Oliver nodded and returned to where the old lady was sitting, "I'm Looking for som-" he broke off, his voice floundering for a moment as his brow scrunches up into a confused knot. "Wait, you said your name is Gertrude?"
"That's what I said Boy, don't waste my time" the Gruff old lady responds, no longer mixing the steaming red sludge, instead she was dipping fine mesh screens into it, each one with a wooden frame and set it aside. Each frame was filled with a thin layer of bright red material he couldn't quite recognize.
"but your shop says Paiges', why isn't it named Gurtrudes Pages?" Oliver asks, it was strange and it bothered him.
Gertrude climbs to her feet and glares up at Her new customer. Her full height did not even reach Oliver's neck, which was quite the feat since Oliver was already quite short for a boy.
"Because it's catchier and I don't want every weirdo in range to know my name," she says grumpily
"Now don't make me ask again boy, I'm busy. what do you want?"
Oliver shrugs, it bugged him but it wasn't worth nagging the old woman about it. "I am looking for a psychic affinity attack ability page and Recruiter Harold brought me here"
The old woman looked over at Harold and scrutinized him for a long second "You plan to milk me dry with this twenty-five percent commission deal don't you?"
Harold, to his credit, has the decency to act embarrassed, although if Olivers' measure of him is correct, it's only an act. The old woman seems to think the same as she only snorts and turns to walk towards her various tables, sorting and pilfering through the mess with a grumble. "what kind of psychic ability do you want?" she asks as she looks.
Oliver opens his mouth to answer but no sound comes out and he closes it again, truthfully he wasn't sure what kinds of power he could get out of it. the confusion must have shown on his face because Gertrude let out a frustrated sigh.
"you always bring me the dumb ones" she complains to Harold before turning her attention to me
"listen close 'cause if I have to explain it twice I'll kick you out and you can find some other page crafter to bother. Psychics can come in all different shapes and sizes, but 3 groups can explain most of it, the ability to affect the physical world around you with your mental energy, such as making a cup float, or a physical blast of energy. The second is the ability to affect others by subjecting their mind to your will, making them see something, think something, or simply know what they are thinking. That last one tends to cross over slightly to the third option, which is the ability to sense with your mind what is beyond what you would normally be able to sense, such as seeing the future, the past, and other places. So I ask you again what kind of power you want"
Oliver of course listened very closely, this seemed like an important decision.
Truth be told someday he would like to master all of it, but right now he had to choose what would be best for the Colosseum.
The ability to affect people's minds was great but his battle would largely be decided by the physical aspects of a fight, not to mention the crowd liking a thrilling physical fight over a boring hidden one. Much of his success would be determined by the crowd liking or disliking him.
"I think I want something that can affect the physical," he says, although as soon as he does he silently laments that he can't choose all of the options.
The old woman continues to search through the colorful pages, discarding reds and yellows, purple pages and green ones, until finally a small stack of light blue pages were pulled out. Shuffling through the stack the woman pulls out a singular page and tosses the others back on the table.
"Alright, this here is a Telekinetic Dart ability, it's a small sharp projectile ability. It's got low output and it ain't the most efficient, but that's how most low-level abilities are. They don't like me to hand out higher level pages for untested recruits" she says, Holding it up. "bring out your Tome so I can teach you how to bind it"
"wait, wait, is that my only choice?" Oliver asks, stepping slightly away from the older woman "How much is it, and will it be strong enough to do its job in the Colosseum?"
"why do I always end up with the whiny ones" The old woman grumbled under her breath "Yes it's your only choice, all the other options are so strong that they would cause your soul to fracture, or they aren't combat-centric, or they're too expensive. This one will cost you the equivalent of two games, and it will be perfectly fine in the Colosseum, its power scales some with your mental power, you happy?"
Oliver sighed and summoned his Tome, Holding it out to her. He didn't like not having any choice but so long as it did its job it would have to be okay. His transparent book rested in his hands for just long enough to feel awkward, which snapped him out of his thoughts.
Looking around Oliver sees confused and impatient looks from both the butler and the merchant. "what?" he asks
"summon your Tome if you want the page I don't have all day" The older page crafter replies, looking somewhat angry.
"but I have summoned it, it's right here" Oliver waves around his Tome "Can't you see it?"
Harold stepped forward with a furrowed brow and waved his hand through the space where Olivers' tome was meant to take up. The Young TomeBearer saw the hand of the older butler pass harmlessly through his Tome.
Gertrude had been rude and dismissive before, but now she had a look of true curiosity. She could tell the boy was not some silly little boy and waste her time with a prank, so he had to believe what he was claiming. At the same time, a Tome has a great many functions that require it to be visible so there had to be a way.
"try to will it, make it so that you are telling the book with all your might to become visible." she offers in the way of advice, watching avidly as if she had never seen anything like it before.
Oliver followed the instructions, watching the book in his hands for any reaction, his mind focused on making it visible. It seemed as though nothing was happening. He got no reaction from the Time, and he saw no change in its appearance, but just as he was going to give up, Harold and Gertrude both gasp and look at the Tome with excited curiosity.
"oh my goodness, I've never seen anything like this before" Gertrude exclaims, grabbing the book from Oliver that could stop her and examining it from every angle.
After a minute The old page crafter looks up with a bit of a guilty look in her eyes "I'm sorry, my curiosity got the best of me, you have a very special Soul Tome. It's unlike anything I've ever seen or heard of." she says as she hands it back "binding a page is extremely simple, lay the page onto a page within your Tome, then will the page to bind to it, assuming the page is compatible it will successfully bind if you are not powerful enough or it isn't compatible, it will not and the page will be destroyed"
Oliver quickly flipped to a blank page and followed the older woman's instructions. It didn't take long for the blue ability page to start shining with silver light and begin to break apart into pure energy. When the page was fully transformed into an energy state, it began to swirl faster and faster as it sank into the translucent page of his Tome.
When the process was finished, although it had been simple, Oliver felt strangely drained of energy. Still, he had succeeded in what he had come to do and looked up with a tired grin. "I think it worked, thank you," he says.
The page was covered in ornate arcane symbols and a primary Magic circle that housed the structure of his ability.
Gertrude waved her hands dismissively "It's no trouble my boy, just remember that while this ability scales off of your mind stat, neglecting the soul stat would be stupid. The higher your soul stat the more pages will become available in your book. Some abilities allow it to be upgraded through various means, you should invest in one of those next." she says
Oliver nods, but he knows he already has one such ability that would be better than any he could buy. "Yes ma'am, I won't neglect it," he says simply, already ready to leave and explore his gains from the day, as well as hopefully practice.
"Also, remember that that page can be upgraded, come to me when you are ready to upgrade it, or if you need anything else, and ill give you a discount" Gertrude offers generously. She would not pass up the opportunity to work with such a powerful Tome, even at the loss of profits.
Exchanging a few final words, Oliver was again led away by his recruiter, hopefully, he wouldn't have much more to do that day.