Ice Daggers!
The razor-sharp ice dagger floated before Ewan, its spell circuit empowering his Ryvia. He shot it at the wall but braked before they kissed. The dagger hovered on his command and snaked back to him, circling around. He repeated the process, once, twice, thrice, until it became his muscle memory. The dagger zipped around the basement at his will, getting faster and swifter as he became well versed in it.
The constant use of Ryvia strained him, even with the spell's enforcement. His face flushed red; his neck tightened and quivered; his veins bulged on his forehead. He was at his limit, so the ice dagger followed the last route and shattered against the wall.
Ewan collapsed on the floor, panting when his eventual heave broke the dam. Frost and Orange both raced to him from where they were training, or supposed to be, and handed him a chilled bottle of water, glaring at each other. He accepted both bottles and gulped them together, most spilled out and wetted his already sweat-drenched t-shirt. He'd rather do this than deal with a sulking Frost or a hair-pulling Orange.
The moment they were at the same level, their fight had begun again, Ewan was helpless. And Toast meowed from the side.
Little fucker…
He could feel the little kitten's amusement at his plight, so he poured water over him. Toast sprung back, screeching, then bit his t-shirt, wrestling to tear it. His growls were tiny purrs, childlike, and it made Ewan smile.
"Only Iris is a good girl."
The little lotus bud bunking on the books swayed, left and right and left, her glee passing through to Ewan. It annoyed the other three though, and they jumped on him together.
…..
Hub-Stratum.
Ewan wandered the crammed night streets of the hub as a spirit blob, a bigger-than-before spirit blob, window shopping, panning his eyes. He looked down on the smaller spirit blobs at times while giving way for the larger ones, especially the humanoids. His target was a shop selling spells, it was one of the cheapest and the nearest. He wanted to buy a spell that would complement his
His grown spirit supported his stroll, and he reached the intended shop with ease. The navigation ended there.
"Hello, anyone in?" he asked. The shop was empty except for the counter bar, it didn't even have an automated worker. The black swirls on the white walls and the ceiling attracted him though. His own shop could use such designs.
"Just a second," someone said. A tiny black blob rose from behind the counter a few seconds later. It was almost the size of Ewan's spirit blob when he first came to the hub.
"'Lens' spell, how much is it?" Ewan asked.
"That's…uh…ten…Novas?" the blob said…or asked.
"Too expensive," Ewan said. "Make it two."
"I…I…Its too low…," he said in a mosquito voice. "At least five."
"Three, and I'll buy something else from you."
The spirit blob hovered behind the counter; the shop fell quiet. "Fine," he finally said. "What do you want to buy?"
"Show me your fire spells," Ewan said.
"Wait a few." The blob hovered down again, searching, the items clattered about.
"How'd you manage a shop like this? How long can you stay connected anyway?" Ewan asked, floating around the shop, admiring the artistic designs.
"I try to be here as much as I can." The muffled voice came from behind the counter. "I only disconnect and rest when I can't hold on."
"Why not buy a worker?"
"Can't, they cost too much."
Ewan hummed in response. "So, you have an inheritance?" he asked.
The blob flinched, and the items stopped moving with a burst of final clatter. The shop fell silent once more.
"Sorry, not trying to pry or anything, just curious. You're still too weak to be selling these stuffs."
"My…mother. I…inherited from her," the spirit blob said and resumed his search.
"You have a good mother then, cherish her," Ewan said.
"Not really…," the blob said under his breath. He brought out a few pages with different spells' summaries and spread them on the counter. "Here you go."
"I'm Ewan, what's yours?" Ewan checked the pages one by one.
"…Avis," the blob said.
Ewan froze on the reply, for it was a girl's name, at least Obria treated it as such.
"My mother named me; she wanted a girl…." His voice dimmed down again.
Ewan refrained from commenting and focused on the spells. Fireball, Bullets, Fireflies, Ignite. And the last one was 'Boom'…
"It's a good spell, don't mind the name," Avis said.
Ewan skimmed the summaries—Fireball and Bullets were simple projectile spell, quality versus quantity; Fireflies was a ranged and reactive area-of-effect spell with good tactical value; Ignite was a close-range utility spell, unfit for combat; and 'Boom' was a special spell whose damage depended on the material used.
"Is this all you have?" Ewan asked.
"You need something specific?" Avis asked.
"Not really, no. How much?"
"Uh…six…each?"
"I'll give you five for Fireflies and 'Boom', and four for Fireball. Deal?" Ewan said.
The blob flickered without a word.
"You probably don't have much time. What do you say?"
"Fine," Avis said, his spirit blob faded a bit. "Here." He passed over the virtual contract that Airadia's sentience and the 'Ashevagord' authorized.
"One year? No way. I don't intend to sell your spells anyway but one year is a lot, brother. Make it three months," Ewan said.
"…Six, that's the lowest I can go."
Ewan agreed after mulling for a second. He stamped the modified contract with his identity in the hub, his Pa's actually, and received the copies of the spells after payment—seventeen Novas for four spells.
"I'll come again if I need something. You go back and rest now," Ewan said and left the shop.
-----------------------------------------------------XXXX-----------------------------------------------------
Status: Healthy
Step-0 [3rd Awakening]
Name: Ewan Ayres
Species: Human
Vitality: 1.4
Spirit: 5.5
Anima: [Fire – 5.5 | Ice – 5.5 | Blood – 5.5]
Astylinds: 4 [Potential: 0]
:Rolling Cat [Toast]: Step-0 [3rd Awakening]
:Fire Monkey [Orange]: Step-0 [Level-3] [Grade-C]
:Imp [Frost]: Step-0 [Level-3] [Grade-C]
:Blood Lotus [Iris]: Step-0 [Level-3] [Grade-C]
Equipment: Common Clothes.
Storage: Journal; Elementalist—The Path of Anima [Subtype-Book]; Spellbook; Bloodlust [Spell]; Transmute [Spell]; Anima-Crystals; Obsidian Dagger; Hub-Connector; Ingredients.
Novas: 302
Sol: 4997