Wade stared at the glowing crystal, dripping with what he hoped was just saliva. "You want me to eat that in the future?"

The demon looked horrified. "Absolutely not. This is way too expensive to just let you eat it, you can't even appreciate it properly." Zin took a handkerchief out of his pocket, protectively cleaned it off, then set it down on Wade's coffee table. "But overall? Eventually. We'll start you off with mana potions and work our way up to mana crystals over time. Plus you'd instantly die if you tried this as your first exposure to mana."

"Okay. Good. Not the dying part, but no offense, I saw where that thing's been. No thanks." Wade felt a little more relieved about that. "I'm guessing a crystal is the solid form of a mana potion?"

"Ehhhhh...." Zin gave him a hand waggle. "If I compressed that mana potion into a solid, I'd get a tiny little splinter. But you're on the right tracks, mostly. Mana potions are highly stable low powered things specifically made for rookies like you. Mana crystals like this beauty here are for the big boys. Maybe someday you'll get rich enough to buy your own crystals to appreciate and eat. I am certainly rooting for you champ." He gave Wade a few finger guns and a wink.

"All right, so why do I need to eat any of it?"

"Mr. Wade, are you producing mana right now?"

Wade opened his stats.

Mana: 0/125

"Not a single point in mana right now."

"I'd be immensely surprised if there was. Mana's not produced by living beings, it's an environment thing. And if you want to cast spells, you need mana to power them. Little bit of a conundrum there." The demon's fingernails tapped the glass vial of the empty mana potion. "Starting to see the picture now?"

"But why swallow it?"

"You got a better idea of getting it safely inside you? I mean, feel free to stab yourself with a crystal if that's your kink, I'm not looking down on it. Just also suggesting you do your thing where I won't have to clean the body up. Breathing in mana usually isn't going to give you enough to work with either, and if you're in an unlucky enough spot that it does... Again, same request as before. About the whole body thing."

"I get it, I get it." Wade said, exasperated at how fast the demon could start rambling. "It's just… weird, why can't you use the crystal in your hand or on a staff or something? Like normal magic should be? Why do I have to eat things?"

The butler rolled his eyes. "And you're suddenly the expert on magic? That joke about mortals showing up at a bar with their egos would have really been getting some mileage here."

"I'm just trying to figure out the logic."

"Logic's simple: If you want to control mana directly, it has to be within your body. Once it's inside and flows through you, it becomes attuned to you. Basically, you get really good command over it. It's incredibly easy to do that. Mana outside floating around? Not so much. And that includes mana not floating, but compressed in a solid state."

The demon tapped the crystal, lifting it up and flicking a finger against it again. The same hum of vibration in the air, and the glow brightened for a moment. Zin seemed extremely pleased at this sound, "Both this beautiful little puppy and the mana potion earlier do the same thing - act like your local car battery. The potion's only easier and safer to use. And cheaper. Way cheaper."

"All right. Fine, it's weird and I don't feel like a wizard here, more like a drug addict or alchemist, but if that's how it works, then show me."

One gloved hand lifted a second mana potion out of the sack, and set it in front of Wade. "Get me a knife and a chopping block."

Wade got his cutting board, a cheap plastic thing he'd gotten from the dollar store, and his best kitchen knife. Which, admittedly, wasn't saying much.

Zin took one look at the knife and grimaced. "Well, at least it's sharp enough to cut butter. That's all we technically need." He uncorked the second vial of blue liquid, tilting it sideways over the cutting board.

The potion didn't pour like water. Instead, it oozed out like jello. Once enough had come out, he used the knife to cut the flow. The blue substance held its shape as it settled, glowing with an inner light that cast strange shadows across the little plastic board. Small motes of brightness zipped around within.

"This is what a proper serving looks like for the first few months of your practice. If you're thinking about cutting up an even bigger portion, just follow these four letters to get the measurements right: D-O-N-T - Don't. Or you'll be scheduling some quality time with your bathroom, and possibly it's floor if you're terrible at aiming. Following along so far champ?"

Wade nodded. "I'm following. Small sugar cube worth, and I just swallow it?"

Zin shot him a thumbs up. "Actually using magic comes down to three steps. Acquire and eat a catalyst of choice - crystal, potions, powder, a smoothie - doesn't matter so long as it's got mana inside it. Then pull the mana out of it. And finally channel it out whenever suits you. Hands, feet, mouth, you pick. There we go, that's all there is to it. Least the powering-the-spells part of it."

Zin lifted the crystal up high and dropped it back down into his gullet with a satisfied gulp. After that he got busy shoving the rest of the potion back into the glass vial, sealing it up with a cork. "Don't worry, these things aren't perishable. Quite the opposite. Mana's the best preservative out there, since it's, you know, extremely toxic to life in high dosages exactly like this. You could store these babies forever."

"All right, and how do I actually cast a spell with this?"

"We'll get to that later." The butler waved his questions away. "Today is fundamentals."

"And the healing ring?"

"That's the neat part - you don't need to know how to cast magic to get the ring to work, it does that for you. All you need to do is power and direct it, which are part of the fundamentals. We could get you using that ring in under an hour even."

That excited Wade. The whole situation felt a little surreal to him, but the excitement of actually using magic just felt awesome to him. "So where do we start?"

"We start with three rules Mr. Wade. Rule number 1. Always have mithril." Zin grabbed the leather kit and dug a hand into it, while speaking. "Mithril absorbs any mana and renders it inert like you learned in your earlier doomed expedition. Make any mistake with mana, you chuck mithril at it and ask questions later. Got that?"

Wade nodded.

Zin brought the sack up to himself, and really started to dig around inside, searching for the contents. "All right, see someone hasn't skimped out on a full set of mithril anchors. Good news, your kit here comes with three new besties to pick from. The usual suspects, two different anchors and the pill."

Wade didn't know what an anchor was, but the other word was easily understood. "Have a completely different idea in my head when you say it like that." Wade said.

The demon rolled his eyes, "Get your head out of the gutter Mr. Wade, it's called the pill - because it's a pill. Surprise."

His hand removed a small vial of water with a bismuth looking pill sunk to the bottom. "Saves your life when you mess up so bad you can't fix it."

"I take it you eat this too?" Wade was starting to see a pattern to all this.

Zin flashed him a sharp smile. "In one gulp, don't chew. I mean, you can if you want to, don't let me ruin your fun, but humans generally have a better life the longer they keep their teeth."

"I get the picture."

"Mithril is inert and harmless to life in general, can't be tarnished and your stomach acid won't even tickle it. So, you chug the pill down, wait for it to suck up all the mana in your stomach, and then throw it up. You can reuse it after a bit of cleaning, I'd recommend making sure you puke it out. If you think that's gross, remember the other way out is worse."

Wade lifted the little vial up, popping open the cork seal. It smelled like metallic alcohol. "Has it ever been… used?"

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The demon shrugged. "I'm mostly certain you bought this kit from Play's little storefront gig, am I correct? Play might have had a kit laying around hiding, but zero chance something as specific as a ring was just laying around. But, alas, my hands are tied here. Can't answer your question here without knowing with certainty it's from the storefront or somewhere else."

There was a little grin to the demon's mouth, and Wade knew he was once more fishing for info. He decided the demon mostly already figured it out, might as well get something out of it. "Yes, I got it from the storefront after heckling Play."

The demon had a very different reaction than Wade expected. "Oh I wish I was there to have seen that tantrum. Probably had to pull this out of her kicking and screaming, I'd bet she had a long list of better stuff she'd wanted you to get instead."

"You have no idea." Wade said, then held a hand out. "But the tea comes after the lesson."

Zin gave him a cheeky finger waggle. "And I notice that's not an absolute either, dangling just potential tea, hmm?" Rather than upset, he looked somewhat pleased. "Picking up this whole bargaining with demonkind real fast, I'm so proud of you kiddo. Usually mortals like you get rolled in the dirt for a few years before you start fighting fire with fire. I can appreciate the quick uptake."

"I've already been rolled in the dirt for a few years." Wade muttered, "And after I know how to use this ring, I'm going to hit them where it hurts the most: Unbeatable competition." He turned up to the demon, determined. "So, what can you tell me about how the System generated this?"

The demon nodded back, "Well, if you got this kit from the storefront... Could have just recreated this wholesale, or plucked it from some poor merchant stall just trying to make an honest living and pay for his three starving kids, of which he's going home empty handed."

"Zinny."

"Fine, fine, no I'm pretty sure it's made wholesale by the System, so that thing's pristine. Even the leather doesn't look to have been flipped open once." His finger went and tapped the case that held the entire toolkit. "See? No lines or creases. Way too perfect to be natural."

The gloved hand grabbed the satchel back from Wade, and he then fished around and removed a small necklace with a mithril disk at the end. Wade recognized that - it looked exactly like the one Selena had shown him.

"Let's move to anchors next. Mithril piercings, rings, arm bands and so forth are used by mages for more than just fashion statements. Those are your anchors. Your portable emergency escape options. You often get into situations where there's a dangerous amount of mana around you, and this will help you dump it out."

"Isn't that what the pill does though?"

"Multiple backups for different problems Mr. Wade. Necklace is for general use, ring is spellcasting issues. The pill's more for when you don't have the focus to move mana around yourself. Like you're about to black out. Or you're still learning how to use anchors and need an escape plan that doesn't require skill."

He set the disk to the side, and then reached down for one more item. The small ring. "And this is a more typical mage-specific anchor." It looked absolutely plain, with no ornament or designs. At least the inside was grooved for comfort. "In general, anchors serve as your trashcan. If you get a surge of mana that you can't handle easily, move it through your arm and into this ring. Word of warning, once mana is inside your trashcan, it's gone for good. But don't be shy about this, takes a lot less time to buy another catalyst than it does to heal mana damage."

Wade nodded and Zin took all three items, and put them back into the satchel with a few happy taps.

"Which leads to rule number 2: Quit early, quit often. You can nail a hundred practice sessions perfectly, but if you mess up even once, you can set yourself back a month before your body is healed. Or worse. Typically, you sit down, meditate and play around with mana for an hour or so, and call it a day. You then eat a ton, sleep a lot, and let your body repair the damage before you do another training session. You got that?"

Wade stared back. "That sounds like gym sessions."

Zin pointed at him with excitement, wagging his finger. "It's exactly that. Foundation training is magical cardio basically, you're training your body's resistance to mana. Specifically the parts of your body that aren't vital to your health. Which leads to rule number 3: Never let mana go anywhere other than the surface of your skin until you know what you're doing. Take a guess why."

Wade considered the question. Mana was toxic and damaged the body anywhere it was channeled through. So if he needed exposure training, then… "If I mess up, the damage is repaired, since dead skin flakes off and new skin grows fast."

Zin smiled. "Ten points for Hufflepuff Mr. Wade. I'm sure you'll run into advanced tomes explaining optimal magic circuit locations, techniques for mana breathing, better anchor placements or gear to use, yadda yadda - every mage with half an ego thinks their technique is the best thing since sliced bread. Hundreds of clans, schools, sects, and hedge mages out there with their own ideas on what to do, and that's before even factoring elemental attuned mana. Ignore all that. Skin only. Until you're past the initiate phase, everything else you read is theory only."

"Okay, keep mana on my skin, or as far away from any muscles I have. Do calluses count?"

"Good try - nope. Dead cells are worthless, and that's part of the reason you're doing the conditioning first so that your body parts don't die. Cosmic power is really wasted if you can't channel a single fireball."

"All right, I'll leave looking for exploits until after we're done with the fundamentals. What's next?"

Zin shrugged. "That's kinda it kiddo. So long as you respect the three rules here, we can start. Go on, give it a shot."

Wade looked over the cube of jelly in front of him, then reached out and grabbed it, lifting it on his palm. It didn't smell like anything at all either. "How worried should I be about this amount of magic? Could it kill me if I mess up?"

"Oh-ho, now you're worried? What happened to all that spunk you had earlier, and the big talk about being built different?"

"Zinny…"

That nailed the butler right where it hurt. "Would you please sto- Look champ," The butler took a breath. "If you're about to do something terminally stupid, I'll stop you. Kinda need you alive so that you can smuggle some more things back here. Nobody else can possibly fence me the good stuff when it comes to mana crystals."

Wade nodded, took a breath, then opened up his mouth to eat the cube. The butler's hand shot out and slapped down hard on Wade's palm before he could get it anywhere near his mouth.

"Wrong." He said.

"What did I do?"

"It's what you didn't do. What's rule number 1 Mr. Wade?"

"Always have mithril ready."

"And where's your mithril?" The butler's hands waved over the empty table. "I don't see any in reach right now."

That… was a good point. Wade opened up the learning kit and took out all three items of mithril. The ring, the necklace and the vial. The first two he wore, and the last he left in grabbing range.

He grabbed the small cube of jello again, lifting it up. "Is there any advice to eating this before I do?"

"Yeah. Don't chew, you want this to stay in one piece inside your stomach. Not technically necessary, just simplifies things. Other thing I can warn you about right now, don't move mana around when you feel it. You leave it right in your stomach where it's at. You might not even realize you're moving it around, controlling mana is that simple. So soon as you notice, let go. We'll start the lesson after."

Wade nodded, and stared down at the small cube of jelly.

This was it. This was magic. And he was going to learn how to cast fire out of his hands and heal even a spinal injury.

Wade opened his mouth, and tossed the little wet glowing cube onto his tongue.

He immediately gagged and almost threw it back up.

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