The doorbell rang as Hera was in the middle of doing the dishes.

"I'll be right there!" she shouted before washing away the soap on her hands. Heading to the door, Hera heard some noises coming from the basement. The first time that happened, she rushed downstairs, but now, Hera was used to the noises Helena made while working. She arrived at the door and opened to see who the visitor was.

"Hey, Hera. Glad to see you walking in a straight line again," Mark smiled.

"Hi, Mark. It's nice being able to understand you again. How bad was your hangover?" Hera asked as the two entered the house.

"I spent the day cursing and vowing never to drink again. I really need to learn a spell to cure hangovers."

"Alex has one. It's called Bloody Mary, but it didn't work that well with me," Hera said as they arrived in the living room.

"Oh, Mary. How sweet is your taste and how devilish is your grin," Mark joked as he sat on the couch.

"Since when are you so poetic?"

"Just trying something new. Does it fit me?"

"Not in the slightest. Do you want some coffee?"

“Can you give me some water? I never liked coffee."

“We went to a coffee shop almost every day during training and now you tell me that?” Hera gasped.

“Well, they had other drinks. Not my fault no one noticed that I never got coffee,”

Hera nodded and went to the kitchen. She returned with a cup of water for mark and coffee for her, "How is life as a crafter? We didn't talk about that during the party."

"Honestly, it's pretty fun. I like working with my hands, and I'm thinking about focusing on accessories. Armors and weapons are fun to make, but I enjoy the delicate work," Mark smiled while he spoke.

"I'm glad. Honestly, I still think about the crafter role skill. But I need to get the mage one first," Hera said, staring at her coffee.

"Is something going on?" Mark asked.

"No, well yeah, but nothing serious. I'm having trouble figuring a spell out," Hera admitted. She felt like she was stuck with the mana reinforcement, but Helena still wasn't willing to give her the solution.

"I'm not Bonnie, but if you want some help, I'm here. I mean, I got a couple of spells, although they are more useful in a forge."

"Really? What spells?" Hera asked.

Mark raised one hand, making a small fire appeared on his palm, "This one is just called flame. I use it to maintain the temperature of the metal. It doesn't do the same as the forge, but it helps. And the other is kind like Bonnie's frost bomb, but just a gust of cold air."

"And how did you learn those spells? You got a formula or..."

"I use formulas. It's funny cause I always sucked at math, but using it for spells makes a lot of sense."

"Oh, I use the subjective approach. I picture the spell and make it work. It's much harder than it seems. For instance, the mana reinforcement that I'm trying to get. I need to cover the weapon in a diamond-shaped structure. But when I make the last connection, it all breaks apart," Hera grabbed a piece of paper and made a rudimentary drawing of what she saw while trying to use the spell. The mana wasn't visible. It was something she had to feel.

"I see," Mark thought for a moment, "I can't say why, but it reminds me of Prince Rupert's Drop."

"What's that?"

"It's when you drip liquid glass in water. It creates a tadpole-like thing that is close to impossible to be smashed. Even a hydraulic press has some trouble to shatter it. But if you just grab some nail clippers and try to cut the tail, the entire thing explodes. Basically, the pressure inside it is too strong and makes the structure that resilient, but the whole thing collapses if you hit a weak spot. Maybe it's something like that. The connection is the weak spot."

Hera considered it for a moment, it was a way to look at it, but she still felt like something was missing, "Thanks. I'll try something later. It's a shame I can't use formulas for my spells. That flame one would be great for when I'm away from the city. And I wouldn't need to burn my head to fix my ear," Hera laughed.

"Speaking of which. Here is your present," Mark picked a small black velvet box from his bag.

"Is that jewelry? Are you coming on to me, Mark?" Hera gave him a playful smile.

"Yeah, wanna grab dinner sometime?" Mark replied, looking Hera in her eyes.

Hera instantly turned red. She looked to the side, feeling embarrassed. Mark was a good looking man. His messy black hair framed well his face, and his light brown eyes were very beautiful. But it was Mark. Hera didn't have any romantic feelings for him.

"Mark... I'm sorry, I..." Hera started but was interrupted by a laugh.

"Oh, man, you should have seen your face," Mark smirked.

Hera took a moment to understand it was just a joke, "That was a low blow, man," she sat back on the chair and crossed her arms.

"Oh, c'mon, you guys always tease me. Let me have this one," Mark placed the velvet box in front of Hera, "Now seriously. Take a look. I promise it is not a gag."

Hera squinted at him and picked the box. Inside it, there were a pair of earrings. However, they were supposed to be attached to the top of the ear, almost like armor for the cartilage. They were made in a silver metal plate with several engravings of weapons. As she picked them up, Hera noticed that one of the earrings was heavier. It was a solid piece instead of a clip-on. If she wore both, it would be impossible to see the missing piece on her ear.

She felt tears forming in her eyes, "Mark..."

He just smiled, "I may be oblivious to most things, but I doubt you were as chill with that as you appeared. You don't have to use it, and I honestly hope it comes to a point where you don't want to. Until then, you have a way to at least pretend and avoid weird stares."

Hera brushed away the tears, "You know. My shrink just told me that I should stop running from my problems. But thanks. Let me go put them on," she got up and headed to the bathroom.

As Mark was sitting on the couch, he let out a long sigh, "At least now I know that this a one-sided crush. I hope it won't take too long for me to move one," he mumbled.

A few minutes later, Hera came back, "How do I look?"

"Badass, you look like those rocker chicks. Or an explorer that has seen some shit."

Hera chuckled, "That's not wrong."

Mark got up and walked to her side, "May I take a look? I wanna be sure it fits properly, and it won't hurt you."

"Sure," Hera moved to the side, letting the light hit her ear.

Mark checked the structure of the earrings. He was worried about it being too heavy for the ear, but it seems like making it hollow was the right move. The clips on the side would be enough to hold it in place, and the part that connected to the bottom would make it hard for it to fall off. As he touched her ear, Hera confirmed that she had no romantic feelings for him. She felt a bit awkward, but not embarrassed during the entire time. Her heart also kept a steady beat.

"Yeah, I guess this will be ok. If anything happens, please let me know," Mark said.

"Will do. And I didn't check it, but do they have any properties?" Hera asked.

"No, sorry. I did try to make something special, but I'm not good enough to do that just yet."

"Don't worry. It's amazing!" Hera kept touching the earrings.

The two talked for some time before Mark leaving. He still wanted to head back to Brinefront today. Hera gave him a big hug and thanked him one more time. She even walked him to the docks so that he wouldn't be alone for a long time. After going back home, Hera remembered to inspect the earrings.

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Hera's Earguards

Created by a beginner crafter, the earings are made to protect both the ear as well as the appearance of someone who has a missing piece on the ear.

The materials used have a slight magical affinity, but no effect was created due to the crafter's lack of experience.

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“He even named them after me,” Hera smiled as she stared at the earrings, “I’m definitively going to pay him back.”

During the next few days, Hera kept working on her spells. She had increased her regeneration mastery by 1% and tested her Blinding Flash a few times. She also tried to practice her etching, but she had to be careful not to increase the skill too much since she wanted to get her synch. On the day she was waiting for her armor, the last day she had to wait before hunting again, Hera went to one ATR. She felt rusty after spending so long waiting for her recovery and desperately needed to practice.

She rented a room for most of the day. Cameron had given her the all clear to go back to heavy workouts, as long as she stopped if she felt anything wrong. Typically, even with the heals, she would need to stay a few more days resting and doing some light workouts, but this was a perk of having a high-level healer taking care of her. Hera just kept practicing both the Wire Trap style, as well as fighting using her handaxe. She noticed that during most fights, she was relying too much on the chakram attached to Yarnball. When the monsters got close, her movements started to get more frantic and aimless. She had to either figure out a way to make her weapons work together or find a skill to help her do it. Sadly, she only thought about it in the middle of her training, and she had no intention of stopping to do a skill search at the moment.

She kept thinking about ways she could use her weapons. There had to be something she was missing. Hera played back all the advice she got during her training, where to aim, her footwork, how to look for openings. Having her trainer as a sparring partner also helped a lot. It would mirror her style to a degree, allowing Hera to notice any big mistakes she was making. When she threw her chakram, her body became too open, but she had to avoid moving around to keep the direction of her throw. That was a problem she had to figure out. Hera shook her head. She was spreading herself too thin. It was better to focus on one thing and improve it than to try to increase all her skills at once.

She chuckled with the notion, "Says the girl who is going for an all-rounder build."

Hera went back to thinking about how to improve the movements with her handaxe. Even if she couldn't move, as long as she could make a range of protection around her, it wouldn' be too much trouble. Thinking about the first training session, Hera kept hearing Mr. Greyson's voice in her head.

'Don't forget yer footwork, lassie. Ye need to know the reach of yer weapon. Then you can picture yer moves.'

She remembered the cheese line of 'letting the weapon be an extension of yourself,' that Mark used during the first days of training. It was at that moment that something clicked in her head. She was treating the mana reinforcement as something detached from, but it was a continuous buff. If it was a persistent effect, she needed to keep giving it mana, just like it was with her Bark Skin or the Affinity Sight. Both spells required her mana to move in different ways. Hera sat down in the training room and started weaving the construct on her handaxe. Instead of making a single structure that gathers at the top, Hera tried to wrap her mana around it, making a loop that would start in her hand. It took her a few times to make the spell the way she wanted. She was going a bit too fast, and the construct broke apart before completing it.

Taking a deep breath, she tried once more, carefully knitting the mana around Iris. She made the loop and started to bring the mana around. The energy started to move faster than she wanted, and Hera had to stop it before progressing. Doing the spell this way would make her spend more mana since the mana constantly kept being pushed off her body, but Hera didn't mind. She pushed herself not to lose her concentration as she placed the final connection in her hand.

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Spell acquired

Mana Reinforcement

Rank: Beginner

By coating an item with mana, you can increase its properties. Controlling the mana allows you to focus on the increase of the desired property. Using different types of mana can lead to unique results.

The size of the object can affect the cost.

Base offensive increase: 10%

Base defensive increase: 20%

Base mana cost: 10 mana per second

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"YES!" Hera got up celebrating. It was a skill she spent the last week trying to make it work. Seeing all that practice pay off was incredible. Even so, she wasn't sure why Helena didn't just give her a solution. All it required was some out of the box thinking.

Hera practiced a bit with the spell activated. Her chakram would spend the 10 mana per second, but using her handaxe would bump it to 12. For now, the best option would be to practice activating it quickly. If she used the spell just before attacking or defending, Hera could avoid wasting any mana. Now all she needed to feel safe while hunting was her armor.