currently in the town of Tanis..
"yo old will ain't dis' your kiddo?"
one of the customers says, handing him a missing person poster signed by the marquise himself depicting a younger Asher
"hahaha... I don't know if that kids lucky or not.."
"on one hand his mother still loves him, it seems she just never found him, and on the other hand he leaves the city the day she would have.."
"well kid, its up to you to return here now, if ya do. ya got a surprise waiting for ya.. wanderin' how its goin for I'm right now?"
-IN THE CAPITAL-
barely dodging another fireball Asher rolls on the ground, scraping his knee yet getting up despite the pain
"fuck that's hot.."
"I know I'm hot hun you don't have to say it~" Sophia says teasingly, clearly enjoying messing around with him.
'not what I meant but whatever floats your boat I suppose..' conjuring a large mirror to block a wind blade Asher also creates a mirror behind him, using the larger mirror as a distraction to block his body from view, ashier appears behind Sophia
"clever move Asher, but I'm not your match, at least not at this leve-" turning to face Asher while saying those words. Asher activates his eyes ability's partially, freezing her momentarily allowing him to grab a nearby glass shard and pin her down. the glass pressing her neck as his face is inches from hers, who had already recovered with a playful glint in her eyes
"hmm.. id love to continue this.. especially since iv matched the level of my spirit magic to yours in this fight so it would be interesting to see how you would fare against a stronger enemy"
"but, I already have enough data, after the test for the other students who unlike you, will be taking the exam. you will be given your rank"
"and while your ability is impressive, there are many powerful students this year, both the prince and the princess who was recently rescued from the demon kings castle, our dearest elven princess, and multiple prodigies from grand family's and other races"
"id expect the current you to be around.. rank 13?"
taking in her words, Asher thinks to himself 'expected as much'
"however.. dear Asher, would you become my teaching assistant?"
'ah..' remembering a sentence from one of his ability's (women have a higher chance of hiring you for a job- applicable to any job)
"why, how would it work, what's the pay?
"haha.. you certainly like to get your moneys worth don't ya?" Sophia replies as she starts to list the benefits
"well, first thing first, you get access to unique facility's, techniques only I can give you. having me privately help you learn ,the pay is good and did I mention that teaching assistants don't pay the tuition fe-"
"done. when do I start?"
"first get to the academy kiddo, and as for the why you asked earlier.. I'm lazy, your ability to teleport helps a lot considering the campus is as large as a city."
"and I prefer to have a good looking man help me around than somebody else."
"well.. at least you admit I'm hot I suppose, also. I was told I'm supposed to receive free accommodations since I'm already automatically admitted?"
"that, ill leave to Emily. see you at the academy, especially since I will be your homeroom teacher~"
"wait wha-" and before he can even finish.. she's gone, and with an annoyed sigh, Asher turns to the still blushing Emily who thinks to herself
'this.. that was an interaction of student and teacher..? no that was just blatant flirting damnit!'
fanning herself, Emily remembers her task "ah!"
"student Asher! here is the key to your room, its at the second floor" she says handing him the key and running off
"well she's a fun one.." he mutters as she runs off, as he makes his way to his temporary room
'from what I understand, people have seven days to register for the entrance exam, and on the last day, there's the actual exam.. '
'which ill watch because not only do I not really have anything to do. it will also be good to see who I'm up against in the academy' deciding on a plan of action, Asher makes himself comfortable in his new room
"damn this is a hundred times better than my old room.. now, since my tuition is covered by Sophia, I have allota money to spare. since all of it was gonna be used on the academy tuition"
"and we have two options.. a trident, which i could probably just conjure up using water manipulation later on anyways, or mana stones, which would let me actually use my craftsmanship gift to its fullest."
"hmm.. since I can pretty much create something better as long as that something has already been invented, that means I can create things from earth. substituting electricity for mana stones."
"and even better, since the trident exists, and I can create something better as long as it exists, I can create my own one. however.. I first need knowledge of runes to engrave buffs on it."
"taking all of that in, I should probably go get some more jewelry instead for the collectors buff" and that, is the result of the increased greed passive from the collectors gift
"which leads me to here." Asher finds himself in a bustling market, the largest in the kingdom situated at the heart of the capital
'since it buffs any jewelry, it probably buffs enchanted jewelry As well, so I should probably get those, even if their a bit expensive' thinking so, Asher enters a jewelry store, and since he doesn't skimp out on his attire, he seems to fit right in
"hello sir! I'm Adel, a worker here. do you perhaps need any help?" Adel says with a practiced smile, to which Asher replies
"do you maybe have any enchanted jewelry here?"
"ah. we have a plethora of items in the store sir! please follow me." Adel says guiding Asher to a more expensive looking area of the store
"please sir, say which one intrigues you and I will tell you the material and enchantments!" Adel says enthusiastically
'hmm.. I should get two for myself and one for echidna I suppose. since my jewelry would me more urgent ill focus on mine first.'
and so, Asher looks around, specifically focusing on purple or black themes to fit his aesthetics, as he comes across a ring in the shape of a coiling black serpent, biting a small purple gem
"what's this one?"
"ah! an excellent choice sir, that is the ring of the black serpent, its expensive because its made with a basilisks scale and the gem is a condensed mana stone!"
"among our many items in the store this is one of the rarer ones since it is a storage ring, quite useful for a man who seems as busy as you no?"
"hmm.. sure, please pack this one up for me, and I'm sure you know I'm looking for a purple and black aesthetic, so do you know if you have any items that either have a useful active ability or a physical strength boost?"
"hmm.. since strengthening buffs sell like hot cakes around here we sadly don't have any of those, but we have recently gotten one with an ability."
"hmm, please show me it." and at his words, Adel brings out one of those bracelets made of black marble you would find at random stalls on earth, the only difference is that each marble has a different rune glowing purple (just google black marble bracelet its basically that)
"this my good sir is called obelisk, the runes can be used three times a day, and once used, it will unleash the spell soul fire mark, which are blackish ghostly flames that will latch onto your enemy's like haunting scabs, quite useful no?"
"it is indeed, and lastly, do you perhaps have masks? ones that can hide your identity?"
"ah, we have plenty of those, they are quite popular items since nobles often go to masquerade balls so we have plenty."
looking around the masks, since all have the same enchantment, he only needs to find one that fits echidna, preferably of a serpent theme
"ah, found it." he mutters, looking at a dark bluish serpent mask, adorned with dark bluish scales of a beast and beautiful white pearls
"alright then sir, I suppose you will be buying all three items?"
"yes, I will. what's the damage, sir Adel?"
"that would be.. 23 gold and 6 silver, they are enchanted so their quite expensive."
"haah.. fine. here's the coins."
'tsk, that's a fourth of the academy tuition damnit, so I only have 70 gold left, and i heard mana stones cost a gold for even the lowest quality ones god damnit, iv been saving this shit up for the past 7 years..'
"here you go sir, thank you for your patronage and we hope you come back soon!"
"thank you, Adel. have a good day now."
'lets check the buffs.. the ring, damn. lucky me I guess, a one square meter increase of storage, that's six since the original had a capacity of 5 square meters'
'bracelet now has five charges instead of three, also useful, and the mask simply had its concealment effect heightened, so I basically just got better versions of every item I bought, nice.'
"haah.. now we need some better clothes, some food and coffee for the academy since I heard they use that merit point bulshit like every over fantasy academy novel"
'I should focus on quality than quantity for clothes though since ill mostly be in the academy uniform, as for cooking.. ill have to buy the things that expire fast at the academy so ill only buy the cooking gear, essentials like coffee and a whole lotta alcohol'
having made his decision, he makes his way through all kinds of stores, before deciding on one last task
'I can afford to create some earbuds right? yea lets do that.'
thinking so, Asher buys two mid range rechargeable mana stones, which cost him 40 gold, since them being rechargeable makes a mana stone double in price, obviously they recharge via mana, which while he cant really use himself, there are plenty at the academy who can do it for him
he then decides to buy some rainbow chameleon skin, which will let him add the property of changing the earbuds color freely at any point in time 'it would be nice to have them fit my aesthetic even as echidna' and those aesthetics did cost him
"ten fucking gold.."
and so, with a heavy heart, Asher goes to a nearby black smith and pays him 1 gold and 5 silver to use a room in the smithy for a few hours, leaving his balance at a measly 20 gold
and a few hours later.. its done, currently having chosen the color black for the earbuds
'so far, i basically added every song iv ever listened too on earth and I can just cycle through those, now lets see the collectors buff baby!'
[ultra rare buff! granting major function to the item instead of a minor one]
'I knew that gold was worth it. and since its an artifact, its registered in the system. so do your thing and show it'
[earbuds (black)]
function 1: 'open up a hologram only you can see with a list of 10 thousand songs, can also create playlists and upon pressing the record button any song in the users vicinity will be added to the list'
function 2(from major buff): 'gain a ring that functions like a communication orb linked to the earbuds, can also create other copies of the ring to allow communication between each individual ring'
suddenly, Asher notices a ring on his finger
'so basically I can give this ring to some one, or the earbuds themselves, and we can just call each over? that's nice, ill have to think about who I give it too but that's quite useful'
"alright then lets head back now, there's six days left for the test, I'm pretty sure its made in the structure of a battle royal so that the academy can show it like an event and get some money so ill have to wait till then."
'although I doubt any of the children from bigger noble houses will be participating cause any family that's status s higher than a count can admit their children without taking the test.'
'though there will probably still be some that join, and either way I might see some talented commoners, I'm excited.'
CHAPTER END
hi yalls! author here, i hope the fight scene was enjoyable, i also tried to increase the mcs arsenal a bit as well, il try to add some more fleshed out fight scenes since it pretty much started from the end of the fight!
also please gift some power stones so i know you all are enjoying the story so far!
peace!