The First World Sphere

Gareth fidgeted uncomfortably as he explained, “When you sent me here last time, I used an alias. I thought Gaston sounded masculine.” He offered a weak smile. The waitress had deposited her load of heavy soup bowls and was approaching us. She looked to be in her late teens by Skyholme standards and had a bright smile. Definitely an attractive young woman.

Gareth stepped forward, “Nina, I was hoping you were still working here. We are planning to stay the night. My friend here is called Skye, and he was about to get us two rooms and dinner.” Gareth turned and winked at me, out of sight of Nina.

Nina looked at both of us and asked, “Is Skye your servant? I can get your rooms readied,” she asked with a suggestive undertone.

Before Gareth could answer, I stepped forward and bowed my head slightly in greeting to Nina, “It is a pleasure to meet Nina. I am, in fact, Gaston’s charge. This brute of a boy is my bodyguard.”

Gareth rolled with my play, “Nina, I only have to guard him when he is wandering around the city. I have the nights to myself.” I couldn’t see Gareth’s face, but I was sure he was offering his most charming smile to the young serving girl. I didn’t understand how someone so small could have an interest in a young man as large as Gareth. Rather than continue the game with Gareth, I moved to the bar. Nina and Gareth started a conversation in whispers.

The barkeep smiled as I approached, “Pleasure to meet you, Master Skye. So you need two rooms and meals? We have pheasant pie and boar burgers. The last time Gaston was here, he got a room on the third floor. I have a pair of adjacent rooms on that floor. One has a tub, and the other has a shower. My name is Broderick,” he held out his hand, and I shook it.

“That is fine. Give me the room with the bathtub. Gaston can have the other. As for food, I will take the boar burger,” I said, looking around the common room. It was clean with high ceilings. A mug was placed on the counter, and I turned back, taking it. I sipped it and commented, “It’s good.”

“Thanks. It is my own recipe. It will be six gold for the meals and rooms,” Broderick said, and I almost choked on the ale. Six gold was a small fortune in Hen’s Hollow. I pulled out a large gold, and Broderick picked up the shiny gold coin and turned it over in his hand. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say this was a dungeon coin.” He placed two keys on the counter, and I tossed the one Broderick indicated had just the shower to Gareth, who caught it easily on the other side of the room before returning to seducing Nina.

I took a draft of the cold ale. “No, not a dungeon coin,” I explained, “I just have the cleanliness spell and like to clean my coins.” I proved the point by using the spell and cleaning an area around my person. A clear line appeared on the floor, delineating the range of the spell.

Broderick chuckled, “You never realize how dirty your floor is until a mage comes by and cleans your place.” Broderick thought for a second, “You have a good range on your spell. If you could clean the common room, I would be willing to waive your fee for the two rooms and meal.”

I looked at Gareth, who was deeply engrossed in his conversation with Nina. I asked absently, “Is that a fair price for cleaning a room this size?”

I wasn’t looking at Broderick, but he replied, “I would normally pay about three gold once a month for a mage to come by and clean the common room. Unfortunately, since the Sadian attack, mages have been in short supply.” I turned back toward the barkeep and held out my hand. He placed the large gold coin in my hand.

I started walking the room and cleaning it as only a mage could. I even cleaned the clothes of the patrons and the minstrel. They were oblivious to their new, clean appearance as I finished, and I avoided Gareth’s clothes as a joke. Gareth was having some trouble keeping Nina’s attention at my display of magic, her eyes kept following me. I returned to the bar and sipped my ale. Broderick was staring at me with his jaw slackened. He finally said, “Well, that was unexpected. Quite the well you have there.”

‘Well’ was slang for an aether core. I had cast my cleanliness maybe 20 times to make sure I got every corner of the room. I felt the need to cover myself, “Yes, I am a mage and have recently started dungeon delving as a support mage. The cleanliness spell was the first spell I learned and is quite evolved.”

Broderick put on a large smile, “I delved into quite a few dungeons in my heyday. The Gentle Tauren was bought from my efforts. If you ever need a place to stay in the capital and don’t mind burning some aether,” he indicated the extremely clean common room, “know the Gentle Tauren is always open to you Skye.” I winced at the alias that Gareth had tagged me with. It was probably a joke, and I knew he was going to call me Stormy Skye at some point in the future.

The boar burgers soon came out, and the meat was too dry and the sauce too spicy for my liking. The portion was large, but I considered the meal average at best. The barkeep filled up my ale, which was half empty. It was strong, and just the half glass had me with a strong buzz, easily cured a second later with a quick spell. I needed the ale refilled again to get the burger down. Broderick started talking about his own dungeon delving in his youth. Broderick was easy to talk to and quickly switched the conversation to topics I found interesting.

We talked about dungeon treasures mostly, and when I turned around an hour later I found Gareth missing. Broderick chuckled at my confusion, “Nina brought Gaston’s meal upstairs twenty minutes ago.” I did remember tossing Gareth the key to his room.

After another sip of the ale, I asked, “Would you consider selling me this recipe?” Indicating the ale.

He seemed to consider, “I have sold it in the past, but I do not want local competition,” he stated.

“I operate a small restaurant in Aegis City. I will only sell it there,” I offered.

Broderick seemed to waver but eventually said, “One hundred gold and your word not to sell the ale to any restaurant in the capital.” I nodded, and he held out his hand. I placed a shiny platinum in it. He turned over the coin, studying it for a long time before pocketing it. His appraisal of the coin turned to me, and finally, he leaned in close, “The secret is the yeast from the hot springs in the Black Moor Dungeon. The hops and grains can be sourced from anywhere. I discovered the yeast on one of my last delves. It does take a spark of aether to activate the yeast, but it always makes fantastic ales.”

Aether-infused yeast…this was the second occurrence. The queen bees in the Frost Vault also had yeast. It appeared dungeons were very aware of micro-biomes. If I was not mistaken, the Black Moor dungeon was on this island and one of the more profitable dungeons in all of Skyholme. I could probably just task an experienced dungeon team to get me hot spring water samples. I was about to head to my room but paused.

“Broderick, how late is the Mage’s Spell Emporium open?” I doubted it was still open, but I would ask when it opened in the morning.

Broderick grinned, “New to the capital then? It doesn’t close. Many of the stores in the upper city never do,” his wide, friendly grin remained on his face. That made some sense, as the Sphere had no true night. Just extended dusk and dawn. I got directions from Broderick and went to buy some spells. It was partly to spite Gareth. He had come to protect me, but the first chance he got to get some alone time with a pretty young server, he took it.

I figured I would rub it in tomorrow that I had to travel the capital’s dangerous streets alone. Not only did I doubt the capital was at all dangerous, but I also was extremely confident in my ability to defend myself. The spell emporium was as Gareth had described. The store was made of the same white stone most of the buildings in the city were made of. As I entered, I found an immaculate lobby with a few men looking at tomes on shelves surrounding the lobby on the first floor. I looked up, and the building extended two more stories with terraces overlooking the lobby. I could see shelves lining the terrace walkways. A large skylight was directly over the lobby. It was a murky twilight outside, so the skylight was currently lined with light globes…light globes that were very similar to the ones I made. More aether lights were lit on the terraces giving extra light to help illuminate spell books lining the shelves.

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I stood in awe of thousands of spells contained here. Gareth’s description had been accurate but didn’t do it justice. As I was looking up, a young woman in dark blue robes approached me, “Do you need help?” I focused on the woman and smiled. Dark brown hair with sky blue eyes greeted me.

“Yes, I have my token here.” I made a show of pulling the token Gareth had given me. She took it and went to the desk to check the token.

The young woman returned and said, “This token has not been linked to anyone. We confirmed it was purchased. Do you wish to link it to yourself,” she said with a bright smile. I cursed Gareth for not letting me know about the step of binding the token.

“Ok, let’s do that.” The attractive assistant brought me to the desk, and the medallion was placed on my palm, and a simple linking spell was cast. The young woman was smiling the entire time.

When it was linked, she asked, “So how can I help you? Your membership token gets you 10% off of all spells and access to our tier 3, 4, and 5 spells.”

“I am looking for a few spells. The tier 1 chronomancy spell, absolute time. The tier 1 surgical precision spell. But if a tier 3 healing sphere spell can do the same thing as the surgical precision spell, I would be interested in that spell instead. I am also looking for the tier 2 illusion spell, personal invisibility. I will also browse the lightning spells.”

The young woman bit her lip, thinking. “I am sorry, I am new here. I am in my second year studying magic at the mage academy. I just work here nights, and you are only my third customer. I will go ask about a tier 3 healing spell that can replicate the surgical precision spell.” She left quickly and went to talk with an older mage behind a desk. They talked for a while before she returned.

“I am sorry, but I never asked your name! I am Jenna. Jenna Corals.” She said with a bright smile.

“Storme Hardlight. It is nice to meet you. Did you find a tier 3 spell that can replicate the surgical precision spell?” I asked, starting to lose a little patience. I did want to get some sleep tonight.

“Yes, we have copies of the tier 3 healing spell tissue extraction. It works on living creatures and dead creatures, while the surgical precision spell just works on dead creatures.” She looked closely at me and blushed, “You are quite muscular…are you a dungeon delver? I only ask because the surgical precision spell is used mainly in dungeons.”

I didn’t think admitting it would cause any harm, “Yes. I am part of a small dungeon team in Aegis City.”

Her eyes went wide in excitement, but my impatience was written on my face, “That must be so exciting! Let me bring you to the time sphere shelf so you can select your copy of the absolute time spell.”

I paged through the four different copies of the tier 1 absolute time spell. I finally selected the copy that focused on evolutions around time management. Jenna was patient while I looked through the books. She took the book I selected and led me to the illusion spell section so I could select my personal invisibility spell next. There were only two copies of the invisibility. One was a dungeon spell book, which meant it would be easier to learn and be destroyed on imprinting, but it didn’t detail any evolutions. The other version was a copy from the Mage Academy. I ended up handing both spellbooks to Jenna for purchase. I figured I could learn from the dungeon spell quicker and then study the evolutions in the other book.

Jenna was confused until I explained my plan with the two books. She then asked if I wanted to look at other tier 1 or 2 spells. All tier 3 and higher spells were on the upper levels. I walked all the healing and lightning spells to ensure I didn’t see anything I wanted. Jenna put my already selected spells at a desk with the older mage she had conferred with and joined me as I walked.

I checked my dimensional space, and I had 15 platinum. The two personal invisibility spells were 400 gold together. The absolute time spell was just 10 gold. My aether pool was almost full, so I could add to my platinum collection if needed.

I didn’t find any interesting tier 1 or tier 2 healing spells, but I did find a useful utility spell, illusionary garb. It was tier 2 that created an illusion around the mage with clothes that moved with the mage. It was cheap at just 60 gold, but I didn’t think I would use two units of my aether matrix to imprint. I handed it to Jenna. Sebastian had a large library in his dimensional closet so why couldn’t I?

I added the tier 2 water sphere spell, fog, to Jenna’s burden. This spell created a large 25-yard radius of thick mist around the caster. One of the evolutions gave the caster perfect sight within the obscuring mist, making it a very valuable spell to escape or confuse your enemies. It was only 100 gold.

I could have spent many more hours going through spell books, but it was approaching midnight, and Jenna looked tired. She guided me to the upper floors, and I selected a copy of the tissue extraction spell. The spell required contact and had a moderate cast time. It was geared to excising necrotic tissue from specific undead attacks. This was preferable to reversing the damage as it was quicker and took less time in battle. As Jenna stated, the spell could also be used like the surgical precision spell.

Although it used four times the amount of aether as the surgical precision spell, I could skin and dismantle an entire monster with a single casting, saving time. The spell was 500 gold, and I added it to my pile, “Thank you, Jenna. I think I am done for the night.” She looked relieved, and we went to the desk.

While the older mage cataloged the sale and prepared the bill, I asked Jenna, “So, are mages being recruited from the academy to the Navy?”

Jenna looked confused at the question but answered, “The navy recruiters have been more persistent in the upper classes. They are offering very enticing bonuses from what I have heard.” The older mage looked up, paying attention, but continued his work. “If you don’t have a sponsor, they have always targeted you. My uncle is sponsoring me through the Mage Academy, and he got me this job recently because his taxes have increased. So I need to pay part of my schooling at the academy.”

The mage slid the bill to me, and I looked at it. 873 gold. I placed nine platinum on the table with my token. He checked my medallion even though he had just linked it to me three hours ago and then left to check the platinum and get me my change.

He returned with the twenty-seven gold, and I handed the two large gold and seven regular gold to a stunned Jenna, “This is too much…we usually get at most a single gold for helping a customer.”

“Well, Jenna, you did a great job. Best of luck with your academic studies.” As I was leaving, she caught up to me.

“Storme, do you want to get breakfast…I mean something just get something to eat…it is too early for breakfast. Maybe a drink? I mean, after I get off in three hours,” her eyes were filled with desire and excitement.

I was tempted but exhausted, and I planned to talk with Sebastian and then return to Hen’s Hollow as quickly as possible tomorrow. “Maybe next time Jenna. I have a full schedule tomorrow,” I smiled and exited the building with my bundle of books. When I passed by Gareth’s room, I could hear giggling inside and shook my head.

In my room, I added my new spell books to my storage and set up my series of alarms and privacy spells. I fell asleep after adding some mithril to my storage.

My alarm woke me as Gareth was knocking on my door. I hated that my friend only needed a few hours of sleep to get fully rested. I opened the door to a beaming Gareth, “Stormy, we should get to the tailor early and then have him make alterations while we visit Sebastian.”

I had slept in my clothes, so a quick use of my cleanliness spell and I was walking out the door. I think I got maybe five hours, but it felt like less. My exuberant best friend was practically skipping down the stairs. “Good night?” I asked.

He whispered in a low tone, “Storme, she knew things….” He looked around, afraid of being overheard. I will tell you later on the ride back to Titan’s Shield.

“No need Gareth. I get the picture. And it’s not a picture I want to be stuck in my head,” I joked with him. He mocked being hurt as we made our way to the tailor.

While Gareth shopped, I selected some comfortable underclothes. I didn’t want to spend any coin on clothes until I was fully matured. I figured I was about an inch shy of my final height, and my body was still filling out from the recent growth spurt. We physically matured much quicker in the Sphere, and I figured it had to do with the aetheric density. It meant monsters also benefitted from the same effect. That was a fact Gareth had told me from his classes with Elijah, who was a famed monster hunter.

When Gareth finished his shopping, his total came to 156 gold. He gave me his puppy dog eyes as he counted out the coin. I didn’t cave even though I knew Gareth was spending most of his coin on fashionable enchanted clothes. I was also laughing mentally as I knew he would have outgrown everything in six months. He didn’t get anything that needed to be tailored, so we left with our packages, and Gareth started immediately, “So Stormy, since I used up my emergency fund, I will need to get it replenished.”

I joked, “I am surprised you had any coin left after tipping Nina.”

Gareth got confused, “Why would I tip Nina?”

My eyes snapped to Gareth. I suppose she could have just wanted intimacy with Gareth as he was tall, dark, and handsome, but based on Broderick’s words, I assumed she was a working girl. I spent the next ten minutes explaining to Gareth my point of view from his interaction with the young woman.

“I think you are wrong, Storme. We had a connection. The things she did….” I stopped him.

“Gareth, why don’t you go back and see if she is happy to see you. You left her sleeping in your room? When she woke up, I am sure she was not happy to find no coins on the nightstand,” I said without humor in my voice. Gareth seemed to be thinking hard about my words.

We reached Sebastian’s address, “Go, and I will wait here after I talk with Sebastian.” We approached and knocked on the door. A butler in a black navy uniform answered the door.

Gareth made his decision and left to see Nina, not wanting to risk a misunderstanding. I introduced myself and followed the butler inside to talk with Sebastian, who had not yet left for the Navy shipyards this morning.

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