After Anna stopped crying we went shopping, well ring shopping. I looked around for white rings at the first store but didn't find anything. I then saw a ring which caught my interest. Codex told me about it.

“that ring is a ring of storage”

“whats it do?”

“stores about 2 tons worth of material

“sounds like a deal for 20 gold”

“quite they happen to be very rare”

i buy it and put it on. When i put items in i find out that the weight is distributed throughout my body like I’m wearing a cloak. Well i guess that's why it was so cheap.(codex)

“oh be quite it'll help with your training anyways so 2 birds one stone.”

as we walk around i see drake from my first match a couple of days ago. It reminds me about the tournament which makes me feel disappointed in myself. Even though I'm 3 and 3 months (21!) i had to completely rely on codex and my abilities. I didn't actually win from my own power, it was all power given to me none of it that I created or earned myself. Now that I think about it, it was a hollow victory. A victory only in name and name alone. It made me want to get stronger so that I could win with my own fists and my own power, not power what I was born with or using “cheats” like codex.

We enter the second of three ring shops in town. This one is the second best the last one we went was the worst which was also the cheapest store. I guess I’m a greedy bastard at heart. This store didn't have any white rings either but I did find something. Codex seemed interested so i asked the clerk as codex didn't know.

“that ring their is a ring of nourishment”

“whats it do?”

“makes it so you don't need to eat or drink anymore”

needless to say i bought it. It was expensive 500 gold coins. After haggling. We then went to the last store. Surprisingly Anna wasn't bored at looking at expensive rings all afternoon. The owner of the last store was a wizened old man who looked dried out like a fruit he also had a cane. I asked him what I was looking for and put three white rings on the table.

“1000 gold coins”

“can't afford that i only have 800 I can't haggle for a cutting a fifth of so ill look around for other things.”

“if your wise ill give it to you for a fifth.”

“what do you mean?”

“your very young and seem smart tell me something intelligent that I haven't heard before and ill take 100 gold off the price tag each time.”

“and if i can't get it below 800?”

“then I get the girl and your 800 and you get the rings”

ohh so its an old pervert.

“War does not determine who is right - only who is left.”

“900”

“When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die.”

“800 im really a fan of that one.”

seems the old man isn't a pervert just a wisdom seeker.

“The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy.”

“700 you are quite interesting”

“Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head.”

“600 ohh your wisdom even rimes

man i so glad codex rattles quotes at me all the time right now.

“Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich”

“500 you running out yet?”

“History shows that there are no invincible armies.”

“400 impossible to get one more never has anyone got so much wisdom i haven't known about!”

well i guess i'm kind of cheating old man i have 2 worlds information to gleam through.

“Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn't be done.”

“300 so fascinating your are truly a genius child!”

“Of all the gods only death does not desire gifts.”

“200 that's enough i don't want to give the rings away for free”

“fair enough ill be sure to visit your store again.”

i hand him 200 gold coins and grab the 3 white rings. On our way back to the inn i hear Anna's stomach growl and notice im not hungry at all. Guess the ring of nourishment isn't fake after all. I waited till Anna ate and we return to our room. before putting my all my rings on i count them up. right now i have

THE RING OF NOURISHMENT X1

THE RING OF STORAGE X1

THE RING OF GRAVITY X3

THE RING OF MANA X5

take them all of and put my rings on in this order starting on my right hand. One ring to a finger. After i put them all on codex starts yappin at me

“you have 2 years worth of storage i have already moved the mana around so two are empty and you can use mana still.”

he keeps blabbing and I ignore him until

“... i can merge you rings of mana together to form a 5 tiered ring of mana”

before he can continue yapping away i ask

“5 tiered ring of mana what is that?”

“its 5 rings of mana merged together to from one ring which can all be worn on one finger.”

“so how is it different?”

“its not you still have to use all the mana at once from the ring”

“so it just reduces the amount of times i can use it?”

“well what i said wasn't entirely accurate. Its called five tiered because you can use each tier separately.”

“oh so its just a condensed version of 5 rings of mana.”

“that’s what i meant to say. Who would you like me to set it up?”

“sure”

“you will have to drain a whole ring though.”

“that's fine i have lots of time in this world and 2 trump cards should be enough”

“okay put them all on one finger”

i put all of them on my middle finger of my left hand.

“okay now say activate ring of mana 2 and then ill take care of the rest.”

“activate ring of mana 2”

the second i finish i howl in pain. The rings become terribly and unbearable hot and painful i scream and yell for about 15 minutes. Then the pain stops. I look at the ring on my finger. Its white but their is 2 lines on it that are blue coloured and 3 that are black coloured. I talk to codex

“traitor why didn't you tell me it would hurt?”

“because i serve master in his best interests even if it hurts him.”

“codex your an *ssh*le, is it this painful for FEAR to?”

“nope not at all his transformations are slow and feel like they itch over time that's all”

i go to bed feeling betrayed and used. Anna snuggles against my back and i fall sleep late that night after several hours of simply thinking about things.

http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=13018&pid=131008#pid131008