The Way of the Sorcerer: A 'The Wandering Inn' Fanfiction

“Aaeeoaohaaah!”

Ivory yelped as he was woken to a splash of water to his face, followed by a crash. He wiped his wet eyes—great way to get rid of eye gunk so early in the morning, actually—and saw a seal in headlights.

There hovered Misoe, mouth and eyes wide open.

“Mate…” he croaked, seeing the wet remnants of a tall glass by the bed.

His memory of the random dream he'd had fizzled away to the back of his mind as he quickly got dressed to deal with this. A conjured orb of [Light] saved him from an eviscerated foot; while the sun had begun to rise, it wasn’t potent enough to illuminate his room.

“Magical world my ass…No anti-smash enchantments…”

Groaning, he fetched one of the shirts strewn over a chair and mopped the glass up. To the surprise of perhaps only the most dim, such a technique was not in any way efficient or effective—he’d cut his ring finger right down the side, owing to not being able to see the glass inside the shirt. What a fool.

“God damn,” he muttered, typing up the shirt in a knot and putting it on the bed. “I don’t want tetanus, whatever that is. [Purify Blood].”

That was not how tetanus worked, of course, but it made him feel better. It was nonetheless good practice on his part. He was quite awake, now.

“Oh come here, you. Why you floatin’ ‘round in the dark?”

Misoe wafted sheepishly down onto his lap, looking a bit deflated. More pressingly, though, was the bloody finger. He didn’t think actually putting the blood back in was a good idea, so he did what most did when you got a cut—except there was a little pool forming in his palm, so it felt a little… vampiric? He opted instead to go get the towel hanging up and use that to clean his hand up.

Now it looked like someone had been murdered through the damn towel. Misoe, floating beside him, eyed the bloody patch with curiosity. She could hear the faintest, unsung melody; there was a teeny bit of magic in the blood. Just like someone seeing a delicious meal someone was eating, she wanted some of it; Misoe was no rogue Lifesand Golem, but it was undeniably appetising. She shrugged as Ivory fiddled with a Skill as his finger was in his mouth, collecting errant blood.

It was always unnerving how, well, nice blood tasted; of all things, why was blood sweet? He pulled out his finger, the lingering thoughts of blood magic going to join last night’s dream in the back of his head, and was pleased with what he saw. The cut was still there, but no blood was trickling out. Like seeing a cut on a zombie.

Gingerly, he picked up the shirt of glass and put it in the corner of the room.

“Nasty. Okay, let’s go downstairs then I guess.”

Misoe perched on Ivory’s head, thankful that she wasn’t scolded. Another orb of [Light] conjured, and they were ready to head downstairs.

—---------------

Nozumu was tucking into a Drathian-style breakfast he’d managed to cook up as his travelling companions came into the kitchen.

“Hey, hey. Oh, yum. What you eating?”

Nozumu raised a hand as he covered his mouth with his other one, as he finished chewing.

“Good morning. Just a rice dish. I found a Balerosian [Trader] and bought a large bag of rice. You are welcome to have some.”

Ivory ooh’d.

“Everything good seems to come from Baleros. Rice, sugar, what else? Gold trees?”

He looked expectantly at Nozumu, waiting to be told in no uncertain terms no.

“No gold trees. I would like to tell you about my day yesterday.”

Ivory stopped, milk and cereal in hand, and looked at him.

“Don’t ask, ya weirdo. Tell me! I was meaning to ask.”

“Well,” he began, placing the fork, dead gods, down. “I went first to the library that the [Mystic] spoke of. I will say that I was surprised by the lack of business it was getting; it was quite empty. Back home, there would always be rows filled with readers—and [Readers]—the only other person I saw was a Drake, though I did not explore much.”

It was another culture shock for Nozumu; his academy’s libraries were open to the public, obviously—it was the [Student] in him that was most shocked. It must be said, though, that had he been in Fissival, Nerrhavia or any other city that housed a school of magic, he’d have seen sights he was more accustomed to.

“Libraries at home are kind of dying, since you can read on phones and tablets. Same with movies.”

Ivory nodded towards Nozumu. These developing concepts on Earth had no real equivalent in this world, so it was a unique phenomenon to be told about.

“That is a real shame. So, I borrowed some books, including one for you.”

Nozumu spun around on his chair—chair-dominated cultures came up with the most hilarious of things—and pointed to a stack of books on the sitting room table.

“I do not remember what it was called, but it was about magic. For myself, I borrowed The Fall of Silvaria for some light reading. If the length of this book is anything to go by, Silvaria was not a very prominent nation.”

“If someone’s written a book on it then it must at least be worth reading. No, that’s not really very true, is it? But thanks for that. I’m in a magical mood this morning so I’ll definitely read that later.”

Ivory declaratively, but with some restraint, placed his empty bowl down on the bench. The ceramic clashing against the table made Nozumu flinch.

“Be careful! And by the Emperor, what happened to your finger?!”

Nozumu pointed to what most would call the gash on his finger.

“Err, I cut it. Missy knocked over a glass and I cut myself scooping it all up. A lil’ bit of magic sorted it out,” he waved the afflicted hand, proving all was well. “I just have to… dispose of a shirt full of glass, but that’s a future me problem. I’ve got some ideas I want to test. I’ll be outside!”

The whirling dervish that was Ivory powerwalked outside; Nozumu just shook his head. Just like on the damned boat.

This time, however, he did not want for things to do. Perhaps another movie after breakfast, a walk into town, a—

“Holy rat!”

It was never simple. Ivory’s great yelp couldn’t have been too far out of the back door, as poor Nozumu recoiled so hard his empty fork flew out of his hand.

“What happened,” Nozumu called out as he quickly put the fork back in the bowl and dashed to see what had happened. Ivory, as it happens, was standing quite still in the doorway with both his hands in the air.

Earth, Nozumu thought, must truly be a wondrous place if the sight of a rat was of such concern. He rolled his eyes and went to move past Ivory—and then saw it.

“Dead gods!”

An almost comically large, fat rat was laying motionless by the back gate, some ten metres away. It was easily a foot long, and by the look of it, almost equally as wide. There were no obvious ‘death wounds’ as far as either could see from this distance, though poison seldom affected the outside of the afflicted animal

“What the bloody fuck,” Ivory eventually managed after a few seconds of shared silence. “That thing’s like a dog.”

“Is… it dead?”

Ivory turned around, a look of confused annoyance on his face.

“How should I know? I’m not getting anywhere near that thing!”

As soon as the words came out of his mouth he felt two things: epiphanous, and regret. He turned to look at the mega-rodent in the distance, his wand at the ready.

“... [Detect Life].”

Nothing. He’d not actually used the spell before, despite learning it in a remarkably similar fashion when on the boat back to Terandria.

Nozumu, though, had lit up like a light. Good to know he was alive.

“[Detect Death].”

The rat shone black, no doubt denoting the death mana present.

“It’s dead.”

Nozumu exhaled in relief and leant against the wall.

“I was going to try to make a snake… but a different opportunity has presented itself.”

He had already pointed his wand at the rat’s corpse, and was making minor rhythmic motions with it. Nozumu’s stomach began to drop as he felt his [Ambient Mana Gatherer] collect an iota of death mana.

The feeling of employing a heavily Skill-charged performance of unknown magic was thrilling for every spellcaster, especially when they are low level and starting out. For the many spells he had learned through magical experimentation, Ivory had the backing of some fundamental Skills, such as [Elemental Control (Lesser)], which gave him the initial understanding of the type of magic he could perform.

Compare it to a [Homebody] with a workman’s tools. If you hadn’t ever hammered a post, sawed some wood or screwed in a screw (let alone having never seen these tools), you would, shall we say, struggle with such tasks. But if this [Homebody] had the [Basic Carpentry] Skill, they’d know what to do. You might not be able to do it well, but you would have the intrinsic knowledge of ‘hammer smash nail to connect wood’. Said [Homebody] with [Basic Cooking] could crack an egg without much effort—you get the point.

Now, magic was a touch different. ‘Magic’ encompassed a considerably bigger sphere than cooking or carpentry, or any skill set. Unfortunately, the comparisons end here for that reason.

For a [Mage] to venture into necromancy, they would require an explicit scholarly pursuit, involving spellbooks and, for the most part, a [Necromancer] to train them. [Sorcerers], though, played their own game.

The feeling of employing a heavily Skill-charged feat of unknown magic as a [Sorcerer], who was orders of magnitude more powerful and knowledgeable than he had been when he first began to experiment, was exhilarating. It was especially so since Ivory did not really understand why what was happening was happening, nor did he really know what he was doing. What he did know was that it was working.

Ivory manipulated the death mana wafting around the corpse of the giga-rat, powered by multiple Skills behind the scenes, with one central, backing desire.

Raise this rat into a state of undeath under my command.

Nozumu, being of a superior Drathian stock, saw the first signs of movement. His eyes widened in shock as its fat lower body shook; the tell-tale signs of a creature, bereft of its original will, 'remember' how to move.

His reaction wasn't due to a cultural campaign against the art of necromancy—which he would soon read of—but due to the thought of that… thing being alive again. He wasn't as basely motivated as the species which he takes after; rats were pests, not meals. Even if he was… undead meat was surely a health hazard.

"Oh shit, it's working!"

The rat had overcome its struggle of how to move its limbs. It stood on all four legs now, revealing its decaying features, courtesy of not only the sun, but the enchanted soil which was accelerating the natural accumulation of death mana.

That's not to say that it would have naturally risen as an undead, even if it had been left to cook even longer in the sun. But…

There was too much for a novice to control. [Necromancer] was a specialist class; it wasn't a hobby that one could just pick up. The rat spun around clockwise, answering its master's directive.

"That wasn't as hard as I thought. One more skill in my rep—uhhhh."

The risen rat, upon setting its glowing red eyes on Ivory, stopped.

He did not direct it to stop.

"Ivory," Nozumu rasped.

"I don't know! It's not working!"

That's why you had a mentor. Ivory had foolishly thought that he was simply controlling a corpse; providing the petrol to a car, so to speak. Freestyling a school of magic that you have precisely zero experience in—and without Skills—was how you fast tracked spells, Skills, and levels. You risked, however, flying too close to the sun. In this case, the sun was a death charged mega-rat.

A pair of red, rancourous eyes stared at Ivory as he desperately tried to take back the wheel of this careening vehicle. It took a few tentative steps forward, halting briefly between each when Ivory desperately swished his wand.

And then, like a dam suddenly freed of a great plug of detritus and god knows what else, it happened. The undead rat started sprinting towards Ivory, its recently generated saliva flying out of its screeching mouth as it left chunks of decomposing flesh in its wake.

"Aahhh!"

"なんてこった!"

It was only a few metres away when Ivory snapped back to reality, hoping dearly his spell would work.

"[Whelp's Barrier]! Oof!"

Ivory keeled over, feeling like he'd been punched in the gut. At the same time, the murderous hate-rat leapt in the air, sacrificing most of its limbs to the manoeuvre.

As his knee hit the ground, the airborne jumbo-rat was inches away from his face. Nozumu was scooting backwards and was about to activate one of his tail Skills when he heard a flapping noise.

The rat zoomed backwards as if shot from a slingshot, but it wasn’t over.

Screeegkhhh!

A little fireball, no bigger than the size of a child’s fist, coalesced from the barrier and zipped up, catching the rat mid-air. And then burst.

It was like a giant pinata of unadulterated awfulness. Charred, necrotic organs and blood flew gushed out in a wide 270 degree angle, sparing the house and its two frightfully spellbound inhabitants.

The garden, though, wasn’t so lucky. How there was so much everything inside this thing was a mystery of the universe—nothing was spared. Beautiful hydrangeas, sunflowers and birds of paradise were struck by high-speed bloody viscera, garnished with the occasional steaming, matted limb. Perhaps worst off were the unfortunate plants that got backhanded. A few unlucky plants were headbutted by different sections of the thing’s head.

Ivory and Nozumu looked at this… scene of biological warfare.

“H…”

Ivory struggled to form the words swimming in his head. He had never felt such a pounding in his chest; it felt like his chest was going to burst open, not dissimilar to that rat’s, err, condition.

“What have you done, Ivory?” Nozumu eventually managed. His knees were weak, arms heavy as he helped hoist Ivory to his feet.

“I think… I’m gonna be in a bit of trouble.”

________________________________

“[Extend Spell]. [Water Spray]...”

Cleanup was always the worst. Ivory was pacing around the garden, lightly showering the afflicted flora with the equivalent of a hose on the ‘spray’ setting, except instead of a hose, it was a wand. By default, the spell did actually resemble a run-of-the-mill hose from Earth, including different 'mana nozzles', which was what he was calling them. Words were a mistake.

Disgusting ooze, blood and viscera was slowly pooling together on the pavement, reminiscent of the aftermath of a Saw trap. He half-expected to receive a [Gardener] class if he fell and hit his head, or [Junior Hazmat Cleaner]. Poor Nozumu was having a lie down; he was afforded such a mercy.

"Now what actually killed you—again—mister rat? Some kind of mini [Fireball] from the barrier? And the mana drain! If you weren't splattered in a million crispy pieces, I'd be pretty annoyed with you."

An observer to this scene would have pinched their arm.

Not this one.

"What. The. Fuck. My garden!"

Ivory recoiled so hard his wand went flying. Thankfully, the spell cut itself off.

“You are the worst tenant ever,” she groan-shouted. “Explain yourself.”

“Rezzed a rat and exploded it.”

Linda looked down at a lovely paw floating her way and took a few large steps backwards.

“You… raised a rat into a zombie and then decided not to just stop the spell, deciding instead to blow it up.”

Ivory bit the insides of his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Even Linda, after vocalising it, almost laughed too.

“In my defence, it ran at me and almost tore my face off.”

Linda audibly sighed and shook her head.

“Not to mention that you are using necromancy on this continent of all continents. If anyone had seen this, you’d have been in some deep trouble, you know that? The Watch may have taken you to jail, at minimum.”

“W-what? I thought they just looked down on it.”

“You idiot. Though I suppose I can’t really fault you. The good news is that you’re okay, and the death magic will heal whatever damage you did to the plants. Get your wand and keep hosing it down while I get Nozumu. I have something I need to tell you both.

Phew. He was really expecting a drubbing from her. Unfortunately, though, the wand had landed on a bit of intestine just by his feet.

“Well, if I’m experimenting…”

Ivory extended both of his arms out so that his hands were right next to each other.

“[Water Spray]—”

Ivory spoke a Skill as the weak jet of water shot out from his left hand.

“—[Brandish Wand]?”

The Wand of Zont moved against the magical hose-water and landed in his right hand.

“Okay, that works. Nice.”

Now all that was left was to continue spraying all the shit into one spot for disposal. He’d barely had any time to think of his levelups, let alone [Whelp’s Barrier] which had no doubt saved his face and/or life.

“Come inside,” Ivory heard Linda shout from inside. He finished hosing a bit of spine from the base of a large black flower and then headed inside.

Nozumu was sitting upright, still looking a bit green, and Linda was sitting opposite on an un-reclined reclining chair. Ivory sat next to Nozumu and gave him a light pat on the back.

“Okay. So, I know what I’m about to say is going to make you do the exact opposite… but don’t panic. There’s going to be a curfew for the entire city starting tonight—”

Nozumu and Ivory sat up a lot straighter after that, the colour draining again from Nozumu’s face.

“Is this about the rat?”

“No, you dumbass. Not the damn rat. There was… an incident last night. There have been a few recently, according to my boss, that were covered up. There’s a [Serial Killer] somewhere in the city.”

Neither said anything, but their faces said 1000 words.

“And. I’m sorry, Ivory, but the person who was murdered was Jesse Cordwainer, the [Mage] from yesterday..”

“You’re joking!”

“Unfortunately not. Apparently this [Serial Killer] has only killed [Vagrants] and [Tramps]... the council was covering it up because they’re pompous, classist assholes who thought we were better off without them. The Watch was able to overrule them since the [King] was made aware of the issue. They’ve wanted to make this curfew since the first murder.”

“That could have been me. Jesus Christ.”

“You two need to make sure you don’t join him. Everyone needs to be in their home by sunset, but I want you both back when it’s daytime still—that’s if you need to leave at all. Street Runners are going to cost an arm and a leg, so we’re all going to go out soon and get everything we need for the foreseeable future.”

She took a deep breath.

“I’ve got healing potions, so you don’t need to get any; if you want any, say, mana or stamina potions then you’ll need to get them. There will be a city-wide announcement in a few hours, so we need to go and get everything we want before the panic sets in. If you’re coming with me, I’m leaving in 20 minutes.”

______________________

"Remember: be chill, get what you need first and then everything else can come after. Tell me what you're doing."

Linda, Nozumu and Ivory were sitting on some charming public benches when Linda quizzed the two of them. Misoe was in the tight embrace of Ivory, who didn't get the big deal.

"[Alchemist]'s first, Mage's Guild second, and then we will meet you back home," Nozumu calmly replied.

Surprisingly, Nozumu was the composed one of the two; after the initial shock wore off, he was the one to reassure Ivory that there was very little chance of either of them being attacked in broad daylight. Ivory perked up when Nozumu had remarked she'll be 'right.

"Good. In about an hour, the [King] will appear on local scrying mirrors to make the announcement; the Watch will be doing the rest. It'll be chaos, so on your bike, the both of you."

Linda got up and left the three of them there. She was in charge of stocking the place with food and drink: fruit, vegetables, purified water and meat. She also had personal errands that needed doing with haste, as did these two in the Mage's Guild.

"The [Alchemist]'s shop is close. Let's hurry."

"Yep."

Ivory followed Nozumu's lead. He was sensible enough to have done a big explore the day before, so he knew the key locations.

"[Cantrip: Itemised List]."

A cartoony book poofed into being two feet in front of them as Ivory spoke the spell. It opened up, displayed the following:

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

mana pots - maybe 10? depends how expensive.

calming and sleep tonics - 15 of each!!! - for linda. she's good for it and will pay me back

stamina pots - 5 - communal

go mage guild and send letters. check for those self writing pens and see if they'll transcribe Drathian, but get one regardless

find enchanting shop - buy whatever. no biggie if can't

don't die

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

It read how Ivory would have written it, which was interesting. Nozumu read over the Stream of Consciousness: The List and nodded.

"The [Enchanter] is close to the Mage's Guild, so we do not have to go far afterwards. Did you finish your letters?"

"Just. I'll need to send some followups at some point soon; you can only really say so much in such a short amount of time."

Nozumu hummed in agreement. He didn't want to respond in kind with a 'I had no idea what to say so I barely wrote anything'.

It was quite a busy day in Phel's Light. It must have been lunch time, as all the eateries and cafes they passed were bursting with people. They were all ignorant of the information they held—both decided to pick up their pace, as they did not want to be here when the announcement was made.

"Uh oh. My feet. [Gait of the Camel]."

Ivory flicked a hand towards his and Nozumu's feet as he stepped on a rough piece of cobblestone, feeling better the moment the spell took hold.

A curious spell, which unravelled itself as the two had sped up. It granted them protection from any stray rocks and other underfoot detritus through its improvement of their walking form—which also meant no sore feet from walking in a general sense. Another bonus was the need not to go to the toilet.

But, of course, only if they were walking at a leisurely pace. They were both young and generally fast walkers, but their deliberate speeding up clashed with the spell. A… fine trade off, and no doubt tied into how camels acted, Ivory imagined.

“Of the camel?” Nozumu asked, having only heard it for the first time now, for all that it was a new acquisition. “That’s a… random animal. How did you manage to get that?”

“I don’t ask any questions,” Ivory said with a shrug. “I got it from a levelup, so it wasn’t one of the ones I just, well, got. Useful, huh?”

“Knowing you, camels are probably very common in Australia.”

Nozumu whispered the last word.

“Now that you say it—kind of! We’ve got a giant desert in the middle of the country, and there’s heaps of wild camels running about. Surely that’s not why I got it? I’d have sooner got [Emu Kick], [Voice of the Lorikeet] or like, [Kangaroo Hop]. When you think of where I’m from, you generally don’t think camel. They’d be pretty good Skills or spells, actually. Gimmie!”

Ivory shook his fist at the sky menacingly. Nozumu hadn’t not heard of those animals, but he figured they could exist in his world, whatever they were. After all, Ivory knew some pretty exotic animals that your average non-Drathian wouldn’t have heard of. He’d need to get some more information on them—but first, business.

“We’re here.”

Nozumu went straight in, forgetting not the required haste for this operation. Ivory followed him inside.

This shop made Ivory feel a pang of a familiar emotion, but he wasn’t quite sure what. It was similarly set up to the one he’d been to in Calanfer, but this one was a bit more… rustic.

Not messy or unorganised, mind you, but more like an intentional chaos. Vines and plants engulfed the shop, but not so much to impede potential buyers’ capacity to browse. No doubt, Ivory thought, the winding flora was an advertisement of some sort.

Ivory shut his eyes for a moment, trying to recalibrate to his actual purpose here—there was little time for dallying. Nozumu had already beelined towards some medical looking vials of brackish liquid. Yuck.

There was surely some kind of Dewey Decimal System for [Alchemists], or at least some recurring themes of placement.

“Adventurer’s section… Adventurer’s section… there we are. Looking, looking…”

And now the mind wandered. The needs of adventurers must have been quite different here, as the potions, tinctures and other alchemical beverages were quite varied compared to the more inland Calanfer. Potions of Water Breathing, of Seasight and rather interestingly, a few Potions of Pressure Restoration—they were expensive. Would that he knew more about the science of scuba diving!

He eventually came upon the Mana Potions after a bit more browsing. There was a stack of little baskets placed conveniently next to the shelf chock full of them. He placed ten of the ‘weak-middle’ strength ones in the basket and went to find Nozumu—but he found Ivory first.

“I have the sleep, calming and stamina Potions. I assumed you would get distracted by the everything. Did you get the mana potions?”

“Attacked! Yep. Let’s do this, quick-smart.”

They headed to the counter, where they were served by a middle-aged man with rather striking, fluro-green hair.

“How the news spreads,” he said, as the two approached the counter.

Neither attempted to look surprised.

“Fucked up, hey. Just these please.”

The [Verdant Alchemist] began placing the vials and potions into a Bag of Holding-suitable vessel.

“It’s about time, too. That you know means you are at least somewhat connected; under what name am I charging this?”

“Evangelinda Postlethwaite,” they both said simultaneously.

He wrote the name down—as best he could—and clasped his hands together.

“Thank you, and do stay safe. There are ill-tidings on the horizon, but it will pass.”

The last thing the [Alchemist] wanted to do was spook these young people even more; plus, if they survived, they’d make for excellent future customers. His eyes flickered down to Misoe, who returned the look with a pleasant smile.

“We’ll try. We’re going to the Mage’s Guild and then probably straight back home. See you.”

Nozumu brushed by a hanging basket by the door, making him shiver.

“I don’t think we have time to go to the [Enchanter]’s shop.

Ivory, juggling a seal and his Bag of Holding so that everything was in the right place, groaned.

“Coming from a future [Super Seer], I’ll reluctantly give up the enchanting dream. How far away is the Mage’s Guild?”

“Another block. This city seems to have been organised quite well.”

“I would say, ‘now I know where to explore’, but considering the current situation…”

“Yes. Unfortunate.”

“On that note, I wonder if the magic fight club will still be open? I can imagine it going either way, really. ‘Spose I’ll check it out tomorrow during the day—you should come! It’ll take your mind off things; can bring a book too if you get bored by all the magic.”

Such a thought was another reason why truth was stranger than fiction.

“Maybe. We are here—get those letters out; you wait out here so you don’t get distracted.”

Ivory pouted, but Nozumu was absolutely right. The downtime was actually quite welcome, as he got the chance to think of his recent Skills.

“Whelp. Whelp. What’s a whelp? Like, a noob? Surely not. It was single use, shot a fireball, and made some kind of flapping squeal. A baby of something? Baby bird? Something to look up later.”

The word ‘baby’ began to sound utterly incomprehensible the more he said it.

“[Magical Beast Keeper] and [Shared Mana Pool]. Are you hungry?”

Misoe shook her head and blew a puff of smoke out of her mouth in the shape of a heart.

“Awwww. God you are a sweet thing, yes you are! Love you too. The other Skill, though. Hmm…”

Ivory closed his eyes—that’d help, right?—and focussed on it. He knew that all the secrets, functions and tech of the Skill wouldn’t magically get revealed to him, but he had gotten the hang of noticing the passive boons some Skills gave. Which was hard, since they just augmented your understanding to make the knowledge feel innate.

The way he went about this was to just fish around for things he previously did not have,that he thought would be useful. He’d done this for [Rapid Casting], which he discovered gave him a better idea of magical casting form. Magical ergonomics, if you will.

The first thing he noticed was that the idea of having more than one animal companion didn’t feel so unreasonable. Fine. Useful for the future, maybe, but fine.

He then thought of a few things he wanted his class to be able to do with Misoe. Know her exact mana? No, but he did realise that he knew how much mana she had, but perhaps that was [Shared Mana Pool].

The flaw with this idea was that you’d unintentionally just not think of the things that you already knew, even if you didn’t realise you knew them. Ah well, it’d eventually come to him as he knew would happen.

“[Diffuse Mana (Tier 1)] and [Gale Parry]. Definitely testing them tomorrow. Mmmm. [Cooling Breeze]. Lovely.”

“Bwwwww!” Misoe shivered, with a terribly sad face.

“You absolute drama queen. I literally have a Skill that you have by default!”

Misoe’s sad face reversed and flew up and perched on his head.

“You're a character."

His [Phocine Thermoregulation] made him functionally immune to modest changes in temperature; he wouldn't shiver it sweat unless it was in the low 10s or late 30s respectively. It didn't mean that he couldn't still feel the heat, though.

On that riveting note, Nozumu exited the Mage's Guild with more stuff than he had entered with.

"Here," he said, handing Ivory a small cloth bag. It jingled as it traded hands.

"Oh? What's in here?" he said, bouncing it up in his hand.

"'Walk and talk', as you say. Open it up."

Ivory got to his feet and opened the bag, making sure not to drop it as he caught up. Misoe rolled down into Ivory's free arm.

"Rings, bracelets…" he said, lightly probing the bag with his middle and index finger.

"For your enchanting. They are cheap metals that will take weak magic."

Ivory beamed and put his non-load bearing arm around Nozumu.

"Absolute champion. Just imagine. A [Gait of the Camel] toe ring. I'm gonna be rich."

Ivory withdrew his arm to hold himself together as he laughed himself silly. Nozumu, of course, just thought he was a loon as per usual, missing the pun.

________________

It was nearing the hour of revelation—no, not that kind—and a lowly [Guild Mage] was on [Message] duty. News of the impending curfew hadn't yet trickled down to her, who was preparing to send off these three letters she’d just been handed as [Messages] to their intended recipients.

She absent mindedly opened the first letter as she looked at the file of the first sender. 'Drathian', the very short file read, along with the following bolded note: 'Confidential sender', a rare attribute for customers for the notoriously nosey institution. She shelved the [Translate] scroll and looked at the next two. One of the Archmages or whomever else would deal with confidential items—Cognita herself?—and send them off.

The next sender’s file was marginally longer, but without many interesting characteristics. ‘Terandrian’, ‘[Sorcerer]’, ‘Potential Calanfer affiliate’. The [Guild Mage] raised an eyebrow and thought that this might be worth looking at. Plus, she figured she’d actually do some work to justify her relatively good wage.

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Dear Guinevere,

I’m writing firstly to say: bugger off Wistram, don’t read my shit.

Thank you for your letter. Unfortunately, I’m writing to you with a bit of urgency. Nozumu (my Peacock Beastkin companion from Drath, if you remember) and I are currently staying in a city of Pheislant called Phel’s Light for the time being. It’s a nice place, but there is a [Serial Killer] in the city, and there’s going to be a sunset curfew, so I thought I would send a brief [Message] before it happens, just in case. We’re lucky to know someone ‘in the know’.

I have levelled up quite a few times, and received many new spells. I’m confident in saying that your words of wisdom helped greatly. I regret that I never properly experienced Yurluxiamo, so I’ll definitely come back at some point.

Hopefully I will not be stabbed in the head, so I can write to you again.

- Ivory.

P.S. I think I’ve defeated the purpose of using a pseudonym by referencing Yurluxiamo.

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Dear Mannus,

I hope all is well with you and the shop.

Quite a lot has happened with me—I have not had much of a chance to send you a [Message]. I’ve been to Drath, almost died (again), and I picked up a new class. I’m level 18 in [Sorcerer], but also a level 9 [Beast Tamer]! I’ve picked up a magical seal, and also brought back with me a friend I made in Drath, a Peacock Beastkin named Nozumu.

I’m currently staying in Phel’s Light; I got back here from Drath a few days ago. I’m quickly writing this as there’s going to be a curfew due to a [Serial Killer], and I figured this would be a good chance to send a [Message] before it comes into effect. Panic-using services and shoppers and all that.

Hope to visit Calanfer again at some point. Will pop in.

- Ivory

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She looked at these two letters with a… look. The candidity of throwing in [Serial Killer]! She’d read some juicy shit in her time, with this not being ranked very highly at all, but parts of it were… pertinent. She sighed deeply and attuned herself to Wistram’s [Message] ‘network’ as they now called it. The first [Message] to Samal’s Mage’s Guild, and the second directly to its recipient, as he was a known Wistram affiliate.

She did the equivalent of dotting her ‘i’s and crossing her ‘t’s and then sent them off. Then, she’d find her boss and ask why she’d been left out of a ‘secret’. Again!