As Ace showed the key to the alchemist’s tower, Virgil couldn’t tell if that was a copy or not. But he had another question: “Where’d you get that?”

“Emma Calding. She’s living next to the tower.” Ace turned towards the tower, ‌looking towards a building nearby it. “I used to study with her.”

From what Virgil recalled about Emma, he only knew her as a lady who’d occasionally commission batches of weapons—that was all he knew. She’s still a stranger to him.

“Would she mind if we… Wait, do we have to ask her first?” Virgil asked Ace.

“Don’t worry, I can explain to her later. Let’s go.”

As the three circled upstairs inside the tower, Virgil looked around. With its size, it wouldn’t fit a crowd, but it was enough for the three of them. Carson seemed to be distracted by all the trinkets hanging around each floor they passed, prompting Virgil to drag him upstairs after Ace. The higher they went, the more unfamiliar each floor appeared—Virgil recognized the first floors as a keep for spellbooks, magic weapons, and alike. But later, they were rather spaces for other kinds of magic usages—assuming it was a good idea to practice powerful-spells-that-could-kill-a-man inside this contained place.

Ace stopped at a floor, with the stairs ending right above them. Virgil didn’t recognize this environment at first with all the shelves circling around—until his eyes stopped at each sigil drawn on the ceiling.

Virgil then wandered around, avoiding the carpet in the middle of the room. After scanning through the various shelves, he stopped in front of a collection of gems and accessories—rings, bracelets, amulets, and so on. As Virgil reached to pick one of them up, a sharp sensation shocked his fingertips.

“Oh, they’re guarded,” Ace said, as he watched Carson getting himself shocked by the gem collection later. Ace then mumbled a few words as he aimed his arm towards Virgil. “Try again.”

Virgil picked up an amulet with his bare hand, looking at the amethyst embed in it. After recalling how the amethyst would react well to a warding charm, he turned to Ace. “Uh, can I try practicing here?”

“As long as everything stays inside that carpet. Just don’t imbue that amulet with anything dangerous.”

“I won’t.”

As Virgil placed the amulet onto the carpet, he sat down.

He could go with something basic like power, defense, or agility. Its effects were simple enough to be tested out right away, if he actually succeeded this time.

Or he could go for warding, which is arguably harder to imbue due to all the things could ward against. And Virgil had never attempted to imbue this before.