“Wait, you aren’t using any magic?” Jack curiously asked to which Rita shook her head in denial. So he approached her and gently hugged her body to sense the mana flow more clearly.

“Wha-what are you doing?” Rita got flustered.

“Just a minute,” he said as he closed his eyes. He could feel the mana inside her body flow downwards and.. upwards at the same time? He focused his attention on the feet and understood that the mana that flowed into the ground came back..?

When his father had used the earth magic, Jack had sensed his mana had flowed into the ground to manipulate it and drew an earth hand.

But this was different.. More importantly, her mana was different in the first place! If he had to put it into words, it can be said that her mana is more.. ‘earthly’. It’s not like the mana that is used to cast earth element, but more like the earth element itself is inside her..

And it appears that her mana is trying to become one with the earth itself! Or it felt like her mana is trying to communicate with the earth..

It was similar to the mana of those earthworms like insects and also like some earth elemental beasts that he had encountered in the Dark Woods.

..

While Jack was hugging Rita, two eyes were staring at them with a weird gaze.

Susy had just come to the backyard as she knew Rita would be watering the plants this time. But what she saw after arriving here was Jack hugging Rita.

A smile emerged on her face thinking how sweetly he takes care of his mother. So she decided to wait so as not to disturb the mother-son bonding. But her intuition told her that their hug was a bit.. intimate!?

She shook her head to ward off the unease she felt. ‘I wonder if Milo will care for me like that?’ she thought. She waited for a moment.. two moments.. three moments.. This seems to be taking forever. She felt a bit annoyed even though just a couple of seconds had passed.

And just as she was going to cough to reveal her presence, she saw Jack separate from Rita and heard him say, “Hmm, this is weird.. your mana is a bit different.. it is flowing to the ground and returning at the same time in cycles.”

Jack scratched his nonexistent beard and inquired, “Are you sure you aren’t doing that..?”

“Nope..” Rita answered and Susy finally understood that she was misunderstanding the situation. The maiden inside her almost fooled her saying this was an intimate hug. So he was just inspecting her mana flow.. Wait! What?

This surprise didn’t even last for a moment when her body became stiff with the next one.

“This is quite unusual, isn’t it aunt Susy?” As Jack said this, Susy became dumbfounded. Her presence was almost inconspicuous.. How did he notice her and when?

“H-huh? Wh-what...?” Susy flusteredly said as her cheeks became red and walked in timidly to the backyard from the alley.

Jack explained to her what he had noticed and asked her if this was unusual since she was a physician. But both the ladies were more concerned about other things. Rita was embarrassed for being seen intimately hugging her son, while Susy was surprised to know that Jack could sense the mana flow of a person.

“So, is it unusual?” Jack repeated his words with a mischievous grin, prompting the ladies to wake up from their reverie.

Susy approached Rita, took her hands in hers, and closed her eyes to sense her mana flow. She could tell that something was going on with the mana inside her body, but couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

She composed her expression and turned to Jack as she said, “I don’t understand it either, it is, of course, unusual and unheard of.. I am but an apprentice and I am not good at sensing mana inside a body,” she smiled wryly before continuing, “But I will make sure to ask my master about it, though I don’t see it harmful.”

“Please do,” Jack said. Rita was still feeling embarrassed so she excused herself, “I-I will quickly get ready!” Jack asked about it and came to know that they were heading to the market.

“I didn’t know you could sense the mana flow inside someone’s body!” Susy exclaimed as her usual cheerfulness was returning. “You can become a great physician with that..”

And just as a smile was going to appear on Jack’s face, it died down prematurely as he heard her ask, “What element do you have?”

“None..” he said with a wry smile and Susy tilted her head in confusion. “Hm, so you can reinforce your body with your mana to gain strength, like those barbarians..,” she said, nodding her head in understanding as she had knowledge regarding that. “But you need to possess an element to become a physician..” she added.

“Hah, why does everyone have to remind me that I don’t have an element?”

Susy smiled playfully, “What, you are dissatisfied even though you have so much strength?”

Jack saw her smile and his lips also lifted in a mischievous grin, “Hmm, aunt Susy, your mana also appears to be unusual,” he said with a thoughtful expression, making Susy curious. She perked up her ears to know what he was going to say.

“...Let me take a look,” he said and quickly hugged her tender body, while Susy could only stand there stunned to make sense of the situation.

Jack smelled a sweet fruity smell of her body as her face touched his shoulder, and her soft pillows squashed against his chest. Her fragrance was sweet and a bit sour like oranges giving a refreshing feeling. And it wasn’t a perfume, it was her natural body fragrance, probably the result of her healing element, he thought.

Jack wasn’t lying when he said that her mana was unusual. After sensing her up close, he found her mana to be.. delicious! He had a hunch that it was gentle and soothing, yet at the same time, energetic!

Meanwhile, Susy’s heart was racing rapidly as blood rushed to her beautiful face to make it red like a tomato. When she understood that Jack hugged her, she wanted to separate out of embarrassment, but she couldn’t bring herself to push him. All the more so when she inhaled his calming manly smell.

And for some reason, his strong embrace was comforting and secure. To her, it seemed like all her worries would disappear if she just stayed in his embrace. Her tense expression relaxed as she closed her eyes.

A few seconds later, as he thoroughly enjoyed her sweet fragrance and her warm and fluffy body, he separated to see her brightly blushing face. He tried to control his grin and before he gave his verdict he had an urge to taste her mana so he said, “Can you cast your healing mana on me?” and extended his hand towards her.

Susy was still in a daze. So she nodded her head and cast her magic. Her palms emitted a greenish-yellow light with a golden hue. It invaded his body and he tried to absorb it as he does with the beast cores.

The energy seeped into every corner of his body making him feel lighter, energetic, and fresh at the same time. It seemed nourishing and invigorating. And Jack quickly branded this energy as delicious as that of dungeon crystals.

As Susy’s mana flow halted, Jack cheerfully said, “As I thought, your mana is sweet, energetic, and cheerful, just like you aunt Susy!”

“So that’s why you are so beautiful!” he said with a wide grin as he had also sensed her strong vitality. Speaking about vitality, his mother’s vitality seems to have increased.. or is it just his imagination?

This was too much for Susy’s maiden heart. Her head was spinning as her lips moved like a fish, she didn’t know what to say due to her embarrassment. “I-I am g-going to get ready..” she somehow managed to say and hurriedly walked to her house.

Even though her expressions and actions were cute, Jack smiled wryly. Did he go overboard in teasing her, he thought.

..

“Big brother!!” the two fluffs exclaimed enthusiastically in unison from the entrance of the house.

“Play with big brother until we return from the market and make sure not to trouble him!” Susy said. It had taken some time for her to calm herself. She had repeatedly convinced herself not to act like a young girl for she was a mother of two children.

“Yessss!!” Miti ran inside towards Jack.

“Yes! We will properly trouble.. umm, take care of big brother! Hehehe!” Milo also followed.

Rita smiled and left with Susy.

Rita had told Jack that today's dinner would be at Susy's house, so the ladies went shopping. Susy was a good cook, so she invited Jack's family for dinner to express her gratitude for saving her son.