“Brielle, please take over and watch the front for me,” Seinnador said to one of the women working the half-finished gear. She nodded, smiled at me politely, then quickly headed off to her new task. Seinnador continued through the shop, giving the men at the forge a wave as we headed toward the area that looked like the magical equivalent of a munitions range.

“Please remove your clothing, if you would, Arlo,” said Seinnador, which made me wonder if he was interested in inspecting a bit more of me than just my items. Seinnador, seeing my concern, added, “Just the vest and boa. Please keep on your other attire.”

I raised an eyebrow, but took off the vest and boa, handing them both to the deer-man. Just another afternoon spent shirtless with new friends. He took them in his long and gentle hands and tossed them onto the ground in a pile. Then he stomped on them both with meticulously polished dress boots, grinding his heel into the stone floor. A floor which was covered in all the dust, debris, and rodent feces that one normally finds on the unswept floor of an industrial workshop. He even jumped up and down on top of them a time or two, then gave the pile a kick.

I watched with a sense of stoic detachment, unsure of whether the man was having a sudden mental breakdown.

Seinnador bent down and scooped up the vest. It was completely unharmed and entirely clean, as though the violent display had never occurred. The same was true for the boa.

Seinnador handed the boa back to me, then walked the vest out into the no-man’s-land between us and the wall. He tossed the vest into the air, where it became suspended by an invisible force. He walked to a rack of weaponry next to the forge and pulled down a crossbow half as long as he was tall. He loaded it with a bolt, drawing back the string while keeping the end of the crossbow on the ground with a boot in its stirrup. He walked back and stopped a couple feet ahead of me, then aimed at the vest.

There was a deep twang followed near instantaneously with a chock and the vest fluttered. Seinnador set the crossbow down and placed his hands on his hips.

“What mysteries await us, hm?” he said, then began walking downrange. I followed behind.

The end of the bolt was lodged deep into the stone wall beyond the vest. The vest itself was, once again, unharmed.

“Did it… go through the vest?”

“‘Through’ is not quite the right word,” said Seinnador. “Unless you think of the vest like a tunnel.” He tapped a finger against his lips, as though considering the idea. “The purpose of this part of the demonstration is that the item, though seemingly indestructible, will not prevent an amount of harm that would normally bypass the materials from which it is made,” he said. “My wishes are but ash, burned by the prayers of my enemy.”

He seemed to be full of tangentially-related adages.

“The description did say it would stop an agitated chihuahua, but not much else,” I said.

“Hm, yes, a small and bitey canine,” said Seinnador. “According to the tooltip, at least.”

“It told you that?”

“System Insight grants me context for unfamiliar terms.” He looked at me gravely. “Whether or not that knowledge is better left unknown.”

“So… now you know what rawr means.”

“I do, Arlo. I do.”

I contemplated the lengthy item descriptions, and the amount of information Seinnador must have ingested over the span of a few seconds.

“Back to the line!” Seinnador shouted, and we marched back up range.

He retrieved a pair of brass goggles from the rack, a bit steampunk in design, and handed one set to me. We donned the goggles, and Sennador removed his suit jacket then rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt. He rotated his arm in a circle in front of him, which caused a shimmering dome of force to surround us.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

You have observed the spell Magic Shell

Magic Shell

Dimensional

Cost: 10 mana, plus an additional 10 mana per minute.

Cooldown: 10 minutes

Requirements: Dimensional Magic 10

Create a stationary dimensional membrane in the form of a dome that causes entities inside of the dome to be partially protected from physical and magical forces occurring outside of the dome. Amount of physical and magical attenuation scales with level in Dimensional Magic. The size of the dome scales with Intelligence.

That seemed pretty handy.

“And now for a refined spell. One befitting a gentleman of your caliber.”

Seinnador raised a hand, snapped his fingers, and the world shook.

A massive explosion, centered on the vest, tore through the range. There was no fire, only an eruption of force which sent all the dust and debris on the floor raging through the air. The pressure wave that made it through the dome was enough to cause me to take a step back, and the wind sent my hair whipping. The sound of the spell was loud, but fortunately not enough to leave my ears ringing.

They should really be handing out hearing protection with these goggles, I thought. I could only imagine what it would have felt like at this distance without the dome, much less at the epicenter.

Again, the vest was untouched, though the floor and wall now had several new cracks in it.

You have observed the spell Explosion!

Explosion!

Dimensional/Physical

Cost: 10 mana, plus 10 mana per second charged.

Cooldown: 1 hour

Requirements: Dimensional Magic, Physical Magic

Make a big-ass explosion.

Waga Na Wa Megumin!

Range: 100 feet. Size and intensity scale with Intelligence. Range and intensity scale with level in Physical Magic.

The spell’s description told me everything I needed to know.

“How can I pick up the Physical Magic skill?” I asked.

“I see you have an eye not only for fine equipment, Arlo, but also for cultured magics,” said Seinnador.

“If blowing things up is culture, then yes.”

“As with any magical school, being granted the option to acquire it as an intrinsic skill by the System requires you to have an appropriate attunement, and then to spend time studying the nature of the magic and observing its effects. There are a number of tutors that I can recommend.”

That didn’t sound like anything I had done, and I’d already picked up both Dimensional Magic and Mystical Magic.

“That’s the hard way, but it is safe and reliable,” Seinnador continued.

“What’s the easy way?” I asked.

Seinnador grinned.

“Again, you must have an appropriate attunement. However, if you are sufficiently… exposed to the effects of a magical school, you may be offered the option to acquire it.”

“What kind of exposure?”

I thought I understood, since I’d gotten Dimensional Magic from having my body torn through space and time to get to Arzia, and Mystical from undergoing the Xor’Drel tribal ritual, which hit me with enough magic to change my physiology.

“Being struck by spells of that school,” said Seinnador. “The more… invasive the spell, the more likely you are to be offered the skill.”

“I see,” I said. “Can you shoot me with some elemental spells then?”

“I…” Seinnador paused and gave me an appraising look. “The egg shall crack its own shell. Yes, yes. I presume you have an appropriate attunement?”

“Dimensional,” I said. “I already have Mystical, so it would complete the set.”

“Hmm, I am afraid that it would be difficult for me to help you in this matter. In my heyday as a Delver I was focused rather heavily on aggressive attack magic. I fear a level one Delver would be unlikely to survive a single spell.”

I paused to consider my words.

“How much Fortitude would I need to survive you hitting me with something?”

“That’s a complicated question. Unarmored and undefended, I assume?”

“Yes.”

“Then…” I watched as he did some mental calculation. “Perhaps, twenty?”

“I’m good to go then.”

“Really? You’re level one.”

“Yep.”

“And you already have a Fortitude of twenty?”

“Pretty much.”

No reason to volunteer that it was in fact slightly higher.

Seinnador tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at me.

“You were here to buy some equipment, yes?”

“I was. Still am.”

“I see, I see. In that case, perhaps we should discuss some purchases before I accidentally kill you.”

“Alright then, let’s look at some gear.” I took off the thick goggles and rubbed at my eyes where the metal had dug in. They hadn’t hurt, but they had been pretty uncomfortable. “You know, I might be able to give you some design ideas for new eye protection.”