Second Time's The Charm

Estelle’s lab had much the same set up as the other day, though to John’s critical eye, he noticed the components for the spell were more spaced out and only the ones they needed were on the table beside the circle on the floor.

The purple clad witch ran her hand over her brow as she smiled at them as they filed in.

“Glad Nephele makes sure we have ample supplies,” she said, gesturing at the table. “And nothing but what we need in the proper amounts.”

Anita shifted uncomfortably and Estelle was quick to notice. “Now, none of that,” she said as she snapped out like a viper and pulled the ashamed mushroom into a hug. “Things worked out fine in the end.”

“Where’s Brenda?” Kiera asked as her head spun around.

“Well,” Estelle said as she let Anita go, though the gnoshroom kept her arms wrapped around the witch’s waist, “while I was getting all the supplies ready, I began to rethink one little detail about this. Remember how I said we didn’t need a binding mark for this proof of concept? Well, with Verida’s magic now in the mix, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try a temporary version to see if it has an effect.”

“It certainly was an experience getting it applied,” Brenda’s voice came from one of the doorways. She opened it, revealing her in all her nude glory. Immediately, John’s eyes dropped to just above her crotch, where an elaborate, and erotic, pattern of red ink sat above her pussy.

“And we missed the show,” Senka whined as she leered. “No fair.”

“To be fair,” Estelle said. “We had started to apply it when you called and I figured, ‘well, since we’re already part way through, might as well finish and test the design too’.”

“How exactly is this going to work?” Vivian asked, failing to keep from looking at Brenda’s tattoo. John couldn’t tell if it was academic curiosity or leering of her own, just more discreet. “You did say the binding ether would take the place of the binding mark.”

Estelle grinned. “Well, we’re using both. The ether will be doing the heavy lifting, like we intended, but if the mark is compatible, it will lengthen the amount of time the mana will be viable. If that happens, then we know the binding mark is up to scratch and we can move onto making up the permanent version.”

“Ah, I think I see where you’re coming from,” Vivian spoke up. “You said at breakfast if Brenda’s wearing her ring, it should give regeneration to the mana. You want to see if the combination of ether, mark and ring will work and how far it can go.”

“Bingo!” Estelle snapped her fingers and pointed at Vivian. “The best case scenario is I can figure out how to replicate the effect for the binding mark and we can do it without the ring or the spirit. But if I can’t, then we'll try to balance the spirit between the ring and the mark. The ring’s effect will just make things more efficient.”

“Well, it certainly can’t hurt to try,” John said. “Right?”

“I’ve looked over the ring,” Estelle affirmed. “Between my analysis and the info from your powers, there’s nothing in this procedure that should react badly at this stage. Once we work out the actual spirit bonding process, if we need it, we can do a deep dive into the potential interactions.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Vivian muttered.

“Are we going to start soon?” Brenda asked. “It's a bit cool.”

“Does she have to do it naked?” Teri asked.

“I mean, I need to see the mark during and after, to make sure everything is flowing correctly,” Estelle said. “But you can put your shirt back on Brenda. Only wanted it off so there wasn’t any risk of getting the ink on it.”

“Are you sure that’s the only reason, Estelle?” Senka asked in a husky voice.

“Well,” the witch hemmed before bashfully looking over at Brenda, her cheeks turning red. “Maybe not the only reason.”

“If you wanted to look at my tits, you just need to ask, dear,” Brenda said.

Estelle’s face grew redder. “I’ll keep that in mind. Anyway, let’s get moving. I’m sure there’s some planning we’ve got to do for that meeting tomorrow, right?”

“As fun as the ribbing and banter are, we should get to it,” Vivian spoke up. “No point in wasting time with everything on our plate.”

There was a general murmur of agreement and everyone moved into positions nearly identical to the first attempt. This time, there was far less awkwardness when John took Teri’s hand, and he ran his thumb over the back of it. Once Brenda, Kiera and Teri were set and the ether synchronized to Brenda via the addition of her hair, Estelle gave them the signal.

John sent his mana down the line, first through Teri to mold it, then to Kiera to further its compatibility to Brenda, before passing into the circle on the ground, now filled with the various alchemical components. The circuit of mana continued building up a charge. Unlike the last time, there was no sensation of being teased by light fingers, a sign John took as there not being any contamination this time.

“Everything’s looking good,” Estelle reported. “All reactions are proceeding as expected. I think we’re in the clear for the transfer.”

“I’m ready,” Brenda said. She was a bit pale with nerves, made all the more clear since despite her complaint about being cold, she had not elected to put her top back on.

“Okay, releasing the magic on three. One, two, three!”

Estelle brought her hand down in a chopping motion, a flicker of magic coating her fingers. John felt a pressure he hadn’t been aware of give way, a tugging sensation drawing on his mana as it surged into Brenda. It crashed into her like a child going in at full speed for a hug, wrapping around Brenda tightly before John’s perception of it faded.

Brenda stumbled back, the tattoo now lightly glowing. Aeolia and Senka were quick to rush to her side, the pair’s arms catching Brenda before her balance could fail.

“I’m okay,” Brenda said breathlessly.

“How do you feel?” Estelle was quick to ask. “Any odd tingles? Vertigo? Odd smells suddenly appearing?”

“Just a little dizzy,” Brenda answered. “And a bit warm.”

“Warm is good,” Estelle said excitedly. “It’s like when you drink hot chocolate. The temp difference is a good sign. Means you can feel the new mana.”

“I don’t recall feeling anything like that when I woke up with my powers,” John muttered.

“I think you're a bit of an outlier,” Vivian said as she began to fiddle with the array she had drawn before they began. “Plus, your magical awakening likely happened while you were asleep. By the time you woke up, you could have been subconsciously used to the passive flow of mana.”

The redhead looked down at the array; the suspended silver dust shifted as it read Brenda’s condition.

“Using John’s numbers as a reference point, I’m reading that Brenda has around fifty units of mana,” she reported.

“That’s about double what I sent,” John said, before looking over to Teri and Kiera, all three of them still holding hands. “Which would mean you each added half of what I did.”

“That’s good,” Estelle chimed in. “Means the transfer process is working in the intended way. Now there’s one thing we have to try before seeing if the regeneration effects are keeping Brenda’s mana stable.”

The witch turned her intense attention to Brenda. “Time to see if you can use that mana.”

Brenda looked down at her hands. “Um, how exactly?”

“A-are we sure that’s a smart idea?” Kiera asked nervously. “W-what if Brenda’s magic is something like f-fire?”

“I think we’re more than capable of dealing with a little fire,” Aeolia confidently remarked. “Fifty mana isn’t all that much. Didn’t you start around that much, John?”

“Sixty,” John answered, the memory of his first look at his stats coming easily to mind. “But most of my first skills didn’t have direct combat potential. Fiery Pursuit uses eighteen, so if it's fire, it’ll only be about twice as strong.”

“I think we’re conflating the warmth of the mana with fire elementalism,” Estelle warned. “I’d more expect a water effect given John’s composite mana mixing with Kiera and Teri’s far more water dominated ones.”

“Water is a lot less threatening on the surface,” Brenda said, still looking at her hands. “But we won’t know until I give it a try, right?”

“Getting a reading of the more complex nature is a bit harder, especially right from the get go,” Vivian said. “But from what I’m picking up, I think you’re trending closer to a composite mana type than an elemental type. Just like John.”

“Isn’t that because she’s got about 50% of John in her?” Beth asked.

“She’s had all of John in her.” Senka smirked.

“You know what I mean!” Beth retorted hotly, her face growing red.

“Yes, but it’s fun to tease you,” the spirit said, wrapping her arm around Beth in a side hug, her fingers dangerously close to the shorter woman’s subtle chest.

Ignoring them, Estelle and Vivian both gave their advice to Brenda on how to draw out her magic. Between Vivian’s technical explanation and Estelle’s more gut based one, Brenda seemed to get an idea and she held up her hands like she was holding water in her palms.

John felt a surge of power well up from Brenda, like he was dipping his finger into a cool pool. A small pool of gleaming liquid began to gather in her cupped hands, a faint silver light coloring Brenda’s astonished face.

Then the flow of magic abruptly stopped and the glowing water evaporated into a silver mist before vanishing completely.

“What happened? What did I do wrong?” Brenda asked.

“Nothing, you just lost your focus,” Estelle told her. “Working magic isn’t all that different from doing any task. At first you need to put all your effort into it before it becomes second nature. Now, innate abilities somewhat shortcut this, but the general idea holds.”

“That only used up about a third of your mana, Brenda,” Vivian reported. “And I think it wasn’t a stable manifestation. It looked like it was in the process of becoming permanent, but you lost focus before it could.”

“I’m not sure trying again is the best play,” Estelle interjected, her hand on her chin. “If an unstable manifestation took close to a third, then the final summoning might fully drain you. Would make testing if the ring’s enchantment works on the donated mana a bit hard.”

Brenda bit her lip. “I suppose that testing that is a bit more important than figuring out everything my magic can do. And at least we know the process works so if the mana does run out, we can give me a jump start later.”

“I can whip up another ether but it wouldn’t be ready until tomorrow, which is sounding like it’ll be a wash what with the meeting and all,” Estelle said. “But if the mana is regenerating, then we might not need it.”

“So, we’ve got to kill some time to give the regen time to do its thing,” Beth summed up. “Any ideas?”

“I might have one?” Brenda spoke up. “If I recall correctly, there was some level of symbolic magic attached to this tattoo, right?”

“Yeah,” Estelle answered, not sounding too sure about where Brenda was going. “It’s there and in that shape because of child rearing.”

“Well, I was thinking that maybe there’s some merit in trying to invoke some of that symbolism,” she said, her hands drifting to frame her crotch. “Maybe it can stimulate the mana in some way?”

“Oh my,” Senka explained in a faux scandalized voice. “Has standing around all naked gotten you in the mood?”

The spirit boldly strode over to Brenda and stuck her hand between the nude woman’s legs. Brenda let out a needy moan as Senka’s fingers dipped into her pussy, the sound and sight going right to John’s dick.

“So wet,” Senka purred.

“C-can you blame me?” Brenda moaned. “I’ve been horny since Estelle drew the mark on me. And having all of you look at me like this was too hot not to try.”

Brenda’s half lidded eyes found John and he clearly read her desire and it began to fuel his own.

“Hey, Estelle, do you think there’s any merit to Brenda’s idea?” he asked, his mouth dry.

“Well, there isn’t anything I can think of that would make it a complete non-starter,” the witch said in a breathy voice. “And Bren does have a point about the symbolism. It’s an angle we could devote some time to exploring.”

“Not going to hear any complaints from me,” Aeolia spoke up. There was a general murmur of agreement from everyone else.

“Then let's go on with some experimenting,” John said as he took a step towards Brenda.