3.1 - Magic Test: Night Two

The second night arrived.

And once again, I found myself transported to the new world called Rynn. I ended up in the same place as before when my alarm woke me up in the real world. Strangely, I was still wearing the same clothes as last time. "Weird, I don't think I'll ever get used to this." I had spent approximately 14 hours in Rynn during my previous visit.

The president and the class representative Yumi, was already there when I arrived. It seemed that the first people to fall asleep arrived earlier than the rest. Knowing the class rep, she probably went to bed at 8 pm while the rest of us went to bed at 10 pm or later.

While waiting for Kendra to arrive, I sat and observed as each member of our class fuzzled in. Everyone had a similar reaction, shaking and shivering as they looked around. We gathered in our respective groups, with the girls forming one group and the guys forming another. It was like we were recreating our usual dynamics back in the real world. Kendra and I were usually always together alone. Just like we always had. Prez was a social butterfly always in all groups giving help.

Kendra went to bed around the same time as me, but she took 40 minutes longer to fall asleep. I believed this was so that I could fall asleep and enter the world faster than everyone else.

We headed to the warrior training area, Silica tagged along, and we watched Kendra train against other members of our class. She seemed to be doing very well, showcasing good reflexes and technique. However, heavy blows would often throw her off balance. She had a good rhythm in her step and had better agility than the rest. The boys are losing more and more to her and are getting quite embarrassed about getting beaten by a girl.

Meanwhile, I was getting more accustomed to using the wand, making it glow and forming circles and words with it. I was now able to form the magic circle and it would shoot a small ball of fire. I was getting better and better every hour. The flow of magic was getting faster and stronger, and less draining.

***

We spent most of the day training and ended the afternoon at a popular restaurant on the other side of town. "Hey, Mackenzie!" someone yelled across the room of the restaurant.

I pretended not to hear him amidst the loud chatter in the room, playing it safe. Kendra and Silica found an open table across the room from the roaring beast yelling. However, that didn't stop him from running over and plopping a seat right next to me, with his arm casually draped around my shoulder. "Hey, Mackenzie,", his breath reeking of alcohol, just inches away from my face. It seemed like they had been drinking all day. "You have to try these girls here," he whispered into my ear, "they will blow your mind. They even have a beast man, a rabbit, and a squirrel if that's your thing. I looked around the bar, noticing that all the waitresses had ample cleavage on display, wearing thin clothing, and one even had long brown rabbit ears.

Smack! “Ahh!” my shin!

Kendra kicked me under the table. My eyes must have been wandering around, mouth agape. Kendra's face turned red with anger as she stared at me. Silica paid no mind, pretending not to hear the conversation. A waitress approached our table and handed us menus. "Welcome to Jarvan's Tavern,", smiling at the three of us, completely ignoring Kyle.” What can I get you?”

“I will have the Paradise Splash virgin,”

I haven’t even looked at the menu. “I will have the same.”

“Make it three,” added Kendra.

"And another round for me and my buds at that table over there," Kyle pointed at Chad and Nakamura, and if you’re free later I would love to have a round with you.” Giving her a savage wink. The waitress had a disgusted look on her face, like telling Him to go kill himself. “Yes of course sir. try and last longer than 1 minute this time” as she bowed to us and walked away. Silica gave a small chuckle and Kyle turned angry and embarrassed as she laughed. Kyle was still leaning heavily on my shoulder, with pain slowly tingling down my arm. He was clearly intoxicated.

"So, Kyle, do you like this place?" I asked. trying to get him to stop leaning on me and leaning him off and onto the table.

"Ooh man, this place is the best! Kickass drinks and the food are top notch," he exclaimed, leaning over, and looking at Silica. "Thanks so much again, Silica, for lending us money."

"No problem," as she smiled back. He slowly stumbled back to his table, almost bumping into every table along the way. I opened the menu and scrolled through it. I was slowly able to read the weird letters. They had the typical food options like beef, chicken, and rice. However, on the back page, it read "special services" with prices listed: 15 silvers for a service called full service and 25 silver for custom. Listing several other accommodations. “Holy shit” I blurted out loud, grabbing the attention of Kendra and Silica.

"What? What?" Kendra asked. Knowing she wasn’t able to read the menu.

"This is a brothel," I whispered.” Why did you take us here Silica”? Stunned into silence, they both looked at me in disbelief. Just as they were about to respond, the waitress returned and placed our drinks on the table. The liquid had an orange color, served in glasses, not as nice as the glass on earth. I looked around and noticed that everyone else had big brown wooden mugs. Did I order a girly drink? I thought to myself. "Don't worry," Silica reassured me, taking a sip. "There's no alcohol in this and it's the best drink in town."

Wow this drink is amazing "Yum, this drink tastes like a tropical fruit I've never had before. Ahh, this place serves the best Paradise," Silica exclaimed. “By the way, can you tell your classmates that they will be cut off from using this place after today” as she downed her drink.

***

As the day grew late, we returned to the grand hall in Silica’s house. Kendra headed to the back training yard to practice some swings, while Silica handed me a book titled "Drawing Magic 101."

"This book shows the basic drawing circles for different elements, from the five basics of fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning," Silica explained. "It also has some other useful spells, like barriers, light, and dark, and handy other spells."

It was getting late, and Silica and I relaxed together. As I flipped through the book, occasionally practicing the drawings with the wand. Then, I got an idea. Pointing the wand at the table, I formed a tic-tac-toe board. However, it was challenging to maintain the size and shape of the lines for a long time. Silica laughed and pointed her finger and drew an "X" right in the middle. I struggled to draw a circle without connecting it to the board. The O was not perfect.

We played about three games, and I ran out of mana to maintain the board. It resulted in two draws and one win for Silica. I felt exhausted from using the drawing. Silica then took over drawing the board and her magic board was much better than mine it was brighter and unwavering.

"How did you draw without connecting the lines?"

"Well, you have to flow your mana out into a big, clear 3D ball. Then, add a colored liquid and move it around the ball, just like food coloring in a glass of water," she explained. "You can form shapes with different colors. And when you get used to it, squish the ball into a 2D shape to save mana volume."

It was hard to duplicate her technique, but I could only create a big ball and move around one color to form a shape. Whenever I added another color, the previous one would dissolve and lose its shape. Feeling exhausted from trying so hard the night was over, the class and Silica’s friends gathered around, and Professor Yuuki told us a story about her hay days in college. Eventually, we all fuzzled out.