crucial to understand the mana flow."

"How do I do that?" He asked.

"Meditation," Melina said sagely.

Leon groaned. "No! The book mentioned something like that, but it seemed so boring that I ignored it."

"The boring stuff is the most important. I suggest you read those meditation techniques in your book. Of course, I'll teach you some as well. We'll try to figure out which one works best for you."

There were various meditation techniques. There was the breathing technique, which entailed focusing on one's breath. This usually worked better for those who had an affinity for fire, so Leon didn't take well to it. There was the visualization method, which involved imagining the mana flow within oneself. It was Melina's go-to method, but it didn't seem to work for Leon.

They also tried dynamic meditation, which involved performing a set of specific motions. But Leon was surprisingly stiff and couldn't do the motions fluidly enough. This method could work well for him once he learned the motions, but that would take time.

Until then, Melina decided that the best method for Leon for the time being was the environmental attunement method.

"What is that?" Leon asked, looking rather haggard from all of the practice.

"Simple, you go fishing," Melina said.

"Fishing?" He asked in confusion.

"Yeah. You said it yourself—you feel most in tune with your magic when you're fishing, and that's because it is an actual meditation technique. But instead of sitting there and waiting for fish, you focus on the world around you. Try to perceive the mana flowing in the grass, the air, the water."

"Can that actually work?" He asked suspiciously.

"I suspect it already worked for you, but you just didn't know it. Do try it when you have the time. Other than that, I think we're done for the day," Melina said.

"Alright, thank you very much!" Leon said and bowed before Melina. "I'll go and try that environmental meditation this evening."

"There's no rush. Meditation takes time," Melina said, escorting him to the door.

"Okay, I'll do my best," Leon said, and then suddenly perked up right at the door. "Right, I was supposed to deliver a message from Erina, but I was so excited about learning magic that I forgot."

"What message?" Melina asked curiously.

Leon leaned in closer and whispered. "Somebody has been asking about you around town. And not just about you, but about your magic pastries as well."

"What? Who?"

"I don't know, but I definitely wasn't somebody from Sunglow. Erina said you should go talk to her."

Melina frowned as the image of the man dressed in black flashed before her. Strangers asking about her magic pastries could only mean trouble.