Mannus Lan looked around the inn, assessing the turnout. He couldn’t help but feel paranoid—he was feeling what Ivory would have called a foreboding flavour of confirmation bias. A boy, newly arrived in a capital city of a great nation, who has sent ripples throughout the city; a boy who has reached level 11 in less than a week. These were tell-tale signs of quarry, to those who were looking.

The issue roiled within his guts. “Was it so bad if these children were found?”, he thought. “They’d be given a life of guaranteed safety, learning and they would be among their own kind…” Mannus’ stomach turned. “... but they would be prisoners.”

Mannus didn’t understand why he cared so much. Truly. It wasn’t as if he had some sad backstory where he made something of himself out of nothing—he was of Calanfer since birth and worked hard to afford his fee to Wistram. A graduate, who understood the importance of ties to Wistram and remained there for several years, honing his magic. The Esoterica was the vehicle Mannus rode to keep his strong connection to Wistram: from Wistram’s cornucopia he armed himself with deals, sales, artefacts and secrets to benefit himself and The Esoterica both.

The biggest secret, of course, was Earth. Not all of Wistram knew of it; only the Archmages and their select cronies. Across the continents, the innumerable Mage’s Guilds were the primary ‘search forces’ of the children of Earth. Not all Mage’s Guilds licked the gilded slippers of Wistram, of course: they were mostly independent agencies. However… outwardly opposing the directives of Wistram would spell death for the community in which the guild was located. [Message] communication through other Mage’s Guilds and Wistram itself? Yearly enchantments provided by a Wistram [Mage] to a city? Not anymore. Seldom did this happen.

Mannus could only hope that, if Ivory were to be found by Wistram, he would refuse. Even though Ivory presented himself as one who was enjoying himself in this new world, was that really the case? Did he miss his friends and family? The opportunity to be with other children from Earth would be an opportunity few of them would pass on, Mannus thought.

People began to take their seats—food had been ordered, drinks were on tables, and it looked like the party was about to start. The Inn was busier than normal: people loved a capstone party. Mannus craned around, trying to spot any significant individuals. The clientele for The Woolen Pillow wasn’t exactly, ah, highbrow. There were any number of places to eat in Calanfer, and those who ate at The Woolen Pillow, Mannus knew, tended to either be locals, [Workers] and those who were staying at the inn. Few people of note tended to attend low level capstone parties of those whom they are not acquainted with—the anomalies would stand out.

The anomalies, he suspected, fit into one of two categories. The first were those whom Ivory had personally met and made an impression on—like himself—and the second were those who were sussing out the boy who came from nowhere, was involved in grand events, and levelled astronomically fast. It was the second category that Mannus was most concerned with.

[Seamster], [Librarian], [Healer] and of course a [Magical Shopkeeper]. Mannus smiled—thinking back through Ivory’s tale, these must be people whom Ivory had made an impression on. What a good lad. Unless there were civilian informers—which he doubted existed; this was his paranoia in action—there was no one present bar him who knew, or suspected, Ivory’s secret.

His ruminations were disrupted by Jeth, standing on a table near the front of house.

“Hi everyone! Thanks for coming tonight, to celebrate the up and coming star, Ivory! He made it to level 10 in…” Jeth looked abashed. He looked at Ivory. “Err, Ivory, what is your class?”

There were some hearty laughs from the audience—Mannus turned to his side and saw Ivory looking a dangerous shade of red. The majority of the attendees were regulars, their laughs aimed at Jeth, whom everyone was acquainted with, and knew was new and nervous. All heads turned to Ivory.

“[Sorcerer],” he managed to squeak.

There was a wave of oohs and aahs: levelling so quickly as a magical class, and one that was not so common!

“I knew that! Everyone give a round of applause to Ivory, level 10 [Sorcerer]!”

The inn erupted in applause. All eyes were on Ivory, with great smiles on their faces. Mannus swelled with pride at the young [Sorcerer], who was now beaming, but also still quite embarrassed!

Jeth got down from the table as the applause was dying down, and Rex spoke up.

“The poor lad’s as red as a bloodmelon!” More laughter. “ Congratulations again, Ivory! Everyone, food will be served shortly.”

As food began streaming out of the kitchens, the ‘celebration’ was at its end. After all, it was a community event—the night was dedicated to him; it’s not like everyone needed to fawn over Ivory. It was his first capstone level, not his third. Mannus as sure that Ivory was grateful for this.

Throughout the night, Mannus and Ivory interacted little, despite being seated next to each other. Ivory was talking to a [Smith] who was reminiscing his first capstone party; they were sharing their respective capstone skills with each other. Mannus was content with making occasional light conversation with those around him; he was enjoying the atmosphere, which he rarely experienced nowadays. He usually ate his evening meals with his staff or on his lonesome.

As the desserts started arriving, he felt a magical ping. Finally, the [Message] he was waiting for had arrived. “Oho,” he thought. He’d tell Ivory in a more intimate setting afterwards.

Mannus looked down at the queer arrangement in front of him. There was a small cup with a dome of blue and red ice, a slice of apple pie and a candied half-orange. As he picked up his spoon to sample the cup of ice, he heard Ivory as he began eating his.

“Phwoar, a snow cone!”

It must be a dish from his home, Mannus thought. This was yet another sweet dessert brought from Earth: Mannus didn’t have the stomach for ice cream; it was far too sweet for his tastes. Mannus took a conservative spoonful of the snow cone and tasted it.

It… was just flavoured ice. Ice that had been crushed up. Such a simple thing, and he understood the appeal. Flavour something that is inherently flavourless. Mannus, though, was reeling. His teeth ached, and he was experiencing a feeling in his eye that he’d never felt before. Ivory saw that Mannus was wincing and spoke up, laughing.

“Ah, you’ve got a brain freeze! Put your thumb on the top of your mouth and push. You’ll feel better.”

Having no time to respond at what a ridiculous suggestion that was, he complied. After about 15 seconds, his eye began to hurt less, but his teeth still hurt.

“I wasn’t expecting that to work. A brain freeze. Never experienced that before.”

“Happens when you eat or drink something super cold, too fast. Pace yourself, Mannus!” he said with a grin. Mannus, thumb still in mouth, just shrugged.

It was curious. He’d had plenty of cold foods and drinks before—even that were magically chilled—but never experienced a brain freeze. He, however, had never actually eaten ice before. Judging by the uncomfortable looking facial expressions around the inn, neither had everyone else!

Ivory was just laughing. About half of the other diners were experiencing the same thing—it must just be a random thing that happens.

Rex was laughing as well. His voice boomed across the inn, unaided by a Skill.

“It’ll go away after a few minutes! Bahahahaha!”

A good party trick for a dessert, for sure. Mannus didn’t dislike the snow cone, but he definitely found it too sweet. If he had to guess, it was raspberry and… amentus? It was an undoubtedly strange combination, but it worked. He’d have liked it if it wasn’t so sweet, though.

The party had almost reached its conclusion—that is, the dinner rush was coming to an end. Most had already left; the remaining people were chatting away, still enjoying the night. Ivory was saying goodbye to Reeva, the guildmistress of the Healer’s Guild, as Mannus finished off his apple pie. He left his candied orange; he’d had enough sweets to last him a month.

Now, Mannus thought, was the time to retire to one of the inn’s lounge foyers. Reeva was the last of the three anomalies to speak with him—kind of them, he thought—so he’d not be imposing on his night by stealing him away.

—————————————————————————————————————————

“This was a great night.”

Ivory wanted to curse the Ivory of a few hours ago, who thought this party was going to be a bit much. Past Ivory was excited, yes, but he had the trepidatious view of the event that anyone unfamiliar would have felt. Current Ivory, however, felt the fool.

Even the embarrassing moment when Jeth didn’t know he was a [Sorcerer] wasn’t a negative—it added to the indescribable atmosphere. The icing on the cake was Arist, Reeva and Sam coming and giving their congratulations; he was positively touched. Of course, he couldn’t forget Mannus—but, frankly, he was a given. Not that he felt any less appreciative!

And the dessert. What a feast! The main was great—roast chicken with veggies that must be native to this world—but snow cones! He’d not had one since he was a kid, at one of his primary school fetes.

Ah. Good memories. A tiny part of Ivory’s mind pushed a thought out into his head: home. Do I miss home? Before he had the chance to confront it, Mannus tapped him on the shoulder—a welcome distraction to an otherwise distressing thought.

“Ivory, I trust you’ve had an excellent night. Let’s retire to the lounge for a chat.”

Uh oh. In Ivory’s still growing up mind, anything similar to the phrase ‘let’s have a chat’ sounded alarm bells in his mind.

“Sure!” he said, ensuring that the completely unwarranted concern was not identifiable in his voice. Now that he thought about it, there was a lounge area? Guess inns really were kind of like hotels.

Mannus took him through a wide entrance he’d never noticed, located underneath the staircase up to the rooms. It was filled with lounges, chairs and tables: a few people were here, having an after-dinner chat and a sit away from the hubbub of the dining area.

Mannus lead him to the far side of the room and they took a seat. Two lounge chairs opposite each other, with a wooden table between them. Mannus leaned back, legs crossed, and spoke.

“I’ve received a reply from the Adventurer’s Guild.” Ivory’s eyes bulged.

“What’d they say?” was all he could eke out.

“With the knowledge that there were many hidden treasures and artefacts hidden by secret compartments and codes—thanks to you—the guild, in conjunction with the Mage’s Guild, have fully cleared the ground floor of the manor. “All of the found artefacts—of which there are many—are now the property of the Crown.”

Mannus paused and took pleasure from Ivory’s visible disappointment—he wasn’t finished yet.

“I’m not sure if you’re aware, but artefacts and other magical gear, items, clothing, and so on from past eras are usually worth a lot more gold. Can you guess why?”

Ivory wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but he played along.

“Uhm. Because they’ve survived to now means they must be really powerful or important enough to have been kept around…?” He applied some basic logic from Earth to this situation. Mannus was pleased by his answer.

“Mostly right. Today, the state of magic is not as it was several hundred years ago, and indeed thousands of years ago. [Mages] were far more powerful and higher levelled in past eras; techniques and spells have been lost to time. Even today, the Archmages of Wistram do not have the class, for all that they refer to themselves as such. That wand of yours is a prime example—compared to the other artefacts they found in the manor, yours is a minor artefact. I don’t know the extent of what they found, but based on their evaluations, I would suspect that they have found upwards of three million gold’s worth. So far.”

Ivory almost passed out. Three million?!

“Now, remember what I said earlier. Technically, you could argue a claim, but I’ve dashed that—hence this correspondence. I’ll just get to the point. For your part in the affair, and in reparation, you’ve been awarded 6,000 gold. Don’t go spending it all at—”

In a true cliche, Ivory passed out; his limp body lurching forward, banging his head on the table.

He came to seconds later—ironically, his head banging on the table restored his consciousness. He rubbed his head and leaned back, trying to act as if all was fine, and not that he’d just fallen forward and bashed his head on a table. Mannus was laughing.

Then he remembered the cause of this brief episode. Ivory was unnaturally composed.

“That’s a lot of money.”

“Not to the [King] Reclis. That is a cheap buyout for the Crown; they have gotten away with murder, so to speak.”

Ivory took multiple deep breaths. They always said that winning the lottery was a curse… he needed to do this right. Mannus was patiently waiting for the onslaught of queries.

“How am I meant to transport all that money around? Do Merchant’s Guilds in other cities acknowledge one another?”

“Yes, they do. That’s probably the least of your concerns—you will need a Bag of Holding, though. We can sort that out tomorrow. You’ll definitely need it—and more—if you’re wanting to travel, which I assume you will be itching to do as soon as possible.”

Ivory nodded. It’s happening!

“Pheislant it is, then. I’ll speak to Rex to let him know your room will soon be vacant. When will want to set off?”

“Tomorrow!” Ivory blurted out. He had no reason to stay, after all.

“I thought as such. We’ll sort out the rest tomorrow. I suggest packing up all your things and getting an early night’s rest.”

“Yeah that’s a good idea. Wow.” Ivory reclined back. “So if I’m in another city, the Merchant’s Guild will be able to access my ba-... I mean my money even though it’s stored here?”

“That’s correct. As I said—least of your concerns. You’ll need to carry some money with you at all times, of course. If you will be making large purposes—you would go to the guild and withdraw as much as necessary; don’t make think you can just bring in a slip like that one gentleman did the other day. It’s at the shopkeeper’s discretion whether they accept that.”

Mannus gave Ivory a look, which he was able to interpret. Don’t do that, just withdraw the money.

“I’ll talk to Rex. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Mannus gave Ivory a nod and got up. Ivory interjected before he could run off.

“Mannus, wait a sec. I know that this isn’t a charity, but I really do appreciate it. Please let me give you some of that money!”

He turned back and grinned.

“Oh, don’t you worry. You’ll be buying a Bag of Holding and some artefacts from me tomorrow. Travelling safely’s an expensive thing. Sleep well!”

He exited the lounge, grinning. Mannus was given even more gold for his cooperation.

Ivory sat there for a few moments; his mind truly blank, staring into space. Thoughts slowly coalesced in his head, but he forced them away. It would be for the best to simply head upstairs and go to sleep. He didn’t really have anything in the room—towels, defunct video games and potions—he could pack that tomorrow.

Ivory made his way to his room. It only dawned on him now that the place had cleaners—’the fairies had come’, is what his mother would have said—and that’s how the bath water was always fresh and clean. The Shocktowel hadn’t been moved, thankfully. He went over and unfurled it to find an almost fully charged phone.

“Amazing. I’ll never be bored on any carriage I ever have to ride. No internet though…”

Ivory yawned something fierce. It was only 8pm, why was he even tired? He wasn’t complaining—the earlier he slept, the sooner tomorrow came.

Ivory undressed and got into his bed. He made sure to saviour it—it may be a while before slept comfortably again. In almost record time—from head to pillow to now—he heard the inflectionless voice speak.

[Skill - Lesser Resistance: Electricity obtained!]

[Skill - Imbue Object: Electricity obtained!]

Skills, but no levels? Ivory felt a pang of disappointment as he fell asleep.