*Ring-eling-ding*

A slender looking man walked into the book store. He was wearing a bright red toga with a golden snake pattern on his chest, his long yellow hair dangling to the side of his face. He looked around the store uncertainly and spotted a boy sitting behind a desk reading a book. He walked up to the boy and cleared his throat audibly.

*Ahem*

The boy raised his finger and said, without looking up:

“Please wait a moment sir, let me just finish this page.”

The man stood there patiently as the boy continued reading. The man walked further into the dimly lit store and observed the large amount of books that this store had to offer. He could see four bookshelves filled to the brim with various sizes. Most of the books looked incredibly old, the fact that spider webs were dangling from their covers did not make them look any younger either. He could only wonder what kind of knowledge they could contain but alas, this wasn’t a library. He could barely afford the book he came looking for.

Having finished his page, the boy stands up and is willing to help his client. He was a little short for his age, but that did not bother him. His brown unruly hair and boyish smile were his key selling points, it had helped him sell quite a few books in the past. He wore blue jeans that only reached down to his knees and a perfectly white t-shirt, as if it had just been cleaned.

“Sorry about just now, sir, I was reading a very intense part. How may I be of service?”

The man turned around and looked at the boy for a bit. This boy looked no older than 9 years old yet he was avidly reading a book just now. A boy his age usually doesn’t know how to read yet, hell, only nobles and scholars took their time to learn such a skill. Then again, this boy grew up surrounded by books so it wasn’t all that illogical.

“Erm yes, I was looking for a book on a specific subject and I was wondering if you could help me find one.”

“As you well know, this store is but a shadow of the Liberal Library, it only contains but a fraction of the books the library used to have.”

The man was well aware of the circumstances, when the Library burned down, it did not only burn most of its content, but also the surrounding residences. It was also known as the largest fire calamity in the history of Halram Kingdom. The books that were sold here were the only ones that the locals could salvage before the entire library was engulfed in flames.

The man looked around the store again and points at the bookshelves: “Yes, but considering the amount of books I can see here I can imagine you got some items of interest in here.”

The boy smiled and asked: “And what subject is it you’re looking for, sir?”

The man turned to the boy again and said with a completely serious face: “I’m looking for information about the Soul Dance and Nimrod Remnants.”

The boy thought about it for a while and then said: “Follow me, sir.”

The man was surprised, he had expected the boy to laugh. Nimrod Remnants were the main topic of many fairy tales. To see a grown man show such interest in them would seem extremely odd.

The boy walked towards a pitch black bookshelf and stopped in front of it. He stood there thinking for a while and then he grasped something in the empty air in front of him and pulled. At that motion a book came flying out of the shelf right into his hand. The man was shocked, did this boy just use telekinesis as well? That’s an advanced magical skill that takes years to practice.

The boy took the book in his left hand and looked through its content for a bit. Confirming its content, he held the book up to the customer and said: “This is the only book regarding the Soul Dance we have. Mind you, it’s a children’s book with a lot of pictures. I can’t give anything more concrete though.”

The man took the book and flipped through the pages for a bit. What the boy said was true, it’s a picture book that illustrated a man dancing under a blue moon. He was extremely excited, this is the first book he found on the subject and it didn’t matter if it was a children’s book.

“That is quite alright. Finding actual books on the topic is quite hard. Do you have anything with regards to the Nimrod Remnants?”

The boy looked at his feet for a bit and then said: “I’m sorry sir, we sold the last book on that subject a while ago. It’s a really popular story so they were our best selling product.”

The man understood, the Nimrod Remnants were known worldwide. Most legendary heroes either wielded or consumed a Remnant in order to defeat evil and all of them gained absolute power in doing so. Rumor has it that the king of Halram wielded one such Remnant, but little is known about this.

“I have quite a few books on that subject already, it should be fine. How much would this…”

“Oh wait!” The boy exclaimed, hitting the palm of hand with his fist, “there is still one book that could be of interest. Please wait a moment.”

The boy ran up to the fourth bookshelf. He stood still for a bit and then grasped into the air again, making another book come flying out.

The man, curiosity taking over, couldn’t help but ask:

“Where’d you learn to do telekinesis at such a young age? It baffles me to see someone as young as you use it with such ease.”

The boy, that was already checking the content of the book, looked up and laughed.

“That is no telekinesis, sir. That is a handy application of my soul materialization. Check the back of this book,” said the boy and he turned over the book to show the cover. “I formed my spirit into countless little threads of strong spidery silk and attached them to every book in the store. That way, whenever I need to reach a book that is too high for me to reach I can just pull on a string and it pops out.”

The man looked at the book in the boys hand and could see what the boy was talking about. There was a thin white thread attached to the spine of the cover and was dangling there randomly. He looked around again and found that the spider webs he originally saw in the store were all made of the same material. This boy had created over a hundred threads using only soul materialization.

The man was amazed. He knew that children under the age of 14 were still able to change the shape of their soul materialization. Many children tend to do just this to create toys to play with or weapons to fight, but very few thought of something like this.

“That’s an awesome way to use your materialization, boy. Where’d you learn a trick like that?”

“Nobody, sir. I was just lazy and didn’t feel like reaching up to the top shelves all the time. Of all the options I could chose, this was definitely the fastest one.”

“Mind if I ask how old you are?” the man asked. This boy’s way of thinking was incredibly peculiar so he had to know if he was of noble descent.

“I’m 10 years old, sir. Turning 11 in a few weeks,” the boy replied.

“Oh, then you’ll be going to the Academy the coming semester! My name’s Jack Niris and I’m a teacher at the Capital Military Academy,” the man says.

“A teacher?!” the boy had sparks in his eyes. From what he’s heard, teachers were really smart and were never wrong. Off course, this could have been another one of Uncle Max’s fantasies but he didn’t think so.

“I’ll be going to that academy! My name’s Ymil Idagni, I really hope you’ll teach me a lot of things, sir!”

“If you’re lucky, maybe I will,” said the man while smiling.

He took the book from the boy’s hands and looked through it. It contained a few stories of legendary heroes, but only one or 2 of them seemed to relate to the Nimrod Remnants.

“If you’re a teacher, your soul must have a really cool form. Mind showing it to me?”

The man had expected this question the moment he revealed his status as a teacher. Boys his age were usually very interested in the soul manifestations of others because it was an indication of strength. He smiled and lifted his free hand in front of him. Focusing his mind, he created the form of his soul in his brain, then materialized it in his hand.

With a flash of bright red, a dark red whip appeared in his hand. Its design was very detailed, there were golden patterns on the handle and a bright red gem shone at the hilt. It radiated heat that the boy could feel on the other side of the counter and he knew what kind of affinity the whip had. This weapon was imbued with the power of fire and by pouring spiritual energy into its frame the owner could create troublesome fire attacks.

“Woooooow,” said Ymil while looking at the whip. It might not be as impressive as a flaming blade or a thunder rod, but it certainly gave a strong impression. This teacher Jack must be really strong.

Seeing the boy’s amazed reaction, the man smiled. “My soul’s called Latigo, which means whip in an ancient language,” he said. “With it I have been able to hunt High class monsters and am able to give severe punishment to anyone that doesn’t listen in class.”

“Boy, do I hope I won’t have to take a whipping.” Ymil was looking slightly startled at the idea of getting whipped someday.

The man’s attention returned to the book in his hands. The man closed his eyes and shook his head. “This isn’t worth the money. I’ll just be buying the children’s book then.” And he handed back the book to Ymil.

“That’s a pity,” Ymil said and he laid the book in front of the bookshelf. He looked back at the scholar and said: “My threads only work one way and I’m too lazy to climb up again.”

The man is somewhat amused, this boy’s laziness was really entertaining to say the least. If he’s going to Military Academy next year he’s going to have it rough.

They both walk back to the front desk and the boy sat down behind the counter. He took a piece of paper and wrote down the transaction bill. Using quill and ink the boy wrote in blocky crow letters the name of the book and its cost. The boy then looked up at the customer and just had to ask:

“Are teachers really as powerful as they say? My uncle says you guys never lose.”

The man laughed at that remark. “That uncle of yours is very wise, boy. It is true that we teachers are chosen based on our strength, but also on our intelligence. We are meant to prepare our students for their futures, so the job requirements are very high.”

The man took out a purse from his pocket and shook it over his hand. He counted the number of coins and put the rest back in.

“Here you go.”

The boy counted the coins and nodded.

“Well, thank you for your patronage, sir. And while you’re in town, I suggest you pass by the Forgeron Blacksmith, They’re the best in town.” He carefully hands over the book and the receipt to Jack.

Jack laughed, “Advertising for the local blacksmith? You guys must really be a tight bunch.”

Ymil smiled and said: “We live in tough times, we gotta help each other whenever we can.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Have a nice day, Ymil. And maybe we’ll see meet again at the academy.” And the man walked out of the store.

“Count on it, sir!” shouted Ymil before the door closed. And then the store was quiet once again. Ymil thought about this man for a while and then picked up the book he was reading.

“Now where was I…?”

*Ring-eling-ding*

“Geez, I don’t even get time to read around here.” Ymil looked up with an annoyed expression.

Edited by Wesley Au (Paradox)