“Hey Elijah, you ready to leave?” Dante asks with a smile.
“Yeah,” I say back.
"Hello. I'm Esmar, from the Academy Caravan. I came to check things out and make sure that everyone is set to leave the moment our caravan pulls in," he says while offering his hand for me to shake.
I shake it and notice his delicate yet firm handshake. We move outside the room walking toward the elevator.
“Have you decided what E-grade artifact you’re going to choose,” I ask Dante.
“They all suck,” he replies.
“I agree, although I did find something that might help if we ever go swimming,” I say, “An amulet that grants its user maneuverability underwater.”
“You’re a water mage?” he says in a surprised tone as furls his eyebrows.
I nod and continue to converse with him while following Esmar. We reach the exit without much difficulty and I nod and continue to converse with him and follow Esmar. We reach the exit without much difficulty and see multiple long metal carriages pulled by 4 large beasts.
“Go home, pack, and sleep. You guys were the last out of your dungeons, so everyone has been waiting for you two. We will be leaving for the academy tomorrow morning. Don’t be late.” Esmar says and walks away.
“Don’t be late,” I say mimicking Esmars stern attitude, “Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow, Dante.”
“See you,” He says back with a smile.
I head to a store to grab some food and head home, exhausted. Entering my apartment, I call out to my roommate. Not hearing a response, I find him in the kitchen cooking.
“Sup Raven,” I say to him.
I stare at his back waiting for his response and see his nearly imperceptible nod.
“How was your dungeon? Any difficulty?” He shrugs his shoulders in response to my questions.
Unbothered by his lack of enthusiasm. I continue pestering him.
“What’s your affinity?” I ask.
I hear a deep raspy chuckle. He turns off the stove, picks up the pan and scrapes all the pasta from the pan into a plate.
He turns and my eyes naturally fall onto the burnt half of his face.
“I had two. Healing and Poison,” He lets out another raspy laugh, “Ironic, isn’t it? The two D-grades that we’re assigned to me told me—”
He stops talking and starts coughing into a towel. I see the specks of blood in it before he throws it into the trash.
“They said I should be able to heal my face once I hit D-grade. Maybe even sooner,” he finishes.
“Well, that’s good. Two affinities are rare. You’ll be valued, especially since you’re a healer. Anyway, I brought food,” I say.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He shrugs his shoulder and walks to the dining table. I follow him and we eat in silence.
I wake up early the next morning and start packing. I probably won’t ever come back. Best to just take everything. Especially since I—
I notice a notification flashing light blaring in my peripheral vision and open it mentally. I feel a ring appear on my hand and scan it.
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Cosmic Sense - No Rank - No Affinity
Skill:
- Cosmic Ripple: Grants the user the ability to sense the ripples in reality in a 5-meter bubble around them. Grants information of all that enter your domain.
No secondary artifact slots available for 58 hours
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I forgot about the rings. I slip it into my void storage and look into my closet to find my duffel bag. I fill it up with all my clothes, which aren’t much. I really need to spend more money on clothes. Leaving the duffel bag on the floor, I touch my bed and try to put it into my storage. I feel a little resistance before it disappears. That worked. Damn.
I walk over to where the bed used to be and step on the wood tiles, looking for the specific one that creaks. I hear and pry it out, finding a small metal box underneath it. I open it up to find a small stack of silver coins and some jewellery. I take out all the silver coins placing them in my pouch, causing it to bulge. I then summon my ring of deception and cosmic ripple, placing them into the metal box and storing it in my Reserve.
I hear a knock on my door and get up to open it. Raven walks in with a white mask on his face.
“Let's go, are you ready?” he asks me in his usual gruff and raspy voice.
I nod and he scans my room noticing my missing bed. He stays silent and I send him a thank you in my head for not being nosy. I have to be more careful with how I use my Void Reserve from now on.
I pick up my duffel and follow him outside. He puts on his backpack and I smile at it being as empty as my duffel bag. We walk out of the apartment and I tell Raven to go ahead. I walk toward the richer area of town and stop at our only artifact store.
I peek in and see a room with a counter at the end and a fat, plump man standing behind it. I step inside and hear the door slam shut behind me.
“Welcome,” the owner says with a friendly smile. I walk to the counter eyeing the artifacts in display cases around the room. None are higher than E-grade.
“Hello, I’m looking to buy some essence stones. You wouldn’t have any in store would you?” I inquire.
He nods, “How many do you want and of what grade? F-grade stones go for a copper a piece while E-grade stones go for a bronze a piece.”
I dump my entire coin pouch on the table and remove 3 silver coins from the pile. I look up and see the greed in his eyes but decide to ignore it. Essence stone's price are static. He can’t Rob me blind even if he wanted to.
“Can I get as many as this will get me,” I say as I feel a pang in my chest spending the majority of the wealth my parents left me.
He counts out the coins and tells me it’ll net me 3 D-grade stones and 200 E-grade ones. I nod and he places the coins in a bucket and takes it to the back returning with a pouch. He places the pouch in front of me and I pick it up.
“Do you have a private room I can use these in?” I ask and verify their contents.
“Follow me,” I watch as he scurries from behind the counter and walks to a door I missed when I walked in. He opens it and goes up the spiralling staircase that lays behind it. I hesitate but ultimately follow after him. We reach a hallway and he takes me to one of the small rooms.
“Typically I’d charge you, but since you made such a big purchase you can use it for free,” He says while rubbing his large pudgy hands together.
He leaves and I close the door behind him locking it. I stand in a small room similar to the changing rooms at the tailor's shop except it has runes on the walls. The air is heavier than usual and I glace around the room. This feeling should be caused by the Extra Mana that’s being siphoned into this room from the surrounding area. I place my duffel bag on a seat in the corner of the room and open the large pouch with the essence stones taking out a single E-grade one.
I open my Pseudo Water Mana Core artifact menu.
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Pseudo Water Mana Core - SSS rank: Starts → F rank - Void Affinity
Stolen Mana Core from a high ranker who was killed at the hands of The Herald of Chaos. A crystalline reservoir of untapped magic. The death of the high ranker is said to have led to the death of billions as the universe of Astollen was left without its protector.
Skill:
- Mana Core: Grants the user a Water aspect Mana core. The rank of the core starts at F rank and will grow with essence stones added. Can bond to 1 item at current rank using this core as the base.
E-grade stone detected. Do you wish to use E-grade Essence stone to rank up Pseudo Water Mana Core to E rank?
Yes/No
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I mentally click yes. I feel the Mana around me shuttle into my core filling it. I pick up a handful of E- grade essence stones and try to enhance the artifact again.