The door to Dreyden's Devilish Deals opened to the satisfying sound of a chiming bell. Fate walked in, closing the door behind him, and was immediately floored by what he found.
The first word that came to his mind was "cluttered." The owner had crammed every space available with as much merchandise as he could, resulting in wooden buckets and barrels and racks and shelves filled to the brim with everything from shoes to swords to books and even small statues.
He had no clue what to make of the chaos and could only work his way through it to the counter he spotted at the back of the building. Taking care not to step on any of the many objects strewn along the floor, he made it to the counter and rang the bell on top of it. Behind the counter was a hallway leading further in, with doors on either side.
He didn't have to wait long before a frowning Journeyman came out of one of the doors and stopped at the counter, leaning forward as he sized Fate up. He was quite the looker, his sloppy brown hair – the dominant hair color in the empire – and his tired eyes beneath the wire frame glasses giving him the "just out of bed" look.
Despite this laziness, his attire was prim and proper, without a wrinkle or stain. He wore a nice, long-sleeved blue shirt and blue slacks, with the handle of something, presumably a weapon, sticking out of his left pocket. As he finished his examination of Fate, his eyebrows met.
"If you're here for clothes, you'll have a limited selection. We only have four sets in your size," he said. His voice was surprisingly smooth, holding none of the tiredness of his gaze.
"I'm not too picky," Fate replied. "But I'm also in the market for some other stuff. I noticed you sell wands."
Wands were a Mage's best friend. Capped with an uncategorized Will Stone, any Spell channeled through the wand would have up to twenty-five percent more power or durability, depending on the type of Spell. Some could even add unique effects to one's Skill. They could also hold various amounts of Mana within them for emergencies or bigger Spells.
Uncategorized wands, like all enchanted items and enchantments in general, were split into five Grades: Seed, Sprout, Sapling, Tree, and the legendary Forest Grade reserved for Ziobrun's mythical and most powerful works. Each enchantment and enchanted item had five tiers, descending from V to I, with lower tiers being better and with fewer flaws than the higher tiers.
For wands, this meant various strengths of boosting one's Spells, along with deeper reserves to store Mana. A Tier V wand can boost a Spell's power or durability by five percent, with an increase of five percent for every tier. At the same time, a Tier V wand can hold enough Mana to cast one Spell of appropriate Grade, with each descending tier gaining room for one more.
Unlike what one might expect, these uncategorized Will Stones worked for any Stage a Mage was at. It was the materials that held the stone back, while also altering it so it could use weaker Mana. If the wand wasn't enchanted to do so, anyone below the Arch-Mage Stage would siphon their Mana into the stone, only to find that nothing happened.
This was similar to a system made for nine-volt batteries being used with a double-A battery. Nothing would happen because the system wasn't receiving enough power. The materials and enchantments of the wand artificially lowered the requirements of the Will Stone to a certain Grade, so anyone with a corresponding Stage could use them.
However, unlike categorized Will Stones, the uncategorized Will Stone will bond with its first user, attuning to their Mana. This is how the uncategorized ones can boost the prowess of Spells, but this means that the wand is useless to anyone else.
Because of the way uncategorized Will Stones worked, and the way wands functioned, any wand vendor could be visited to upgrade the wand, getting the materials swapped out while retaining the original Will Stone so it becomes a higher Grade. All wands were sold at the Seed Grade but could be upgraded at purchase if necessary.
Seed Grade wands and Spells, unlike the other grades, worked for both Apprentices and Journeymen.
Uncategorized wands were weaker than wands with categorized Will Stones, which could double power or durability (or more) and hold four times the Mana of a Tier I wand, but at the same time, they were also thousands of times cheaper. Any wands with categorized Will Stones were treasured heirlooms of the most powerful noble families. They were also ungraded, like the Will Stone they used, usable by anyone at any Stage.
Fate didn't know all of this, being illiterate and from the boonies, although the manual that came with the wand would soon teach him what the man before him wouldn't. It was this man's personal mission to educate anyone before they made a purchase; unlike his father, Famden Dreyden didn't like scamming people.
"You know what kind of Tier you're looking for?" the man asked.
"What kind of what?" Fate responded, puzzled.
Famden sighed, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes. After slipping them back on, he gave Fate a basic rundown of wands, their Grades, what each Tier did, the prices of each, et cetera. When he finished, he pulled a bottle of water out from under the counter and took a long draft from it. He had been talking for over three hours.
"So, with all that in mind, what kind of wand are you looking for? We have all kinds of designs and materials. The metal ones have been popular recently."
"Can I see what designs you have?" Fate asked.
Famden nodded, reaching under the counter and pulling three racks out, one after the other, and setting them on the countertop. Each rack held thirty wands – without a Will Stone, to deter thieves – of various designs.
Fate pressed a hand to his chin as he browsed. While he could always change the design when he went to upgrade its Grade, he'd be stuck with it for at least a year or two. If he didn't break it, of course.