“Okay, how do I use them?”

Drew stretches out a hand. “Hand me that one.” I do as he says, and he begins to explain. “You know how we use magic, make a noer, pass your Uua through it and then boom, magic, the way you store spells in here is similar. Create the necessary noer and imprint it on a bead surface, then push in as much Uua as you want the spell to use. Like this.”

He does what he says, and for a brief moment, a noer appears on one of the beads, before being sucked into the bead. The golden glow within changes its color to something a bit like milk. Drew then aims a finger at the ground and a bolt flies out, piercing and drilling into the ground, while the color in the beads reverts to normal.

Drew handed it back to me and I decided to try it myself. I use my Uua to form the Roe noer on a bead, and just like with Drew the noer is absorbed into the bead, changing its color to a light blue one this time. Then I begin to pour my Uua into it. Once I have reached the usual amount I use to make Roes, I stop. “How do I activate it?”

He shows me how and finally I give it a shot. The Roe that is released is far stronger than usual, despite my using the same amount of Uua. Also, using the bead didn’t drain my Uua. This means that with both Mage bracelets, I essentially have twenty free storages for spells that I can use in battle without any cost to my Uua. If I make each of those spells Ultimates like Lathia said, then it would definitely boost my power to a whole new level. And just like that, I fell in love with it. Now, I just need to find the right spell to store in them.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Lathia asks.

“I want to visit the Arcane and True Body stands so that I can make my final decision on which one to pick.”

“Those are the Trumps you want? I heard that they were difficult to learn. Well, all the Trumps are difficult in their own way, but those two especially so.”

I shrug. “They can’t be that difficult to learn. And even if they are, they’re probably not as difficult as space. Those guys have to learn some pretty difficult math to even be able to understand how the simpler spells work.” I had done some research into the Trumps during the last month.

“Maybe,” Drew says, “but if you think that kind of math is hard, wait until you see the kind of noer knowledge you need to become good at either of those Trumps you chose. I mean, the entire point of the Arcane Trump is that those in it are tired of science and want to learn everything they can about the strangeness and peculiarities of magic, while the amount of knowledge needed to craft a True Body is nothing short of evil.”

“Still, they’re powerful.” I can still remember how strong Hugo was when he took down the Majin. With a body like that, what does he have to fear? Plus, Gabe has shown enough for me to be interested in the Arcane Trump. Like during PM and Jade’s fight when he switched them up after Jade had tried to attack when the fight was over, and even during the Rankings with how easily he was able to reverse fights to stop anyone from getting hurt.

“All Trumps are powerful, still I guess it’s your choice. Personally, I think Avatar would fit you better. Yes, it also needs you to understand noers to a ridiculously high degree, but that’s only at the higher levels. At the lower levels, things are much easier. Add that with your talent for inventing noers and you have a pretty good combination.”

“My talent for inventing noers?” I am a bit confused. Yes, I do love experimenting and understanding how noers work, but I don’t think that makes me talented in any way,

“Yes, your talent,” Lathia says. “You made that attracting noer you used during the Rankings right?”

“Yes, and it’s called Lode.”

“Sure, but you also made that noer that can absorb flames.”

“It absorbs heat,” I correct.

“I don’t really care about the details, I just want to make a point.”

“Which is?”

“Which is the fact that in a few months you’ve already made two different noers that you can use in a fight. Most people don’t even start making personal noers like that until they become Pre-protectors. If that isn’t talent, I don’t know what is.”

“It’s called experimentation, and curiosity. Besides, I just followed the rules in the textbooks, there's nothing talented about that.”

We continue talking until we get to where the stands are. To be honest, there are far more stands than I was expecting. I was expecting there to be about fifteen or so, but from what I can see there are over twenty different stands. I know the seven Major Courts, as well as a few minor ones, but it is clear that there are far more that I do not know anything about.

On the top of each stand are banners displaying the name of the court they belong to. I scan through the ones nearest to me and quickly pinpoint my two choices. Arcane and True Body.

“Hey, Ian,” someone calls my name. I turn and see a girl standing behind a banner that read ‘Illusions’. She motions for me to come closer, and I do so, wondering what she could possibly want from me. She greets Drew and the rest before focusing on me.

“My name is Alessia, and I’m a member of the Illusion Court. I just wanted to ask, have you chosen a court yet?”

I shake my head. “Not exactly, I was go-”

“Great. I noticed during your fights that you weren’t using spells from any court in particular, and I thought maybe I could convince you to join us. We are always looking for new talents.”

New talents? Me? Whatever. Regardless of what she thinks, I am only going to choose from Arcane or True Body Court, those are the only Trumps I am interested in. I open my mouth to tell her that, but she interrupts.

“Wait. Before you say, or decide anything, at least let me show you what the Illusion Court is all about. If you don’t like it after that, then you’re free to leave. Is that okay?”

“Okay,” I say. There’s no harm in letting her say what she wants. Who knows, she might even convince me to join the Illusion Court.