Chapter 7: Solo Player

Alright. Having Pepper drag us around for a while, I took this time to memorize exactly where we're going.

First off, we went to a store that sold many weapons and armor.

Apparently it wasn't just a store as it was also a blacksmith.

We went to this one first as it was the closest one we could find.

We spent a while there just so the two girls could choose some weapons.

Since I was planning to have a magic-oriented build, I had to wait outside for them.

And it took a looong while.

After a while, the two girls exited the shop and walked up to me rather cheerfully.

But I noticed something.

Only Bella had equipment on.

“...? Hey uh, Pepper. What about your equipment?”

“Hn? Oh I'm planning on becoming a mage.”

“...”

“Why?”

“Tell me... what did you buy?”

“Ah! We took a look at many weapons and it was really cool! There were a bunch of stuff that looked really weird like that three-pronged knife thing. They also had a bunch of armor too. It was really fun. And in the end we bought a shortsword, a shield and a few pieces of really sturdy armor.”

“So you're telling me, that, it took you TWO AND A HALF HOURS just to buy one set of beginner equipment?”

“Yup.” / “Pretty much.”

“...”

Sighing loudly, I looked at the sky.

Women.

I could rage-quit just for this reason.

“Alright! Now that that's done, let's go get our equipment!”

“Could you tell me why I couldn't have gone by myself to do that like, I don't know... TWO AND A HALF HOURS AGO?” I complained.

“'Cause we would've pummeled you if you did so! Now let's go!” Pepper marched off.

“...”

Again. Women.

A perfectly good reason for me to rage-quit and instead drink a nice, hot cup of coffee...

Yes. That would be nice.

But in the end, I just wordlessly followed them.

Okay. From the blacksmith, to the right is the market district and to the left is... still part of the market district but if we kept going we would end up in front of the mage guild.

Which, I think is a good place to start.

When we were in front of the building, I had only one description for it.

It was huge.

And in my opinion it looked like an academy. 'Cause the people in robes in the vicinity looked like students.

After marvelling at it for a while, the three of us entered it's huge doors.

Inside, was much more crowded as it was bustling with mages everywhere.

Looking around, I saw receptionists behind a counter that was at the very center of the room.

The counter was a was a big circle, and inside were the receptionists that were tending to the many mages. I decided to line up for one of the receptionists with Pepper.

As for Bella, she went outside to wait for us.

As the line moved little by little, we were finally next.

After the mage in front of us went away, we stepped up to the counter.

“Hello, how may I help you today?”

“Could you tell us how to get equipment for mages?”

“Ah yes, first off, you will have to register yourself here, and then you will be given a short orientation on how to use magic.”

So basically a tutorial.

“After your orientation, you will be given basic equipment as a little reward.”

“For free?”

“Yes sir. But registering will cost you 3 silver.”

Of course...

“So about the 'orientation', is that it? Or is there more that we could do?”

“About that, after your orientation, you are free to do what you want, but to further advance your magic, you are to find the appropriate teacher of your particular magic. Say for example, you had fire magic as a skill, therefore having you find a teacher for fire spells.”

“What if you have multiple magic skills?” Pepper intervened.

“Then you have to find teachers for each of them.”

“I see.” Pepper nodded understanding.

Curious, I asked her for her skills.

“My skills? They're like this...”

[Staff lvl.1] [FireMagic lvl.1] [Water Magic lvl.] [MagicPowerBoost lvl.1]

[MagicPenetrationBoost lvl.1]

Nodding, I also told her mine as I registered our names.

“[AttackBoost]? Why?” She asked rather surprised.

As a response, I only gave her a chuckle.

After registering, the receptionist told us to go to a certain room to the left.

Just like us many were heading there as well.

Entering the large open door, we found a huge room filled to the brim with mages.

It looked like one of those college classrooms that had seats like those at the cinema.

We sat ourselves down, as we looked at who was in front.

There, an old man with a fantastic grey beard stood on top of the stage.

He had a big pointed hat and a fancy robe that complemented it.

Seeing everyone seated, he made a motion with his hands and the door behind us closed.

Clearing his throat, he spoke with a hoarse yet powerful voice.

“Hello, and welcome to the mage guild. I am Rudolph, a... mage. Seeing as you have all registered for the mage guild made this one happy. So in return, I will be teaching you how to use magic...”

Listening to his explanation, he talked about what mana is.

It is an invisible well of power that flows within us. There are various ways for us to use it, and that is to cast a spell, strengthen others, or maybe even weaken them.

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To use it, you must let it flow outside of you. To move it accordingly.

Moving mana is somehow similar to moving your body. I thought of it as an extension to your body, except that it is undetectable to others and can only be felt by you.

But there is another way to detect magic.

That is to concentrate mana into your vision.

This action is another application of 'strengthening' magic. But this one in particular is pretty advanced and hard for beginners to use.

What he told us to do first was to 'feel' the mana flow within us.

The 'class' seemed a bit confused as we tried to do what he told us to do. Albeit, not really knowing what to do.

So I went ahead and tried to feel this mana.

Regulating my breathing, trying to feel if there is anything different, and whatnot.

I couldn't feel it.

“Yes! I did it!”

Surprised by the voice beside me, I took a look a Tori.

“Wha-!” I widen my eyes.

In her hand was a small flame.

“How did you do that?” I asked.

“Hmhm~” She had a smug smile as she puffed her chest out. “I kind of thought of it as blood you know? And I like, imagined it flowing into my palm. And guess what! It felt like I was holding a bit of water in my hand! Then I wanted to do some magic, you know? And since I had [FireMagic], I thought of something hot like... a fire! And then poof! There's this cute little flame here!”

...Well at least I understood that better than Rudolph's explanation.

So I went ahead and tried it.

First is to think of it as... blood, right? Then flow into my palm. Hmmm... like if there's a wound and I'm bleeding or something?

Oh! It does feel like I'm holding water!

And next is to imagine a flame...

After thinking of that, the 'mana' in my hand created a small spark. Then a flame.

“Alright.” I said as I pumped my fist.

Looking around, I notice others around us doing so as well.

Some had fire, others a ball of water, and I even spotted one with a small plant.

Huh. Pepper might become a good teacher someday.

I took a quick glance at her to see what she was doing.

And again, I widen my eyes.

She had about five balls of fire the size of a fist dancing around her.

Ahh my daughter. Never ceases to amaze me.

…

But somehow I feel bitter.

I try to do the same thing as her.

Okay. Imagine the flame becoming bigger.

Just as big as the ones Pepper has.

As I concentrated my mana into the small flame I had on my hand, I felt a burst as though I had popped a waterballoon.

The flame in my hand exploded.

…

Just like me, the people around me were surprised.

A bunch of eyes were on me and I just sat there frozen.

Although it exploded right in front of my face, I only took a small amount of damage.

What did 'damage' me was that I was kind of the center of attention.

I looked at Pepper for some help.

Noticing my gaze, she-

looked away and ignored me, continuing whatever she was doing.

Don't at as if you don't know meee!!

Ahh I give up.

“Ahaha... D-don't, don't mind me. Haha...” I tried to laugh it off.

After that, they turned away muttering a few complaints here and there.

Especially the ones close to me.

Sighing, I went back to my own experimentation albeit in a smaller scale.

After a while, Rudolph told us a few more things like, going to a teacher to learn more but for a small sum as payment or do it ourselves like what we did a while ago.

Although some of us were able to manifest our mana into something related to the element we chose, those aren't considered spells. Spells are more complicated because some need incantations or magic circles to enhance what we were manifesting.

And after saying all this, he dismissed us by opening the door and giving us some robes and staves.

Walking outside with Pepper, she asked me a question.

“Sooo what now?”

“I guess we can continue experimenting with our magic.” I answered.

“...”

“What?”

“I think you should go to a teacher.”

“WHY?!”

Giggling, Pepper skipped towards the exit. I followed her outside and found that she met up with Bella.

Looking at them, they seemed to be talking about something. And laughing.

For goodness' sake...

For the last time. WOMEN.

Looking at the sky once more, I sighed and prayed to the gods that the following days be better.

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Sooorry for the delay!!

Here's chapter numero seven for you guys!

I checked my average views and I was happy to see it at a hundred and fifty. or somewhere along those lines. :P

It may not be much compared to others but it feels like a BAJILLION to me. :D

Sooo thanks again for reading this storythatwasjustdoneonawhim of mine. XD

Oh! and about those comments where they told me to describe things better, well... i already know i'm bad at it. :P

but i'll try to improve!

one reason i'm bad at it, is that i prefer to draw instead of describe.

i'm not very confident in my drawings but tell me if you want some illustrations, like a map or something.

maybe even characters.

sooo yeah. i guess that's it. see you again later! (four days 'til college...)