Novels2Search
A New Beginning By Aerebes
Chapter 3:An Unexpected Meeting

Chapter 3:An Unexpected Meeting

NEW

Line of ~~~~~~~ = Time skip

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Loor begins searching for a part time job. He starts walking down the gray stone road of the merchant’s district, but notices a problem.

How do I find a job?

Eventually, he decides to just go into every building and ask for one. Directly next to the library stands a small, two-story wooden building. Entering the building she finds herself in a room that looks quite similar to a convenience store. Behind the counter stands a tall, broad man with a bushy black beard. She walks up to the counter and asks “Do you have any work for me?”

“No.”

She leaves and crosses the street to an extremely similar looking building. The same outcome occurs. Undaunted, she leaves the building and walks towards the next one.

Suddenly, she feels a rather strong impact and notices that the world looked oddly sideways.

“I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” A tall white haired boy is reaching down with a worried look on his face. Blue eyes and soft cheeks give the impression of someone very young. He is wearing brightly colored clothing and a large, dark blue, feathered cap.

Ah…I fell—wait...that voice.”

“Frankie?”

Startled, the young man looks closely at Loor.

“It can’t be…Jesse?!”

Loor stands up, brushes herself off, and replies.

“Yep, it’s me.”

“I haven’t seen you in forever!”

Loor nods “Not since Before…”

“Oh yeah, I heard about that. Are you okay? My mom used that as an excuse to not let me see you.”

“Huh, what a *****.”

“Isn’t she?!”

“So what have you been up to?”

“Nothing much. At least not until I started playing Royal Road.”

“I thought you hated games.”

“Normally I do. Who can hate this game though?”

“True.”

His voice trails off and an uncomfortable silence falls on the two friends. Loor looks around and checks out her surroundings to see where she ended up wandering to. The two friends are now sitting on a bench situated in a very small park in the merchant’s district. Behind them is a small pond, barely larger than a large puddle.

Unable to stand the awkward silence, Frankie speaks up “By the way, what is your name here? Mine is Sadunik.” (SAH-doo-neek)

Really? What a stupid sounding name.

“Mine is Loor here.”

“Okay, now that that’s out of the way; let’s be friends!”

Sadunik has sent you a friend request.

Accept?

Yes/No

Friend request accepted.

Sadunik grins and asks “So how long have you been playing?”

“About two days or so, what about you?”

“Almost four months real time. I can help you out if you want.”

Loor thinks about it for a bit, then replies “Hmm…no thanks for now, I think I want to at least get started on my own.”

“An admirable decision! Let me know when you are allowed out of the city. I’ll help you out with your hunting.”

“Okay, see ya.” Loor waves goodbye at Sadunik, rises to her feet, and walks away, leaving Sadunik behind. She moves a small distance away before walking towards the next building, so that Sadunik cannot see her doing so. For some odd reason, she doesn’t want Sadunik to know that she is having trouble finding a job. She walks up to a wooden building with a large window on the side that displays a few very pretty fabrics. Entering the building, Loor expects the same thing to happen again. However, his expectations were not met.

“Hello child, how may I help you?” Standing behind the counter of what must be a fabric store is an approximately 40-50 year old woman. She has black hair just starting to gray in spots and warm brown eyes. She is wearing a pretty white blouse and a golden pendant in the shape of a sunburst.

“Hello Miss, how are you today?” Loor responds politely.

“I am just fine, thank you.”

“Do you happen to need any help with work around here?”

The woman smiles and says “Why yes I do, what a coincidence, I was about to go put a sign up in the front window. Would you like to work here? I could pay you twenty-five copper per day, with bonuses for especially good or unusual work.”

-bong-

You have been offered a JobFabric Store Helper

You are required to do chores and odd jobs for the fabric store as well as run the counter while the owner is busy.

Reward:25 coppers/day Extra rewards may be obtained according to performance.Accept? Yes/No

Loor beams and says enthusiastically “I accept, thank you!”

You have accepted the job.

Smiling, the woman asks “In that case, what is your name? Mine is Silka.”

“I’m Loor, I look forward to working with you!”

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Having been washing the floor for two hours, Loor is getting a bit tired of doing the grunt work. Finally, he finishes and is ready to move on to his next task. He looks at the list that Silka gave him washing the windows…Ugh, at least there are only two windows. He is just getting started on the windows when Silka calls him over.

“I have to go out for a bit.” She tells him “I need you to stand behind the counter and help any customer that comes in.” Having said this, she leaves without waiting for a reply.

What a slave driver! I can’t believe this was the only work I could find.

Loor decides that since he can’t move from behind the counter. Now would be a good time to practice using magic. He again and again makes the small white ball float over his hand. After his tenth practice attempt—with intermittent breaks to regenerate mana—he is able to make it appear almost instantly and concentrate on it indefinitely.

-bong-

You have learned a spell.Wisp Beginner 1 0.00%

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

A small ball of bright white light appears above your hand. Higher levels of this spell allow you to manifest multiple lights and control the color and location of the wisp.

Amount able to manifest: 1

Mana Cost: 10 mana to create, 1 mana/sec to maintain.

You have learned a skillMagic Mastery Beginner 1 0.00%

The ability to manipulate mana with your will. As this skill grows, so will the efficiency with which you can use magic.

Effect: -1% casting cost, +1% casting effect.

Confused, I thought I was practicing mana bolt Loor is nonetheless happy about obtaining his first spell. Just now, a customer enters the store. Knowing her duty, (and wanting that extra reward) Loor greets the customer with a smile on her face. “Hello sir, how may I help you?”

The man looks at her, face unreadable, and responds rather gruffly “Hmm…I’m just looking around for now.” He turns his back and continues inspecting the bolts of fabric on display.

Loor watches him for a bit. He has messy brown hair, a strong, square jaw, and dark gray eyes. A long black cloak covers most of his body, revealing only a flash of crimson fabric on his torso and what looks to be dark brown leather on his legs. His boots are mostly leather with a ring of some metal around the whole foot, from toe to heel.

Remembering another book she read earlier, Loor starts concentrating on her internal mana and moving it into her eyes. Immediately she notices a very faint apple-green mist rising from the man. Excited, she again loses her concentration and the mist disappears. Undaunted she begins practicing this technique in order to make it easier. Unfortunately, before she is able to finish mastering the skill, the man walks up and asks to buy a specific bolt of cloth.

“How much for this one?” The cloth he is holding was dyed with extremely low quality dye. The color even faded from black to gray in many places, giving it a mottled appearance.

Checking the registry, Loor responds “That one costs 30 copper per yard. How much of it do you want?”

“Hmm...12 yards please.”

“Okay, that will be 1 silver 60 copper.” Loor measures out the fabric and cuts it with the tool attached to the counter. She passes over the section of cloth and receives the payment from the man.

“Thank you for shopping with us. We hope to see you again!”

The man nods briefly and exits the store.

Bored again—Loor can’t even practice seeing auras without a target—she tries to think of something else to do. She starts musing over why she didn’t learn mana bolt, but can’t figure it out. Finally, she decides to just practice the spell she already knows rather than try to make a new one at the moment.

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After eight days of similar work, chores while Silka is around and practicing magic while she is not. Loor’s magical skills look something like this

Wisp Beginner 5 38.59%

A small ball of bright white light appears above your hand. Higher levels of this spell allow you to manifest multiple lights and control the color and location of the wisp.

Amount able to manifest: 1

Mana Cost: 10 mana to create, 1 mana/5sec to maintain.

Magic Mastery Beginner 3 65.32%

The ability to manipulate mana with your will. As this skill grows, so will the efficiency with which you can use magic.

Effect: -3% casting cost, +3% casting effect.

Auravision Beginner 2 28.25%

By inundating your optical nerves with mana, your eyes are able to see even the faintest aura.

As this skill grows, you may be able to see more than just auras.

Mana cost: 18/sec

“Would you look at that. This place is spotless, and I’ve finished with all of my outside business for the month.” Silka marveled, looking around in delight. “You definitely deserve some good payment.”

Elated, Loor walks over to the counter wreathed in the fresh citrus scent that he just finished applying to the store.

“Here you go, two silvers just like I promised. Since you did such a good job, I will also teach you a couple of skills.”

-bong-

You have learned Spinning

You have learned Weaving

Loor smiles widely and thanks Silka profusely.

“I haven’t even told you how to use them yet!” Silka admonishes, grinning. “Spinning, which requires a spindle, is taking small fibers and turning them into thread or rope. Weaving is using that thread to create bolts of cloth or, when you’re really good, tapestries. You need some sort of loom in order to weave. Go ahead, now you can thank me.”

Loor suddenly lost his feeling of thankfulness…Though he did like the skills; her attitude rubbed him the wrong way. He said his goodbyes to Silka, and headed to the library.

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Do you know why Loor didn't learn mana bolt? (seriously, not sure if the hint I left was good enough, not really all that important if you don't)

Again, sorry for how short it is and how long it took.

Not too over or under powered is it?

How is the writing compared to previous chapters? Better? Worse? The same?

Any comments, questions, or constructive criticisms are welcome and encouraged.

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