0008 Brianna’s shop and learning

"Brianna's shop of magic and alchemy, sounds like a very cool name," I said with a smile on my face. This is an actual magic shop where various chemicals, apparatus and books were present.

"What are you looking for, kiddo," asked Brianna, looking at me. Looking at her beautiful face I said "Someone told me that I know magic, so I just want to buy a basic magic learning book." Her face changed from merry to suspicious, as she glared daggers at me.

"Do you know anything about magic?" she asked, trying to judge Dave. "Not much," I said, looking at her with calm eyes. "Alright, I won't pry into it, you are young, you don't know about the world, so to wake you up, I will just play along. So you want a basic magic learning book. Wait." she said, as she walked away towards a shelf.

She took out 3 books and kept back 2, coming out with a book in hand. She handed it over to me, to check. I don't know how to read yet, so I am not able to read it, but I can't tell her that. After glancing at the covers, I tried to open it, but was unable to do so.

"You totally are naive, this is a magic book, if it opens once, it becomes the property of the one who opened it. First I have to open it using my authority and then I have to transfer it to you." she said with a smirk. She continued "this is a basic magic book, like you asked for. It deals with meaning and flow of magic and mana. The history and political influence of magic. You will get everything in it. There's also magic to test which element you belong to."

I absorbed all the information she gave and understood the gist of it. As I made a decision, I said "I want to buy it. What is the cost?" Being a jeweller, I somewhat had a quirk to know when any product is expensive or not. Not only this book, but the whole shop demanded money or rather gold. I braced myself as she said "it is a basic one for starters like you. It will cost you 7 gold coins."

An ache occurred in my heart when she said the price. This book is the basic one and is costly enough to allow a person to go 2 month of normal living. But still it's an investment rather than an expense. I gathered my strength and said "I will buy it as I took out 7 gold coins from my left pocket".

At the sight of shimmering gold coins, she gasped but collected herself. With a cautious expression she said "You are an unknown customer and are purchasing an expensive product, so I will have to see your identification card."

As I heard her my hand went into my left pocket and took out the card and handed it over to her. "Dave Martin, is this your card?" she asked with a terrified expression as she held the card with both hands. "Yes." I answered, anxiously.

"You are a light green on soul stone? You are as pure as light itself." she said as she handed over the card. With a confused expression I asked, " how do you know the color the soul stone showed?" I asked her looking at the white colored card.

"We magicians know a magic which allows us to do that, everyone knows this," she explained to me. Continuing she said, "well I can now sell it to you, without any doubt". She took the 7 gold coins and unlocked the magic book just by a flick of finger and presented it to me with both hands and asked me to collect it with both hands only.

I collected the book and kept it in the bag provided by her. I thanked her as I left the magic shop. "I hope to meet you again," she greeted me as I left through the door.

****

The sun was now setting in the west, it's been an hour since I left the magic shop. I found a desolate alleyway to secretly put the book in the storage pocket. I did so and roamed around the city.

As I was on the way back, I came across a huge building. It had a very wide front side. It was a 4 storeyed building, made with sturdy brick and mortar. It was almost 60 feet wide. It had several windows and a huge entrance as well. Many strong looking men and women entered and exited the gate of the building.

As I wondered what was happening here, I heard a hoarse voice, "Young man, what are you doing here?" I turned my head to see a huge body casting a shadow on me. Clad in full body armor with a huge sword, it was the second commander Lance. "Good evening master Lance, how are you doing? " I asked bowing a little, totally intimidated by his presence.

"I was just passing by and saw that building, what's this building?" I asked with a curious expression. "It's the adventurer's guild, one of the biggest in our nation." he replied pridefully.

"So what happens in this building and can I enter?" I asked, looking up to the man. With a stern expression he replied "here people accept missions and jobs. They complete them and receive their pay from the managers. Also, a kid below 13 years old isn't allowed until he is putting up a job."

I thanked him for the information and left the front yard of the building.

As I was approaching the inn, I saw a blacksmith's shop again, "maybe this town has 2 blacksmiths," thinking that I entered the blacksmith shop. *Ting, ting, ting,* With the constant beating of a hammer on the iron, the shop was not quite at all.

"Excuse me", I yelled at the door behind the desk. A heavy voice just like Lance yelled "coming". As I heard the reply I moved around the shop, to look around. The shop was filled with all kinds of weapons, armors and metallic accessories, like knee pads, gloves, etc.

"Kid, what do you want?" came a voice from behind the desk. I turned towards him and saw a tall muscular man, he was not bulky, but lean and had tanned skin. "Do you own the other blacksmith's shop in the town as well?" I don't know why, but the first question that came to mind was this.

Visibly irritated, he said, "No, that shop is more of magical accessories and not owned by me. What do you want? If nothing, you may leave." I corrected my speech and said "I want a wooden sword to practice for myself."

Clicking his tongue, he went inside the door and brought back a wooden sword. "according to your stature this sword will be good" he said as he handed me the sword. "6 silvers and it's yours, make your decision fast, I don't have the whole day," he said to me.

Thinking how raw his business skills were I moved the sword around. I was quite happy with the manufacturing of it. I paid the amount and went towards the inn

****

The sun had set 30 minutes before I reached the inn. I greeted both Brice and Marcel and told them about my trip. They were astonished that a country boy like me had no problem adjusting to a crowd. Who would believe it if I told them that I have seen crowds bigger than these in a much smaller place for my entire life on earth.

I went to my room but the waiter brought the buckets after an hour only. As the boy was about to leave I stopped him to ask, "why did it take so long today?"

With a tired expression he said "one of our waiters left the job today due to family reasons and thus the work has increased on the staff". I realised I was holding him and sent him after thanking him.

"So that's why while I was talking to the father and daughter, it felt like they were in a hurry," said Dave, thinking about their odd behaviour. He took a bath and went to the bar for dinner. The menu was the same but the service was late. Without thinking much I had my meal and went to my room.

I locked the room and emptied my storage pocket. There were 3 books on language, paper, quill, the empty lunchbox, magic book, toothbrush, paste and the wooden sword.

"It must be around 8pm," I said as I thought about the wall clock and wrist watch for time. I opened the window, a cool breeze hit my face and sat down at my study table.

"But how will I interpret the language and understand its meaning?" I said to myself. I must get a tutor, I sighed and opened the book.

As soon as I opened the book and looked at the first page, the page started glowing yellow in colour and suddenly the glow burst out like a bomb. It took me a few minutes to adjust my eyes from the sudden increase in light. I rubbed my eyes and wondered what happened.

When suddenly a wave of information ran through my mind. "Huh, what is this? What is written here," I tried to read the writings in my mind when I realised, it's the exact copy of the words written in the book with translation. Then, I again looked at the first page and was able to read everything, like I have known this language for years. I realized my mistake that without a teacher it would've been impossible for me to understand the book.

Surprised to the core, I flipped the page when instead of a big burst, 2 small bursts occurred. I was able to read the second and third page as well. Excited with the sudden advancement, within half an hour I flipped through every single page of all the 3 books.

"Now I can actually read and write the language of this world or maybe this town," I said in excitement, discovering something new.

But how can I do this? As I thought about the reason, only one word came to mind, " God". "It must be God's power that is making me able to do this," I thanked God as I thought about this power.

I was now able to read and write and the first thing I did was I took out the parchment paper I found in the chest.