Jeremiah and Sabrina followed the Boise River as it flowed out of the mountains toward the city that shared its name. Their Trainers had abandoned them after the Sasquatch battle to attend to business before they arrived. Jeremiah wasn’t certain what exactly that entailed, but he was sure that Regu would be working to set up profitable deals for him as well as ferreting out valuable information. Presumably, Philanthar would be doing the same for Sabrina.
He could tell from a distance that the city had undergone massive changes since the Integration. Factories, power plants, and tall buildings had completely disappeared, their technology deemed too advanced for the technological reset that was part of the Integration process. The remains of a dam in the river, huge holes where the electrical turbines used to be, served as a reminder that things were much different now than on the last occasion when Jeremiah had been to Boise.
The lack of modern buildings and equipment wasn’t unexpected, but the lack of city walls was surprising. Jeremiah had expected a “safe” city would be surrounded by large walls to keep out any monsters. The monster-free zone surrounding the city made that unnecessary, he supposed. It just felt like there should be walls.
A message popped up as they approached the city, announcing they were entering the Boise Integration Center.
“Sounds more like a dystopian forced labor camp than the center of commerce and education that Regu describes Orientation cities as,” Jeremiah said.
Sabrina snorted her agreement. “It makes me think we should stay out of trouble.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Regu has been pretty adamant about avoiding trouble. He acts like nothing can hurt him, but he’s definitely afraid of getting caught breaking the rules. I don’t think we want to mess with this Integration Council that oversees everything.”
They followed the river into the center of Boise, marveling at the contradictions that had sprung up. The residential areas they passed through featured houses of numerous distinct designs. Many of the homes were the same as before the Integration, but some had clearly changed. Interspersed among the modern-looking houses were rustic log cabins, concrete bunkers, and even a few stone castles.
The open areas that had been prevalent in the southern part of the city were now filled with colosseums and arenas reminiscent of ancient Rome, but with a distinct alien feel. Each seemed dedicated to a type of weapon, and images of swords, bows, axes, hammers, and many other types of weapons adorned the buildings.
Despite the changes, Boise still felt like a city that had retained much of its original makeup. That feeling vanished when they reached the center of the city. While the rest of Boise showed signs of pre-Integration life, the heart of the city was now unrecognizable.
There had been several large parks near the center of Boise before the Integration, but they were all gone now, replaced by the new heart of the Boise Integration Center. The area was distinctly otherworldly and featured a combination of medieval buildings that were too perfect to be of ancient construction and buildings of futuristic design. The once open spaces were now filled with magic shops, weapons and armor dealers, and dozens, if not hundreds, of guild halls. It was an odd combination of medieval, dystopian, and alien.
Beyond the central area that served core Integration purposes, countless other buildings housed the support industries. There were clubs, casinos, money exchanges, clothing stores, and even shops that looked like they housed cell phone retailers and travel agents. The latter two were apparently off limits to “native species.”
Sabrina headed for the Alchemy Guild, and before Jeremiah could decide where to explore first, Regu appeared at his side.
The blue man extended a hand full of gold coins. “I cashed in some of the IU credits from your last broadcast contract,” he said. “You will need gold to make purchases on planet.”
Jeremiah accepted the handful of coins, marveling at a quantity of real gold greater than anything he had ever possessed pre-Integration. It didn’t seem like enough though. “Is this all of our credits?”
“No,” Regu shook his head, “but the exchange rate is much lower than I’d expected. It’s usually around fifty to one at the start of an Integration. It’s currently one thousand IU credits per Earth gold.”
Jerimiah frowned. He wasn’t a financial expert, but that sounded like a bad thing. “Why is that?”
“Probably because of how poorly the Integration went. The exchange rate is determined by economists and mathematicians who take into account the earning potential of the planet. With fewer people to earn loot—gold, items, treasures—each of them is more valuable off planet. That means we get less bang for our buck when using IU credits.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Jeremiah nodded thoughtfully. “That means Earth gold is worth more on a galactic scale, though, right?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t do us much good now.”
“It’s the same for everyone, so it’s not like we’re at a disadvantage, but once we rule the world, Earth money will be worth more, relatively speaking,” Jeremiah said, a smile growing on his face. “That means I will be king of a very rich planet.”
The blue man laughed heartily. “I can’t argue with that. You just need to survive that long.”
“Then let’s go buy some stuff to help me do that.”
Regu led Jeremiah to a small building that looked distinctly medieval while still being clearly modern. The stone façade of the store was too perfect to have been made by anything other than advanced technology or magic.
Probably created by magic, Jeremiah concluded, given the nature of the store.
A symbol made of interconnected circles, squares, and triangles that had a distinctly magical feel was etched into the door. There were two stars above the arcane symbol along with the stores apparent name: Everyday Magic.
“The two stars denote this as a regional magic shop,” the Trainer explained. “That means this same store can be accessed from any other two-star shop in the region.”
Jeremiah nodded then put his hand on the door to push it open. A holographic message appeared as soon as he touched it.
>
>
> Please select Level.
>
>
There were ten floors listed, but only the first three appeared available. Numbers four through ten were grayed out.
“What’s this?”
“You only have access to certain floors,” Regu said. “It’s level dependent.”
Jeremiah selected Level 3, and the solid door transformed into the shimmering gray curtain of a portal. He stepped through and was instantly transported to the third level of the magic shop, though he wasn’t sure if that was up, down, or to some random extradimensional space with no particular relationship to the other floors.
Regardless of where it was, the inside of the magic store was huge. It was many times the size of the building they had entered—probably as large as the entire block. And it was completely empty.
Jeremiah looked around in confusion. “What the—?”
There was a flash, and the side wall of the large room was suddenly covered by an assortment of shelves and brackets full of wands, staffs, and other items that radiated magical power.
A second flash was accompanied by the back wall filling with weapons and armor, most adorned with glowing runes or gemstones.
Jeremiah stepped forward and nearly ran into a rack full of wizard robes when a third flash of light filled the center of the room with racks of magical clothing.
Regu stifled a laugh. “Give the room a minute to finish configuring. It looks like you’re the first person to come to the third floor, so the magic shop is being configured for the first time.
There were several more flashes. By the time they stopped, the room looked like a thrift store packed full of every type of item you could think of. They were presumably all magical in some way, but it was hard to tell as some of the merchandise looked pretty mundane.
An elevated glass case in the middle of the room caught Jeremiah’s attention. A featureless mannequin was dressed in a flowing black robe that was covered in golden runes. A wide-brimmed hat, a combination of a cowboy hat and a witch hat, sat atop the faceless head, and a long staff with a purple gemstone was held in one hand.
Jeremiah moved forward, absently weaving between the racks of clothing, his full attention on the obviously magical wardrobe. As he approached the case, he could see there were rings on each finger of the hand not holding the staff and multiple bracelets on each wrist. The inanimate model wore a pair of boots that were so black that they appeared to absorb all light.
The words Premier Elite Battle Mage were etched in the glass at the top of the case.
He couldn’t take his eyes off the ensemble.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” said an unfamiliar voice at his side.
Jeremiah flinched and turned to see someone who definitely hadn’t been there a moment before. The man wore light blue pants and a pink shirt with ruffled sleeves. His facial features had the tight look of someone who’d had way too much plastic surgery. Jeremiah suppressed a shudder and glanced back at the magical outfit, then asked as casually as he could manage, “How much?”
“Oh, please! You can’t buy that,” the salesman said with a laugh and placed a hand on Jeremiah’s arm. “But I do have the perfect thing for you.”
Jeremiah felt his face flush, both in embarrassment and anger.
“I am the Premier Elite!” he said sternly. He knew it was irrational to be angry, but there was something about the magical gear that drove him to the brink of madness.
This gear will make sure I become king! Jeremiah told himself.
“How much?!”
The salesman put his hands on his hips and cocked his head. “Like I said, you cannot buy this.”
Jeremiah could feel his ears getting hot, remembering all the times he’d been treated as inferior because he was an orphan. His jaw tightened as he glared at the man.
A hand grabbed his arm and squeezed. “This is the prize for the Battle Mage Tournament and cannot be purchased.” Regu tugged on his arm, forcing Jeremiah to look at him. He spoke in a low tone through gritted teeth. “Don’t make trouble. Let him show you some magical items. I’m sure they have some scrolls that will be very useful.”
Jeremiah looked at the outfit then back at the salesman. He shook his head, forcing some clarity into his thoughts. “Fine. Let’s see what you have.”
He reluctantly followed the man toward a case on the right side of the room but couldn’t stop himself from looking back longingly every few steps.
That will be mine!