Chapter 9

Gear marveled at the wonders of magic. The giant growing vine was similar to a children's story from Earth. In fact, magic seemed to have no obvious laws other than the fact that energy equaled power.

The only law of magic Gear was sure of was that mana can be manipulated in a way to create magic, and usually more magic equalled more power. This vine seemed to consume a large amount of mana from the surroundings to grow. The strange thing is that it is a natural process. The vine's power to naturally absorb mana showed how different plants were from Earth.

"Truly incredible," marveled the boy. Eventually, about several thousand feet into the air, a giant floating island could be seen. 

It was truly a magnificent sight. The emerald light shining off the walls of the castle bathed the entire island a slight hue of green. Several beasts flew around the island, including dragons and griffons. People could be seen occasionally, either riding a flying beast or just flying on the island.

Eventually, the vine stopped growing, but it was able to attach itself to the edge of the floating island. From far below, the vine started to scatter into many pieces of fluff, which flew into the wind. Barely getting off before the vine vanished, Gear and the other three jumped down onto the stone paved floor.

"Well, here we are."

"I hate going up that way."

"It's your own fault for not learning a proper flying spell."

"Eh ~ magic ain't really my thing. I'm more of a shoot first, ask questions later guy."

"I don't really see how liking the bow means sucking at using simple air magic. In fact, since you're an archer shouldn't you be good at air magic."

"Ugh! What about you! Why couldn't you just fly up here?"

"It takes up too much mana."

"Now, now... are we going to stop or not."

"NOT!"

Seeing the other stuck again in some new conflict, Gear took the chance to observe his surroundings.

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Buildings lined up along streets in an orderly fashion. Each building was more unique the farther in one looked. 

There was even a house that was shaped into a giant kettle, which actually spewed out a burst of steam. Music could be heard from another house shaped as some sort of instrument, in which people had to cover their ears when walking past.

Food stalls and other various stalls had many people lining up. Rowdy and cheerful chatter could be heard everywhere.

Seeing how outgoing it was, Gear remembered his past life. Because of the convenience of technology, almost no one spoke face-to-face anymore. People were docile, and were rarely outgoing. Most people were stuck in a never ending routine, stressed out from lack of excitement.

Shaking his head, he realized that the trio had long ago concluded their conversation and were walking ahead. Catching up to them, he heard them speak.

"...packed full of people again. Almost impossible to get anywhere."

"Hey look! There's a driver." Kathy pointed towards an old man holding onto a large rickshaw. A sign on the rickshaw showed ~10 Maca~ in bright red colors.

"I'll take care of this." Walking towards the man, Trey spoke. "You their good sir, mind taking us to the center."

"Aye, 'ow long you want ta drive?"

"The hell do you mean how long. I ain't sightseeing, I'm going straight to the academy."

"Hop on, 5 Maca now, 5 Maca when we get there."

"Okay, just wait a minute." Rumpaging through his pockets, the other three caught up to him.

"Hmm, I could swear that I had some emergency... oh! Here they are." Showing four coins to the driver, the old man said, "You got n'other one?"

"Psst, Kathy lend me 6 Maca."

"I only got 4."

"I got three."

"Seriously, how poor are you guys?"