It had already passed a week from Matthew's indictment when Professor Lydia finally had time to teach him. She was waiting for him again at the same flower garden where the gnome Sven was tending to the plants.

When Matthew passed him, the gnome spat on the floor almost hitting Matthew's boots. Then he smiled sarcastically and said:

"Sorry kiddo."

"Ignore him, Matthew. Sven is just jealous." Lydia said getting close to Matthew and gently guiding him to an open space with her hand on his shoulder. That made Sven spat again and say things on his tongue that sounded like slurs.

"Jealous?" Matthew asked nervously feeling the heat of her hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah. I told you gnomes love women and hate men, didn't I?" Lydia explained without realizing that Matthew's real question was why he would be jealous.

"So, you leveled up?" Lydia asked when they arrived at a patio.

"Yeah. I got another Summoner class. My Charisma is 17 now and my Summon Spirit is level D."

"Good. That might be enough. Have you been training your circle drawing?" She asked sitting down on a bench.

"Yeah. But only on paper. I don't have much space at home to train on the floor."

"That's not a problem. Scaling up is easy enough." Lydia said throwing him a piece of chalk. "Try the lesser earth spirit again."

Matthew drew his circle almost perfectly, only forgetting a single rune and putting an extra leg on another. Mistakes that were quickly pointed out by Lydia with her stern voice.

After he finished the circle, again, he had to walk all the extension of the circle and stand on the middle releasing his mana to cast the spell. He desperately needed to draw the Mage class to get the Project Mana skill.

It took 15 minutes, but a spirit answered the call. It was just a small orange ball of light that floated around. The spirit seemed happy to be there as it circled Matthew energetically going up and down.

"Congratulations, Matthew." Lydia said getting up and looking closely at the spirit. "It's a very weak one, but its already a lot for someone with 17 Charisma."

"How do I get it to posses an item so I can cast Healing Totem?" Matthew asked without taking his eyes of the spirit.

"You need to ask it. You can't force spirits to do anything without the Caller's Charm Spirit skill… It will only do what it wants." Lydia explained.

"So… I just summon them and hope for them to help?" Matthew asked disappointed.

"Without the correct skills… Yes." Lydia chuckled a bit. "But lesser spirits are very curious. They are very likely to obey your commands even without being charmed."

"And how to I communicate with it?" Matthew asked lifting his hand and trying to make the little ball of light to stand still on top of it.

"You talk. Spirits can read your intentions by analyzing your mana. You just need to talk and they'll understand what you want."

"Can you stand on my hand, please?" Matthew asked the spirit he summoned.

It then quickly flew and hoovered over his hand bobbling on the air as if it were dancing.

Lydia smiled and tapped Matthew on the shoulder.

"See?"

"I see." Matthew said smiling widely while looking at the ball of light.

"Lets try dismissing it now." Lydia said. "Stop the flow of mana to it."

"How?" Matthew asked.

"You can feel it. Like something in you is being drawn away. Close your eyes. Feel your mana."

Matthew obeyed and after a couple of seconds, he could feel. Ir was very light, but it was very similar to when he transformed Lumi into an Ice Phoenix. As if someone was lightly tugging on an invisible shirt he was wearing. At that level, it even felt pleasant. He could feel the connection with the spirit.

"I feel it now." He said with his eyes still closed.

"Then cut it." Lydia was succinct.

Matthew hesitated a little. He didn't want to stop that feeling. But after a deep breath he said:

"Sorry little one. I'm still learning." And cut the connection with the spirit making it disappear in a flash of light.

"Well done, Matthew." Lydia said sitting back down and opening a book. "Let's do this everyday until you can do it on your own. But now you can go. Let's not use too much of your mana." She added.

Matthew thanked her, picked up his stuff and walked to the front gate.

On the way there he met Mia. She was on her gym uniform, her hair was damp, and her shirt's collar was darkened with sweat making the fabric cling to her bust defining her curves more prominently than normal.

As soon as she saw him, she lifted from the bench she was sitting and hurriedly fixed her clothes. As he got closer to him she looked down showing a bashfulness she's never shown before.

"Hey… Matthew." She greeted him in a low voice.

"Hey Mia." Matthew also greeted her looking around and noticing the others were nowhere near. "You left training early?"

"I came to rest a little and…" She stopped herself from finishing the sentence for a few seconds breathing deeply to gain courage. "Talk to you."

"To me? Is everything ok? Is it about my trial? Did my lawyer talk to you?" Matthew bombarded her with questions.

"Everything is fine. We did talk. But that's not why I'm here. I wanted to ask you something." She said still not meeting his eyes.

"Then what is it?" He asked turning his head to the side trying to meet her eyes.

"Last week… In the tower..." Mia was speaking slowly mustering the courage to ask her question. "You… When Tina noticed that we were going to be ambushed… You… You took my arm. You pushed me to the exit first… Not Faralynn."

"Did I hurt you?" Matthew asked concerned.

"No… I was just thinking… I'm thinking since then… Why?" She finally asked.

"Because I wanted you to be safe." He answered without thinking.

"But why me? Why not Faralynn? She was the target and…" She blushed a little before finishing. "You and her seem to be very close."

"I didn't think straight." Matthew defended himself as if he was being accused of something bad. "But I guess I thought you'd need the most protection since you…" Now was him that didn't know which words to use. "Since you're not well... I mean. After what happened, you don't seem to be the same. You seem hurt. So I guess I just… I just thought of protecting you first since the others could defend themselves." He finished turning to look away.

"You don't need to treat me like I'm made of porcelain, Matthew." Mia said, not in anger, but in a sweet tone. "I have somethings I'm dealing with… After that. But I'm not sick or frail. I'm still me."

"I'm sorry. I just don't know what to do in this situation." Matthew said passing his hand over his hair.

Mia suddenly reached to touch Matthew's face and smiled at him while caressing his cheek.

"You don't need to force yourself to do anything. Just being here is enough." She said softly. "And thank you for trying to protect me back there. And for protecting me back then. I really appreciate what you did."

"It wasn't…" Matthew tried to welcome her, but her hand on his face made him too nervous to finish his sentence.

"Also." Mia added pulling her hand back. "I'm going to testify in your favor in the trial. You don't need to worry. I'll make sure you don't go to jail." She said hurriedly going back to the gym with her face flushed red and waving back at him.

"Thank you." Matthew had to almost scream while waving because she was already far when he got to say anything.

That's when Matthew noticed that Faralynn was at the gym entrance looking at them. How much did she see? At that distance, Matthew couldn't make out the expression she had on her face. But she had both her arms crossed over her chest. He waved at her too and she waved back very lightly before turning her back when Mia passed her.

They walked inside the gym together.

Was Lynn jealous? Why would she be? Weren't they just friends? And it was not like he was flirting with Mia. She was just being nice. Wasn't she?

Matthew was confused. Or better. He refused to understand the feelings brewing between them. Perhaps because he was already enamored with Vanessa he didn't want to admit that he also had feelings towards Faralynn. And now perhaps Mia. And Erin. And Paula. And Professor Lydia. Perhaps Tina and Helen? Farzan's secretary hit on him before, didn't she? Then he remembered the paramedic who helped him when they tried to rob him. Maria, she was beautiful too.

Matthew slapped his forehead. He could not be in love with all the women he ever met. He was just horny, he figured. He needed to figure things out. But how?

Matthew was lost in those thoughts when his phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a message from Vanessa. The jury was selected. The trial started next week.

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