Beginner 1
50%
Athletics
Beginner 2
55%
Blood Magic
Beginner 1
30%
Bluff
Beginner 1
60%
Diplomacy
Beginner 2
65%
Healing Magic
Beginner 7
86%
Insight
Beginner 2
20%
Mathematics
Beginner 2
45%
Navigation
Beginner 1
20%
Perception
Beginner 2
40%
Sense Motive
Beginner 1
30%
Walking
Beginner 2
5%
Wind Magic
Beginner 2
82%
And there it was, sitting pretty at the top. She had somehow managed to teach herself some magic. Albeit the really creepy kind that usually only the villains had. On the bright side, apparently stuff went up really fast at the beginning stages because a couple of things had already gone up. Can I teach myself more magic?
She was about to try messing with the water when the mom from before rapped on the door and called out, “You doing okay in there?”
Oh right, I’m in public. Probably not the right time or place to be doing this… With a smile, she reached for the doorknob, pulling it open as she grinned brilliantly at the mom. “I’m wonderful, thanks!” She would be amazing if she really could teach herself magic. She could just feel the cheating sirens going off in her head.
“Oh, you don’t look like a zombie as much anymore now that you’re clean!” The little girl sounded a little disappointed, to be honest. Apparently seeing a zombie would have been a grand adventure for her...then again, that’s a story most kids would probably kill to have. Jade just smiled, crouching a tiny bit more easily this time now that she had a little more practice with the movement.
“I should hope not! I’m Jade, what’s your name?”
“Tina.” She stuck her thumb in her little mouth, grinning guilelessly at Jade. Standing up, she glanced at the mom and raised her brow a little bit, and the woman was flustered a little as she hurried to introduce herself as well.
“I’m Sharon Dennis. It’s lovely to meet you, Jade, despite the...odd circumstances.” She hesitated, then decided to ask anyway. “Are you from the academy?” Sharon was an average type of woman, a little taller than Jade, with wispy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and perceptive light blue eyes. What was above average though, was her clothing. Just from the little she’d seen around town, she could tell that Sharon’s dress was much higher quality. It fit her form perfectly, and there were little flourishes of embroidery and a tiny bit of lace at the neckline.
Jade shook her head, shrugging as she explained, “Not yet, but I’m here to take the examinations.” That was easier than explaining that she was a traveler. She might just use that from now on so she didn’t have to explain her life story to people. Unless she needed information, that was. Sometimes you had to give to get, after all.
“Oh, that makes sense!” She smiled, then reached into her pocket–her dress had pockets!–and pulled out two silver leaves. Jade regarded her with confusion, not quite sure why she was pulling out money. When she pushed them into Jade’s hand, she was even more perplexed even as a new blinking dot appeared in her vision.
“What’s this for?”
Sharon just smiled and spoke much more placidly, “It’s my apology for Tina’s outburst and my thanks for healing her.”
Jade stared at her in contemplation. Should she accept this? She needed the money, but at the same time, she’d already used her bathroom. She did heal her, but it was just a bruise… It also looked like… Lightbulb! She had pulled the money out after she’d confirmed she was here to go to the academy. She recalled that Jessica had said it was basically the noble faction, and with a peek around, she could tell that this was a higher end dress shop… She was trying to get on her good side. It was essentially a bribe.
She was going to take it.
Chapter Seven – Invention
Once she had come to her decision, she nodded to Sharon and said quietly, “Thank you, then. I’ll remember this.”
Sharon beamed; apparently she had accomplished her supposed goal of buttering Jade up a bit. Bribe tacitly accepted, score one, Sharon. Zero points for being incorruptible. Was someone going to be counting? Was whoever sent her here going to get annoyed if she didn’t follow whatever their master plan was? Well, whatever. She was going to live her life and worry about if she was pissing off some higher being whenever she met said being.
She slipped the coins into her pocket, nodding to Sharon and patting Tina on the head. “Can you point me in the direction of the library?”
“Of course, you go…” Sharon had looked a little puzzled as to why she was asking at first, then just gave her directions after a moment. She probably concluded that since Jade was applying to the academy, she had the right credentials or something.
Stepping out into the mid-afternoon (ish? She had forgotten to ask again...) sunshine once more, she looked around. The crowd from earlier had dissipated, leaving the normal pedestrian traffic. She turned left and started walking, making sure to absently brush up against anyone she could with the excuse of the crowd and an apologetic smile when they watched her awkwardly walk on.
She squinted, trying to figure out if she was close. That’s it, the first thing I do when I have extra money is commission sunglasses. How do these people stand it being so bright? She kept having to switch which arm was shading her eyes, given that she got tired easily. Thankfully, she was only a few blocks away from the massive open area called Priom Square, if the sign proclaiming its name was anything to go by.
She stood to the side, just admiring the bustling square. It was the center of the city area, or rather, it was the center of activity in this area. There was the humongous courthouse type looking structure that was probably the government building Jessica had mentioned as the upper city hall. Apparently, some trends were popular no matter which world you were on, such as making the government building the biggest thing on the block. Second was make the church enormous and pointy. Apparently there was a religion around here, she just didn’t know what it was yet. She’d have to check that out soonish so she didn’t accidentally get herself killed by mortally offending someone’s morality. This was important since pretty much every single person in this area looked like they could snap her in half without effort. Was this a breeding ground for bodybuilders, or was she just that weak in comparison?
Anyway, there on the side she could see another large building that looked governmenty with the pillars and such. She slowly wove her way towards it, noticing that although it was a huge monstrosity in the square, very few people went inside. For instance, in the five or so minutes it took her to wobble over, she’d only seen one person enter.
A little more wary now, she approached from the side, barely opening the door and slipping into the blessed darkness, comparatively speaking. Softly glowing glass balls that sparkled with a dim inner light were placed along the walls of what looked to be a massive library. Her inner nerd squealed with glee as she saw them behind the rather intimidating looking counter that separated her from the massive amounts of INFORMATION! No more awkward questions, she could just read stuff and be good!