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Last of The Fae Chapter 79: Setting Up Shop Pt. 2
🕑 Added 2024-12-14 22:48:59 +0000 UTCAs Thane moved to enter the store, he frowned at the old, rickety wooden door, which was out of place in the sleek aesthetic he was aiming for. Thane sent a bolt of silver flames at the door with a wave of hand, which went up like the dry timber it was. The door turned into a pile of smoldering ash, which Thane swept aside with his foot as he molded the stone again, coaxing it to form an arch out of large, rough pieces of uncarved stone.
Thane inscribed the keystone at the very top of the arch with his house signet before creating two stone doors, each with half of the signet to form the whole when they were brought together.
Thane exhaled as he started to feel the strain of using instinct magic for such a prolonged period, 'Hopefully, I have enough to finish the job and still be somewhat presentable for the interview.'
Walking up to the double doors, Thane held out his hand and muttered under his breath as he cast a quick charm. When Thane lowered his hands, the heavy stone doors slid open soundlessly, retracting into the wall and letting Thane step inside.
Looking at the dingy, poorly lit interior, with its shelves of bottles caked in dust nearly stacked atop each other, Thane realized he had his work cut out for him. Making a beckoning motion with his hand, He summoned his trunk, which floated through the still-open doors with a trail of items behind it.
Turning back to the cluttered shop floor, Thane waved his hand as mana poured out of him, settling over every item in the store, causing them to shake violently as they started to shrink.
When the spell finished, every bookshelf and display case could fit in the palm of Thane's hand. With a crisp snap of his fingers, Thane levitated all the miniaturized furniture into his trunk with a mental note to go over the contents later to see if there was anything of value worth saving.
Now, with an empty room, Thane had all the space he needed to work. Sinking his mana into the floor, Thane tore up the worn-down wood planks, revealing the stone foundation that rose to replace the wooden floor. Thane then gestured behind him, and the items that had initially poured out of his trunk flew forward, moving about the room before settling into place.
The 'items' were, in fact, display cases and shelves made of dark brown mahogany. All the cases were heavy and solid but varied in shape and size. Some were square pedestals that could only display a few items at a time, while others were large cubes that could hold vast supplies. Matching their dimensions, each case featured a sealed glass box surrounding a silver base plate inscribed with an intricate golden circle sprawling with seemingly meaningless random symbols with a tiny crystalline shard embedded in the center. And if one looked carefully, they could see that each pane of glass also bore a golden circle, but the lines were so delicate that they were barely visible.
It had taken Thane a nonstop day of forging and inscribing to make the formations, but the final result would be worth it if everything worked as planned.
The next slew of items that Thane pulled from his trunk was a stack of leather-bound tomes. Each book was dyed green and embossed with a silver House Fae signet. The books scattered about the room, each settling to float before a display case. As they did, the formations inscribed onto glass boxes lit up, recognizing the paired book.
Walking over to a random display case, Thane tapped the boo,k which opened itself to a random page that filled itself with a detailed picture of Aconite, a colorful purple flower, along with a brief passage about its alchemical uses, potential dangers, substitutes and any other information a potential buyer might want.
However, the page was greyed out, showing Aconite wasn't in stock. Thane flipped the pages, which displayed another alchemical ingredient also greyed out. For his final test, Thane flipped back to the very first page, which revealed a table of contents organized alphabetically with all the names, expectedly, greyed out.
"Time to see if this storage network works," Thane muttered as he moved to the back of the shop, which had its wooden wall replaced by one of solid stone with a door to match.
Another quick charm and the door opened for Thane, who pulled another item from his trunk: a small silver square the size of his fingernail. Tossing the square onto the floor, Thane took a step back as the square grew into a baseplate that rivaled the size of the mana-gathering formation back in the room of requirement.
However, one key difference was the square slot in the center that bisected the ritual, rendering it inert. Before addressing that issue, Thane summoned even more shelves from his trunk, but these were far less appealing, made of grated metal meant to handle immense loads of weight.
And handle they did as Thane pulled out metal crate after metal crate, each loaded with an alchemical ingredient and enchanted to preserve the contents inside. Once every shelf was fully stocked, Thane pulled the final item out of his trunk, a three-foot-long pillar of crystalline metal.
Two weeks, it had taken Thane half a month of nonstop experimentation to figure out the base of the alloy Magala had used during the ritual with Ithariel and Yggdrasil. And even then, Thane's version was a knock-off. While Magala's pillars seemed as if they could store mana for an eternity, Thane's alloy could only go a few years before mana started to escape.
Without the Room of Requirement to summon any material Thane needed, it would have been next to impossible. The alloy was a mix of silver, gold, and platinum, all of which needed to be absolutely pure and alloyed perfectly, which could only be done with magic.
Grabbing the three-foot pillar, Thane's muscles strained from its immense weight, but he managed to position it in the matching square slot in the base plate.
The pillar slid in smoothly, and as it settled into place, it began to glow with a cyan light that transferred to the formation as mana flowed through the ritual circle. The air charged with an invisible static as the formation went to work.
Practically holding his breath in anticipation, Thane left the storage room and picked another random display case. Opening the connected tome, He went to the table of contents to find that all the names were now solid black. Picking one at random, Thane watched as the ritual on the glass box flashed, and the exact item he wanted to view appeared on the base plate.
There was also a new option labeled purchase at the very bottom of the page. Thane pressed the flowing script and watched a slot open in the glass just wide enough for a galleon to slip through.
After paying the lifted amount, the gallons dropped onto the base plate and vanished along with one of the box's glass sides, allowing Thane to retrieve his purchased goods.
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First_Steps
more please...)))
