At her question, Kisuke smiled and said, "I am. And if you can convince me, then I'll give this to you for free."
Tenestra's eyes shone and she immediately took out several papers from her pack and passed them to Kisuke, "Listen! I'm currently researching how the Magic Circles deployed by the Mage developmental ability can be cast without one being a Mage with the help of an item similar to a Magic Sword!"
"Hooh? So you're saying that the Magic Circles that appear with the help of the Mage developmental ability can be used to cast Magic without one being a Magic-user?", replied Kisuke while looking through the papers he got.
Tenestra's eyes widened in excitement as no one had ever given her a reply like that, "Of course! Since this is the case, we should capitalize on this fact and develop another branch of item crafting!"
"In that case, why do you want this Magic Stone in particular? It's nasty, isn't it?"
Tenestra then crossed her arms and propped up her almost nonexistent chest in pride before saying, "To be honest, I've already created a working prototype that uses simple fire magic! However, a Magic Sword can already easily do that, so the next magic I wanted to replicate and study is the 'Vine Trap' magic that uses vines and roots to hold onto enemies. Since I've never heard of anyone succeeding in making a Magic Sword that uses control or barrier-type magic, I chose this particular magic! If I'm successful, my research would immediately be put on the same level as Magic Swords and Magic Items! Why? Because producing the Magic Circles itself doesn't require you to have the Mystery or Blacksmith abilities!"
"I need that particular Magic Stone because it came from a Treant, a tree monster. For some reason, despite copying the Magic Circle and making the necessary adjustments, I still can't seem to activate it. This is why I came to think that something could be different if the Magic Power source were to come from something closely related to it."
Tenestra then delved deeper into her thoughts as she explained things to Kisuke. But as she went on, she forgot that she was explaining something and just continued on muttering the possible ways to make her research a success.
It was only around 10 minutes later when Tenestra finally got a hold of herself and recalled that Kisuke was still in front of her, 'Crap... My bad habit...'
To her surprise, however, Kisuke was still standing in front of her and never left. She was happy and was about to say something when she noticed that Kisuke was scribbling in her all-important notes, "Hey! What're you doing!?" Tenestra immediately snatched it from his hand and checked what he had done to it.
Tenestra gritted her teeth in anger when she saw red ink all over her beloved work and was about to spout profanities at him when she noticed something strange about the things he had done, '...What is this...? Corrections?'
All of a sudden, Kisuke started speaking while playing with the pen he used to 'scribble' on her notes, "Different from most Elemental-type Magics, Nature-type Magic doesn't just require Magic Power, but also Life Force. Although you were able to copy the Magic Circle and make some sensible adjustments, you still failed to account for the importance of the incantation from the Magic-user because you thought it wasn't required since you succeeded the first time."
"Incantation, in this case, doesn't just gather the required Magic Power, but also a bit of Life Force to transfer it to the Magic itself to make it possible and also allows a high degree of control. Else, you'll just be randomly grabbing things with this even if you were to succeed."
"In there, I made the necessary corrections for better stability and cut out unneeded stuff. I also added variations of 'Vine Trap' that you can use, the first forcibly grows the plant matter and the second just controls it. Finally, on the last page, I've added a Magic Circle that you can use to gather Life Force from the surroundings, saving the user the complication of channelling it themselves. Though you'll have to work on your own to incorporate that into your Magic."
Tenestra was stunned into silence as she looked back and forth between Kisuke and her corrected notes. Memorizing what he'd just said, Tenestra carefully went through the red ink, trying to understand it.
Tenestra then became lost in thought until the stall keeper nudged her, "Uhmm... Miss Tenestra? Are you alright?"
Tenestra immediately woke up from her stupor and looked towards the stall keeper before hurriedly looking towards Kisuke. However, the mysterious man had already disappeared, "Mister! Where's the guy I was just talking to!?"
"Him?", the stall keeper became confused, "He left a long time ago. You've been standing there for half an hour, miss."
"Wha...?" Another one of her bad habits. If her older sister were to know of this, she was sure to be scolded again for daydreaming in the middle of the street and would hear at least an hour long lecture of how dangerous doing something like this was.
Looking around, Tenestra thought nervously, 'No one from my Familia saw that, right?'
Seeing that none of her comrades was around, Tenestra sighed in relief before looking back at the stall keeper, "Mister, do you know who that guy was?"
"You mean the one who snatched the Magic Stone from you?" The stall keeper shook his head, "No."
Tenestra's shoulders dropped in disappointment as she thought that it was going to be hard to search for him until the stall keeper continued speaking, "But I do know the two women who came to him after talking to you. They are the famous rogue Mercenaries, Yoruichi Shihouin and Kuroka Toujou."
Tenestra's eyes immediately shone in excitement and ran off, "Thanks, mister!"
'That's the guy that big sister met the other day!?', she thought. But after taking some distance, Tenestra slowed down until she stopped moving and muttered to herself, "I'm just going to disturb him if I go to him now, won't I?"
After contemplating a bit more, Tenestra decided to return home, "I don't know why he gave such important information to me, but I have to verify everything in here before I confront him again. Thanking him later won't be too late."
.
.
.
A bit earlier, Kisuke was able to gather the materials that he needed. "So, what were you doing with the oddball of the Astarte Familia?", asked Yoruichi suddenly while biting a mouthful of grilled meat skewers.
"Oddball?"
"Although there isn't really a culture for giving Aliases to the Mercenaries around here, Tenestra of the Astarte Familia was able to get one, nyaa~ By successfully discarding the incantations on two of her Magics, she's known as the Silent Mage.", supplemented Kuroka.
"She's considered a genius. But as geniuses are to do, she became engrossed in the possibility of using other's Magic. Since one can only have three slots of Magic in their Falna, she became known as an oddball. What do you think of her?", Yoruichi asked Kisuke.
Kisuke chuckled and said, "I like oddballs! They're truly interesting~!"