By the time they were done, the two had racked up nearly eighty five gold worth of charges. They slipped back out the door with a pile of pans, knives, paper slips, and other small objects balanced precariously in their hands.

“Looks like you found what you were looking for,” the clerk observed with a grin. “And, judging by the tags you’ve got, I assume you want me to help deliver the larger objects to your room?”

“If that’s possible,” Damien said.

“It is. It’ll cost you ten silver though. I don’t work for free.”

“That’s fine,” Sylph said, setting her pile of stuff down and grabbing her sack of coins. She counted out what they owed and set it on the table in front of the clerk, adding another ten silver to cover his transportation fees.

“Fantastic,” the clerk said, grinning. “Thank you for your business! I’ll have everything delivered by the end of the day at the latest.”

“Thank you,” Damien said. The two of them bid the man farewell and made their way out of the general store. The sun had already risen over the mountains, forcing Damien to squint in order to protect his eyes. “Do you think it was wise to spend that much money?”

“There’s no point in having money if you don’t use it,” Sylph replied. “It would have been a massive waste of time if we made everything we needed from scratch. You might have been able to do the runes that made everything run, but who knows how long that would have taken – and that isn’t even counting the time it would take to get the raw materials.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Damien said, rubbing the back of his head. “So, what now? There’s no point hunting anything yet, since we won’t have the kitchen until later today.”

“Well, I know we said we weren’t going to train today, but what about a little sparring?” Sylph asked. “With my setback and your recent progressions, I’ve got no clue which of us is stronger anymore. It could be an interesting way to compare our powers.”

“That could be interesting, although I don’t know if it’s wise for us to use the arena yet. We don’t want to reveal, well, you know. And sparring in our room is dangerous – there aren’t any healers watching it.”

“Damn,” Sylph said, frowning. “You’re right. I’m not sure we can limit ourselves enough to avoid injuring each other.”

“That does give me an idea, though,” Damien said, scratching his chin. He held up his hand, jingling the plain metal wristband. “These things are outdated. Why don’t we go see if we can get a new version? Something that updates automatically would be very convenient.”

“Better hope we didn’t spend all our money on furniture,” Sylph said, smirking.

“Hey, I’d rather have furniture than numbers,” Damien protested. “And I can’t imagine anything will be all that expensive. We can always get the money that Auntie owes us and use that if we need to.”

“Works for me,” Sylph agreed. “Do you remember where we can buy them?”

“I don’t think anyone mentioned, but they’re probably too specialized for the general store,” Damien said. “Why don’t we just ask someone?”

He approached an older student, clearing his throat to get the boy’s attention. “Sorry to bother you – we’re trying to get upgraded versions of our wristbands. Do you know where we can buy them?”

“There’s a small shop near the library,” the boy replied, adjusting a heavy bag over his shoulder and looking mildly annoyed at being stopped. “You can buy them there.”

“Thank you!”

The boy just nodded and set back off. Damien and Sylph exchanged a glance, then headed in the opposite direction and towards the library. After a short walk, the two of them reached their destination.

A small building sat to the right side of the library. It looked ridiculous compared to the massive building towering over it. There was a single, small door at the entrance and a small sign hanging above a covered window read ‘Bracelets’.

Damien and Sylph walked inside. Their presence was announced as a small bell let out a series of dings. The inside of the shop was plain, with several wooden chairs scattered about it in front of a tall counter.

A door behind the counter opened and a tall man stepped out, dusting his hands off and squinting at them. He adjusted the thick glasses on his face and gave them a nod. “Come looking to upgrade your bracelets?”

“We’re thinking about it,” Damien allowed. “Do you have some sort of price estimate?”

“It all depends on what you’re looking for,” the tall man replied. He reached under the counter and took out a small triangular piece of metal with something scrawled on it. He set it down on the table and adjusted it.

Damien squinted closer at the piece of the metal. The words ‘General Manager: Xoffle’ had been inscribed on it.

“Are you Xoffle?” Damien asked. “And we don’t really know what the options are. If its possible, a model that automatically updated would be nice. Beyond that, I don’t think I care.”

“No. I’m Vox,” the man said. “Why would you think I’m Xoffle? That’s the general manager.”

“Well, you put out a nametag…”

“For Xoffle,” Vox said, staring at Damien like he was an idiot. “I’ve got a nametag myself, you see?”

He pinned a small plate to his shirt. That tag also read Xoffle. Damien glanced back up at the man’s face, but it was completely straight.

“…that also says Xoffle.”

“And?”

“Right,” Damien said. “About those bracelets…?”

“Of course,” Vox/Xoffle said. “The cheapest version of the self-updating band is ten gold. If you want any precious gems or plating, that’ll cost extra. In addition, we offer a warranty plan for one extra gold.”

“Do they break a lot?” Sylph asked.

“No, but that doesn’t stop people from buying the warranty,” the strange merchant said, shrugging. “So, would you like rubies or sapphires in your band?”

“Can we just look at them first?” Sylph asked, trying to steer the conversation back on course.

“Of course. No activating them, though,” Vox/Xoffle warned them. “Once they bind to you, they’re stuck that way.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out two plain gray wristbands. Damien took one and Sylph took the other. They looked down at them, but there wasn’t much to examine without actually using the bands. They just looked like stone loops.

“I think I’ll take the plain one,” Damien said, choosing his words carefully. “That’s just ten gold, right?”

“It is. But you’ll look very boring.”

“I’ll live.”

“Probably,” Vox/Xoffle agreed. “Would you like a warranty for your purchase?”

“You just said that nobody needed them, so I’ll probably pass on that as well,” Damien said politely, taking out ten gold and putting them on the counter. “How do I activate this?”

The merchant took a small stick out of another pocket. He raised it over the bracelet in Damien’s hands and a small spark of energy flashed out of it, entering the loop. It shimmered with a faint gray light before returning to its normal appearance.

“The next person who puts that on will bind to it,” Vox/Xoffle said. “Thank you for your purchase. Would you like to upgrade to a newer model?”

“I just got this one, so I’ll probably use it for a while,” Damien said.

“Your loss,” the merchant said, shrugging. He turned his attention to Sylph. “And what of you?”

“The plain one works for me as well,” Sylph said, giving him the money.

“And how about a blade attachment for the young woman? Perfect for stabbing with.”

“That’s a bit more interesting than the rubies, but I’m going to have to pass as well,” Sylph said, holding the bracelet out for the man to activate. He did so with a reluctant huff.

“Let me guess. You don’t want a newer model either?”

Sylph shook her head and he let out an annoyed huff. “Fine. Have a good day, or something like that.”

Damien and Sylph bid the man farewell and darted out of the shop before he could try to sell them something else. They put a few streets between themselves and the small shop before stopping.

“He was… interesting,” Damien said. “A little deranged, but interesting.”

“As long as the bracelet works, it doesn’t matter,” Sylph said. She pulled her old bracelet off and slipped the new one on. Her eyes unfocused as something invisible appeared before her.

Damien sent a tendril of magical energy into the bracelet. An instant later, a translucent screen shimmered to life before his eyes.

Damien Vale

Blackmist College

Year One

Major: Undecided

Minor: Undecided

Companion: [Null]

Magical Strength: 5.3

Magical Control: 1.2

Magical Energy: 15

“Huh,” Damien said. “My magical energy nearly doubled and all of my other stats improved as well. How about you?”

Sylph didn’t respond. Damien waved the screen away and walked over to her, nudging the girl gently in her shoulder. “Sylph?”

She blinked, then shook her head. “Sorry, I was distracted. My stats have changed a lot. My magical control is a little lower than it used to be, but my magical strength… it grew more than four times.”

Damien whistled. “That’s great! What about your magical energy? That was the biggest problem, right?”

“It was,” Sylph said, nodding as a grin broke out over her face. “It more than doubled!”

“That’s amazing!” Damien exclaimed. Sylph nodded in excitement.

“This means I’ll actually have a chance of progressing past the first year,” Sylph said happily. “I honestly didn’t think I’d make it much farther than Year One.”

“It sounds like this calls for celebration,” Damien said. “One more meal at the mess hall, maybe? A good one.”

“That would be nice,” Sylph agreed, still looking somewhat shocked at her sudden change of fate.

Their path decided, the two of them headed over to the mess hall, chatting happily. They ate a large meal that cost more than Damien would have ever considered spending on food normally.

Once they’d finished, they dragged themselves back to their room, incredibly full but content. When they returned, Damien briefly considered practicing his magic. His nose curled and he let out a yawn.

Practice could come later. It was barely midday, but Damien was somehow already exhausted. Sylph seemed to have the exact same notions, as they both flopped into their beds at the exact same time.

A short nap will be a nice break. I can work after that.

With that thought, Damien drifted off to sleep, a smile on his face. Of course, no sooner than he had entered a dream did he find himself sitting on a grassy hill. The boy yawned as clothes formed over his body.

“Hello, Henry.”

“I figured you might as well get some practice in,” Henry said. “Unless you’d rather rest.”

“My body gets the sleep anyways, right?” Damien asked. Henry nodded. “Then I might as well take advantage of this. You heard Sylph, right? She’s going to outpace me at this rate, and it’s about time that I figured out how to cast that blasted Expunge spell.”

“I’m not stopping you,” Henry said. “Time’s ticking. Get started.”

Damien did just that. He drew the Ether to his fingertips and got to work. As always, it was difficult to tell just how much time passed upon Henry’s hill. Damien practiced without stopping, his earlier merriment pushed to the side as concentration took over. Every passing attempt brought him closer and closer to a successful cast, but he quickly found himself reaching a plateau where, no matter what he did, he didn’t improve.

“I don’t get it,” Damien complained. “I was actually making progress. Why is it that I can’t improve at all anymore?”

“You’ve probably reached the limit of what your mind can comprehend of the spell in this domain,” Henry said. “Remember, this isn’t the real Ether you’re using. It’s what your brain thinks should be happening. You’re training in theory, but not in practice. When you get back to the Mortal Plane, you’ll find that you can improve again.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” Damien said. “I guess it would have been kind of ridiculous if I could just constantly train here.”

“It would have been quite beneficial,” Henry agreed, a smile stretching across several of his mouths. “I’ve got some work to take care of tonight, so I’m going to be sending you off. You can practice more when you wake up.”

Damien nodded and Henry raised a hand in farewell as the grassy hill faded away around him, sending him back into the embrace of sleep.