Chapter 3

I went to go look for Danica, Demira’s daughter. She was nearby in a study putting some things away. Danica seemed like a very pleasant young lady, likely in her early teens. She had dark hair and blue eyes like her mother but unlike her mother she had a very round face and pouty lips.

“Hello, Danica, I hope I’m not interrupting your work, but I was hoping you could help me with something.”

“Not a worry Sir, my mother had asked me to help you if you needed food or something. Are you hungry perhaps?”

“Thanks, but I’m still quite full from before. I was wondering if you have any skill books or books related to magic that I could look through in your library?”

Danica smiled and waved her hand towards the wall in the study holding hundreds of books, “You have come to the right place.” She ran to one section and pulled out a book and then a few more and brought them over.

“We don’t have too many magic books. Mother got rid of most of them after my father passed on. This one is the basics of magic; it’s an absolute delight to read as it contains the basic semantics of magic. A true gem for anyone interested in magic. It’s written in arcanum though. Are you able to read in Arcanum. Forgive me, that was rude of me to ask.”

“It’s fine, not rude at all. I do not read in arcanum, yet but I’m hoping to pick that up. Have you studied magic?”

“She’s a sweet girl. She reminds me of my little sister back home. Great, now I’m gonna be missing my family all day.” Jimmy spoke in my mind with very likely a virtual pout or at least that’s what I imagined.

“Yes, my father taught me to read and write in it. He was planning to teach me how to cast spells as well one day. I still like to read this book even though I have read it a dozen times already.” She lifted the other two books that she was holding, “This one is a skill book on farming and this other one is on Herbalism. We had another book on Gemology and Minning for such minerals, but I have not been able to find that one in ages. It’s probably hidden in some corner or under someone’s mattress I figure.”

“This is very helpful, Thanks. Do you think I could ask you for another huge favor. I’m wanting to learn to read and write in Arcanum and I just don’t have the time to attend a proper class. Do you think you may be able to read through this book for me?”

Danica was uncertain how this would help me learn but she gladly agreed. She also brought me some paper and a pen when I asked her for it. She read through the book while pointing out the letters and then said the meaning of the words and I would then repeat them right after. This continued for hours and after seeing the obvious exhaustion on Danica, I ended my learning session. Danica promised to return the following morning and help me some more. After she left, I used the pen and paper and started to copy the book from the beginning on. This also continued for hours and before I knew it, night had approached. As it became darker, the magical stone in the study became brighter and acted to provide ample light for the room. I wasn’t sure how many hours had passed. Suddenly, I was surprised to see a new notification that popped up.

System Message

Congratulations, you have learned a new skill: Arcanum Studies Novice

Arcanum Studies: This skill allows the individual to Read and Write the Language of Magic.

Skill Type: Magic – Upgradable

Requirements: Intelligence 14

“Sweet we just learned a new skill, after only doing some work for half of the day. I love the world of Magic!!” exclaimed Jimmy, “Wait how do people that don’t have intelligence of 14 learn it?”

“They don’t. Not until their intelligence is high enough,” I replied.

“Then how do you increase your intelligence without having a class or levels or whatever?”

“The same way everyone else does, studying, teachers, time. And it normally takes a long time to learn this skill. I was only able to learn this skill so quickly because of the high intelligence I started with. And I suspect that even though the skill did not exist in me, I still had maybe a phantom template left over from before which bridged the gap. I had figured if I continued to repeat the way the letters and words were written after young Danica translated them, it would spark up that basic knowledge that was left behind.”

I went back to repeating the words which seemed clearer now and then following up by writing them out on paper. I continued this through the night for a while longer until finally falling to sleep while sitting at the desk.

I met Demira the next morning for breakfast. The table we sat on included Demira, and five others including the three of her children that I had already met and two others that I had not.

“Thank you for joining us, Gatsby. This is the rest of my family. You have already met the three oldest, these two are Darick and Dorian,” she laughed, “As you can see my late husband and I liked to name them very similarly.”

Darick and Dorian seemed much younger in age. Perhaps eight or nine. They sat there, goofing around with their food and didn’t bother to look up. Another set of twins. First Daniel and Daniella and now Darick and Dorian. I wonder what spices they add to their foods to make that happen. Poor Danica must feel left out being the one in the middle of the two pairs of twins.

“I’m grateful for you having me here. Even more so for allowing Danica to help me in learning a new skill overnight. She was very helpful,” I said.

“You learned a new skill? Overnight no less?” said Demira with surprise.

“I have had some experience with it in the past so that made it easier.”

“Well, that seems like a good start indeed. What further plans do you have? Oh, before I forget again, I have something to give you,” She said as she reached for a box behind her and brought it up to the table to open.

“That’s an interesting name, Gatsby, are you named after someone? I don’t think I have heard of anyone named that before,” Daniella asked. Her brother, Daniel, continued to look out the window in a daze completely uninterested.

“Please feel free to call me Gats if you would like. I was named after a character from a book that my father loved reading. I’m not sure if it’s true but he told me once he had read the book over a hundred times because of the main character,” I explained.

“What was so admirable about this character that you were named after, that your father loved?” Daniella inquired further.

“It’s hard to explain. He was a very complicated character. I suppose my father was too in many ways. Gatsby was a man who fell in love with a woman. He left for war and when he returned, he found her married to another man. He bought a mansion across the lake from her and threw lavish parties with money he obtained by selling illegal goods in the hopes she would attend one of the parties. I’m probably oversimplifying the story but that was the gist of it.”

“He was a romantic. Did she attend his parties? Did they ever reunite and fall in love again? Or is this a tragedy?”

“Yes! To all the questions. She did attend the parties and they had an affair while she was married. She planned to leave her husband for Gatsby but due to some complications and a tragedy she was not able to. Long story short, Gatsby died in the end.”

“So, a tragedy then. I should hope the same tragedy does not befall you, our friend,” Demira chimed in the conversation.

“I don’t believe in tragedies or happy ends to life. Life is as it is and it goes on with its ups and down.”

“Such a pragmatic view of life. How do you hope to become godlike again with such a view,” Demira asked rhetorically.

“I would like to read this book sometime. I have always enjoyed tragedies”, Daniella said.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Books are for academics. I prefer to study in the field of battle,” Daniel finally also added to the conversation. He continued to look out the window at the clouds. I wasn’t sure if he was a dreamer or just bored by us.

“Unfortunately, I don’t remember the book well enough to be able to write it word for word and I don’t know how I would be able to obtain a copy of the original,” I replied.

Daniella laughed, “Yeah, I suppose you probably could not. I guess I will just have to settle the short version I got to hear from you. Unless you choose to tell me the long version later.”

“I prefer stories with a happy ending. Too many tragedies in real life that I find it an escape to read of the fortunate tales,” Demira commented.

I caught Daniel rolling his eyes. Daniella continued to smirk under the hood of her cloak. It was very clear that despite them all being related, their personalities were very different.

“I want to just focus on my studies. And to read about magic so I can be a great spellcaster one day,” said Danica the middle child who helped me so much the night before with reading magic.

Danica seemed to have a certain maturity beyond her age. She was a sweet kid that was also very polite and respectful. I never was a fan of all those obnoxious teens that thought they knew it all. I couldn’t help thinking that my daughter would be the same age as Danica had I stayed on earth. That is had I not died and been brought here.

It was so odd to me how strange time worked here. I had been in this world for a couple of hundred years now yet if I was to go back to this moment in time, I would not be two hundred years from when I left. I’m not sure what time I would end up back at. I knew it couldn’t be before the time I left but beyond that it was uncertain. I met people here who existed before me on earth and came to this world after I left. There was not much sense to it but perhaps one day I will figure it out.

“I would like to see the town and see what they have to offer. Do you have an alchemy shop or a magic shop here?” I asked. I needed to get myself together in preparation for what was to come. I needed to gain power quickly and efficiently to be able to face what was I might be forced to face in the future.

“We have both. This box holds the belongings of those men from the other night. Their possessions are now yours as you are the one who overcame them,” Demira said to me.

I wanted to say that it was partially me and partially her daughter, but I left it alone. I’m sure she already knew very well what had transpired.

She brought out a small dark leather cover book with elegant symbols on the front that I could not recognize. Then she placed on the table a short sword. I remembered this weapon belonging to one of the thugs from the other night. She also put out a scroll, a robe, a few daggers of various types and a ring. The scroll was very obviously magical and unopened from the stamp on its exterior.

“The scroll is magical though I’m uncertain what it contains. The book is a spell book belonging to the mage most certainly. None of the weapons are magical unfortunately but the ring is. I had it identified. It increases the healing of an individual but a small amount and provides some benefit to casting a spell. Unfortunately, I don’t know the specifics of it. The robe provides some protection from slashing and stabbing attacks.”

“Ha! It’s a good thing you hit that magic turd bucket in the head.” Spoke Jimmy in his thoughts.

“Thank you, once again. This means a lot to me,” I took the items and put them on with the robe going over my current clothes. It was thick cloth but overall comfortable fit.

The robe had been cleaned of all the blood as were the other items. From what I recalled there was quite a bit of blood that had poured out from that magic user’s head and onto the robe.

“They must have an amazing dry-cleaning biz here for that robe to look so nice again,” Joked Jimmy.

Jimmy’s comment made me wonder if Jimmy was able to be there for the fight, why he had not said anything sooner. Was he only able to observe?

As soon as I put the ring and the robe on, I could feel their effects. I could feel the change without knowing exactly how much change there was. That was the thing with magical items, unless a person had an identify magic items skill, you would not know if the magical item was magical and in what way it was magical. Trying on a random magical item was a way but it was risky as some could be cursed and once a cursed item attached to you, it was very difficult to get rid of without a remove curse spell.

“Daniella and Daniel will show you around town and take you to the those shops you requested. I ask, however, that you keep from the Northwest and the Northeast districts. These areas are troublesome for us and especially my family and so will they be for you if you are with them. The Southeast district is safe but holds little more than the impoverished.”

“Mother, must I be escorting him, I have responsibility to men towards their training,” whined Daniel.

Demira gave him a stern look back and he quieted down immediately.

“Daniel, you will tend to your necessary duties but outside of that, you and Daniella in turn will provide guide to our friend Mason,” Demira said to her son.

Daniel harrumphed and leaned back on chair and folded his arms as a quiet rebellion. Demira handled his rude ass better than I would have. If he was mine, I probably would have made him do some far worse chores to make up for his attitude. She clearly had a soft spot for him, and I suppose he was a grown man even if he did act like a child, so he had the right to be an ass.

“I’m Sorry for my ignorance, Demira, I don’t know the difference between the various districts you mentioned. I don’t even know the name of this town we are in,” I said with a slight laugh.

“Of course, my mistake, I should have realized such a thing after the story you had told me in past day. We are in the city town of Arama named after its founder. It’s located far from the closest city which also is the second capital of this Empire. Arama was originally a border town until certain precious gems were discovered in a mountain that we sit at. Since then, the town has flourished greatly but also has crime within and attacks from outside forces,” explained Demira.

“Which is why I prefer the forest. The monsters look like monsters there. Here they look human but act far from it,” Daniella said while taking a sip of her drink.

“Which is why you will be betrothed to a troll one day making little troll babies,” Daniel said flashing a grin to his sister.

Daniella stayed quiet but made a gesture towards him that I couldn’t tell what it was. I imagine it was likely something ugly because he seemed annoyed afterwards.

“Is the town named after your ancestor, Demira?” I asked.

Demira smiled, “My late husbands’. How were you able to surmise such a thing?”

“There was a book in the study about gemology and it contained notes from a few individuals, one who called himself Arama. There are also some paintings displayed in this dining room that indicate your family prospered in Minning of gems.”

“Very astute of you. How soon would you like to adventure through our ever-growing city?”

“In a short while if possible. I would like to examine the scroll first.”

I returned to the room and broke the seal on the scroll and unrolled the parchment to examine it. The seal itself was not of any familiarity to me but I figured it belonged to whichever house or Mage that created the scroll. It could not have belonged to the mage in the alleyway as he was not high enough level to have created a scroll.

Creating a scroll was a complicated process. To create one, first you had to not just know the spell but also be at an expert level at it. Then, you had to have your arcanum studies at an expert level as well. Then you also needed to have the scroll creation subskill which caster classes could get sometimes at higher levels. Furthermore, in order to have a scroll that would succeed in doing what it was supposed to do, you needed to have writing equipment that was of the best quality. Then you could only create a certain number of scrolls and had to rest a certain amount of time between each creation so that also limited them greatly.

The scroll was written in the Arcane tongue as most magical items were. It was a one-time learning scroll. Once read, it allowed you to learn the spell. Unfortunately, the higher the spell level, the harder it was to learn it. The higher the intelligence of the reader, the lower the chance for failure. Even then one had to be an appropriate level caster to even be able to read it in the first place. This spell on the scroll was way beyond what I could learn at this time, so I left it in the room.

I then opened the spell book which was small and thin much like I would expect a young mage to possess. It contained four different spells in it. Two of them were level One spells, with one being at level Two and the last being at level 3.

“So why don’t you just learn those spells and we start off on our adventures?” Jimmy asked.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. There are two level one spells in here which I intend to practice but they are not the usual level Zero spells that most Mages start out their practice with. I should be able to learn them though. I just need to practice.”

“So what spells are they? Do you have to read them out of the book? Do you have to buy some special ingredients or spices or like the nuts of some weird animal to do them?” asked Jimmy.

I chuckled, “No animal nuts required at this point. Some advanced spells require a component with the casting but not these. Don’t need the spell book, the spell gets memorized and then you retain it indefinitely. And the amount levels you can memorize depends on your intelligence. With my intelligence of 60, I can retain up to 12 levels. So I can do either 12 level one spells or two level five and one level Two etc.”

“How long will it take you to memorize them?”

“Already done, my friend. Already done.”

“Hey, you know we should ask that lady Demira for some cash advance. Hell, her family has been mining jewels, may be can just ask for a diamond or two. You know, get us started in a business adventure, create a monopoly, and take over the world and all that.

“No, we can’t do that,” I said out loud but softly.

“Bruh, it’s not that big a deal. I mean she’s rich and you saved her daughter’s life. I have no doubt she will spot you some Benjis.”

“She’s not rich. I believe they may be struggling financially. The residence is missing quite a bit of Artwork and the only I think remains is the ones with her family on it. There are no staff aside from the chef that we saw briefly, which is unusual for such a large residence. None of the children wear any jewelry and neither does she, which again is unusual for someone who may be wealthy in this culture. And then also the son’s armor seemed pretty dinged up and there were a few pieces missing. Anyways, too many signs point to them facing some misfortune. I could ask for funds and I’m sure out of honor she may even do her best to give them to me but that would not be right.”

I tucked in one of the daggers and the short sword into my belt. I didn’t have proficiency in either, but I figured it’s better at times of need to have a weapon that you’re not proficient in than not have one at all. Also, having weapons may make me look less like a mage and maybe keep me from getting jumped. I put the rest of the items on as well. The robe had already been on and fit pretty well. Some magic items could change their size slightly to accommodate the wearer though I don’t think this robe did that.

I went outside and waited for my guides.

“Hello, Daniella, your brother decided not to come?” I asked the young ranger.

“No, he convinced Mother that he had too many obligations that urgently required his attention to be able to do this” She said with some annoyance, and I could feel the eyeroll. I wondered if she was annoyed about being my guide or her brother being able to get out of it.

“So, he whined about not wanting to go after I left the room until your mother caved in and let him off the hook?”

Daniella laughed, “Yea that’s pretty much what happened.”