I looked closely at the small box Riomed held in his hands. It was about the length of an adult’s forearm, and it was about as thick as a shoe box. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that Lord Riomed had bought me a nice pair of shoes.

The box caught my attention. I had no idea what it was, and the fact that it was being delivered by a high noble ensured that its contents were expensive. I knew that it was customary for a child to receive two gifts on the Ritual of Observation: one from the community, and one from the parents. I wasn’t expecting much, though. Presumably, they would get me something that a typical nine-year-old would appreciate: something expensive but with little utility.

There were hundreds of things I wanted in the world of Ferrum, which was why I had entered into a partnership with Sendrick. Everything I wanted could only be bought with gold, so I certainly didn’t expect anything useful to be contained within that box.

“Can I open it?” I asked, looking carefully at the gift in Lord Riomed’s hands.

“Of course,” Riomed said.

I reached forward and carefully removed the top from the wooden box. Inside was a long cylindrical object that was about a centimeter in diameter and twenty centimeters long. The object had been shaped out of some kind of dark wood, and two short inscriptions had been engraved into the object’s exterior.

ᚩᛣᚰᛦ: Laevo

ᚢᛕᚧᚯᛦ: Jacto

They were the incantations for [Lift Object] and [Catapult]. My jaw fell open as I realized that I was looking at a mage’s wand. Something like that would have to cost around twenty-five Etronian gold pieces. Even for a rich man like Lord Riomed Koravin, buying an engraved magic wand was a major expense. It was much too extravagant a gift to waste on a child.

I carefully plucked the wand from its case. It was clearly meant for an adult man, so it seemed comically large in my hand.

“Is this what I think it is?” I asked no one in particular.

“Yes,” Riomed said, his smile starting to show teeth. “Beltane came up with the idea for the gift. The Alchemist in Northwind gave us an especially good deal, and many of the townspeople helped raise enough money to pay for the engravings. There’s still enough space on the wand for four more inscriptions, so you’ll be able to add them as you learn new spells.”

I had to resist mightily to stop myself from crying. Perhaps I had been far too dismissive of the “NPCs” who weren’t directly related to me. They had shown themselves to be capable of adapting to the changes I had brought to their world. I truly believed it was impossible, but they managed to get me the perfect gift. It was as if Lord Riomed had looked into my mind and found exactly what I needed at that exact moment.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“It’s perfect…” I said, gratitude clear in my voice.

“Come on,” Lord Riomed said. “Try it out.”

There was a stone off to one side of the garden. Visualizing the incantation strongly in my mind, I waved the wand in the direction of the stone. One of the engravings lit up, and the stone lifted up off the ground as if it was suspended by a long, invisible string. Based on my mana conductivity, I knew that I could use [Lift Object] on anything that weighed less than about four hundred kilograms. Lifting the stone would be more than enough to show my knowledge of the [Lift Object] spell, however.

Riomed let out a low whistle. It seemed like he didn’t really believe I could do magic until he saw me cast the spell. “I tried to learn distortion magic a long time ago,” he said. “It just never really clicked for me. In a million years, I never would have guessed that someone could master Source Magic before their seventh birthday.”

“Thank you for the gift,” I said sincerely. “I’m going to use this for the rest of my life.” This second sentence wasn’t hyperbole or deception. I truly believed, in that moment, that I would carry that wand for the rest of my life.

“I’m happy to hear that. I look forward to seeing that wand sitting on the armrest of the throne of Northwind,” Lord Riomed said.

The throne of Northwind was in the Granite Castle where Thale made his last stand against the heroes of Ferrum. Officially, it was Armond’s seat of power, but he had not stepped within the City of Northwind in more than a decade.

After I thanked Riomed a few more times, Nina approached and tried to get my attention. At that point, however, Beltane left the interior of the manor and entered the garden. He moved with a purpose, and his expression was blank. This was the sign that the ritual had begun in earnest.

Lord Riomed gestured for Nina to step away, and she departed with an expression of annoyance. As she left, I vaguely heard her say that she wanted to show me something “really cool.”

Under one arm, Beltane held a thick leather-bound tome. In his other hand, he grasped a pen. After looking down at the equipment in his hands and making sure that everything was in order, he looked over at me for a fraction of a second. I was supposed to be seated when Beltane used his [Observe] Talent on me, so I was still getting back to my seat when a pop-up appeared at the top of my vision.

Beltane Ostara has targeted you with [Observe, Lvl. 5]

I wondered for a moment why he had even bothered using [Observe]. He had checked my attributes at least once a week over the past three months, so I was sure he had already memorized all of them.

After using [Observe], I sat down in my chair. Everyone had stepped back about ten meters, and Beltane paced in a circle around me three times. His eyes were locked on me the whole time. I had been told to keep my eyes forward so as not to interfere with the ritual, but it all seemed a bit absurd. [Observe] could be used instantaneously. If it really took so long to use, the Talent would be much less useful.

Once he had finished his third rotation around me, Beltane opened the large tome he had brought. He spent about thirty seconds writing something down in the large tome. As soon as he was done scribbling, he cleared his throat and began speaking.