Kelsey spent an additional month practicing magic, studying in her cabin, and hanging out with Bud. She learned that the wolf was indeed extremely smart. Through trial and error, she found that the wolf understood exactly what she said and comprehended it perfectly. She also discovered that the wolf was in fact male, which meant that the Thorn Wolves were one of the monsters that were able to procreate as well as manifest from mana. She was able to set up a system with Bud where he would be able to answer yes or no questions by shaking or nodding his head. He didn’t start by doing that instinctually, so she had to tell him to. But, once they got that down, Kelsey was able to have something akin to conversations with her new vine buddy.
After getting to know Bud a bit better, she began her journey to understand the world. She started with the books Thadius had recommended to her. She no longer needed the skills themselves, but the things they taught her about general magical theory were valuable. It also improved her conceptual understanding of the basic elements greatly. She could have probably read these books before training with her new creation and manipulation skills, but she felt it had been worth it to learn them without assistance.
The books were incredibly helpful. Fire, air, water, and earth were now elements she was able to control almost as if it were second nature. She wasn't quite as good with them as she was with spatial magic, but it was close. The other material she had gotten extremely proficient with was metal, specifically steel. She knew that she had always used her spatial magic and telekinesis similarly to how a metal mage would use their magic, which meant that the two magics were closely linked in her mind.
Once she finished with the books, she took a trip to Neim and used some gold she created to buy every book she could find that was related to the study of magic, the system, or mana. While she was shopping, she also bought her friends and family some cool trinkets that she thought they might like, or ones that she thought would be funny to give to them. She had the idea when she spotted an eye patch that had various precious gemstones glued to the outside. She instantly felt the deep desire to see Gregory wearing that eyepatch, so she bought it without hesitation. She also bought somewhat embarrassing presents for Thadius, Claire, Owen, and Lisa. She even picked up two toys for Lorie and David, but she didn’t put as much thought into those gifts. Kids really just loved toys.
Before leaving, Kelsey wanted to go to the north side of the city and see Melody the Magnificent again. Last time she was here buying monster core machines for her cabin, she had money, but didn’t come at the right time to visit the street magician. This time, she made sure she came in the midafternoon, the same time she had arrived in Neim the first time.
Making her way down the wide streets of the city, Kelsey was once again reminded of how awesome and fun the people here were. There was an overall feeling of freedom and joviality that she just hadn’t seen in other places in Anoura.
It took her nearly three hours to travel from the southern side of Neim to the north side. Thankfully, she had been to the city a few times and was becoming quite good at getting around. Eventually, she arrived at her destination and saw Melody the Magnificent once again wowing the crowd with a brand new magic trick.
This time it wasn’t the cups and balls trick; it was something Kelsey was unfamiliar with. It was a similar concept to the disappearing assistant trick, but instead of using an assistant, she let the audience pick the person that she was going to make disappear. The audience picked an elderly man who walked with a cane. If she can really make that guy disappear without using real magic, I’m going to lose my shit.
And sure enough, Melody had the man walk up some stairs into a box with mirrors on the side. Once he was inside, she closed the box, spun it around a few times to show the audience there wasn’t anything underneath the stairs, and then closed the door. She spun the box again, slowly, and once it had done another full rotation, she threw a small smoke bomb on the ground and a second later, as the smoke cleared, the mirrored box collapsed outward, all four sides lowering to reveal that the man was indeed gone.
The crowd was going wild, Kelsey included. She had decided to turn off her domain so the trick wouldn’t be spoiled, and boy was she glad she did because a few seconds later, Melody quieted the crowd and then dramatically pointed behind them. There, standing on the roof of a nearby food cart was the elderly man.
The sound from the crowd's cheers was deafening as the entire area lost their minds in excitement. Kelsey was pretty sure she heard a few people propose to Melody on the spot. Honestly, it was an incredibly impressive performance, so Kelsey couldn't blame them.
After the trick was done, Kelsey reactivated her domain and waited for her turn to talk with Melody and give her a tip. The line was long, almost everyone wanted to introduce themselves and pay the wonderful magician, so it took nearly 10 minutes for Kelsey to get to the front.
“You have returned young lady! I welcome you back to my humble show!” Melody the Magnificent said as saw Kelsey.
“You were amazing! I finally got some coin so I decided it would be good to come back and see you.” Kelsey said as she pulled a handful of gold pieces and tossed them in Melody’s hat.
It was quite a lot of money. Potentially too much, because when the Magician saw the coins fall into the hat her face broke character for a brief moment before she was able to control herself. “I must say that is quite generous of you, miss! Thank you very much!” she said as she bent down behind her table began writing something.
“It’s no big deal, you’re really good. I just wanted to show how awesome I thought you were. Anyways, have a nice evening, Melody!” Kelsey said as waved and began walking away.
Before she could walk further, the magician called out. “Miss, wait, thank you.” she said as she reached out for a handshake.
Kelsey took the woman's hand and felt something slip into her palm as she did.
“Have a nice night yourself!” Melody said with her normal dramatic flair.
Kelsey nodded with a smile and walked away. Once she was in a private place, she unfurled the note and read it.
Dear Nice woman,
I will be done with my performance in half an hour, I do hope that you will join me for a drink at The Swordfish Tavern. It is a restaurant as well as a place for drinks.
Yours,
Melody
Kelsey quickly read the note and was feeling quite conflicted. On one hand, she really needed to get back to the forest and continue studying. On the other hand, she hadn’t had any real human contact in a couple months. It would be nice to have drinks and dinner with a person rather than a smarter than average wolf. She had been eating monsters and the occasional salted meats since going out to the forest. She hadn’t had a real meal in a long time.
Deciding that she couldn’t miss out on the opportunity for a short break, she started asking around to find the tavern in question. It only took her about 10 minutes of walking to find herself standing in front of the tavern, and once she did, she was less convinced that dinner was a good idea. The Swordfish Tavern, while not run down, was not the kind of place Kelsey generally spent time in. As she entered, she noticed that the clientele was significantly rougher than she was used to. She suspected that many of the bandits she had helped capture during her trip with the caravan probably ate and drank in places like this.
The inside of the restaurant was filthy. The floors were covered in dirt and broken glass. The tables and chairs were all worn and appeared to have some issue or another, from wobbly tables to chairs missing entire legs. Well, this place is sketchy... She glanced around the room with her domain and used the identify portion to check the levels of the men and women in the room. Thankfully none of them were higher than level 130. No Immortals, good. Not that I think your average Immortal would be a patron to an establishment such as this one.
Deciding that she was going to see what all of this was about, Kelsey sat down at a table and waited for Melody to arrive. A few minutes later, the woman in question entered her domain. With her dark brown hair now down instead of tied up in a bun hidden inside her hat, and wearing normal clothes, she struck an incredibly different vibe than she had before. She looked tough. Melody was wearing a simple cotton shirt with her sleeves rolled up along with a pair of long black leather pants. The magician was now wearing boots that looked more appropriate for combat than for a night on the town, and she had a single one-handed cutlass on her hip.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
As the woman walked in, she spotted Kelsey immediately and walked over to her table. “Hey, glad you could make it.” Melody said with a genuine smile on her face and none of the drama in her voice that Kelsey was accustomed to. “What’s your name by the way?”
“Kelsey. Glad to be here.” Kelsey said as she smiled back.
Melody sat down across from Kelsey before waving down a waitress and ordering a couple drinks and some food for the both of them. The pair of them had some casual conversation for a few minutes, discussing various things from the weather to Melody’s performances. Eventually, Melody broke the ice and cut directly to the heart of the matter.
“So, I’m sure you’re wondering why I asked you to come to this shithole.” she said as leaned forward on the table.
“I wouldn’t have put it exactly like that, but yeah. I have to admit, I’m curious.” Kelsey said with a small grin on her face.
Melody’s face broke into a huge smile of somewhat smug satisfaction. “I figured if this place scared you off, you wouldn’t be the right person for something I have planned.”
Kelsey arched an eyebrow. “Oh? A plan?”
“Yeah, a plan. So, there is this underground auction happening tonight. The guy who runs it, Louis Gibson, had his goons steal something from me a few weeks back that he’s selling at auction. I wanna buy it back.” she said confidently.
What in the world does this have to do with me? Whatever, I'll play along.
“Wait, if you want to buy it back, why do you need me?”
Melody shot Kelsey a mischievous grin. “Two reasons. The first is pretty simple. I’d look great with you on my arm when we walk in; I have something of a reputation to uphold. Secondly, that Louis guy absolutely loathes me. There’s a pretty good chance he has his thugs try to kill me if I show up. I figured that since you’re closing in on Immortality, you would be able to defend me if that happens.”
Kelsey blinked a few times in surprise as she digested what Melody was saying. “Firstly, thanks. Secondly, I’m not closing in on Immortality. What level do you think I am?” Kelsey asked curiously.
“Wait, really?” Melody asked as she leaned in closer and squinted at Kelsey. “I’ve got a skill that gives me a good estimate of how strong someone is, it's like an aura around the person I’m looking at. I’ve only ever seen people near Immortality with a yellow aura like yours, even some Immortals still show that color.”
Well shit, that’s not ideal. I can’t very well say that I’m only level 100 now, it’ll just bring up more questions. “Alright you got me, I’m pretty close to Immortality.” she said as casually as she could.
Melody smiled. “I knew it! So, you in?”
“Well wait, what do I get out of this deal?”
The magician sat stunned for a few moments, as if she had completely forgotten the part about paying someone for help. “Uhh… I’m pretty good with my sword. I can give you lessons. One month, full time!” she finished excitedly. “I know you’re a mage, but every mage should have a backup!”
Kelsey considered it for several seconds. She knew that she desperately needed some sort of formal training with her saber, and a cutlass was pretty close to her saber... More than that, this just seemed entertaining. Studying was so boring, maybe a night on the town and going to a secret underground auction to help a woman she barely knew buy back a piece of stolen property from a man who hates her would be just what Kelsey needed. Probably not, but it had to be better than reading.
Honestly, I kinda just wanna see where this goes.
“I cannot believe I'm saying this, but yeah, sure, I’m in.” Kelsey agreed.
If shit does go down, I’ll need to make sure I’m careful with how I fight; I don’t want a random group of thieves to have information on my skills.
“Great! Alright, let's head to my place after we eat so we can get dressed. Do you have any clothes at home you can wear to a fancy auction? If not, I might have something that won't be too baggy on you.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ve got some clothes I can wear.” Kelsey said. “Why does that Louis guy hate you by the way?”
“I dated his son for a bit, broke the poor boy's heart. He was too much like his father, all rough and tough. No finesse, you know what I mean? Ever since I broke things off, his dad has had it out for me.” Melody answered offhandedly.
Kelsey nodded her head earnestly. “Oh, trust me, I get it.”
The pair spent the next 45 minutes eating, drinking, and chatting. They talked a bit about Louis and the auction, but they mostly just enjoyed themselves, talked about Melody’s magic shows, and ate an absolutely terrible dinner. Truly terrible. She would have preferred shark meat over the pathetic excuse for beef they had at the restaurant. But at least the company was nicer than usual.
After finishing dinner, they made their way to Melody’s house. It was a small two room building that was wedged in between two much larger multi-family homes with a large front courtyard area. The only two rooms were a living room, dining room, kitchen combo, and a bedroom. For how small and impoverished this home was, it was incredibly well kept. The floors were clean, the furniture and appliances were well maintained, and she even had a few small plants scattered around the place that all looked very healthy.
The appliances were something Kelsey was still getting used to. They were so similar to ones she had on earth, they just functioned with monster cores and mana instead of electronics and electricity. She had an oven that used a fire core, a refrigerator that used an ice core, and even a coffee maker. Kelsey had never been a fan of coffee, always having preferred tea, but she did love the smell of a freshly brewed pot of the stuff.
“Alright, you wanna change first?” Melody asked.
“Nah, you go ahead, I’ll change out here.” Kelsey said as she moved to let Melody into the bedroom.
“Better be quick. There are some neighborhood teens that like peeking into my house at night just in case they can see me naked.” she said casually.
“Really? Why don’t you stop them?” Kelsey asked.
“I invite a lot of people over, it ruins the mood to stop them every time, so eventually I just stopped bothering. What do I care if they see a little skin anyways?” she answered dismissively.
“Good point. Well, I’ll be fine changing out here anyway. Go ahead.” Kelsey said as she began taking off her cloak.
As Melody was out of eyesight, Kelsey stored her clothes inside her vault and then summoned one of the dresses she had purchased when she went shopping with Claire. One of the nice new features of her vault was that she could summon clothing directly onto herself, so she didn’t even need to actually get dressed anymore. She hadn't known what 'can be summoned anywhere on the user's body' had meant, but she had figured it out with some trial and error.
The dress she chose was a strapless, pure black sequin dress that she felt contrasted well with her pale skin and red hair. She had basically never worn something so nice, even on Earth. The only times she could remember were her prom, and her college graduation, neither of which she had cared much about. She was someone that had always preferred practical and comfortable clothing, but Claire had insisted on getting Kelsey this dress, and now that she saw herself wearing it, she agreed. Damn Claire, you really know how to pick em. Better hope I don’t actually get into a fight in this thing or people are going to get a free show.
As Melody walked in and saw Kelsey, she whistled in appreciation. “You look great! My reputation is going to stay strong tonight!” She shouted triumphantly as she did a small spin, showing off her dress.
She was wearing a baby blue dress made of silk that looked great on her. “Not so bad yourself. Where is this place anyways?” Kelsey asked.
“It’s in the basement of an Inn called the Seller’s Cellar.” she answered as she grabbed a dagger off the table and started strapping it to the inside of her leg under the dress.
“The what?” Kelsey asked. “The Seller's Seller?”
“The first Seller is someone who sells things. The second one is like a wine cellar.” she explained. “It’s an Inn and tavern for wealthy merchants, kind of a play on words.
Wait, does that joke somehow work in Anouran too? Okay, I have got to figure out how this magical translation thing works. Are we just actually speaking the same language, and they just call it Anouran? There is zero chance that the Seller’s Cellar joke just happens to work in both. Do the words in both languages somehow rhyme? How is that even possible? I mean, what are the chances? Maybe I need to buy a book on languages? Nah... nah... no way that joke happens to work both ways. I am going to lose my damn mind...
Kelsey continued spiraling mentally for several seconds before realizing that, from Melody's perspective, she had just been staring blankly at the wall.
“Oh, I get it, that’s pretty clever actually.” she said, pretending that she didn’t just have a brief existential crisis about the finer details of Otherworlder's and language.
“Yeah, I’ve always thought so.” Melody said as she smiled. “Let's go to the auction!”
With that, Melody grabbed Kelsey by the arm and walked out the door.