The sun reaches it's peak and few instructors are training in the range in hopes of becoming stronger. The main school building is packed as principal Estha is giving her speech. The mess is empty as every student already ate their lunch and went to speech.
"Mmmm!" Karl who is still in bed stretches his body and wiggles in the bed. Actually, he woke up few hours ago but he refused to get up from his bed. Now it is 2:31 pm and he finally gets up from his bed. His mood seems brighter than ever.
He gets up and puts on some shorts. Then, he goes up to take a hot shower after half an hour Karl is done. He comes down to his room and changes into the school uniform. As he finishes changing his clothes someone knocks on his door.
Karl opens the door and sees Andressa. She doesn't seem to be in a good mood. "Do you have any idea how many times I called you?"
"Actually, no." Karl walks and sits on his bed. Andressa makes a disappointed face.
"Don't make such expression. I wasn't ignoring you on purpose. I lost my watch, remember?"
"You didn't bought a new one yet?"
"I am going to-" An idea pooped in Karl's mind. "Hey, Andressa. Are you free today?"
"Y-Yes, why though?"
"Come shopping with me."
This caught Andressa off-guard. "S-Shopping?"
"Yes. I want to buy some things and going alone is boring."
'I just need your basic knowledge for my own benefit.'
She quickly looks away. "I-If you are asking that desperately then how can I refuse? Haha."
'Caught you.'
"When are we going to go?" Andressa asks.
"First I go ahead and buy myself a watch. Then, I will call you. So, around 4?"
"Fine. You are taking Ian right?"
"Ian? No. no. It's just us two."
Andressa blushes slightly. "T-That's basically a date." She says in a low voice.
"What? You don't want to come?"
"NO! I will be there." She almost jumps.
"O-Okay." Karl gets up from the bed.
"By the way, you missed our principal's speech." Karl grabs a glass and fills it with water.
"Oh yeah? What did that scammer said?"
"A lot of things actually. But inshort, she cancelled our classes for a week and advised us not to go out of the city."
Karl takes a sip of water, as Andressa continues. "Apparently, yesterday's vampyers were too strong."
Karl spits the water out. "V-Vampyers?"
"Yes, a group of vampires attacked our city gates yesterday."
'Vampires? Not Koraet?'
"What happened? Tell me in detail."
Andressa leans back. "Nothing extra-ordinary. A group of vampyer scouts attacked the city. The guard raised the alarms and the federation soon sent a platoon of soliders to deal with them. Seeing they are outnumbered, the scouts ran back. But the federation is on high alert since then, they are checking every person who came from outside. They think a vampyer must have snuck in during the battle. They called high level instructors from all the academies for assistance and they told every academies to check their students list for any missing student. Our's got checked this morning and they advised us not to leave the city."
"Got checked? What about me?"
"Don't worry, I wrote your name."
Karl breathes in relief. "You are so reliable." He walks to towards Andressa and pats her head.
"A-Anyway! Buy a new watch and answer my calls." She gets up and leaves in a hurry.
After Andressa left, Karl leaves too. He goes straight to the main gates of the academy. At the main gate he encounters Ian who is entering the academy. He is wearing a white oversized hoodie on a comfy looking track pant. Ian spots Karl and waves at him.
"Looks like you didn't slept for days."
"Yeah. Father trained me like crazy, every muscle in my body is sore."
"Train hard. Anyways you heard about the vampyer attack?"
"It wasn't much, the federation is just overreacting."
"Aren't we supposed to be too far from the front lines? Can vampyers infiltrate this far?"
"They cannot. Normally. But few scouts can slip deep into our territory. Don't worry the federation will hunt them down before they could pass any information across borders." Karl nods any understanding.
"Anyways, where are you going?" Ian asks.
"To buy a new watch and few equipment for myself. Ah! Do you know where I could sell this?" Karl's hand glows and a scroll appears in his hand. This scroll was the reward for winning the duel given by principal Estha.
Ian looks at the scroll for a second and taps something on his watch. "Here I booked an appointment for you at a trusted merchant office under my name. Sell them this, I know that they offer genuine prices. Their office is in Remnant Towers, you can't miss it." Ian points at a white triangle shaped skyscraper, it stands out more due to it's shape.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it, I need to go now."
"Sure, see you later." Karl watches Ian going away.
Then, he walks towards the gate and goes outside. The guard waves at Karl and Karl smiles in response. The streets are almost empty due to yesterday's attack. Even the road has hardly vehicles. Karl spots few coffee shops which are also empty.
'Maybe I could bring Andressa here?' Karl is now fully aware of this body needs and he decided to simply tolerate it.
For now.
Once at the tower he heads inside, there is a cute lady sitting on the reception. She has light blonde hair and brown eyes, she is wearing a suit like typical salaryman. Karl walks to the desk.
"Hello. I have appointment under the name of Ian Phirsecot." The lady looks up and notices Karl's uniform, she taps few buttons on her keyboard.
"Yes. Welcome to the Remnant towers. Your merchant is waiting for you at floor 47." She points towards the elevator. Karl goes inside the elevator.
At 47th floor the elevator door opens and Karl walks out. He sees a fat middle aged man sitting on the couch. He is wearing rather flashy coloured clothes. A suit to look professional but that neon colour ruins the word professional. Karl smiles at the man and takes a seat.
The man stands up. "Hello, Mr.Leonard. Sir Ian informed us that you have something that you want to sell it to us."
The man extends his hand for a handshake. Karl takes it.
"Yes. Actually." Karl's uses void storage and takes out the scroll. The merchant takes the scroll and observes the circle which is inscribed on it. "O-Oh! A 4th grade spell. These are rare nowdays."
Karl who is clueless just smiles. "Fire element one at that? This will sell pretty easily."
After few minutes examination the merchant puts the scroll down at the table. "So, how much are you asking for?"
'Ian's blade was for 170000 orange photons so that would be 1.7 yellow photons. 2 after roundoff.'
"2 yellow photons."
The merchant gasps loudly. "E-Even if it's a 4th grade spell, 2 yellow photons are too much."
"1 yellow and 9000 orange photons."
"Sir, forgive us but we can't do more than 1 yellow photon." Karl thinks for a second.
"1 yellow and 5000 orange photons. Take it or leave it."
The merchant makes a troubled expression but admits defeat at the end. "I agree to your terms."
Honestly, Karl isn't satisfied by the price but he agrees anyway. The merchant takes out a contract from his spatial ring. "Please sign here."
Karl plainly writes his name. "Thank you for having business with us."
"Likewise."
"May I know your account details so we can transfer the money?"
Karl reaches out in his back pocket. "Yes, her-" 'Shit! That turd ate my credit card.' Karl swallows his saliva.
"Sir?" The merchant asks in concern.
"Actually, a beast ate my card."
"Your bank information is also stored in your watch." The merchant suggests.
"I lost that too."
"T-Then, do you remember which bank was it? We can request an account recovery?"
Karl makes a crying face. "I lost my memories not to long ago."
The merchant sighs loudly. "I am afraid sir. I can't help you with this."
Karl panics. "W-What if I come back after I opened another account?"
"Then the price won't be same. Everyday there are thousands of spells are bought and sold in the market. Holding onto such product drops it's overall price." Karl remains silent for few seconds but after struggling to come with a solution. He gives up and grabs the scroll.
Just as he is about leave the room the merchant calls Karl. "Sir!" "I can help you."
Karl turns back. "Elaborate."
Again, they sit down. "Normally, I am not allowed to help you but since you are a good friend of Sir Ian."
The merchant types on his watch and a screen projects. "Here, at Remnant fund we listen to our customers and try to provide them the best service possible. That's why we created Remnant and Co bank, if you have an account in this bank and purchase or sell anything from us we will provide you special benefits. Do you want to open your account in our bank?"
'Why do I feel like I am going to be scammed?' Karl observes the template. "Are there any condition which I should be aware about?"
"Of course. There are many conditions but most important of them are 1. You will be charged extra fees for any transaction outside of your registered block. 2. You need to have atleast 2000 red photons in your account at all times. Or you will be charged with a penalty. 3. You can only withdraw upto 1 blue photon daily. That's it." Karl stares at the merchant.
'Nothing's different from earth's banks and the conditions also don't say that I would their slave or something if I make a mistake.'
"I agree."
"Excellent choice! I knew you would make the right choice."
'Just give me some money.'
After a 40 minutes of filling papers Karl finally got his debit card. It's white card with letter R written on it in red colour. 'Cool design.'
"And our transaction is complete. Thank you for choosing us." The merchant bows.
"No problem. But can I ask you a basic question?"
"Sure, I try to answer with best of my abilities."
"How do you grade a spell?"
"Huh?" Karl's question caught the merchant offguard.
"Like those grade numbers what do they mean?"
The merchant chuckles. "Grading system is easy. 1st grade spell means the spell doesn't have any destructive ability but they could be used in our day to day life. Such as fragrant a 1st grade wind elemental spell which is used as a deodorant. These are cheap and easy to learn. 2nd grade spells are those spells which are used on another person other than the user. It could help or obstruct that person; it depends on the spell. For example: Heal"
'Basically, buff or debuffs.'
The merchant continues. "The 3rd grade spells are the most widely used spells in the world. A spell clarifies as an 3rd grade spell when it does non-lethal amount of damage to the opponent. Of course, constant barrage would kill anyone. Moving on, a 4th grade spell means when the spell is capable of wide area destruction and it is lethal to any normal person. Also, the power and destructiveness of 4th grade spells far surpasses the might of 3rd grade spells. Lastly, there are 5th grade spell. This category is little special as it doesn't really focus on power or destructiveness. Any spell more than belonging to the forbidden elements is considered as the 5th grade spell. Nobody knows their true power because nobody can use them. They serve as an inspiration to researchers and decoration for sentinel families. Each spell could go for thousands for blue photons or even violet photons. They are also known as lost spells."
Karl cries internally. 'There goes my plan to buy space element spells.'
He thanked the merchant one last time and took off. Once on the street he goes to the same mall where he once with Zena. He steps inside and is blinded by the same LED screens. Leonard's heart aches as memories of Zena flashes. Karl keeps his posture and searches for any interesting shop.
His eyes falls on a shop named [Jackel's adventures.] With curiosity he walks in. There are many weapons and armours on the display. Many of them have a flamboyant aura, which doesn't suit Karl's taste. He continues exploring and finds an interesting section.
The watch section.
There are various watches on the display some with circular screens, some with vibrant straps or some with jewellery embedded in them. "Hello! May I help you?"
Karl turns around and he sees a girl who is wearing a t-shirt which says [Jackel's companion]
'Does she work here?' Karl wonders while looking at her overly casual clothing.
"Are you looking for a watch?" She asks in an overly cute voice.
"Yes. I need a tough watch which I can wear while on adventure."
"Then, you came to the right place. We, Jackel's adventure. Provides the best watches on the market." She makes a cringe pose.
'What's with the pose?'
"Do you have a model in mind?" She asks.
'Something like Serena's watch. What was the model again?' Karl tries to remember but his memory is foggy. "Hmm. It was something like Fen-"
"Feneat model. Very nice choice." The girl praises Karl's choice.
"Y-yeah. Show me the options." The girl takes Karl to an aisle of watches. There she takes out a watch with fire stickers all over the watch.
"For your brave personality. This is a special edition watch. Inside even the interface comes with same design."
"No. Show me something plain. Actually, a plain black one would be nice." Karl rejects it.
"S-Sure."
She takes out an all-black watch. "Look at this masterpiece. It has all the latest features and a fire proof body along with water proof guaranty."
Then, the girl proceeds to rant about the features. Karl listens to them and agrees to buy that watch.
"Thank for the purchase. It will be 2 orange photons." Karl takes out his new debit card and gives it to the girl.
"Here, transaction complete."
"Will you wear the watch now?" The girl asks looking at Karl's empty hand. Karl nods. He wears his new watch and it looks stylish. Karl clicks on the power button. It boots up and the first thing Karl sees are the missed call made by Andressa and Ian.
"Watches are connected with our mana, any new watch will scan your mana and download your previous information." The girl explains.
'How convenient.' Karl steps out of the store and checks the timing.
[4:03 pm.]
'A bit late but still on time.' He calls Andressa.