The artifact

Leon was surprised to hear that. He was not expecting that Mackenzie would share his problem to her friends, or cash in a favor for that matter, but most of all he was surprised by Lesedi's purpose for coming. That is why he quickly tried to gather more information.

"She can help me learn to wield Mana? I thought that it takes a lot of time, and that it was an ability that you should rather buy from the system! I doubt that she has time for me" He expressed his concerns.

"Whether I have time for you or not, should be the least of your worries. In fact I am only doing this as a favor to Mack, and you should feel proud to learn anything from me for that matter. I am one of the best Mana users in the whole Earth realm!" Lesedi pouted, and gave a frowning gaze towards Mackenzie shortly after.

Leon felt like he was about to argue with a brat, and despite the experience with his own grandchildren, his 'old' soul was in no condition to endure that again. Seeing how Mackenzie had some sort of a plan he continued from there:

"So how does wielding Mana help me right now, I thought I was about to improve my 'Cooking' proficiency or something?" Leon questioned Lesedi, while secretly glancing at Mackenzie. It was his understanding that they had a different arrangement planed.

He didn't know about Mackenzie's adventuring background, since all they talked about yesterday was general information about the Soul war plane.

Unfortunately his question made Mackenzie facepalm. She was left with no other choice but to explain:

"In order for you to achieve Expert proficiency in cooking, you must have the ability to wield Mana because you have to handle magical ingredients. The main difference between Expert quality dishes and Advanced quality dishes is that Expert quality dishes can restore Mana, and not just saturate you, or restore Stamina. " She grunted, and by the look on Lesedi's face understood that the gig was up. So she turned towards her:

"I am sorry Les, I wasn't sure that you would agree to help him If I told you that he was a newcomer."

"He is paranoid? I mean seriously Mack, even a five year old me wouldn't believe that and I was really naive back then! You are right, I wouldn't waste my precious time on him. But you cashed in that favor and even compared him to Reinhardt and that got me intrigued." Lesedi blurted, and continued to verbalize her thoughts:

"I don't appreciate the dishonesty, but because it is you who asked, I will..." And that is where it finally dawned on her:

"What do you mean he is a newcomer!? How can a newcomer have Advanced proficiency in Cooking!? Mack, what the hell is going on here?" She yelled staring at Mackenzie, clearly upset.

Mackenzie was put in a tight situation. She didn't want to betray neither Lesedi's long friendship, nor trust Leon has put in her. That is why she glanced at Leon apologetically, as if seeking approval, which was soon nonverbally granted.

Leon wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he felt that it was best not to meddle in their argument or things might turn really ugly really fast. That is why he listened quitely to Mackenzie's explanation about his goals and failed 'cleansing', as well as why she kept it a secret at first. Apparently she didn't know whether Lesedi would believe her and agree to help after hearing the truth.

Shortly after hearing that explanation Lesedi frowned and turned towards him:

"I don't know how you convinced Mack to help you, but that is not important right now. What is important for you to know is that if you deceived her in anyway, I promise that I will terminate you."

Leon was about to defend his honesty when he noticed Mackenzie signaling him to stay silent. Living alone and barely socializing for almost thirty years made him forget about the little subtleties such as 'Don't argue with an angry woman' and closed his mouth before any damage could be done.

Lesedi then took out an oval shaped polished jade stone, with a tiny silver chain attached to it from her inventory and gave it to Leon

"Here take this artifact. put it around your neck and sit over there in a meditating position. Mana is universal in this world, and what that means is that every being here experiences it in the same way. How you shape it and control it , as well as how much of it you can handle is what is different for every individual. Now, try to feel it" She ordered.

When Leon received the jade necklace he immediately heard a ping

-System notification

You have acquired an artifact

Item quality: Magical

Stats:

Mana regeneration per second: +10

Description

An artifact that improves Mana regeneration per second

Status

Unavailable

While admiring the jade necklace he just received, Leon heard Lesedi's explanation:

"I got that from some Elvish tinkerer's dead body. Although its primary use is Mana regeneration, the way that they are made helps gather Mana in the vicinity. It won't regenerate your Mana since you don't have any, but it will gather enough of it around you which will help you feel it."

Leon then walked towards the designated spot Lesedi pointed out and saw what seemed to be magical runes drawn on the floor that weren't there yesterday. He realized that Lesedi must have drawn them before he arrived. Obviously she agreed to help long before she even met him which explained how much trust she had in Mackenzie. The runes probably had something to do with Mana gathering, so he didn't question anything and sat there in a meditating position.

Back on Earth, after Irene's death, Leon used to meditate a lot in order to calm his nerves and cope with the loss. It was Irene that taught him how to do it so he basically repeated what he already knew.

'Breath in'

'Breathe out'

'Breath in'

'Breathe out'

'Relax your body'

'Become one with nature'

...

'Damn it what freaking nature, I am in a kitchen siting on a concrete ... ok, stop, focus'

'Breath in'

'Breathe out'

'Breath in'

'Breathe out' ...

'Be in the moment'...

Leon stayed in that position for thirty minutes. Just like back on Earth he quickly zoned out everything around him and tried to stop distracting thoughts from emerging. While he was doing that, Lesedi and Mackenzie had exchanged a few whispers.

"Mack, we know each other really well, and I trust your judgment, but this guy? How can you be sure he is not deceiving you? I mean, you met him just yesterday, and today you are helping him achieve impossible? How can you believe that he hasn't gone through cleansing?" Lesedi inquired

"Les, I am not sure, but I feel that he is just like me before, someone without personal greed and yet someone that would do everything they could to achieve their goal. I don't know how but when he mentioned his wife, it is as if I saw it in his eyes, and he reminded me of my own failure." Mackenzie tried to explain, but Lesedi just wasn't having it

"You are just a suck up for romantic stories Mack, I don't think he even has a wife" Lesedi blurted out

"I seriously doubt that, If he was a greedy idiot he would have already gone to the front lines, shouting obscenities from inside a Dragon's stomach. I don't think that is the case here, I mean, he started from the place where people usually come when they had enough of fighting. He might have a chance..." Mackenzie replied, adding a personal tone to her last sentence.

"Or he is just scared of fighting" Lesedi whispered.

"Not many people, no, what I want to say is, not many beings are capable of killing for what they believe in, and this place is testing just how far are you willing to go. Soul war is a cruel place, but you already know that. And I think he figured out that part as well." She added.

"But Mack, you just keep defending him. Ever since that betrayal a few years ago, you haven't trusted anyone, and now, at the very least you have to acknowledge that there are still some facts about himself that he hasn't shared with you." Lesedi expressed her doubts.

"I know that, it is just, I don't want him to fail at the same hurdle that got me and I will do what I think is right, despite the risk of deception. I will trust my gut when it comes to Leon" Mackenzie confidently announced.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt again Mack, so I will keep my eyes open for anything suspicious." Lesedi proclaimed, and then noticed Mackenzie turning her head towards Leon with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Yeah, when you are at it" Mackenzie uttered, her mouth barely moving "Tell me how suspicious is that?" and pointed at Leon with her eyebrows.

When Lesedi turned towards Leon, she saw his whole body surrounded by a bluish glow.