Chapter 2: This is "Basic" Magic?

Chapter 2: This is “Basic” Magic?

My eyes dart to where Elise is gesturing, a small portion of the oak counter having a trap door, which has a small latch keeping it in place. The door sits at waist level, matching the counter’s height. Shuffling closer to the door, I put out my hand, settling it just below the latch. I look at Elise for confirmation that this is what she wanted me to do. Taking her bright smile as a yes, and of course, the small nod she gives is all I needed. I lift up the door and walk behind the counter. Lowering it back down, Elise asks me to follow her as we walk deeper behind the employee-only work counters until we reach a large wooden door. It is adorned with a painted runic symbol of two triangles smashed on top of each other, with one being turned upside down, creating a star shape pattern. A blue circle drawn around the star with a variety of other symbols which look similar to upside-down and sideways question marks fills the open area of the door. An iron handle dots the right side of the door as it sits just right above a large keyhole.

Elise reaches into her black leather leggings and digs around for a rusted key ring adorned with a dozen or so different keys. Each having their own slight color differences. Elise pulls out a silver key with a blue painted tip and inserts it into the lock. I watch as her body jolts, her face contorting to a brief flash of pain. The sound of metal grinding against metal shoots from the lock as I watch Elise’s body shake. I reach out without a second thought for Elise’s shoulder, “Hey, are you ok?”

Elise turns to me with a look of surprise. Was I not supposed to be worried? “Huh?” Her face turns from surprise to confusion before lighting up into a smiling grin. In a chuckling response, “It’s just our security system, nothing to worry about.”

My hand springs back. I clutch the cloth rose on my shoulder. My eyes turn downward as I ask, “What kind of security system causes you to look like,,,you’re in pain?”

Elise pulls the key out of the lock, opening the door, “It’s checking for my mana identity. This way, only approved employees can enter this library.” Why is she saying this so casually? Something like this on the farm would’ve been… I give a quick sigh before following Elise inside my cheeks burning up a little bit.

A small room appears before me. The oak floorboards bleed into a red and white ornamental oval rug. The rug takes up the majority of the floor, sitting underneath two separate desks, each accompanied by its own set of wooden chairs. Sitting straight across from the door was a painting on the wall, the outline of a golden fan encircling a ruby-red heart. The heart wore its own jewelry in the form of a sash set with piercing thorns, a spear held by its point deep into the heart, as a crown of fire sat atop it.

Elise and I walk into the room. She reaches towards one of the several walls of wooden bookcases, a set of white designs running down the vertical parts of the shelves, a red lining cutting horizontally. Elise stacks book upon book on top of her arms. Her arms shivering under the weight as she looks at me, “Please sit down.” Elise points to one of the desks in the direction she is walking towards. As soon as my left foot begins its step, a loud crash rings through the room. Elise lies on the ground, her face pressed into the rug. Her arms squish between the books and her chest. I do a little speed walk to Elise, giving my hand out, “You ok?”

Elise lifts her body into the sitting position before reaching for my hand, “Yeah, haha… that rug always plays tricks on me.” She gives a smile. I giggle at her obvious attempt at making light of herself. Helping her up and collecting the books that fell with her, we take our seats at the desk. In front of me, on the wooden tile sat three books: Runes & Applications, The Basics of Earth Magic, and Dancing Roses. Their hardcovers show visible signs of age and wear. I take it these are the magic books Elise was talking about. Interesting though, that the Adventurer Guild offers rune magic. I don’t see how this can be useful for fighting. I mean, maybe you can etch some healing magic into the runes, maybe? But at home, we would just use some runes to help with basic tasks. A spark rune, for example, to help start a fire rather than constantly smashing some flint and stones together for a spark. I remember Mom using some light runes to help us in emergencies at night, like if a horse escaped the pen, but that's basically it. My eyes shift to the left towards the bookshelf. I might’ve seen some people using an ink-type rune to dip their pens into. Earth magic, on the other hand, hehe. I can totally see how smashing rocks into a person’s body could be a combat magic. Wonder what this Dancing Roses spell book is about, though.

I wait as Elise does some shuffling with some papers before she sets down a little ink tray on her left side. Her right hand was straightening up a piece of paper, and while the other held her pen, dipping it into ink. “At this point of the process, you’ll start to learn one of the guild-based magics since you put on the application that you haven’t trained in any magic or school.” She looks up after scribbling something down, “Do you know what each of these magics do?”

I set my hands up on the table, crossing the knuckles, “Kinda. I don’t know what Dancing Roses is. I'm also a bit confused on why rune magic is here; it just doesn’t make sense to me.”

Elise jots down something else on her paper. Her tenacity to record every little thing about me is a bit…weird? Admirable? She lifts the pen to her lip resting it there, “Well, Dancing Roses is a magic style that is based on plant magic. Like controlling roots and vines. It's a bit hard to do and requires a lot of mana. It specializes in controlling the type of plants that are native to our area, like rose bushes.”

Letting her pen fall to the desk, she leans over and fiddles with Runes & Applications, opening its red cover and flipping through the pages until landing on the page about fire runes. “This rune here, for example, can mimic a fireball, but you have to add a lot of mana to it beforehand.” She flips to another page. “This swap rune here can take one object or person and swap locations with the rune. A lot of adventurers would use this to escape a dangerous situation or return to camp.” Finally, she flips back to one of the first pages, “However, the big downside of runes is that their flexibility comes with preparation and tools.” She points to a grid of pictures of different metals, “Runes expire after a certain time, especially the more complex or the more mana a spell needs for its activation. You use different types of metals to increase the effects or the length of time that your spell can hold in the rune before expiring. Better materials cost more money, and constant upkeep is needed for this magic.” She looks back at me, “However, it is very versatile, and we often suggest it to newbies who are looking to do something that can be both personal and professional life.” Elise's collar flutters as she leans back into her chair, closing the book. “Earth magic is also good for construction if you want to be both combat efficient and work in hard labor jobs. With your background as a farmhand, it might be useful to you.”

I lean back in my chair, giving a heavy sigh. Of course, she suggests the nonfeminine magic, just like the others. Can’t she tell I want to be a girly girl? A girl who doesn’t need to be like my parents, but one who lives in a clean house, with clean clothes, and a clean job. I don’t want to be like my parents. The obvious choice is the flower one. Like, who wouldn’t want to date a girl who can tend her own garden? I can even use it to grow a bunch of flowers and sell them in pretty bunches, like on Valentine's Day. My cheeks raise into a smile. Imagine a man sweeping me off my feet as he plucks the flower out of my hair, pinning it onto my chest, his eyes meeting mine as he gets on one knee, dreammmmy. My cheeks lower. Who am I kidding? I’m just a farm girl from the countryside. I’ll never have that noble romance of the city. I don’t have the funds to pay for rent, but why do I think I’ll have the funds to pay when I play flower girl? I’ll just end up being an adventurer until I get married, and no handsome gentleman is going to go after an adventurer. While my parents weren’t poor, of the poor we weren’t rich either, yet we still had some magic runes. If I am in the city, I can probably sell some runes here and there to others. Which might enable me to get out of this adventuring business as a merchant or tradesmith.

My head leans back as my fingers dig into my skull. “I’ll learn some rune magic.” Elise writes something down. Hopefully not me trying to rip my brain out. I open up the crimson cover and flip through the index, looking for a general overview, catching a few notable examples from the two dozen possible: swap, fire, first-aid, water. A swap might be useful as a fast way back to the town. Well, maybe not the town, according to the book, the longer the distance and the larger the object, the more mana it takes to charge. Mana, mana, mana. How much of that do I even have?

Fire would be useful in fighting. I can also use smaller flashes of the rune to start torches or campfires. Can’t go wrong with water. After all, I’ll always need something to drink. Even if I end up homeless on the streets. First aid is probably the most impactful from this book. I know that healing potions cost a good chunk of change, and if I learn to do this, I might be able to sell the first aid runes for some juicy coin.

Elise walks over to a bookshelf, and grabs several items: a binder, a brush, and a blue box of some sort. The rune for first aid is a cross with a circle around it. According to the book, the amount of mana for first aid is one of the higher costs compared to others. I guess this makes sense on why everyone is always using potions instead of healing runes.

Elise returns and pulls the contents of the box out. “Ok, let's see.” She talks quietly to herself. “For the rune, let's start with one of the simpler runes. Do you see any runes you’d like to practice from chapter 1?” I turn back to the index. Fire and water appear here while swap is in chapter 3 and first aid is in chapter 5.

“Yes, fire and water.” Elise hands me a brush, an ink bottle, and some paper.

“Ok, let's try drawing water. I would rather not burn the building down,” she giggles. “Use these.”

I change the page of the book to the water chapter. It looks like I’m going to be drawing what looks like three w’s. I practice them briefly as Elise watches.

Once she gives me the go-ahead, she dips her hands into the blue box, “These are iron marbles. They are your go-to holding material. Not too expensive for the quality. You will be drawing the water icon on this while simultaneously planting your mana into the drawing. If you don’t do it correctly, the marble will crack into pieces.”

I stare at the marble. It stares back. This is so tiny, how would people draw more complex runes on these? I pull my brush to the marble and begin drawing, when I’m about a fourth of the way there, the marble cracks into pieces. “Sorry.” I bring my head low.

Elise hands me another marble, “Happens all the time, just part of the process. Try to draw as fast as you transfer your mana. If you draw too slowly or too fast, the marble will break. It's all about matching the same speed.”

I do it again, I fail again. And again, and again, and again until after a half a dozen times I get it to work. I jolt up in my chair, almost springboarding out of it. I did it. It didn’t crumble. My eyes are sparkling as I look at Elise. “Well done.” My body shakes with joy, “Let’s see if you can do it again.” I gleefully grab my brush and start on a new marble, it cracks and breaks apart, once again… I sigh as Elise gives me an encouraging smile, “You got it faster than most, now you just need to refine it.”

I practiced with Elise for the next few hours until it was time for her to start working on other, more important, projects. She drew me the icons for the other three runes on some paper and handed me a dozen or so marbles. Before leaving for the evening, I take a look at the quest board and take a piece of paper, tucking it under my arm as I head home.