The door of the Roche family store opened. Once again, Lia came to ask for Yohann's teachings. Anna greeted her from the reception desk.

"Lady Lia, back already? It’s only been about five days." She was surprised to see her so soon.

"Hello again, Lady Anna I came once again to ask your father to teach me. I know it's only been a few days, but I have something that I want to show him." Lia was sure of herself, the confidence from her words and demeanor was enough to make Anna try again.

Anna walked upstairs and, after a couple of minutes, came with her father downstairs. Yohann had an annoyed look on his face. He was doubtful of Lia's progress in such a short amount of time. Passion requires one to understand their own feelings. Only by expressing your own selfish desires can passion be shown.

Yohann had many people come to him for a chance to learn his family secrets, but they were always hiding the real reason. They claimed to be motivated by pleasure or a desire to become better tailors, but their actions revealed that they were concealing their true intentions behind lies and deception.

Teaching the art of making enchanted cloth to people without care was irresponsible, that’s why he always asked the reason, and to see the passion of whoever came asking for his teaching.

In his eyes, Lia was just another person hiding his motive. He would never teach someone dishonest. He expected to see another failure but...

"Please, Sir Yohann, take a look at this and tell me if you can’t feel my passion." Lia opened her bag and pulled something that left Yohann and Anna astonished.

"Is that a suit or some kind of armor?" Anna was the first to speak.

In comparison to the previous works presented by Lia, this armor was cruder and, frankly, much shabbier for a professional tailor. It was a leather armor of black and red. It had a pattern of roses and skulls engraved on the arms. It looked spooky to a certain degree; it was the type of armor you imagine an assassin would wear.

While Anna was trying to decipher the theme of the garment, Yohann came close and grabbed the suit with his hands and began to inspect it closely. The design and the crude way Lia made the suit.

She made this garment with only passion guiding her hands. She didn’t have too much practice or knowledge when it came to making armor, but the effort was present. He saw every rose and skull stitched together with care, the silk inside made smooth for the wearer while the leather outside was tight and reinforced with a potent glue to make sure it could withstand a lot of pressure.

The part that caught Yohann's attention was the details and the measures of the suit. Lia made it custom for someone else's desires. She already thought about the person for whom she was going to make this garment. The care she put into this person was evident. This suit was designed with nothing but passion in mind.

"Follow me, we’re beginning immediately." He gave her back the armor and walked slowly upstairs to his office.

"R-Really!" Lia smiled. She couldn’t believe the words she just heard.

"Dad, are you serious? You don’t intend to make fun of her, right?" Even Anna was incredulous at her father's words.

"What are you talking about? I don’t joke when it comes to teaching someone else the art of enchanted cloth. Hurry up, girl."

"Y-Yes, thank you, Sir Yohann." Lia ran upstairs with excitement. Her efforts were acknowledged.

She went inside the office. It was a room full of cloth and scrolls with several types of spells. In a corner were various instruments. She had no idea what they were used for.

"I imagine that you have used enchanted cloth in your creations already?"

"Yes, Sir. I have bought and used enchanted cloth a few times, so I already know the process of mixing it with regular cloth."

"This should be fast then. Answer me this, girl. What does it mean to have talent?"

"Um, well. Talent means that you possess the qualities that make you better than most in a certain activity." She said the first thing that came to her mind.

"WRONG!" Yohann raised his finger. "Only the stupid and ignorant think of talent as a blessing or a quality that puts them above everyone else. Talent is the result of practice and effort."

"Practice and effort?"

"Yes, talent is only the natural result of hard work. A man who works tirelessly on a painting has talent. A woman who spends nights alone practicing the moves of a dance has talent. Even a child who dreams of becoming a soldier and protecting people from danger can swing a sword day after day until he gets older and becomes a captain in the army."

Yohann spoke with confidence. To him, talent was really the effort and persistence that someone put into his desires. He then walked toward a cauldron in the corner of the office and explained the next step to Lia.

"This is a cauldron of enchantment, is commonly used as a means to combine items with spells. The process of making enchanted fabric is very simple, you just take the cloth and weave the spell inside the cauldron. Of course, you can use it for many other things, like combining items together and taking a spell from an object and putting it in another, but those things are more advanced."

"Then I am supposed to use the cauldron while you are guiding me?"

"Yes, but only if you have the talent to use it."

Lia didn’t know that she was supposed to have talent with the cauldron if she was using it for the first time. That was going against Yohann's speech. Sensing Lia's doubts, he continued.

"It is easier to experience for yourself than to explain with words. Take this scroll, is a spell for defense. If you weave into the suit, it is going to become resistant to regular attacks. At least for a while, depending on how much mana you can put into it."

"Can I really do that? I have never used a spell before, so I don’t know how much mana I have?" She was getting nervous, but before the insecurity could take a hold of her...

"I just said it is better to see it for yourself." He gave the scroll to Lia. "Go and try to weave. Just follow your passion and the rest will come naturally."

He pushed Lia in front of the cauldron. She wasn’t going to get any more preparations. She took a deep breath and put her hands, along with the suit and scroll, in the water…

Lia woke up in a dark sea. She could only see water around her. Wait, I’m going to drown. I can’t breathe. Uh...?

Even if she was underwater, she could breathe perfectly. She had no clue what was happening, but she believed in the words of her new teacher. Just follow my passion, but the suit is not here and neither is the scroll. What I’m supposed to do then?

She looked for the suit around her but could not find it. Everything was confusing. She wished to be in her own office in the city of Raind. Suddenly, a light shone in front of her and her office materialized from the nothingness.

It was a copy of her office, it looked the same, including the position of the instruments. Did I make this? I only wished to be in my office for a moment... Wait, can I wish for other things?

As soon as she thought that the suit of armor and magic scroll appeared on top of her table with the same light. It works. I can wish for anything and it will materialize right here. I feel tired though.

Lia realized she was getting tired after materializing these objects. This was probably her mana being used to conjure the objects. The limit was her own mana capacity. Once she caught on to what was happening, she put her hands to work.

The sight of her office was comforting, she could follow her passion more easily in a place like this. She began to weave the scroll like a piece of cloth all over the suit. Every stitch took a toll on her. She was getting tired after only a few moments.

It was hard, but she finally put her skills to use and made something useful for Thanatos. Her heart began to race. The image of Thanatos made her happy and put her at ease. I’m going to make something for you, but this time you're really going to like it.

She kept working without end. She sewed the protection spell on the suit until the fabric completely assimilated it. She was tired after expending so much mana, but her instincts told her that she could do more, so much more.

I can do something better, more resistant or even something that makes him stronger by using it. She was anxious to keep creating something, and that unrestrained passion was the quality necessary to create something special. She began to imagine scrolls with different spells on her desk. All kinds of magical effects came together in the armor to make something unique.

Yohann was watching Lia's test of skill. The moment the young girl put her hands inside the water of the cauldron, she closed her eyes and lost consciousness. The true test of talent was to see if Lia could focus her passion and channel her mana to enchant the suit. A person who didn’t have enough practice as a tailor wouldn’t be able to draw out his mana and manifest the effects of the spell.

The art of making enchanted items requires practice and expertise. Those qualities can only be obtained by persevering people. If Lia had built her talent enough, then the cauldron would help her manifest her passion into reality. If she needed more training and skills, then she would expend her mana in vain and fail. Yohann's intuition told him that Lia was already good enough to be in the starting line, but he never expected what was about to happen.

TREMBLE... TREMBLE... The sound of something shaking close made him look. He saw a scroll on the table moving slightly toward Lia. It was unusual, but not unheard of. She is calling for more magical effects. Her mind got used to the cauldron quickly. That’s a good sign.

SHAKE… SHAKE… SHAKE… the scrolls all around the office began to shake. It was not one or two scrolls, but a dozen, shaken and moving slowly toward Lia. Yohann knew this could be dangerous, so he walked toward Lia to pull her away from the cauldron.

"Enough, Hildir. You can take it easy… Augh…" A sensation of pain ran through his hand as soon as he touched her. "What the?"

The scrolls came flying into the cauldron. Yohann tried to force Lia away, but she was stuck with magic. He had never experienced this before.

BOOOOSSSSSSHHHH... An explosion of light pushed him away. The light faded, showing Lia with the remains of the suit.

"What? Did I fail? I was so sure I was doing well. I’m sorry, Sir Yohann." She apologized, but Yohann wasn’t listening.

A talent greater than anything he had ever seen had just awakened.

[Level obtained: Magic weaver]