The Asshai's Bloodmage

 As we walk, I ask Salim a lot of questions about what he knows about the supposed Masters and what kind of shops they have.

"Not all Masters have shops, they usually just use their names as a form of protection and receive a share of the profits, it's a win-win situation for both sides. Not all shops are related to the occult and some just sell things like tapestries, weapons, food, gems and jewelry. The shop I'm taking you to is the best when it comes to buying and selling magic-related items. Even other Masters often frequent this shop so I guarantee that this is the real deal. You can find a little bit of everything there, but if you're looking for more depth on a certain subject you may need to visit others that specialize in different areas such as books, scrolls, potions, magic forging, Alterations, magical artifacts and so on."

I get extremely excited listening to Salim, it's a lot of information in a short sentence, a shop where the powerful Masters of Asshai frequent. And specialized shops that perform magical forging similar to the secret magical forging of Valyria, magical artifacts that I have not heard anything about until now and he said something familiar to me (alterations). I ask him again about this specific part to make sure it is the same thing I know how to do.

"Ah yes Alterations... many of my tribe save money for most of their lives to hire this service. It is easier to walk in the Shadowlands if your body is altered to these conditions. Basically you can hear better, smell better, see better, see in the dark and be more resistant to the poisonous mists that exist in the region. There is also the most desired alteration, gaining the ability to consume the water of the River Ashes. This is the best, but also the most expensive alteration. The others cost 100-200 gold coins, but this last one costs a lot of money more than double the simpler alterations."

"So expensive…" But before that I ask how good someone's vision becomes or their capacity for other senses and he says that someone can see twice as far as before, and the other capacities are similar. This comforts me a little, they are small improvements that do not have much cost to the body or brain capacity. I also ask if there are improvements to the body, but he says that these are rare and ordinary people do not receive them, but in some towers they say that members can pay for them. I am relieved, if it were something like a dog's sense of smell I would start treating even the most common residents of the city as extremely dangerous.

Salim then says that his parents paid for an improvement for him when he became an adult and that it was because of this improvement that he was one of the first to see the ships arriving from afar yesterday. This makes me wonder if the real reason for the masks are these changes that the Asshai'i undergo. It does not take long and we arrive at a dark street and I see a store with a huge sign called Magic Solstice. The store's entrance is simple and not very flashy. Inside, I can see a masked man wearing a white cloak at a counter and several mysterious products on the shelves. A magical light manages to illuminate the first floor well and I see at least 2 people inside looking at the products. I look up and see the second floor. There are more items on other shelves and I see a small fence allowing people from above to lean on it like a balcony to observe the first floor. Up there, I only see one person sitting very close to the "balcony." By the shape of her body, she is a woman, with long black hair being the only feature that can be seen through her cloak and white mask. Salim pulls my clothes and says:

"Boss, that one on the second floor is Natasha, the disciple of the Master who owns this store. She is his only student and only achieved this feat 5 years ago by defeating a huge number of candidates."

"Don't you know something about her Master?"

"His name is Master White Shadow, he is a very famous and active Shadowmancer in the city, the leader of my people said to always be respectful to him if we meet him. All I hear from people is that he is an honorable man and that is something rare in this lawless city."

I make a mental note to remember to ask about the leader of the shadowmen later and start looking at the items, my gaze wanders a few times to the girl on the second floor wondering if I should approach her for a conversation. But I leave that for after I buy my items first, I go to the area where I see several books first, in addition to seeing a huge variety of books on religions, I soon see a counter with at least 3 books of each element, but when I see their prices I almost spit blood. If you don't want to sell, just say so. Don't display the books at such absurd prices, which will only lead to frustration. The two cheapest books cost 240 gold coins and the other 290. The cheapest is a spell we already have from the wind element, Featherfall, which allows you to fall from great heights without getting hurt. The other is from the shadow element and is called Cloak of Shadows, which allows someone to hide in the shadows for a certain amount of time. Of course, on the shelf there is only a summary of what it does. I can't use my library to steal the spells. I decide to use 290 coins to guarantee the spell for Jack and for others who may have this element in the Order in the future.

We are short on magic books. I also take the opportunity to read the descriptions of all the spells available here. Although it is the basics, it will help me identify when someone uses them. The light and darkness elements are something I hadn't expected. Darkness is more focused on curses, the use of evil forces, and the summoning of evil creatures. Light involves the manipulation of light, for containment, defense and healing, with attack not being a priority. Furthermore, in Asshai, light and fire are strong elements to have in this dark environment. Especially light that can counter both the elements of darkness and shadows as a type of sacred magic capable of containing "evil".

For the fire books, the cheapest one is 400 gold coins and is called Luminous Explosion. I almost spit blood in anger when I see that such a spell allows you to create a flash of light through the use of fire magic. Who decorated a flare like that and called it a spell? There's no way I'm going to spend 10 years of my life studying this, and even less so that I'm going to spend 400 coins. Thinking about it, I can create basic primitive flares now that I saw such a stupid spell... This at least reminded me of something valuable I can do using alchemy. The other two spells are the familiar fireball and the other is called wall of fire. The prices are something I'm not willing to pay either.

After that, I look at the available artifacts and the prices are somewhere in the thousands, among them is the familiar shadow bag. The scrolls are cheaper and allow you to use a spell once and then the scroll is destroyed, but even the simplest scroll also costs more than 1000 coins. I sigh when I see how poor I am. I have a few gold bars and over 1000 coins. I know I'll make a good amount of money selling my share of luxury consumer goods, but that would barely be enough for a few life-saving scrolls. I see some ritual-type magic scrolls and buy one called a blood trap. In addition to that, I buy another one called a sound trap. These rituals are a type of spell that takes a lot of time to prepare and a lot of resources. Each one costs me a gold bar each, and I buy them with my own money this time to save the Order's remaining resources. I'll use them in my mansion that I plan to buy to be the headquarters of the Order of the Sages this afternoon. At least I hope to get a mansion. I have a lot of money so I should be able to get it with the help of Omar and Zhang. Jhon also offered his deep pockets as help so it should be enough. After paying and before leaving the store, I ask Salim to wait and I go up to the second floor.

When I start to approach the table, the woman who is writing stops, closes her book and looks at me in silence. I feel that my approach has irritated her, I think quickly and take a small circular container from my inventory and then say: Good morning Miss Natasha, my name is Rafael, I am also an apprentice and I am new in town, I just wanted to ask you a thing or two if it is not a problem. Here, accept this as an apology for interrupting you, I push the small circular box towards her and stop when it comes within her reach of the table. She continues to look at me for a while before her curiosity gets the better of her and she decides to pick it up and open the box. Inside it is a pair of earrings made of gold with black tourmalines. Her eyes remain on the earrings for a few seconds before closing the box, and finally speaking:

"Welcome to Asshai, Rafael. I have a few minutes before I have to return to my studies."

"Could you explain to me what the title of Master means?" Almost like a robot without feelings she says:

"The title of Master is only given to those who have achieved great achievements in combat or the highest level of mastery in a magical profession."

"Magical profession?"

"Bloodmages, Shadowbinders, Necromancers, and Priests."

"Besides these 4 professions, how are the other types classified, and what qualifies as mastery in a profession?"

"If you join a tower or find a master, you can understand the rest."

"I see, I'm sorry for asking too much. One last simple question, why does a spell as bad as the luminous explosion cost so much money? From the description in the book, it's just a bright light…" This time I hear her chuckle before speaking:

"We're in the Shadowlands, any light here becomes an asset with so many creatures hiding in the darkness, besides, the prices of books and scrolls are dictated close to a fixed price decided a long time ago, learning magic must be expensive and not for everyone."

As she finishes her sentence, she opens the book and goes back to writing. I stand up and bow before leaving, speaking softly but loud enough for her to hear:

"But you can make lights in many cheaper ways using alchemy…"

Since my back is turned, I can't see her stop writing and look at me as I go down the stairs and leave the store with Salim.

***

 The man at the store counter comes upstairs and asks: "Miss Natasha, did that guy bother or offend you?"

The woman, who stopped writing and is still thoughtfully reflecting on Rafael's words, answers:

"No, he's just a newbie in town and was asking some questions. What did he buy at the store?"

"I see, he bought a book of shadow magic, the cheapest of the three, and two rituals of the trap and attack type. Do you want me to ask someone to follow him or get information?"

"There's no need, but I feel like his name is familiar… Rafael…"

The man then thinks for a moment and then answers: "There are rumors that the Red Sage is known as Rafael too…"

"Wait, could that be him?" The woman drops the pen, looking surprised:

"I don't think so, although rumors say he's young, that person is very inexperienced when it comes to common knowledge… Go back to the counter, there's someone waiting to pay."

The man looks downstairs and sees one of the customers waiting to pay. With no choice, he leaves Natasha and runs downstairs. Natasha, who has gone back to reading her book, is interrupted once again. This time, a shadow appears on the table, and a black centipede, the size of an arm, appears, full of legs and salivating from its mouth. It rises up like a snake ready to strike and looks at Natasha as if it could attack her at any moment. Even Natasha is scared and waits without moving. The creature then stops staring at her in an intimidating way and vomits a glass bottle with a piece of paper inside before diving through the shadow that appeared and disappearing from the table again. Only then does Natasha sigh when she realizes that whoever sent the creature has already paid the cost of the message. She then opens the bottle and when she finishes reading, she lets it fall on the table. Underneath her mask, her mouth is open. In the message, her master said that the Red Sage could already be in the city and that she should go to his laboratory quickly.

***

Special thanks to the Patreons:

Magic Apprentice: Parsa, Pato Senalima, Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Vinnie, Jan, frimorigo, Scott Robertson and Takatchi!