Alex and Natasha were practically sprinting down the street after leaving the Martial Arts Studio.
Even so, as they rounded a corner, Alex skidded to a stop, his eyes locked onto a small—but obviously incredibly posh—store.
Alex almost cackled as he snagged Natasha’s arm and pulled her into the Magic Emporium.
The Magic Emporium.
This world had magic.
He had to remember that. “Can you text the others? They’re going to want to make stops if they can.”
Even with this newest discovery—as they pushed their way through the door to get inside—he was continuing to devote a part of his enhanced mind toward reorganizing his temporary inventory to the best effect.
There was a pleasant jingling through the shop as the door swung closed behind them.
It clearly didn’t come from any bell, and there was an… extra quality to the air.
Magic? That did make sense. Magic in a magic store.
Natasha sucked in a breath as she seemingly made the connection as well. Clearly, she was still coming to grips with this facet of their reality as much as he was.
Alex quickly spoke under his breath. “Please keep them up to date with what we learn here. I’d welcome any thoughts or insights as well.”
She nodded, returning her attention to her phone.
Lenka had always loved setting traps.
As a child, they’d been silly things, pranks or jokes played on family and friends.
As a teen, it had been as a part of hunting in the few places where that was still allowed.
As an adult… she hadn’t enjoyed the traps she’d dealt with nearly as much, but then again, no one liked dealing with landmines. Even then, she’d mainly been training to do the cleanup rather than placing them.
Breathe, Lenka. You aren’t going to be hurting people. These will be used against undead abominations.
She had carts full of chemicals and other items that were obviously for nefarious purposes, but the cashier didn’t bat an eye as Lenka maxed out her credit-card-like thing with the purchase.
Grant had already gotten his building materials, along with some things that Lenka couldn’t have afforded, and he’d even loaded it all into his Inventory already.
She’d just paid when her phone buzzed, and from the look of things, Grant’s had too.
Grant was faster in pulling his out, and she let him read as she pulled all her purchases into her Inventory.
Now, she’d been tempted to just steal some of the materials she wanted and needed, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it…mainly because there seemed to be some sort of security something in effect that prevented anything from being put in their Inventory until they purchased it.
She literally couldn't bring herself to use the skill.
That had been saddening to realize, but what could she do? Buy the things she needed and wanted. That’s what she could do.
Finished loading up her Inventory, she thanked the clerk and turned to Grant.
Grant was furiously typing back a response. Still, he saw her walk up beside him. “We have another stop to make.”
“Oh?”
“Magic shops are a thing.” Grant seemed positively giddy with excitement. “Like, we can buy magic, Lenka.” He chuckled under his breath. “Magic will be mine.”
Lenka blinked a few times, implanted memories of seeing magic shops flickering through her recollections. “Huh… so they are.”
I wonder what sort I can get…
An attendant, who was dressed incredibly nicely—if in a slightly different style than they’d seen before—walked up to them, taking in their attire and clearly assuming they didn’t have much money.
Still, he remained professional. “Good afternoon, sir, madam. How can I assist you?”
Alex smiled, his memory having found how much money he had in this world. “Do you work on commissions?”
“No, we only sell the items that we have in stock.”
Alex frowned. What? Then, he understood. “Oh, no, I apologize. I don't need anything custom. I was trying to ask: Do you earn a commission on sales?”
The man blinked a few times before hesitantly responding. “I… yes?”
“Then today is your lucky day. I’ve always wanted to learn magic, and I’ve got funds to burn.”
A light filled the young man’s eyes, but there was a tempered nature to the light. “We don’t have any initializers to sell. So, if you aren’t already an adventurer…”
Alex almost frowned, but his provided memories filled in the gap. In this world, ‘adventurer’ was simply anyone with levels at all.
Didn’t Master Adams say something about adventurers?
It probably didn’t matter. Regardless, an initializer was what was required to take a Level 0 to Level 1.
“Oh, there’s no need for that. I’m already leveled.”
The light blazed brighter within the salesman’s eyes. “What do you need?”
“I’m in a hurry, and I don’t know exactly, but what would you recommend for someone planning on attempting to attend the college as a door-buster?” Again, his memories provided the word for adventurers who went into magical places of power that were filled with monsters.
He would have called them dungeons, but apparently this world just called them doors, because that’s the form they seemingly took most often, here.
“Well, then. Let’s see what we can do. We don’t have any of the standard sets on hand, sadly. We’re a bit too far from the college for that, but I do have some things that should be of interest. If needed, I can order in anything you desire.”
“How soon could you have it here?” Alex asked curiously. With magic, maybe it would be a matter of mere moments?
“Tomorrow morning at the latest.”
Alex nodded, disappointed, but he did his best to not show it. “I will keep that in mind. Thank you.”
There were, apparently, two ways to learn skills or spells in this world.
One was through study. The other was through orb absorption.
Books that could be studied to gain skills were by far cheaper than the orb that simply granted the skill.
There was the potential of incompatibility with an orb, but it was effectively instant in either success or failure.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
With that in mind, Alex dove into the lists provided by the attendant.
They were…extensive to say the least.
After a moment, however, Alex frowned, turning back to the attendant. He glanced to the name tag before asking his question, “Jason, why are there no offensive spells or skills here?”
The attendant—Jason—widened his eyes. “My apologies, good sir, but it would be illegal to sell such to a non-accredited adventurer. The College will have some upon your acceptance should you go that route, and once you graduate—or at least earn your basic accreditation—we hope that you remember us and return.”
Alex grunted. That made just too much sense. The world seemed mostly peaceful. He hadn’t seen anyone openly carrying weapons, outside of the training ones in the Martial Arts Studio.
Utility it is, then.
The immediate distinction between spells and skills was obvious, at least at the Simple and Common rarities of F-rank.
Spells used Magic Points—otherwise known as mana or MP—to accomplish effects. Skills were everything or anything else.
But then, he frowned. “Excuse me, why is this listed as a skill, not a spell?”
Jason took a look and nodded. “Ahh, because it isn’t based upon mana usage. Instead, it is either a constant effect, or in the case of that skill, it is an action that requires a cooldown before you can use it again.”
The attendant frowned for a moment, then turned around and grabbed a tome from the shelf behind the counter.
“You can’t read it here, but I suggest you purchase this along with whatever else we can provide you with.” The book was labeled simply ‘System Basics for the New Adventurer.’
Alex nodded gratefully. “Absolutely. Thank you. I’d love another copy if you have it?”
Jason smiled, setting a second copy beside the first. “Of course, sir.”
Alex turned back to the list of skills and spells.
Without his magic unlocked, he didn’t actually know how much mana he’d have, so the basic descriptions weren’t as useful as he’d like.
A spell that turned mana into healing at a ratio of one mana to one health point might be fantastic if he had a pool of mana larger than his own health, or awful if he only had twenty mana total.
Jason had also provided a pencil and paper so that Alex could write down what he wanted.
Soon enough, Alex had a list of spells and skills that he was interested in.
Basic Mana Manipulation (Common) [Skill]
Basic Mana Sense (Common) [Skill]
Quick Step (Uncommon) [Skill]
Clot Blood (Common) [Spell]
Cleanse (Common) [Spell]
Purify (Uncommon) [Spell]
Create Water (Common) [Spell]
Create Rations (Common) [Spell]
Analyze (Common) [Skill]
Deep Assessment (Uncommon) [Spell]
Cure Wounds (Uncommon) [Spell]
Minor Heal (Common) [Spell]
First Aid (Common) [Spell]
Detect Life (Common) [Spell]
Detect Unlife (Common) [Spell]
Detect Elemental (Common) [Spell]
Life Sense (Common) [Skill]
Danger Sense (Common) [Skill]
Speed Reading (Common) [Skill]
And so on.
Two in particular stood out to him, and he could almost feel the System working in the background to get him the skills.
Blood Replenishment (Uncommon) [Spell]
Blood Transfusion (Uncommon) [Spell]
He turned the list around to Jason, and the man’s eyes visibly widened at the extensive list. “Well, sir. Let me see what I can do.”
He went down the list making notations.
Finally, he nodded, turning the paper back around. “These are the ones we have on hand and the costs for those as well as how soon we can get any of the remainder that are available and the associated costs.”
Alex felt his eye twitch at the price of each item. He was also irritated that much of what he wanted was not available. Including both of the spells that he’d thought were System designated for him.
He sighed. Ahh, well. That would have been a bit too easy.
Even draining his bank account and maxing his credit cards, he couldn’t even get all that he was interested in, even when limited to the more limited list that this store had available.
No wonder Jason was so well dressed. If he worked on commission and these were the prices… he wouldn’t be hurting for funds.
James held a knife in each hand as he and Kaylee slunk through the darkened gymnasium.
They hadn’t found any evidence of other people… or things there, but he didn’t want to get complacent.
Kaylee… well, she was texting even as she walked in a crouch.
He couldn’t really blame her. Natasha had reached out to them about a Magic shop of some kind, and even James was excitedly telling Kaylee what he was interested in—and listening to the frankly ridiculous restrictions that were in place—as he tried to keep quiet and continue doing their task.
The constant whispering back and forth slowed them down quite a bit. Even so, they took the time to verify all the exterior doors, save those in the locker rooms, but since those were between the gym and the school, he figured they would be the ones most often checked by the school staff.
He’d investigate those last.
It was a creepy experience slinking through the dark with just his phone light shining from over the edge of his pocket to give them illumination.
It was deeply relieving when they’d cleared the gym enough that James was comfortable turning on the massive overhead lights in the main space in preparation for their next tasks.
He would handle the locker rooms himself while Kaylee took stock of what they had to work with.
Alright, just a quick check, and we’re home free.
He was striding across the gym with quiet steps when he heard something echoing through the vacant rooms and hallways from back near the entrance that they’d come through.
What? Is that… voices?
He glanced toward the locker rooms, but sighed, quickly making the knives disappear. He spun on his heels and headed toward one working entrance.
I’ll handle this first.
Alex felt like he was going to explode with nervous energy, but he kept himself contained as they finished up the transaction.
In the end, after communicating with the others through Natasha, they ended up purchasing the following:
System Basics, book x2;
Basic Mana Manipulation (Uncommon) [Skill], orb x4;
Analyze (Common) [Skill], orb x4;
Basic Mana Sense (Common) [Skill], orb;
Detect Life (Common) [Spell], orb;
Detect Unlife (Common) [Spell], book;
Speed Reading (Common) [Skill], book;
Danger Sense (Common) [Skill], orb;
Quick Step (Uncommon) [Skill], orb;
Clot Blood (Common) [Spell], orb;
Cure Wounds (Uncommon) [Spell], book;
Minor Heal (Common) [Spell], book;
The rest were unavailable at this location.
An added frustration was that Spell books could only be used by one person before they would turn to dust. They were apparently made with magics to function that way, otherwise one person buying the spellbook could remove the shop’s abilities to make money with that knowledge.
At least that was what was stated. Alex didn’t buy it, even if he did literally buy the books.
Honestly, he would have gotten more, but not only would this purchase mean that he would be tapped out of funds—even to the point of needing Natasha to chip in to make the purchase—but the shop simply didn’t stock too many of the most useful ones to him.
He did ask after Blood Transfusion and Replenishment, and Jason said that he could order them, and they would arrive by the next morning.
Alex pushed a bit, and Jason was willing to look up which other stores in the area might have them in stock, so long as Alex promised to take Jason’s card and credit the sale to him in that other shop.
They weren’t at any other shop together, but there was a known copy of each within a few blocks of the school in different directions.
Alex pulled out the map and marked the places on it, much to Jason’s amusement.
In the end, Natasha shoed Alex away, and took several precious minutes to haggle, not lowering the price, but getting another two System Basics books,one orb of Detect Trove (Common) [Spell], and one orb of Mine-Not-Yours (Common) [Skill].
Both seemed… pretty niche to Alex—and their lower price and Jason’s willingness to include them seemed to back him up in that assessment—but free was free, and they would undoubtedly find good uses for them.
Finally, all of that complete, they finalized their purchase.
Natasha had been wrong. Alex was a fool, just like most Americans.
He’d actually been going to pay the sticker price for what they wanted!
Unbelievable. No wonder so many Americans acted like they were poor.
True, in the end she hadn’t been able to lower the price—this Jason fellow worked on commissions, and he wasn’t willing to let his cut shrink, it seemed—but she was able to get him to throw in some genuinely choice items.
She’d have preferred to include more things, then take them away to lower the cost, but not only did she suspect that wouldn’t have worked on Jason, they’d been forced to discuss how much they could spend in front of the attendant.
It was poor planning on their part.
Well, what was done was done, and now she was the only person in their group with money. That made things easier.
Only the one in charge should have money. All this back and forth is just ridiculous…
She couldn’t wait to get back to her husband. He understood how things should be.
She felt a small smile tug at her lips.
She missed that man, but she knew he would be able to handle himself.
Be safe and keep our son safe too, moi voin.
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