Chapter Twenty Two

Magic Time

Keong watched the constable and Tooth leave his governmental building together. Once they were out the door they split up and headed in a different direction. Ostensibly, Guro was walking back to his office and Tooth was heading towards a part of town that sold hard to find supplies. Arcane items, mana-based items, holy relics, and the like. No doubt to make more odd purchases.

Who buys one nail and one board, he wondered, recalling the list of items the hardware owner had told him that tooth had bought. Just one of everything. Obviously, unless he planned on having a work crew put up his buildings then he could see the need for a single hammer or saw but he had done that with every single item in the store. In every store, except for the bookstore. There he had been most specific in his request, including the need for a reading primer. Tooth could clearly read. Did he have a secret partner who could not read? A grandchild they might be able to threaten?

Who knew?

None of his men could even find where he lived. It was almost like he knew he was being followed and would string them along only to vanish before the trackers realized he was missing. Tooth was a concern. The real question that Keong asked himself now was whether the man was a magician, a mage, or a wizard. Sorcery was out of the question because he did not employ talismans, so far as he or any of his people had noticed. It was obvious that he wasn’t a priest, but there was no denying that he had summoned the constable out of thin air. Was that even the real Trond Guro? It was impossible to know, and now Keong debated whether or not to let the man live.

He simply could not allow the established law enforcement officer, and the men under him, to collude with Tooth. Skull had been worried that Trond has been off investigating things he shouldn’t have had a clue about or was plotting to take down their organization. The minute he sent his report there would be an entirely new concern. Tooth had already intimated that he knew far more about Goulcrest than he should have and had no fear doing so.

He’d confiscated their dumping ground and purchased every available piece of property the town-owned. It wouldn’t be long before Tooth started buying up private properties. The man seemed to have an endless supply of currency on hand. Honestly, who sets five hundred pieces of gold in front of the town hall with no fear of it being stolen? Tooth, that was who did that.

He hadn’t even batted an eye when he’d heard the price, he just handed it over as if it was a trifling matter. Keong was surprised that Tooth had even bothered to try and hide the summoning from prying eyes. In every other respect, the man was utterly fearless.

The mayor rejoiced in the knowledge that if this was vexing him, then he had no doubt that it would gall Skull to no end. He thanked the gods that this kind of information should be enough to get him out of trouble with the bleached white wearer of a rictus grin. If Tooth proved to be more than your average bear then his overuse of the poison would have been seen as a necessary evil.

He chuckled at the thought. A necessary evil. Weren’t all evils necessary? Wasn’t every dark action justified in the mind of the individual committing the act, no matter how heinous it was? As a public official, it was practically his duty to sin on the behalf of his constituents every day. He loved the people of Goulcrest so much that he often sinned into overtime. It was a sacrifice that he happily made if it made the town run smoother and his pockets got heavier as a result. The latter part didn’t mean he didn’t care about the townsfolks, only that he saw no reason that his sacrifices shouldn’t net him some profit.

He watched Tooth until the old man turned a corner. He wondered if he should try to have him killed again or just take out the constable. Tooth seemed to have a danger sense, and was obviously an unknown variable, whereas Guro was just a man who was skilled in fighting, but even he could not withstand a volley of crossbow bolts. He would send eight men to pin-cushion his body tonight. That would end up restricting some power that Tooth had in the town. After that, it was just a matter of time before he figured out a way to pull that tooth.

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Tooth puttered along after saying his farewell to the reborn constable. Things had gone better than he could have imagined. He was still cycling his harvested fear and could already feel a difference in himself. He now understood why so many adventurers cultivated. Granted, most of them used mana, but the effects were similar. Tooth could feel his chakra channels and knew which parts were closed to him still.

That was fine. It took time, practice, and patience to open channels and grow in power. Right now, the only chakra that was open was the heart chakra; which left six other major chakra points to open. It was the cultivation core that was placed near his heart that had opened that particular point and nothing else. He wouldn’t have had a clue on how to awaken that power point in his body, and considering what he was he was surprised to find out that he had mana channels and chakra points. It opened a whole new world to what he could do as a guardian for his beloved core.

Toot, not Tooth, was amazed at how close the two of them had become once they materialized as a core and its companion. In the void, they really didn’t have personalities, and basically struggled to care about more than what was right before them. As the tutorial, his main focus should have been solely on preparing the new core to go out into the world, and as a core, Dev should have only cared about what he was going to be, not who.

He had told Dev that he was a special core, and he meant it. Discounting the absurd number of souls that it took to find one suitable to be a deviant core; the pre-dungeon focused on non-essential things, which in turn had made the tutorial program do something it had never done before. He’d cared. He listened to the core instead of pushing him onwards as Toot was sure he’d probably done to thousands of other soon to be cores. He didn’t remember, but he knew that statistics, how many broke down, how many cried, how many literally expired into nothingness, and so on. Dev had made him break the cycle and in doing so he’d freed them both. Now, the old man couldn’t imagine existing without Dev by his side.

It was a side-effect of the bonding process he knew, but the truth was he and Dev shared something that no other bonded companion had with its core before that. If he was honest with himself he had no idea what it was because it was so unique.

Tooth turned a corner and saw the shop he was looking for. It was a magic shop called Curious Goods, it sold items that used magic and some things that were mana based. Dev needed to get a handle on how magic worked and the sooner he did so the better.

Tooth stepped up onto the small wooden walkway and stopped in front of the entrance. There was what appeared to be a door, but there was no handle, and the windows were painted. A were the windows at the front of the shop. The sign swinging from the overhang was real, even now it creaked as it swung in the slight breeze.

The elderly man stared at the door and wondered if this was a trick or a test. Could only practitioners of magic enter the building? That was doubtful, even average people could and would buy magical items. So, this was most likely a joke, something to sell itself to the normal people. Tooth reached out and pushed where a handle would normally be and the door rotated ninety degrees. From the exterior to the interior only the thin portion of the door could be seen. He stepped through and the door snapped back into place so that it was aligned with the wall once more. It had to be magically protected because even a feeble child would be able to kick it open otherwise. The door was not thick, being barely an inch in width. Given enough determination, a small dog could chew its way through it in no time.

Tooth noted that he could see out of the windows from the interior, even the ones in the door. Inside, the door had an actual handle and a keyhole. The old man knew there was no place for a key on the outside, so the door was magical. Rubes might be amazed but Tooth knew more about magic than most mages, he simply couldn’t use it or teach it to Dev. He could, he mentally amended, but it would take him decades to teach the core practical magic. Which was why he had come to Curious Goods; to expedite the process.

Dev learned fastest by absorbing and then practicing what he’d acquired. Some scrolls. Potions and higher-level spell books might help. One thing they mentally discussed while he’d been heading for the town hall was the need for healing magic. Dev had a plan to get blood and was certain that healing was the key to their success in that endeavor. He hadn’t elaborated, but Tooth trusted Dev’s instincts. If he wanted healing magics, then he was going to get them. That was the priority.

Tooth looked around and saw numerous items that looked interesting but did not tell the casual browser what they were. That meant the shopkeeper didn’t want people to know what he had and would be the one to get what his customers wanted. Tooth considered simply buying everything in the store, but he didn’t want to put the owner out of business. It took years to acquire and amass so many totems of power, and it stood to reason that the shopkeep wanted to maintain his business for many years rather than making a lot of money in one go. Tooth had a plan to deal with that possibility when they decided to get the lot of it. Dev wasn’t the only one who came up with ideas, but for now, he would keep his purchases limited. Not because it was going to be expensive, but because at the outset it was better for Dev to take baby steps. After he had the gist of how things worked then he could just binge like a man in a pie-eating contest and gobble up everything in front of him.

The stock was impressive, but the merchant was not. He was a child’s height but looked to be in his thirties. He wore a white button-up shirt and a brown leather vest. The man’s hair was receding and had formed a spectacular widow’s peak. He wore a pair of half-circle wire-rimmed glasses that let him show off his bushy eyebrows. He had a powerful set of mutton chops, which was the extent of his facial hair. He was a gnome so far as Tooth could tell. If anyone knew about appearances being deceiving it was Tooth. He never took anything on face value, but he was fairly certain that he was meeting with a gnome. The wiry gnome wore a bored, almost resentful, expression that told Tooth that his intrusion was barely tolerated.

“Are you looking for something in particular or just,” he spat, “Browsing.”

“No browser am I, I assure you,” Tooth relied with a smile that was barely hidden beneath his mustache. “I seek specific items, things that I believe only you can provide in this locality.”

The shopkeep rolled his eyes at Tooth’s reply. It was obvious to him that the old man was putting on airs.

“Don’t try to be what you aren’t old-timer, yer a plain feller like me if I ever saw one. Just tell me what you want and if I have it, we’ll haggle until I’m happy with the price. Otherwise, the door opens back out to the street.” The gnome looked, really looked, at Tooth for the first time and squinted, “There’s more to you than you let on,” he said as he peered at the old man. “Wha’s your name?”

“Well, the people around here know me as Tooth,” Tooth replied honestly.

“Yep. I kin see it now. It fits you, too, but you knew that already. No worries, though,” the gnome said hastily, “As long as you don’t cause me trouble, I won’t reveal your secret. My name,” he added politely, “Is Numblee. That’s a Num followed by a Blee. It’s an old family name.”

“I am not familiar with the Blee clan.” Tooth said earnestly.

“Not a clan, more of a sodality, but you have the general idea. I have to say, you have brightened my day. It isn’t every day I get to meet one of your kind, and not have to fear for my life.” Then the gnome’s eyes opened a little wider in surprise and he asked, “I don’t have to fear for my life, do I?”

Tooth waved the question away and shook his head. He raised his hands to show he was no threat and remained standing in place. He saw no reason to spoke the gnome.

“I am harmless to those who do not threaten me of mine,” Tooth then lowered his hands and tilted his head. “May I approach?”

Numblee gestured with his hand for the old man to come to the counter, and Tooth complied.

“I seek certain things. Things that only you might offer. Beginning spellbooks, potions, and other magic trinkets.”

“What exactly are you looking for. I have spellbooks and potions,” Numblee extended an arm at the shelves that were in his store, “And trinkets, totems, and objects of various power rest before your eyes, so please,” he stressed, “Be more specific.”

“I seek scrolls foremost. The one-use type that incinerates after being employed. I don’t care what you have since anyone who can read can use a scroll. Potions? The same, I’ll take one of whatever you have, I’m not picky.” Tooth paused and then amended, “But I am interested in any type of healing spells and potions that you have. As for spellbooks, I don’t care about the level of complexity in comparison to the number of spells they contain. The more the better.”

“You do realize that someone of your particular nature would not be able to use magic, no matter how much they knew about it, potions and scrolls not-withstanding.” The gnome frowned as he imparted this knowledge. Tooth smiled at the man’s honesty. Most dealers didn’t care if their customers could use what they sold them or not. Numblee was an honest man.

“You might be surprised at what I can and can’t do,” Tooth said as he considered the fact that he’d been cycling power through his channels since before he entered the store.

“Yeah, I’ll admit I was shocked to see you cultivating,” the gnome retorted, “I didn’t think that was something you’d be able to do. I also saw that you were new to it, just one chakra opened so far, but that’s still impressive. So, it wouldn’t shock me overly much if I saw you slinging spells on the street someday, but I am highly dubious of the probability of my eyes ever seeing that.”

Numblee hopped down from his stool behind the counter and vanished into the back as he held up one finger in a wait here for a moment gesture. He wasn’t gone for more than two minutes before he returned carrying six hefty tomes. There was no lettering on the spines or covers to indicate what they were or what spells they contained.

“Per your instructions, there are two books with beginner level spells, two with intermediate, and two with magics I would rate as master level. If you wait here I have ten scrolls, one of which contains a Greater Healing spell. The others are a mixed bag, I didn’t look through them since you didn’t care. I already have them priced, so there’s no need for me to examine them, and I have an active spell in the shop that keeps track of all items sold or stolen. It’s called Instantaneous Tomes, couldn’t do this job without it. It even keeps track of my payroll and taxes,” he winked.

Before he knew it there was a small number of rings and a leather coin pouch. “There’s a ring of fire protection, and a ring of deflection, the purse is a minor bag of holding. Not sure about the other ring, I’ve never wasted time trying to identify it. Seems cursed to me, so it's up to you. I can identify it for you for a price or sell it to you for a reduced price since it’s of an unknown quality.”

“No need to bother, I’ll take it as is. Unknown doesn’t scare me,” Tooth said truthfully.

“Mister,” Numblee said as seriously as his face would allow, “I doubt most things do.”

“That just leaves us the matter of a price to discuss,” Tooth stated. “What is your starting point?”

“Truthfully, my fairest price would run about seven thousand rounds of gold, but I’d be willing to take sixty-five hundred since you seem a decent fellow and you are buying in bulk.” The gnome rubbed the top of the upper book respectfully, “These are some costly little beasts. You need a receipt?”

Tooth shook his head negatively, “No need, give me a moment and I’ll be back with the coin.” The old man went to the door and stepped out for less time than it had taken the gnome to gather the books. He returned with a sizable chest and sat it gently on the mahogany countertop.

“There’s eight thousand pieces of gold in there. Consider the overage as a down payment on not remembering what you sold me. I believe the mayor has been making inquiries on the things I have purchased and I don’t believe he needs to know what I’ve gotten.”

“Keep the extra gold, old man. I don’t like that sneering fool of a bureaucrat, and any and all purchases made within these walls are confidential.” The gnome eyed the chest wistfully but was resolute in his conviction not to take more than he’d asked.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Tooth said with a raised eyebrow, “How well do you know the bookdealer, Nix? I’d like to get her something nice.”

“Steva?” Numblee asked, “Why’re you asking. Are you sweet on her?”

“Does a bear,” Tooth said as his cheeks flushed red, “Poop in the woods?”