Time was of the essence, he opened the trade market list and searched for Astylind blood using the filters. Yet, even through the layers of sieve, the list remained huge, and so, he filtered it once more based on levels. Level 0 to Level 9 Astylinds corresponded to Severynths at the Soul-Awakening step—the Step-0. Though he wasn't sure, Level 1 to 2 should be enough to awaken the suspended eggs and the seed. He checked their prices and heaved a sigh of relief—a liter of Level 1 Astylind blood only sold for a Novas or two, some sold for even less than one Novas.
He went through some and selected one of the cheapest shops from the list. But the next problem stumbled him. The list only provided the shops' details, he could use it to check which items were up for sale on the trade market. But to buy them, he had to travel over to the shop. This was a hurdle he had to cross, there was no other way around.
He was in his spirit form; he could give it a try—the utterance pumped his morale.
And so, he went out the door.
The sun glared over the bustling market, blobs of black spirit crammed the street, variety of shops and buildings lined the sides. The fist-sized blobs walked the edge, the bigger ones dared to hover inside, while the humanoids took the central lane…
The system that welcomed Ewan navigated him through the paved streets. Once he passed by other spirit blobs, the difference in size had him gaping. Even the fist-sized ones looked huge when he came close. Or….his spirit blob was too small. Still, it didn't dampen his mood. He only started on his path a few days ago, the huge disparity was normal. He blocked all the useless negative thoughts and only focused on the streets and the navigation, walking beyond the edge, on the dirt trail like those small blobs.
But alas, he underestimated the distance to the shop. Regardless of his pumped-up morale, his spirit flumped midway. The connection snapped and he jerked his eyes open in the basement. He gasped for air while his head ached, and his ears rang. The abrupt disconnection dazed him; there was no damage, but it took his comfort and ease away.
Today's attempt already proved his spirit lacked if he wanted to do anything at the hub. He could stay connected, but he couldn't do anything.
He could now wait for his 'Spirit' to increase, or he could revert to the previous idea and go for the regular animals' blood… His thoughts churned and churned. Both contained an element of risk; the difference was the amount.
He let out a helpless sigh and opted for patience; things never went according to plan… Of the two, the hub was more secure. Not only would the required amount be low, but he also wouldn't stand out. Not contracting the Astylinds put him on edge, but he didn't want to be hasty because of it, especially when he could access the better option.
….
Days went by, and Ewan's usual routine changed little by little. Studying spell circuits and reading up on Astylinds took most of his time. Apart from practicing the
The book his Pa left him was quite special, the last few days showed him its details. Whether his Pa created it or someone else did, it must've eaten some special materials, for the book had the ability to create infinite blank pages. Ewan couldn't confirm the 'infinite' part yet, but the initial discovery pointed towards it. Once he copied the 'Ember' spell circuit his school provided on the final blank page, the book created another blank page. It gave him quite a surprise, yet, compared to everything else his Pa left him, the book appeared…rather normal.
But no matter what, it saved him the effort and money to buy another Spellbook. As long as it created new pages, he wouldn't need another book.
In the bright basement. Ewan held the Spellbook in his left hand and aimed at the wall with his right.
Ember!
He traced its spell circuit in his soul space.
A small wispy blob of orange fire floated away and popped at the wall. Yet, aside from making a tiny area sooty, it did no damage—a single wet wipe could even rub the black off. The spell's minimum and maximum Anima point both were low. It had no offensive power, even at its maximum Anima point—the reason school gave it to the immature students. But it was a decent spell for practice for the beginners.
Ewan closed the Spellbook and sat in the corner with several books surrounding him. He picked up his notebook and the pen and wrote down his experience while mumbling. His writing was messy and followed no pattern, only he could understand it—his teachers would certainly frown at it, and they did…
He drew some rough diagrams, wrote some equations, labeled some parts, crossed others—all these were to increase his spell tracing ability. He fixed the parts he made mistakes in and tried to improve where he was decent. As a Severynth, he had a disadvantage when it came to spellcasting. But he couldn't sit and grumble and whine about it.
Once he formed a conclusion from his 'doodling', he went back and cast the spell again.
Ember.
He traced its spell circuit again and was faster this round; his adjustments shaved off at least a second from his casting time. But it still didn't satisfy him. To speed up the tracing process, he almost made some mistakes, it could be lethal in live combat. And this was only a simple spell circuit, unlike actual spells. He scratched his cheeks and fell into deep thought while the wispy fire popped again.
For the next few hours, he continued his practice, and only stopped when the delivery guy called him.
"I've been ringing the doorbell for half an hour now."
"Sorry, I was sleeping," Ewan said. "Where do I sign?" He couldn't hear the bell in the basement. But it hadn't been half an hour for sure; no one would wait that long before ringing him.
The delivery guy handed him the panel, and once Ewan signed, he gave him a thick and heavy package.
"Can I get a," Ewan slammed the door shut and carried it back to the basement. The package contained a book—
He read books on Astylind's anatomy before, but they were all for his school syllabus. They didn't detail most of the information and only gave out brief introductions. And what he could get on the colony's network wasn't trustworthy and didn't have many details either. The book he ordered online the day before yesterday was different—it was the explorer's edition, the publisher made it for the hunters. It was expensive but worth it.
It contained a plethora of information related to different Astylinds. The part-II he ordered had extensive information on Fire Monkeys, Ewan needed that right now. Orange was his contracted Astylind, he couldn't nurture and raise him without concrete knowledge.
He sat crossed legged and laid the large book on his knees. The crunches of page flipping echoed in the basement for the next hour as it engrossed him in. But soon, he had to stop—it was chow time, his stomach notified him with a growl.