I woke up to the rise of the sun, excited for a new day in the capital. There are many things I'd wished to see here before we had to head home. It seemed like even though it was a massive city, my father knew everyone, but maybe this area of the city was smaller than the rest.
I got up for the day and patted my dad on his belly until he stopped snoring and got up. "I'm up, I'm up!" he said, trying to go back to sleep. I finally managed to pull him out of bed, then we got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast. Unlike the other day, the bar was empty aside from the bartender from yesterday. "Hey Markus, hey there boy, what'll you being having?" she asked. "Hey Mari, just a coffee and a farmer's hash for me. Klay, what're having?" my dad asked. Not knowing what to get, I just repeated my dad's order. Instead of coffee, the bartender gave me a hot chocolate beverage with whipped cream. The farmer's hash was hashed browns, 2 eggs, and a bunch of steamed veggies. I decided I was gonna get pancakes next time.
Thanking Mari for the meal, my father and I left to check on May and Fo before we took off to the market. We gave both of them some sugar cubes from the bar before my dad picked up our wagon again, then we set off. "Hey dad, why are you so strong?" I asked, seeing him lift the wagon like he always does. "Well," he began, breathing hard from the heavy lifting "you remember that spell I taught you a couple days ago? That's called an external magic spell. It relies on the magicule and mana density in the air to create a spell. Right now I'm using an internal spell called Strength. It makes me really strong, but consumes a lot of Mana, and you need a lot of active magicules in your body." he explained. After receiving lessons from the elf lady the other day, I understood most of it, but it still was a bit hard to fully grasp.
As we reached the marketplace and looked for a spot to settle down, my dad gave me my pocket money and told me to be careful before sending me off to explore the market. Most of the vendors were in different places or replaced with new vendors I hadn't seen yesterday. I went up to the ice cream vendor and looked at the menu. "Can I please get this one?" I said, pointing at an item on the menu. The man gave a friendly smile and used his magic to levitate the ingredients in the air, mixing and freezing them before they landed in a small wooden bowl. "That'll be 5 coin 50" the man said. I pulled out 6 large coins from my pocket and he gave be 1 half-coin back. I thanked the man, then worked my way down the market to the elf lady's spot. While the material vendor was busy as ever, I didn't see the elf lady. "Hey!" I heard her call out to me. She had moved to the opposite side of the street. As I walked up to her she said "That vendor over there was really killing my business. Hey, have you practiced your spell yet?" she asked. "No, not yet today." I replied. "Okay, perfect," she began "the spell I want to teach you shouldn't be used at the same time as the one I've already taught you". I stopped her "So, my dad said he was gonna teach me magic and not to waste my money" I said sheepishly. "Oh?" she began "But this spell is different from any of the one's here. I learned this spell from goblins!". "Goblins?!" I said in shock. "That's right! In my traveled, I visited the underground city of the goblins. I had to disguise myself there, but my friend, a traveler like me, snuck me in. I learned from an old wizard living there a spell that allows you to concentrate active magicules into water and drink it. This method is way more powerful than the magic your dad knows, trust me". She convinced me. I wanted to be able to do strong magic like my dad one day, so if I learned this spell, I thought I could really show off to him. "How much does it cost?" I asked. She paused and asked "How much do you have?". I stopped and pulled all the money out of my pockets, counting out 30 coin 50. "Hmm, it's usually like triple that for this spell, but I'll cut you a deal" she said, taking the coins from my hand. She poured a glass of water in front of me and said an incantation. Small sparkling lights appeared from the air and the water started losing it's clarity, taking on an opaque white colour and glowing. She handed me the glass "Here, try it" she said, handing the the glass. I drank the water and immediately felt sick. The water was thick like cream, but had a chalky taste and it made me nauseous after a single sip. "Not all at once, boy, you're gonna make yourself throw up. This is highly concentrated due to my high efficiency at using the spell. When you perform the spell, it won't be nearly as powerful. Consider this a gift." I looked down at the fluid she gave me "A gift.."
I finally finished the whole glass. I felt like I ate a meal for 5. "Your body doesn't have the capacity for all that mana right now, so you're gonna feel a bit sluggish for a while. Active magicules don't have the ability to store as much mana as inactive ones like the one's you consumed yesterday, but increase your bodies magic efficiency and ability to use internal magic. Remember how I said I disguised as a goblin before?" she uttered a quick incantation and suddenly her skin had become a dark-gray green colour. She quickly uttered the incantation once more to undo the spell. "That was a physical augmentation spell only possible once you have a lot of internal magicules. Your body uses magicules like nutrients, it will allocate them to the areas they're needed most, but you can eventually take control of this process. Based on where magicules are allocated, you can passively increase your physical abilities. You can speed up the function of your brain, repair or enhance eyesight, increase metabolism, increase blood flow, strengthen muscles, reinforce your bones, or make your skin resistant to the elements among many things. If you practice now while you're young, you may be able to achieve great things" She had gone on a tangent. It was clear she was passionate about her work. "You know, I can tell you're talented. You should try becoming an adventurer when you're older". "My mom and dad were adventurers!" I said. "Ah, so it's a family trait then? You have it in your blood. The guild here in the city is one district up past the academy." she said. "Academy?" I asked. "The Gratis royal academy. They teach the affluent and powerful about all kinds of things like magic theory, the sciences, math, history, you name it. I've always wanted to go there when I was your age, but I was dreaming too big. I left my village when I was only 15 years old and the school rejected me when I applied. I spent the next 70 years just traveling around the world, learning what I could and teaching it to young people like you, that way you can have what I didn't". She smiled at me. "This is my last day in this city. I'm afraid I never asked your name, boy". "My name is Klay Pott" I said. She laughed "Did your parents want you to be made fun of?" wiping away the tears, she said "My name is Amelia Contresh, but you can call Amy". She pulled out a small paper and using some foreign magic, she burned a long message into it, marking it with a unique signature. "Here, take this. If you ever go to the guild, show this to them and maybe they'll view you more favourably". She stood up and gave me a pat on the head. "Maybe we'll meet again someday". She packed up her things using some fantastic magics I have never seen before and it all condensed into a small bag he wore at her hip.
As Amy walked out of the city, I couldn't help but feel sad. I didn't know her for but a day, but she left quite an impression on me. That night when I returned, my dad scolded me for wasting my money.