The Unbidden: A New World (1) (Short Parts)

Part 16

On the last day before we headed to the nearest city, Onyx, I journeyed to my usual spot for practicing. During my regular trials and tests, the realization that the system to use magic in the world was a lot more complex than I initially thought hit me. I figured I needed to come up with a classification system for the spells since certain ones require different triggers.

Certain spells only required me to think about an effect, include a word or chant, and the effect would happen. I decided to name these kinds of spells 'Haste-spells'.

Others, like Palm Fire, seemed to be a type of spell that required me to use the same word for the effect. I named those 'Chant-spells'. The third classification were ones that needed a catalyst of some kind. Akin to the time I used 'lightning', I needed a catalyst, which happened to be the stick in order to create the effect. I named these 'Spark-spells'.

The final classification of spells were ones I added a personal touch to. It came down to using added effects from the environment, such as air on a rock to increase its speed and velocity when launching it, as certain things were impossible without the added physics. I named these 'PhysX-spells', just for fun.

I ended up buying a set of papyrus with ink bottles and a quill to write down the different spell names, effects, but not how to do them. I thought if I included a 'how-to', it would act like a magical scroll of some sort; though I never tested it out.

I made a note to try at some point, however. I made certain to keep all the paper trials of my doings inside my 'paper pocket' as I called it.

I really need a better naming convention for things, I thought.

Overall, I ended up with a decent set of spells in the Haste category. The magic system, though complex, was lenient. Hardly any of the effects I created required the same word or words, though I stuck with them just for ease. Thus, most of the spells I named went into the aforementioned classification. Since my practice was going to be cut short by the beginning of our journey today, I finished up my tests by combining Palm Fire with 'Water Jet'.

Water Jet was effectively the water version of Palm Fire, and when I combined the two, it created a super-heated, long and wide wave of steam which I opted to call 'Steam Wave'.

As I mounted Aurias to return back, he piped up.

"I may be late on this information, but you have been watched since yesterday by a fellow human. I know not who, but their presence did not indicate hostility."

"Wow, you couldn't have told me sooner? That's a liability now," I scoffed.

"I apologize, Xavier. I was captivated by your experiments."

We made our way back at a casual speed so as not to alert whoever was watching.

Well, this might pose a problem soon, I thought.

I met up with Thea and we grabbed all the belongings, which was a fair bit of food for the travel, and headed downstairs. I had bought a closed-top wagon the other day for a gold coin and had it on standby for when we left. Today, I had it attached to Aurias while we gathered everything.

It was a fine wagon for the ludicrous price. The wood was mahogany, with axles made of reinforced steel to prevent breakage for a long while. It also came with spare parts in a small compartment under a trap door in the wagon for repairs, tools included.

On our way out, I let the innkeeper know we were no longer taking up residence and thanked him for his kindness. En route to the gate was the guild hall, so we stopped by there.

I honestly felt like nobody inside worked a day in their lives, yet they always had money to spend on drinking. There were plenty of familiar faces, but I ignored them as usual. I approached the board and looked for an escort quest. A few were listed, and all of them were going to our destination.

There was one for gold rank, but I wasn't trying to deal with skilled mercenaries and the potential drama that ensued. Thus, I opted for a silver-two escort. I brought it to Faye, who greeted me with her usual friendly smile.

"Finally leaving?" she asked with a hint of sadness as she examined the quest details.

"Yeah, I figured it's about time to go see the next city over. Also figured it'd be good to accept a quest and kill two birds with one stone," I replied, returning a smile of my own.

"Alright. One moment," she said, heading into the back room.

She returned with a sealed envelope enclosed by a wax seal that had a single 'M' on it and handed it to me, stamped the quest, and placed it on the appropriate board.

"Bring this envelope to any mercenary guild in Onyx and they'll pay you accordingly. You'll find the escort near the gate ... also, I doubt I'll see you again, but if you ever come by Tult, I would love to catch up and hear all about the kinds of adventures you went on."

It was nice she enjoyed my company, even if we only spoke to each other a few times, and every time while she worked.

"Of course. I hope I have some grand adventures so I have good stories to tell when I return!"

I thanked her for the envelope and proceeded on my way out. The quest giver was near the edge of town, coincidentally, so we headed there.

We arrived to see a single closed-top wagon drawn by two horses near the gate. There was a tall, lanky man with black hair tied into a ponytail tending to the horses.

"Hail, sir. I'm Xavier and this is Thea. We accepted your quest to escort you to Onyx," I said, bringing our wagon to a halt behind his.

"You don't look like mercenaries to me," he scoffed.

"Do not worry, sir. They have plenty of skills to be able to protect you," a voice said from the other side his wagon.

"Xavier, this might be a bad time to tell you, but that presence I mentioned before is here," Aurias spoke.

"Jesus, Aurias. You're bad at this forewarning thing. Please be a bit more preemptive," I responded telepathically.

From the other side of his wagon emerged the girl from before. She held a stern look, glancing at me, then Thea.

This is definitely some Ex Machina type stuff, I thought.

I stole a look at Thea, who had a mischievous smirk.

"Well, regardless. I am called Gillfreid, and this is another escort I hired. The journey should take roughly a month," he grunted as he climbed onto his wagon.

"The roads are littered with bandits because the governor of the city refuses to do anything about it, so people have been volunteering to clear the roads, not that it helps much without well-equipped adventurers or mercenaries."

"I see. Who might our fellow companion be?" I looked to the newcomer.

"I am Jayde. I look forward to working with you both," she smiled before climbing onto Gillfreid's wagon.

Jayde Kegger, please don't bring me trouble, I thought.