“I have no idea, really. It’s new to me,” Will admitted, “But I know it’s an upgrade from an [Enchanter]. I guess enchanting supplies, blueprints, stuff like that.”

“In that case, we should check out the Wizard Ward. I figured that’s where you’d need to go already but needed to check. It’s only a few blocks away,” Kate said and moved next to him to take his arm and led him in the direction they needed to go. Will felt like he was at prom or something. He hadn’t walked with a girl on his arm like that since… It was probably his buddy Meng’s wedding when he was one of the groomsmen. It was different but as he walked he realized it was a cultural thing, nearly every where he looked where he saw men and women walking together it was in the same configuration. At least until they got a couple blocks away from the Marshall’s building. There, people didn’t just stroll around but moved with more purpose and only a few had time for the pleasantries. He had to amend his thought, it was still cultural but for the upper crest of society that happened to be walking around the government buildings in the square outside the Marshall’s office. Even with leaving that part of the city behind Kate still kept the position as they moved down the sidewalk to the Wizard Ward. Will had to guess it was because she was upper class in a way with her family's wealth.

“So what does your tome say that you’ll be able to do once you acquire the right materials?” Kate asked politely after leaving the hustle of busier streets and while waving to a young girl passing them on the sidewalk with a handmade doll in her hand. Her mother nodding to Kate but giving Will a side look. He only then realized how strange it was that he had been able to go speak with the Marshall fully armed. No one even asked for his revolvers, his rifles still being with Void in the saddlebags, the stablemaster had assured Will that no one would be going near Void’s stall much less stealing from him.

“I don’t know, I haven’t gotten the chance to read it yet but-” Will stopped when Kate jerked away and spun to look at him incredulously.

“Please tell me Mister Tempest that you mean you haven’t read it in it’s entirety,” She asked.

“Ah, I haven’t even opened it,” he admitted.

“You find a tome for a rare, magical profession class and you haven’t even read the first page of it?” She asked, her voice sounding more than a little condescending.

“Ah… to be fair it’s not about my class. It’s about enchanting, the [Arcane Artificer] part came from a class upgrade because I went to college,” he reasoned but she didn’t seem to be having any of it and rolled her eyes at him before retaking his arm and continuing down the sidewalk.

“Well, Mister Tempest… William. If I could give you any advice it would be to rectify that. A man needs a profession and I understand you have no issue tracking down bounties, which I’m sure Silverstead will be getting more of, but it would be more than just an intelligent decision to start getting yourself established in your proper profession for when those adventurers do arrive,” she stated, “In fact even without the changes coming to Silverstead, I’d imagine there are some in my family that would love to see what your class is capable of doing.”

“Why’s that? You guys just found out about my profession a couple days ago,” Will asked.

“You may be the first [Artificer] we know of in these parts but it didn’t take much to look up a very vague description labeling it as a magic craftsman class. With your statement the first time we met about attending university with your studies being on weapon design, let's just say that you wouldn’t find a shortage of interested individuals at Deathbane Ranch if you could link the two,” she explained. He was of course reminded of the explosive ammo used by the outlaws in Vicksby. He’d thought about it again on the roof of the warehouse and wasn’t sure if that was in his purview anymore or if that was some sort of magical chemist making explosive tipped rounds… or an alchemist. He had to remind himself where he was and that even if they didn’t call it that, it was definitely a thing from the healing tonics existing.

But a magically powered gun? Or better yet, magical lightning powered coil gun? That might work… once he knew what he was doing so it didn’t explode in his face. He should probably start small. What exactly he didn’t, know. Maybe just make a few wands. Or maybe use some of the crossbow blueprint on his rifle, he at least knew part of it was to make it more durable.

“So, where are we going?” Will asked as they turned through an archway.

“Right here, welcome to the Wizard Ward… Best place in Fairpoint to buy anything magical,” Kate proudly stated. Will looked around… it looked like a courtyard in the middle of the block. Sure it was line with stores and people milling about shopping but it didn’t look magical to him. He looked at Kate for an explanation but she was already pulling him along through the ward. His thoughts changed pretty quickly.

“Whoah!” Will exclaimed as they started passing the storefronts. He took it back, he could see the magic but for some reason, it was only within the stores. Or rather it was in the creatures on display in what he could only call a magical pet shop. What had caught his attention was a small dragon sitting in a cage by the window. It had breathed fire when they walked past.

“Cute little thing isn’t he but I’m pretty sure they grow to be as big as a house,” Kate said, seeing the target of his fascination.

“People sell dragons?” Will asked in awe as he squatted down and the small winged creature tried again to hit him with fire.

“William… that’s a wyvern. Only two legs…” Kate corrected. Will didn’t care, it was one of the coolest things he’d seen in his short time there. Which wasn’t really saying much with his main experience with magical creatures being slimes. He wasn’t sure if the various giant insects he came across were technically magical or not other than the ones in the dungeon being spawned by magic.

He looked at the little guy the size of a cat for a minute longer but decided to move on and see what else there was to see. He was only a little disappointed.

“So this is where you buy the healing tonics?” Will asked looking up at the sign for the apothecary. It was kind of a stupid question, they had healing tonics on display in the window and as he looked inside he could see shelves filled with different tonics and medicines. He wasn’t sure if they were all magical or not.

“One of the places one can buy some,” Kate said and entered the store. Will followed and went straight to the healing tonics along with Kate. She grabbed one of the top shelf tonics but Will blanched at the price.

“They’re $40 a piece?” he asked no one in particular.

That was too much. After spending money on food, a bath, and the hotel plus stabling Void for the night and paying to have him fed, he’d be able to afford two of them just barely but nothing else. His eyes drifted downward to the shelf below and noticed they were only $8 each.

“They rise in price steeply and these aren’t even the highest quality out there, they say the best can regrow limbs and cost a thousand for a bottle the same size but that’s just what I’ve heard. I’ve never actually seen one of them before,” Kate informed him and he grabbed a couple bottles of the cheaper ones. If the price went up exponentially then he figured they weren’t that low of quality. And Will could deal with the pain of it if it meant he wasn’t going to bleed out, they would be good to have for emergencies. He looked around the store one more time and, going off the signs, grabbed two more things before he decided he didn’t need anything else.

The Mana and Stamina tonics were both of interest, but he decided against buying them to grab a couple bottles of antidote instead. Opting to pay a little more for a generalized antidote for poison and an all purpose antivenom that worked with non magical venoms. There was a picture of a scorpion and a snake on the label, so he figured it would count with what was up in the high desert. As for the other two tonics, he could always buy some the next time he was in Fairpoint. In total it’d cost him $25 for all four but they were all meant to keep him breathing, so he could justify the expense.

“Ready to get your enchanting supplies?” Kate asked, she’d been quick about her purchase, it seemed she knew the layout of the store and Will had to remind himself that it wasn’t her first time shopping there.

“Yup… lead the way?” Will asked and offered her his arm again, which she took and led them across the courtyard to the store that was his excuse for traveling to Fairpoint in the first place. Not that he needed it anymore, Kate had seen the letter from the sheriff and he’d been listed as a complainant, so the cat was out of the bag. Not that it really mattered anymore, the entire point of the excuse was for the Landrys that were still in Silverstead.

“Huh…” Will grunted when they got inside the store. He’d expected a bit more

“What can I do for ya?” The man behind the counter asked. He was about the only thing to see in the store with a counter and interior wall being all there was to the storefront. “Let me guess, a starter kit.”

“Ah… yeah. How’d you guess?”

“Will, he can see your class and levels,” Kate reminded him but the man just smiled politely and held up a finger to disappear into the back room. The two of them waited for a minute in the lobby before the man returned. He laid out a couple tools on the counter for inspection. Mainly a few leather rolls of tools that he slid towards Will and Kate to look at.

“I must confess I don’t have everything for an [Artificer] specifically but any of your engineering tools I’m sure you can find somewhere in the city, we deal only in enchanting supplies. These are the two starting kits offered. I’ve got a standard setup here with quartz, sapphire, ruby, emerald, and a diamond tipped engraving pens. Each gem is hardened and mined from certified leyline mines for proper magical conductivity. Their gemstones should last for quite a while, we pride ourselves on quality but they cant be removed and replaced without coming back here. They’re simply not designed for it. Over here we’ve got a different option, same set of engraving pens but also a set of fine tipped engraving pens of the same gems for detail work, and here we have a similar set. This one comes with citrine, aquamarine, and topaz as well, and as you can see the tips are designed to be replaced with only a couple primary engraving tools. For leatherwork, I’m afraid I’m sold out of etching pens but for other soft materials. I’ve got inks infused with powder for each of the gemstones here and more and of course various needles and thread for embroidery. Just let me know what you would like. I will inform you that we don’t sell blueprints here,” He finished his pitch and Will was lost. He only vaguely knew what enchanting was, he had no idea it took at minimum a set of five different pens. Thankfully Kate spoke up for him and let him save a little face.

“If you don’t mind sir, could you explain why the different engraving tools? Mister Tempest here isn’t the best at explaining I think, goes right over my head,” She laughed and smiled at the man.

“Of course. It’s not too complex if you forget some of the detail work that only an [Enchanter], or in this case an [Artificer], would need to know. The different gemstones change the raw mana provided by the [Enchanter] and thereby allowing him, or her, to provide different effects based on different combinations of engraving pens,” he explained.

“I thought the effects came from blueprints?” Kate asked.

“Tsk, tsk… Mister Tempest, was it?” the man shook his head at Will, “That’s a common misconception Madam. They do change the end result of the effect, how it manifests itself but it’s the tools that sets the effect. The example I often use is variations of a fire wand with a mana crystal core. One set of blueprints might make it a jet of flame, others a fireball. The blueprint changes how it comes out but the type of flame is set by the tools. The color of the flame, maximum and minimum intensity, things of that nature. Of course, they do go beyond just elemental magic. Does that answer your question?”

“Yes, I’m much obliged. Thank you,” Kate said.

“So which one will it be? I would recommend the middle tier kit, it’s obviously a bit pricier but the fine tipped pens not only allow for enchanting smaller items but also better control when dealing with more complex blueprints, some of which require their use. The entire kit costs fifty,” he said, “I’d also recommend a set of inks to go along with it."

“Ah… How much for the standard one? I’m still pretty new to it, so I won’t be doing anything that comp-”

“He’ll take that one as well as a set of ink to match. Do you happen to have thread that could be used for durability enchantments?” Kate cut him off.

“Of course! I assume it’s to keep your clothing from wearing out, would you be interested in some purification thread as well? With the proper blueprint, it can put a cleansing enchantment on any garment making it impervious to stains or dirt.”

“Yes, thank you,” Kate said and the man quickly gathered everything but what Kate had ordered and disappeared to the back again.

“Kate? I only have a little more than 60 dollars left. I can’t afford that,” Will said.

“Consider it a payment for future services rendered. A few enchanted outfits should suffice. Won’t it?” Kate asked.

“I don’t even know the blueprints to do that!”

“I have a vest with a durability enchantment embroidered on it that you can study and I’m sure ma or one of my aunts has something with a cleansing enchantment,” she informed him. He sighed but dropped it, it wasn’t the fact it felt like charity that wasn’t needed it was the fact that he’d be on the line to provide enchanted items to her to pay her back. He could try to say no but her look made him think that she’d buy it anyways and then he’d be on the line to do something after she got back and her family learned how much she’d spent and on what. She had him over a barrel… Although it did mean he could learn a few more blueprints, ones he might actually make money selling, once he figured out how they worked. The man came back and set a few more items on the counter.

“I should have mentioned that I do also have blank wands for enchanting. Are you interested in viewing some?”

“Ah…” Will started.

A midtier set of beginner engraving tools, five pots of enchanted ink, four gem tipped sewing needles, four spools of magical thread, two blank, coreless wands that had to be powered by the user's own mana, and three blank cored wands with a mana crystal inserted at the end that could be powered by anyone. And a set of leather etching tools on order... In the end, William owed Kate a sizable amount of money for her investment. Or rather a few enchanted outfits and an enchanted pair of boots and saddle once the etching tools came in. He’d have to spend some time practicing and leveling up… And reading his tome.

He also had a few engineering tools that he paid for by himself. The kit looked like a miniaturized set of blacksmith tools with precision measuring devices thrown in. Or at least as precise as you could get with the imperial system of measurement.

“So, what now?” Will asked, officially done with shopping. The only thing left he could think of to buy was a map but he could get one later, he knew what country he was in now.

“Well, William, I believe I promised to show you a diner with a nice view of the bay… we should still have plenty of time to stop in for a coffee or tea and some finger cakes before returning to the Marshalls office,” she said and took his arm again with his other filled with a bundle of his goods.

They made their way through the city and after a short ride on a horse drawn bus they were on a large hilltop overlooking the bay below. It was a more affluent part of town and Will understood why it was called Fairpoint from the view on top of the hill. He hadn’t been able to notice it before but from higher up he could see they were actually on a wide peninsula that narrowed to a sharp point stabbing into the bay. From atop the hill, it was also a beautiful sight with the mix of greens, tans, and blue and large ships with white sails out in the harbor… It meant that Fairpoint was about as originally named as Silverstead but well… there it was. He probably couldn’t have done any better.

They sat down at a table on the veranda overlooking the picturesque view with the placement of the chairs obviously set to encourage the practice while slightly facing one another. He let Kate order for the both of them and despite her previous shenanigans, she’d actually asked but for once he was willing to let her be the one to make the order. The prices weren’t too expensive and Will had no idea what half the menu even was.

He recognized the basics, coffee, tea, and the names of quite a few pastries but it was the flavors and fillings he was unfamiliar with. Eldarfruit, greenleaf, hazelgrass, and iris-water tea to name a few. She ended up ordering them each an Eldarfruit tea with a small tray that had an assortment of tarts. Each with a different fruit and containing cream, jam, or drizzled in apis and silean honey.

“Is it your first time having something like this?” Kate asked when she caught Will studying one of the tarts with bright pink and orange berries on it.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Will said and tried a bite. It wasn’t the best he’d ever had but it wasn’t bad.

“Are things that different from where you come from? I know hazelgrass and silean honey is a staple of the Heartlands but I can’t believe you’ve never had Eldarberries before,” Kate pried.

“I’ve had Elderberries before but they’re different than these… guess I’ve never really bothered to go to a place like this before. We have diners and cafes back home but the only time I ever really went to one was for a blueberry muffin and a coffee to go,” Will explained. It wasn’t that they didn’t have fancier food at docking stations, it wasn’t his scene. Plus… you know, the fact that he grew up with apples and oranges, not aodach fruits and Orains. Though the Aodach fruits did look a lot like apple slices.

“I’m afraid I haven’t heard of blueberries, well unless you mean any berry that’s blue… Did you say you could take a coffee to go? How would that work, do you return the cup later or must you provide your own thermos?” Kate asked.

“They had paper cups,” Will said.

“Paper… cups? Strange, how do they not soak through?”

“Ah… I’m not sure but I think it’s some kind of edible wax… well not edible, really. You don’t actually eat it, it’s just safe to put in your mouth. They coat the paper cups in a thin layer of that. It keeps them from leaking,” Will explained. It was an ancient method from centuries ago that had been catching back on as a part of a retro phase. He admitted he sort of liked it.

Kate exhaled sharply in amusement and smiled, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that… but I suppose it would be quite convenient if you didn’t have time to sit down for a coffee or tea. Of if you wished to enjoy it elsewhere.”

“Oh it was. I’d get one on my walk to my shift if there was time or if I was drug out to go shopping, I’d get one to sip on while I walked around,” Will explained. He left out that the coffee on his way to work was from the enlisted mess on the ship.

“Now that I believe I could enjoy. Having a tea to enjoy while casually meandering by shops. Though I think I would rather have a cold tea for that,” she said and Will glanced over at the menu sitting at the edge of the table. They had ice tea? How did he miss that? Did they have sweet tea? The eldarberry tea was sweet enough that it might count if it was chilled. Maybe just a little more sugar. “You know, I don’t think you’ve ever said where you’re from, Mister Tempest?”

“Ah…” Will paused at the question. He’d thought about how to answer it and then again after learning about truth coins but even with the lead up to it, it still caught him a little off guard, “I’m from the Terran Coalition.”

“Terran? Not Teyryn? No, that’s an empire… hmmm? I don’t think I’ve heard of that before,” She said.

“Doesn’t surprise me. It’s not anywhere near here and in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t very big at least in comparison to other places,” Will said and quietly hoped that if she had a truth coin stuck down her shirt or something that it wouldn’t vibrate.

Obviously, the Heartland Federation or any other nation on the planet was a drop in the bucket compared to the coalition which controlled two dozen habitable planets and had people in a couple hundred other systems on various moons or inhospitable worlds for research or resources and over a thousand unexploited star systems beyond that. No nation in his new world could compare to it.

But the Coalition compared to its interstellar peers? That was a different story, the Orion spur only had a few interstellar species and of all of them, the coalition was the smallest. And humanities furthest surveys reported far larger interstellar empires just in their corner of the galaxy. So, in the grand scheme of things, they weren’t very big.

“Would I know any of its neighbors?”

“Heard of the Ivonian Empire? They’re our biggest neighbor,” Will threw out the official translation of the Frog’s government.

“Well… It sort of reminds me of something. Are you sure you're not speaking of the Kingdom of Ivona?”

“No, it’s defiantly an empire. It’s not on this continent,” Will ventured a risk. He wasn’t even sure if there were other continents.

“Huh. Well, that would likely explain it, I wasn’t aware that there were human nations on the other continents,” She said and Will did an internal fist pump in celebration that he didn't screw up.

“Well, short of some rebels that tried to carve a chunk out of the Coalition for themselves, the rebels didn’t succeed in that. So we're the only ones around,” Will explained a bit of recent history. He’d never said it was on a different continent. It made him feel a bit better for getting the better out of the conversation after she outwitted him repeatedly, not to mention her brute force tactic of taking charge. But knew he should probably change the subject as soon as he could before he stuck his foot in his mouth. “How about you?”

“Where I’m from? William, I don’t think I need to answer that,” She grinned at him over her cup of tea.

“Okay then… have you always lived in Silverstead?” he asked.

“Born and raised,” she answered.

“Never wanted to go anywhere else?”

“Well, that’s a completely different question. Furthest I’ve been at home is right here in Fairpoint but that don’t mean I wouldn’t want to see more. Maybe head up north of the high desert and see the plains, visit the capital… you know they’re constructin’ a building there with 12 floors. Twelve! I have no idea how they’re buildin’ it, you might with your education I guess… It’ll be the tallest buildin’ in the Federation when it’s done. One of the tallest on the continent the papers say. If you don’t include a few ancient relics that could only be built by magic. And they’re already plannin’ a different building that will be 15 stories!” She laughed and shook her head in disbelief and Will couldn’t help but laugh too.

He wondered what she’d think if she could ever see Earth. There were a couple buildings over two and a half kilometers high and the tallest ‘structure’ was a tie between the two equatorial elevators. Though he didn’t think a space elevator really counted as a building, it’d still blow her mind.

“I COULD probably guess. It’s probably a steel frame construction…” Will watched her eyes light up as he vaguely explained the process of building a steel skeleton out of ‘I’ beams that were used to support the mass of the building instead of the actual walls, which were only attached to the beams.

“Could you build somethin’ like that?” Kate asked excitedly.

“Probably not… I could design one theoretically but it’s not about the design for something like that. It’s the logistics. You’d need a small mountain of high grade structural steel shaped exactly how you needed it, specified tools for the construction, specially trained workers to use them, and before any of it started you’d have to have a survey done on the ground to make sure you can set the bottom of the beams into the bedrock. Otherwise, the building wouldn’t be structurally sound,” Will explained.

Kate smiled at him even wider, “It’s nice talkin’ to a man educated in more than just guns, bakarna breedin’, or farmin’. Most folks from Silverstead ain’t never been beyond Vicksby and here I am talking to a man from a different continent about things that would make half the people I know just scratch their heads or their asses.”

“It’s nice talking to someone that’s interested,” Will said and meant it. Most of his conversations so far had been with Skunk and Jakob. Both liked to talk but there were only a few subjects they knew anything about and it fell to the same topics Kate was used to with the addition of women, though neither of them really knew much other than the girls at the saloon. Which was of course Jakob’s favorite topic.

The two spoke for a little while longer but their time in Fairpoint was quickly drawing to a close. Will paid for their brunch and they headed back to the stable, where Will was surprised to see a new, temporary addition to his saddle. His Stirrups were lowered down again and a new set was hanging down behind them. Also Void now had a set of blinders on his head.

“Bakarna have to have the blinders to go through the city and figured you weren’t gonna want to ride like that again so asked the stablemaster to whip something up,” Kate admitted. Will almost hugged her as a thank you but controlled himself. Instead, he went through the process of Void sniffing him, the big beast taking a little less time to confirm his scent. He waited for Kate to get done with being sniffed and gave her a boost up on the back of the saddle and she scooted back onto Void’s rump to give him room to mount up. A lot easier than the last time. Once he was set he directed Void out of the stable and prayed the Greater Bakarna wouldn’t go straight into a gallop through the streets of Fairpoint.