As Meri and I walked into the city, I couldn't help but laugh inwardly at the expressions she made. Her experience in the outside world was limited to our treks through the forest and small towns for the most part. The only other city she had seen was the bleak and derelict looking place we held up in when we first made our escape.
While some parts of it were slightly appealing she never had the chance to see them with most of her time spent cooped up in the hotel or walking through the run-down back alleys to find a spot to train.
This city was something altogether different. The marvelous stone work was awe inspiring while the energy of the inhabitantss permeated in the air. Truly this was a city in its golden era. Not to mention the sheer size was at minimum twice that of the former one she had seen. Her ears twitched with every strange new sound and her fox tail wagged as she attempted to contain her excitement.
She turned to me wide eyed. “This place is just so... big. I don't think I've ever seen so many people. Have you ever seen anything like this before?” She asked me in a soft voice.
Since we've entered the city she's moved closer to me than usual. Not only to avoid hitting other people, but because of the strangeness of the situation. At times like these I noticed she became more childlike and hesitant while her slouch returned with vengeance. Acting even more meek and unsure than usual as she followed my lead. On the bright side, when she walked alone together on the road she managed to keep her back straight. Some progress is better than none.
It was almost hard for me to believe the woman in front of me only a mere twenty four hours ago had battled so fiercely with that Devil Goat. The powerful warrior who stood against her foe with a speed and strength that was beyond me. With a face that looked intent on her objective and even betrayed a hint of enjoyment. It made me wonder. If she could ever get past the trauma she experienced, which of those two Meri's was the closest to the one she would become?
I realized then that I had been lost in thought and had completely forgotten to answer her question. “Not since I've come to this... not since I’ve come here.” I didn't think it was a wise move to talk about how I wasn't native to this world when so many people were around. I felt my ribs as we walked through town. I had a healing session in the morning before setting out. My ribs were still pretty sore, but I now managed to walk at a normal pace with no problems.
I thought back to the events of this morning. I was glad to see that Maddy managed to wake up before we left. She wanted to join us, but the healer insisted she rest for the day. Maddy claimed she would be fine, but I could tell she didn't fully have her balance back yet. It was best to not take a risk. We didn't want her to fall and hit her head.
She was disappointed with the situation, but with the prospect of learning magic she couldn't stay in a dour mood for long. She made me promise to bring her back something amazing. I sure as hell was going to try.
We wondered down the streets and had to ask for directions from three separate people. The first person we asked knew exactly where the guild was. The detailed directions he gave of the thirteen turns we would have to make while also giving us landmarks for each street was helpful, but ultimately it was just too much to remember. On the tenth turn I realized that I had messed up somewhere along the line.
We went back to the last location that I knew we had gotten right and asked someone else. Sadly, they weren't sure of the exact location, but were able to tell us enough to get us into the general area. Did I mention this city was enormous yet? Of course, the third person we asked had the distinguished honor to simply point down the road at the sign less than five hundred feet away.
The building was large, but not as fancy as I thought it would be. The sign on the door simply read 'United Magic Association'. It was the only sign I’ve seen so far in this world that didn't have any symbols carved on it.
I walked inside with Meri following quickly on my heel. I wasn't sure if beastkin would be welcomed here. It was possible that those who walked the path of magic may have a different set of ideals and principles than most people. I wasn't sure if that was for the better or worse in our case, but it was something I would need to be prepared for none the less.
Besides a few paintings on the wall and how clean the building looked compared to everything else, it was rather bland and unremarkable. Plain white walls with doorways evenly spaced out from each other on either side. The hallway was long and rigid in its shape. We soon came to the unassuming front desk. Seeing the person there put my mind at ease.
The beastkin who appeared to be of bear heritage gave us the standard customer service smile and motioned us to come forward. Seeing his large canines gave me pause to be totally honest, but I wasn't about to tell this very large beastkin that.
“Can I help you?” His eyes gave me a glance and soon fixed on Meri. I saw a deep blush forming on his face. I hadn't seen many young female beastkin, so I'd wondered if all of them were as beautiful as the absolute goddess who stood by my side. The look the bear beastkin gave made it clear that wasn't the case.
My first thought was 'I need to get together with her before she realizes how hot she is and I lose my chance'. I quickly reprimanded myself for being an asshole who put his dick before the rehabilitation of this poor woman. My second thought was 'quit staring you stupid bear'!. I spoke louder than usual to get his attention. “We're looking to get a magic lesson or purchase some books on magic, if that's possible.”
He snapped out of the trance Meri put him under and brought his attention back to me. “Yes! Ummm... Do you have any prior experience with magic?” He grabbed a nearby folder and opened it as he took down notes. He asked for our age, affiliation if any, race, magic experience and level among other things.
Judging from the sign on the building which contained only words and the way this beastkin was writing, I assumed that literacy among those in the magic community must be one of the exceptions to the rule in this world. That made me a little concerned. I knew that Meri didn't know how to read. I hoped that wasn't going to be a problem.
I worried slighty about giving out so much information to these people, but most of the information they wanted was nothing our status screens didn't display. It wasn't like that was something we could hide from them. I would bet that more than a few people here had the ability to see a status screen without you opening it if they wanted. So it wasn't like that information was truly private. Nothing we told them would give us away in any case.
He handed us a piece of paper and told us to take a seat in the waiting area. I didn't expect a Harry Potter level of whimsey in this building, but I expected something more magical than this. It was like waiting around at the DMV or a clinic, only more boring. I imagined this is what a bureaucrats wet dream would be like. After being forced to wait for an inappropriately long amount of time, it was finally our turn.
An unenthusiastic young looking elven creature approached skimming the contents of what was no doubt our folder. He glanced up at us. “So I take it you are Bill and Meri, correct?” We agreed that was the case, but I would have agreed to be any number of people at this point if it could have moved the process along. He motioned to the paper I was holding which I subsequently handed to him, only to watch him take a painstaking amount of time to review it.
He sighed and put the contents of the paper in our folder before closing it. “Please come with me and we'll go over your various options.” We followed him down a long plain looking hallway as we went deeper inside the building. Seeing how uniform everything was, I wondered how possible it would be to get lost in this maze of halls and rooms which all looked exactly the same. There weren't even numbers or name plates to tell one room apart from the others.
Finally we came to what I would call, for lack of a less generous word, his office. It was a tiny room with a small desk and two chairs in front of it. He invited us to take a seat while he closed the door behind us. Around his table were shelves filled with various tomes. Where they spell books or just the same boring books one would see in any office? Papers and letters covered part of his desk along with a few items of a personal nature.
He put the papers and letters aside before setting our information down. Considering the youth of this elf, the amount of time we had to wait and the size of this office I could only come to one conclusion. They weren't taking us seriously. Yes, they would take our business, but they didn't think much would come of it and so sent someone low on the ladder to handle it. I wanted to be mad about it, but I honestly couldn't blame them when I thought about it.
The elf spoke. “I see here that you are both low rated adventurers that have no experience with magic to date. Allow me then to explain our options. For customers that are new, we have a strict policy of teaching only rank one or rank two spells. The higher the rank the more expensive the spell becomes of course.” He took a sip of water before continuing.
“As your level grows and we build a relationship with you, our guild offers the chance to purchase rank three spells. If on your journey you ever find an item that we have particular interest in, we can negotiate perhaps going beyond rank three. Are there any questions so far?” He wanted to move right along, but now that I finally had someone in front of me with answers, I wasn't about to let that happen.
I sat up straight in my chair and leaned in. “Yes, I do have some questions. What's the highest spell rank your guild is in possession of and what is the highest spell rank you know to exist?” He was clearly disappointed that I actually wanted to ask him something. I guess that even for him who appeared to be low on the totem pole, we didn't come off as very promising clients.
“I'm afraid that's not information I’m able to disclose with people who aren't official guild members. I'm only allowed to say that we have spells that go beyond rank three.”
So there was at least rank four spells in the world. I wondered how high the ranks went and how such a thing was even determined. What was Malik's lightning cutter spell rank for instance? I wanted to ask, but I doubted I would get any answers right now and I didn't want to piss the little guy off. Best to just get down to business. “So what are the prices for your spells?”
He smiled seeing that things were back on track. “For a rank one spell the price is two gold coins each. For a rank two spell the price is six gold coins. If you are unable to read, we offer lessons which are one gold coin per hour for rank one and three gold coins per hour for rank two. It is worth noting that the lessons end up being more expensive but you do get excellent one on one tutoring.”
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There was no choice at all. Lessons would be too expensive. Meri didn't know how to read. but between Maddy and I that could be worked out. We should teach her to read in any case. It would help give her more confidence and independence. Things she still desperately needed.
I looked to see if Meri had anything she wanted to add but her lips were sealed shut. She listened intently but kept looking to me to make decisions. So I did. “I think we'll just purchase the books.” After saying that, I whispered to Meri that I would help her with learning whichever spell she chose.
The elf interrupted me. “In that case, I'll give you a small warning. The books we give you have an unbreakable magical charm on them. The writing is only legible to the opener of the book. The person who first opens the book is recognized as the book's owner. If the owner of the book tries to copy down or share the knowledge with someone else, the book will turn blank. So keep that in mind.”
Well that sucks. I was hoping I could buy a few books and we could learn all the spells together. I could see how it made sense though. Once a book was out in the world, if the knowledge was not contained, the book would lose its value. I could still see some potential ways around this system but none were easy. I had to ask. “If that's true, once I master a spell what's to keep me from teaching it to someone else without the book?”
He laughed a bit at my comment. “Even for a true master of magic, it takes years of training to be able to understand every concept of a single spell. If a person who wasn't qualified tried to teach someone the spell, it would likely be either incomplete in some way or perhaps even dangerous to the wielder.”
He turned more serious as he continued. “Assuming it was the case that a person were willing to teach someone else that spell, I doubt they would do it for free. Why take the risk that someone is teaching you a bastardized version of a spell when you can pay us a very reasonable price. In any case, that is why we only share rank one and two spells with the general population, and rank three spells are reserved for those we have built a relationship with.”
It made sense. Even if you could find someone who completely understood the spell and was willing to teach it to you for free, the legwork likely wouldn't be worth the effort for the gold you'd save. Better to just come here and be sure of what you were purchasing.
My hand made its way to Maddy's purse and felt the lightness of it. We had a little over ten gold pieces left and I wanted all of us to learn at least one spell. For now we had no choice except to restrict ourselves to the rank one spells.
With all that in mind I asked for a list of every rank one spell they had. He grabbed one of the smaller tomes on the bookshelf behind him and put it on the desk and turned it to face us. To say the book was not short on details would be an understatement. Each page contained the name of a spell, a few small pictures to demonstrate its appearance and a list of features.
It didn't take as long as i thought it would to get through the book as over half of the spells clearly fell under non-applicable for anyone in my party. Some required the use of spears or only really made sense with a certain ancestry which none of us had. I took my time on the ones that were relevant to Meri as i read the important information out loud to her.
I was disappointed to see there was a fair amount of redundancy between spells. Every spell had their own strengths and weaknesses that extended from their minor differences, but many of them accomplish the same function. I recalled that what I needed was something for range and something to increase my overall power. Maddy had the same weakness so that made picking a spell for her easier.
I asked Meri what kind of spell she wanted. In typical Meri fashion, she wanted me to pick while promising she would be happy with whatever I chose. I couldn't continue to allow her to keep this up forever. If I did then she would never get better. No, I wouldn't just pick a spell for her. But looking over all the options I could imagine her getting completely overwhelmed.
We would be here all day if i tried to force her to pick without any direction, so i decided to go with a compromise. I picked out two options that complemented her archery skill and asked her to make the choice from there. With her fox claw and natural strength I concluded that close quarters combat was not the most pressing area of concern for her at the moment. The two options I had picked after careful consideration were called Wind Ripper and Mana Arrow.
Wind Ripper allowed one to use mana to amplify the destructive power of any arrow you fired several fold. Mana Arrow would allow her to use mana to actually create an arrow. Eventually it would become more powerful than a regular arrow, but not as powerful as the Wind Ripper amplified arrows. That was according to what I was reading anyway.
Both had their benefits, but in the end she decided on Wind Ripper. I agreed that was the correct choice, though a number of arrows only limited to your mana would be a nice skill to learn too. The reason I believed Wind Ripper was superior came down to one simple question. Which spell would have helped more with the Devil Goat? Wind Ripper was clearly the answer. While more shots is great, unless they can do real damage they're useless.
Picking out the spells for myself and Maddy was a bit trickier. Considering Maddy's style, I decided to go with Weighted Sword. It made the blade feel lighter to the user but heavier to the one receiving the blow. This would increase both the speed and power of her attacks while it was activated. That was something I've come to realize that she desperately needed if she was to continue down this path.
As I improved with the sword I was noticing Maddy's weakness. She refused to use a smaller sword, but with her frame and size she moved slower compared to me. She had managed to hide that truth from me with her more efficient movements, but as my skill increased that was no longer the case. Against an equally skilled opponent she would be at a disadvantage.
Men of an equal level would always be able to put more weight behind each swing of their swords. Even if both had the same level of strength the extra weight behind each swing would give her opponent an advantage in power. If she happened to face someone like that she would be in trouble. This wouldn't just erase that advantage, but completely turn it around.
Against monsters it could also be a powerful attack. It would make her swing strong enough to cut through even something as sturdy as a Devil Goat. Truly it was a perfect fit for her.
As for myself, I couldn't seem to find anything I liked. That was until i was on one of the final pages of the book. Burning Blade is it? A spell that allowed me to transform my mana into heat while pouring it into my sword. The idea of my sword being a hot knife that would cut through my enemies like butter certainly held a special appeal to me.
If the sword got hot enough I wonder, could it actually cause the blade to be set entirely ablaze? Sadly the page gave no information on that matter. It did mention the blade would glow red with the brightness depending on the level of the spell. Not only may that one day save me the trouble of having to carry a torch, it sounded totally bad ass.
With our choices made the young elf excused himself from the office to gather the books. Judging by what the elf said, these books didn't give you the option to learn them with a menu option only to then disappeared from existence like the book my other self found. Clearly those books were not the norm. Exactly how rare were they?
Should I ask him about such things or would asking such a question put me under scrutiny? It was possible their existence was virtually unheard of by most people and knowing of them could cause others to wonder how I knew such a thing. Since I wasn't sure, the best move was to keep my mouth shut about it.
I was worried the elf would make us wait a similar amount of time as before. I was happy to see that was not the case. The elf returned setting down three books on his desk in front of us. They had a leather strap that was sown into the back of the book and attached to a button on the front. holding each book tightly closed.
I wanted to ask some more questions to see if there was anything else I could learn. He wasn't having any of it. After we handed him the six gold coins he quickly ushered us out. I wondered if all elves were that rude. I could have taken a stand of some kind and promised to never come again after being treated like that, but why bother? I considered it likely nearly all the magic guilds we could have gone too would have treated low level new comers a similar way.
With our business concluded, we left the building and the city as quickly as we could. Finding our way out seemed a lot simpler. We were able to retrace the steps we took before. I took mental notes of everything so that finding our way back to this building wouldn't be such a damn chore.
As we left the city I couldn't help but notice Meri eying a delicious looking meat skewer. Being too shy to ask for one, she left me no choice but to march over and get it for her myself. After getting close enough to smell it, I decided to make that two. I felt a little bad with Maddy being excluded from our spending, I would need to remember to get something for her later.
On the walk back to town I decided to attempt Meri's first reading lesson. Not much was accomplish as what she really needed was to sit down with pen and paper in front of her, but it was better than nothing. I hated the idea of wasting all this time on the road. With our packed schedule we needed to take advantage of any time we could. From now on during every break in the dungeon and over every meal I decided that either myself or Maddy would tutor Meri
As we got back into town I caught a glimpse of June. She was wearing a form fitting but unrevealing blue dress as she strolled down the street with Malik. Even at her slightly advanced age she was still a beauty to be sure and had a maiden's figure. Her dark brown hair and blue eyes complimented her simple but elegant dress.
As for Malik, he looked like the cat that caught the canary. If the Canary was a sexy MILF minus the children that is. On second thought, lets keep that MILF term to ourselves. There was no need to pollute this reality with poorly thought out slang terms. Most importantly he was sober and on his best behavior. I was very much rooting for their date to go well. It would give him more to lose if a second and third date occurred. Not to mention that i was all for the typical story book happy ending.
Not wanting to ruin the mood we were careful not to be seen as we slipped into the hotel. Just as I had expected, Maddy wasn't following the healer's orders. Why did she need to be so stubborn all the time? I stood behind the closed door and listened to the unmistakable sound of sword practice. She grunted as she swung and the rhythm of her steps were a dead give away. I knocked on the door with Meri at my side.
"Just a minute!" I heard her yell as she obviously put the sound away and jumped into bed. If I was in her position I would have most likely had done the same instead of being laid up in bed all day.
I only teased her for a few minutes. We had much more important matters to discuss. I showed Maddy the spell books we bought and explained to her everything that had been told to me. Without my prompting it, she brought up the difficulties this would cause Meri and came to the same solution as me. While I wanted to make teaching Meri an equal job for the both of us, I knew that more would fall on Maddy as they were roommates.
Since she was already up and moving, we may as well make plans to go to the dungeon tomorrow. I would tell Malik about it after his date, assuming he was alone. If not then I would just need to get up early and make sure he was ready, unless he wasn't alone then either.. if that was the case I would just need to figure something out.
We spent the next few hours having a hardy dinner and giving Meri her first official reading lesson. At least the first one in an appropriate setting.
I wanted to get started on learning my new spell, but that would wait until I got back to my room. I was anxious to get started. That didn't mean I could dump the responsibility of teaching Meri onto someone else. I expected after I was done in here I would be reading late into the night.. Not just tonight but every night from now on if I wanted to learn this spell quickly. On the bright side that was something I was use to as a self proclaimed fantasy book nut.
It should have felt amazing to be in this world and living the dream i've had for so many years. Fighting monsters and learning magic with a pair of beautiful ladies. But the reason I'm doing this now hasn't left my mind for a single moment.
Armilda, your father told me that no matter how much time passed, you always believed I would come back for you. Even as the months went on you never stopped believing that. That fact angered him to no end I’m sure. Well done my little sister! I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me the most, but at least I made sure that he can never hurt you again.
Part of me couldn't help but feel like a fake. Your real brother that you had all your faith in let you down. He left you with your horrible father in this unforgiving world to live in mine. I know that all those nights believing that your brother would come back for you, that you really meant him. Not me.
I'm sorry he disappointed you. Seeing as we were basically the same person, I couldn't help but feel in some way responsible for his actions. I promise you, I'll be the brother that lives up to your expectations. The one you deserve.
What are you going through right now Armilda?