Cayden's hand froze on the book, and a stunned expression rose up on his face. While he had not the slightest clue what the M.M.C was, he did understand he was being invited to join an organization of sorts.
But perhaps the black haired man was more stunned than Cayden, because he turned to look at the middle aged man so fast Cayden thought his head would fly off.
"Mr. Gilart, we aren't allowed to invite anyone during this time, what would Mr. Ezerta do if he finds out what you're trying to do?" While Lie said this in a whisper, Cayden still heard all of it, and his legs were beginning to inch backwards.
But he couldn't move too far because his hand was still on the book. Mr. Gilart sighed when he heard his coworkers words, as much as he wanted to invite the one who took the book they were assigned to watch out for, he knew he couldn't.
He'll be chewed out by Mr. Ezerta if he found out they were recruiting during this season, the one right before the focuser game.
"Fine, you can go, but please keep the M.M.C in mind in the next six months." The middle aged man said to Cayden, before letting go of the book.
Cayden nodded before scurrying away, only when he was gone did he fully realize what just happened, he was being recruited by a Star Core Magician magic user.
But he didn't know whether to be proud or worried about such an event, so he left the Spell Collection Tower as quickly as he could, despite having an extra twenty minutes to spare.
When Cayden left the tower, he found Wendril was already there, waiting for him. In the back of the carriage was a couple of bags, but Cayden couldn't see what they contained from where he was.
However Cayden didn't approach the carriage immediately since he could hear and see she was distracted at the moment.
In her hand was a metallic disc, that was the size of her palm. She was talking to another person whose avatar was being projected by the disc.
Cayden didn't want to be rude, so he didn't eavesdrop on their conversation, he even put his hands inside the hood to cover his ears since he could still hear them.
After several minutes, Wendril finished her transmission, and looked up towards the tower, a slightly confused expression on her face. It surely had been longer than an hour, that's when she spotted Cayden sitting on the steps waiting for her.
Her eyebrows tilted and her lip had a small twitch, with her eyes being drawn slightly towards the floor, but before she could say anything, another voice entered her ears, one that she recognized and made her blood boil.
"What an eyesore! What type of person would think a purple carriage looks good?"
Cayden frowned when he heard this, while he agreed it was bizarre to see a purple carriage like this, it was common courtesy to keep these types of thought to themselves, or at least out of earshot from the owner.
The owner of this voice was a young man around Wendril's age, with expensive looking clothes, and jewelry all over his body, he was also in the same stage as Wendril, a flawless four star Caster.
When the young man came into Wendril's view, the water elements around her instantly became chaotic.
"Oh, I should've expected this ugly thing to be yours, it's only fitting." The young man commented with a mocking tone.
Wendril's lip twitched, "Watch your mouth, Elk, or do you want to end up like your old hag after Madame Potpourri got through with her?"
Cayden glanced between Wendril and the young man, it was obvious these two had history, and this caused him to let out a stressed breath, he warned Cronix about something like this.
But something else also caught his eye when he looked in the young man's direction, there were two cloaked figures following behind him.
However they weren't both standing to his sides like attendants or servants would, only one of them stood slightly to his side, but they seemed like they wanted to keep their distance.
The other cloaked figure was behind the first, but they stood close, like they were the only one they trusted.
These two weren't the same size, the one in the front was the taller one of the two, but still shorter than Cayden, about the same height as Cronix, and the one in the back was shorter than the one in the front by a few inches, and was Lapsa's height.
The two didn't seem any bit interested in what the young man had to say. Cayden honestly wished Wendril was the same, because she started arguing with the young man.
But there was something familiar about these two.
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Cayden shook his head, then climbed onto the carriage and said, "Wendril, let's get going." Unfortunately she was hardly paying him any attention.
"If Madame Potpourri wanted to destroy the Malory Residences, it would merely take a word, your so-called strength is nothing but bullcrap!"
"Oh yeah, then how about you prove it, since your 'madame Potpourri' is so strong then it must've been pretty easy to form a team for the focuser game, how about we test each other's strength." There was something in his tone that implied something was wrong for Wendril.
"Sure, I can kick your ass, and show everyone how embarrassing and weak the Malory residences are!" Wendril said, with a smug attitude.
This attitude greatly confused the young man because his mother guaranteed Madame Potpourri wouldn't have a team, so Wendril shouldn't be so smug, he thought this was a bluff, until he glanced at Cayden, and frowned.
There was something off about Cayden, which the young man couldn't place until he looked closer at him, and realized he couldn't see how far he was in the magic path.
But before he could inspect any further, Wendril said, "Got nothing else to say, then screw off!"
The young man gave her the middle finger, which Cayden didn't understand. He's seen Riley do it sometimes, so he knew it was supposed to be an insult, but Ash forbade Cayden from doing it, and didn't explain what it meant.
However Wendril did not have that problem, but thankfully, she merely scoffed. The two cloaked figures walked away with the young man, not saying a single word this entire time.
Only when they were gone, did Wendril's smugness completely vanish, and she massaged her temples while muttering, "Why did I do that... We're screw, so screwed."
Cayden's lip twitched when he heard her say that, but he felt like he understood her a bit better now.
...
"That thing is huge, are we blind or something? I can't think of any reason why we missed this." Cronix told Lapsa this when they stepped outside and saw the Spell Collection Tower.
Lapsa couldn't help but agree with him, there couldn't have been any reason for them to miss this when they were riding here, and when they entered.
The only excuse he could find, was that when they entered it was dark and they weren't focused on sight seeing, but that didn't excuse when they were riding here.
On a tree, Kara was the only one not amazed, because unlike them she saw this when they entered O'Kairo, but she was confused on one thing, just like them, she didn't see the tower outside of O'Kairo.
"Okay, enough gawking, we have work to do." Cronix said, clasping his hands together, regaining Lapsa's attention.
"That reminds me, what exactly are we looking for?" Lapsa asked.
Cronix tilted his head, and tried to form a specific answer, but all he could say was, "A way we could mask ourselves during the focuser game. Anyways, let's get going. "
Cronix guided the three of them outside of madame Potpourri's property, and onto a road that led to the nearby market area.
Along the trees and buildings, Kara tried her best to stay outside of sight from other people, while also masking Cronix and Lapsa with her dark elements. This was all a risky endeavor, if anyone recognized the dark element, then they would be screwed.
The shopping district of O"kairo was crowded, but everyone seemed like they had something in mind for what they were looking for, no one looked lost.
"Cronix, look at that." Lapsa said, pointing at a building that was called, 'Mystic Tailors'.
A small smile formed from Cronix's lips, and he nodded his head, "Yeah, that might have what we're looking for."
The three quickly walked towards the store, and now they also matched the rest of the crowd.
When they made it to the store, Kara stayed outside, on the roof since it would be hard to find a place to hide inside.
When Cronix and Lapsa entered the store they were greeted with a large assortment of clothes, some on display, worn by plastic people, others on shelves. There were also fabrics in one asle.
"Wow!" Muttered Lapsa, besides the Ayuna residence and the residence they got from Madame Potpourri, he hadn't been in any other building in years.
Cronix also said "Wow!" A few seconds later, but for different reasons. When he grabbed a random article of clothing and checked the price tag, it shocked him.
It cost one advanced magic crystal, and if that man from the carriage was telling the truth, then the basic living cost was 600 lower crystals, this random piece cost more than rent for normal people.
"Lapsa, help me find something cheap, or we might as well make our own clothes at this point."
Nodding Lapsa began to look around with Cronix to find anything more helpful than just the clothes.
Then Cronix spotted it, near the checkout. There were a couple of handbooks, tailoring handbooks.
He grabbed one of them, and went through the contents, checking if they really had what he wanted to know, and after a few moments of flipping through the pages, he found it, the chapter that read, 'Tailoring enchanted clothes.'
Cronix smiled, this could help with his plan, he then handed the book to Lapsa, who appeared right next to him, "You're going to be learning how to tailor."
Lapsa frowned as he took the book, "I'm going to be the one learning this?"
Nodding Cronix began explaining why, "Since I'm going to be having to learn how to create another formation, and who knows how long that's going to take, and Cayden is going to be learning a spell, so you're the only one who isn't busy."
Aftering thinking on that for a few seconds, Lapsa thought that was fair, but then he saw the price, "Cronix, this is three advanced crystals!"
"What?!" Cronix took the book back from Lapsa and looked at the tab, "Oh crap, you're right! Why the heck... Oh whatever, we need this, and if it's expensive it must be good, right?"
Lapsa shrugged and they went to the register, Cronix handed them the book and the three crystals, but surprisingly the clerk gave back two of the crystals.
Cronix asked why, he wasn't complaining, but he was naturally curious. The clerk said, "The Summer-Autumn Transition Day is right around the corner, we're having our Transition Day sale."
When Lapsa heard this, his eyes widened, "Transition Day is coming up? Really? I feel like that shouldn't happen until a few more weeks."
"Well, today is Summer 78th, so less than two weeks until Transition Day, anyways let's get out of here." Cronix began walking out, but Lapsa grabbed his arm, "Cronix, don't we need fabric or something?"
Cronix shook his head, "I still have some in my bag from when I was in Alktarsha, so we're good."
But then he stopped, "Wait... No, let's get some fabrics, just in case they need special fabrics." A little event from Alktarsha flashed through his mind, when he failed because he deeply misunderstood something.
In the end they left with the book and three yards of fabric, spending two advanced crystals in total which left Cronix in a bad mood.