Makiya

13. The Market Plaza

It's been a few days of training and studying the arts of manipulating mana. Andrey received basic lessons from Dea'n'ha in spiritual energy control. What was most important is that the boy now could tell the clock. 

The spell for the biological clock wasn't really something hard. It was a great start to learning magic because it really didn't require much energy and was beginner-friendly as it allowed the caster to fail many times without tiring out. 

The young mage didn't really fail much. The hardest part for him was to learn how to expose the energy and get it to flow out of him. What was harder was manipulating it outside his body. He defined it as "It's the same as blowing air into the wind and expecting you will manipulate its direction afterward". 

There was a big relief, though. Dea'n'ha told him that in time he will learn to feel mana in the air. First, he will, of course, feel his own, and then sense others. She then shared that the Eyesight trick would give him a vision of where his mana is, too. 

Though outside Mage-Mountain seeing mana is a tad lot harder, because there really isn't much anywhere and it gets really easily dispersed into the open space. Therefore, though if there are large amounts of mana somewhere it will be easier to sense.

The reality of a mage was actually a complete dedication to practice, patience, focus, concentration on senses, and before else - knowledge. To the question "Why knowledge?" Dea'n'ha replied, "Because you need to know the structure of the world better in order to be able to rebuild or replicate it".

Basically, this meant that the creativity and knowledge you have represented your capabilities as a mage, conjurer, or whatever kind of sorcery you get involved with. 

There was a huge boundary, though. Even though the world of magic seems like you can do everything, it's true that everything takes its toll. 

In one of the books Dea'n'ha had given to Andrey, he read that powerful spells not only tire the caster but disbalance the world. It is like karma. If you destroy, destruction will be brought to you sooner or later, one day or another. If you heal and give life, then life will be brought back to you. One day, or another. That was the rule.

Magic isn't very common. Spiritual energy resides within everybody, but that is just their life force. Every person you meet on the market has mana, but that mana is so tiny, that you couldn't possibly feel it. Only those who have developed their senses to a mastery level can sense the life force of commonfolk. Once they achieve this level they gain the title of "Vampire". Vampires are very rare and not many of them are discovered. 

Dea'n'ha 's words of warning still echoed in Andrey's head "Don't use too much magic. It's dangerous". He was a risky player. There was this mysterious being inside him, but there was also the fact that he wasn't very experienced with controlling mana. 

Dea'n'ha mentioned that he had a big mana pool so this would mean he could do big things. Though this doesn't necessarily mean good things. As he read in the books, there was a sorcerer who had a large mana pool. He tried to enhance his body to superhuman strength. 

He failed at measuring the mana and he shredded his muscles and burned his flesh. All because of his large mana pool.

While reading through this book many ideas came to Andrey's mind. This sounded really good, though. Maybe he could try this spell and boost his strength. Even though it was already boosted.

A messenger came to knock on the door. It was morning and Andrey could tell it was 09:45 AM with a smile on his face.

"A message for Andrey Makiya!" a voice yelled from outside.

Andrey stood up from the grass he was lying in and greeted the guard.

"The Royal Highness King Goodlie asked that this message is delivered to you personally." 

"Thank you" Andrey replied as he took the letter from the guard's hand.

"Good day to you then!" the cheerful guard said as he turned around and quickly walked away.

Guards like him weren't really well geared. He had nothing but a small sword, almost like a dagger, on his belt and a cap. They looked more like thieves rather than guards. Maybe because there wasn't really much danger going on.

It was important to mention that there was in fact a hierarchy with those guards. The messenger who came by didn't really have the task to fight. He was the kind of athletic person who should call the heavily armored ones if necessary. 

He had heard from Nyadzel that they were good fighters. They practiced hand-to-hand combat very fluently. Heavy gear made that hard, so that explained pretty much everything.

Andrey quickly went inside and started reading the letter.

"Your gear is ready.

Come to me to get it.

                      - King Goodlie"

Well, that was very aristocratic. The letter was big in size and had just this written in it. Such a waste. Andrey mumbled.

The young boy picked up some clothes he had and went out to the king's hall.

With a little itchy feeling in his chest, he decided to take a few turns before going to the king.

He never had the choice to explore the city freely and this seemed like the first real chance he had. So that chance was taken.

Nobody really forbids him to do it, so he did it. 

There were many people at this time of the day. Everyone smiling, cheerful, caring. Like a fairytale. Something felt completely off about this. It was surreal.

Andrey tried facing it as if it's the way this world is. He went to what seemed to be a market plaza. There were families who made small businesses for everything.

There were huge signs above the tables. 

"PRISTON WEAPONS" 

Andrey threw a few fast looks at those great weapons. Seeing all kinds of blades, crossbows, and whatever you could think of. They all seemed like the finest of crafts. 

The boy selling them appeared to be the grand-father. His sons were smithing the weapons at Priston and brought them here to the capital to sell them for a living. The man explained that this was indeed the best place to sell weapons. The main army resided here and they often needed new equipment.

"WATERVILE FOODS"

Underneath this big signboard, Andrey found a vast majority of beans, lentils, and corn. They didn't seem like the ones from Earth but resembled them a lot. There were also some fish to be found there. This reminded Andrey of the great meal he had a few days back. He thought he really should learn how to cook with magic. 

The old woman selling these fine foods lived in Watervile and came by here to sell for a few months and went back with her family to prepare the next harvest. 

"FINEST ACCESSORIES"

This was the only shop which didn't have anything for sale outside. There was a door to go inside the building. Andrey went in and instantly remembered that this is how shops worked back on the Earth. Most shops were inside the buildings.

Inside there were all kinds of accessories you could think of. Most of which weren't even recognized by the boy. He did see a map, though. It wasn't complete. It had two continents on it, but obviously only Wartair was illustrated properly. The other continent to the east was unfinished. There was only one city marked - "Oirtear". The seller explained to Andrey that there wasn't really much known about it and this is all the information that there is about it.

With a bit of a rude gesture, the seller wondered if Andrey fell from the sky to not know these things. In the end, the boy just bought the map without thinking that there was one at Nyadzel's house anyways. 

"ALL-ROUND FISH"

This shop had nothing else but fish. Andrey saw a lot of fish unlike any he had ever seen before. It was obvious that the world had different rules as evolution definitely struck the living flora in an alternative way. 

The shop owner explained that he traded with most of the continent. The moto behind the shop was that they would always try to sell fresh fish from places nobody would usually go to. "Nobody would like to travel all the distance to Westin or Sandvile just for a bite of fish, but they would love to eat some if the fish traveled to them" the seller explained in an ambitious voice.

There were many other shops, but Andrey had been talking to the few shop owners for a long enough time. His biological clock was ticking. He could see that two hours of talking had passed and it was really best to leave towards the king's hall now. 

While traveling towards his audition with the king, at the end of the market-plaza, Andrey decided to try a trick. He looked around for a bench to sit down. 

To other people he appeared to be taking a nap as he sat down and just closed his eyes. What he really did was Earsight. He tried to see if he would feel or see any mana coming from the people. 

People passing before him as his back was pressed against the small bag he tied to his back, the bag with the black blades. 

With the closed-eyes-technique, he could see something strange. His eyebrows narrowed, his chest started to hurt, and he clenched his fists as if in pain. 

Was it the black-hands-creature inside him trying to tear out again? Was it something he could see in this boosted sense?