Ashley Falcon
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Chapter 150: A book is a gift you can open again and again.
🕑 Added 2022-04-08 23:57:24 +0000 UTCThe next two days passed without incident. Roxxy warned Amanda about the connection magic, and my guards confirmed that it was possible. I’d also gotten the time to rest. The more I thought about it, the less I was convinced that Bob had anything to do with this.
“The Gesti are an immortal household, they don't tend to drop ice cream on their enemy’s heads as a tactic." William frowned. "They could have easily made up a reason and banned you from the Gesti Sky.”
He was right.
Whoever had done this to Amanda, if there was anyone at all, was doing a good job of alienating her friends, but not much else.
Even that objective failed. Roxy and Amanda had somewhat repaired their relationship and the rest of us were all growing closer.
There was only one snag.
"You can't ask your guards to launch an investigation into the Gesti household.” Gerial’s voice was apologetic but firm.
We sat in the middle of the earth cultivation room. It wasn't as fancy as the other ones I'd seen. Then again, those all belonged to noble houses and companies, and this was a publicly available one for any hotel members.
"I figured that might be the case.” I sighed.
Asking my guards to keep an eye on the immortal household was impossible. It wasn't their duty, and the church wouldn't risk damaging their relations for unsupported suspicions.
Thankfully was becoming less of a priority as the strange events dwindled to a halt.
Amanda was safe, and that was all that mattered. If anybody tried anything with Gerial or William, then they’d have a lot more to deal with than just me.
That left one last choice to be made.
"Haunted house, or museum.” I asked Gerial.
I knew from the expression on his face which choice he was going to make.
"I'd call you a traitor, but I always knew this was where your heart lay.” I spoke.
Gerial chuckled.
“You're way too dramatic." He pushed himself forward against the dirt. "The haunted house sounds like a great idea.”
“That's what you all say.” I grumbled.
I wasn't actually mad. The idea of a haunted house was growing on me, especially since I knew it was all going to be magic anyway.
Things that went bump in the night didn't scare me as much as a fireball could.
"That still gives us the whole day, unless you want to go during daylight hours?” I raised my hand.
Alongside my arm a tendril of silver that roped through the air. I was in the earth cultivation room, but this morning I decided to focus on my metal manipulation skill.
[Metal manipulation has reached level 6.]
It had paid off.
I smiled.
"See, you're warming up to the idea already.” Gerial grinned. “Roxxy wants to go in at night so that it's authentic.”
"Actually, I just levelled up a skill." My smile widened. "But I agree with her.”
The metal darted around the room at my will, and I focused on its trajectory and form. It formed spears, squares, and circles. Different shapes tested the limits of my skill and concentration.
It was part of the training course that Tago of metal had taught to me.
We were only going to one major attraction today. The past three days had been full on. Excluding the jam packed first day, the past two days had been the group of us rushing from island to island trying out everything that we could.
There were many, many rides.
More importantly, there was all kinds of food at Gesti Sky. If we wanted to eat food from the frontier towns, we could. Southern continent cuisine was available at whim and so was eastern and western.
A lot of our time had been spent at restaurants.
Today we were planning to head out to one of the park islands for a break. Either before or after the haunted house. That way we could justify how much we'd been eating by doing a few minutes of walking.
A squawk sounded out from beside me. Gold had built himself a nest and was guarding it from the metal tendril that floated in the air.
I gave him a playful poke and he pecked at it.
"Alright, it's about time that we head out.” I pushed myself off the ground.
Gerial stood up with me, his hand clasped behind his head as we walked through the hotel corridors.
"A walk through the park islands isn’t a bad idea.” I smiled. “I could use some fresh air.”
"All the air here is fresh.” Gerial twirled his finger.
The air in the corridor breezed past me as he manipulated it and I rolled my eyes.
"It's a figure of speech." I said.
I spent the rest of the morning working on my symbols and inscription training. When it was time to leave, we gathered in the corridor and quickly found ourselves teleported onto a massive park.
This entire section of Gesti Sky was the size of a small city. Or at least a town.
"This is nice." Amanda admired the surroundings.
She skipped forward and Roxxy and Gerial followed her. Gold chirped on my shoulder, and I raised my arm to let him hop off. Amanda did the same ahead of me.
Agni and Gold flew into the air.
They felt more confident traversing through the surroundings than when they’d first arrived. I'd been worried that they would smack into the invisible paths and turn into pancakes.
That turned out to be an unnecessary concern. The paths allowed the birds through without a hitch.
I wondered what they were made out of. It couldn't be a solid material, even if it felt like it. Or maybe it was and there was a rule at play that I didn't know about.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around.
It was William.
"Could I talk to you for a second?” He asked.
He’d had his spoiled brat persona on, but it had worn away over the past couple of days. Roxxy had been fooled at first but was quickly catching on.
The rest of us knew who he was on the inside.
"Anytime.” I nodded. “What’s up?”
"With Amanda's birthday coming up I’ve found it difficult to think of the right gift for her.” He frowned. "Quite frankly, I don't know what she likes or what her hobbies are.”
My foot dug into the ground, and I came to a halt. William stopped beside me, but the rest of the group continued walking.
"As you are her close friend, I decided that it was wisest to ask you what you’d gotten. I can follow a similar theme.” William smiled.
He waited for me to reply, but I was too busy going over his words.
"It's Amanda's birthday soon?" A jolt of surprise ran through me.
William stared at me.
He brought his hand up and stroked his chin pensively.
"It is. In two days.” He nodded. "I made sure to memorise the birthdays of everyone in our class. I thought it would be nice.”
His words only added to my surprise. I didn't have access to the records of my classmates like he did, and Amanda hadn't told me anything.
"I had no idea." I admitted.
My emotions steadied quickly. It wasn't as bad as it sounded.
The people around me didn't celebrate birthdays with the same passion and flair that my previous world did. I hadn't celebrated any birthdays of my own, and neither had my parents.
Gerial didn't celebrate them either.
William was the exception.
His birthday was the only one I'd attended, and it was enormous. But that was a quirk of his family.
He hadn't had another party after that, although the reason was because of the bad memories his other birthday had created.
I’d thought the reason this world didn't celebrate birthdays was because accelerated aging existed. Age didn't serve as the same marker for acceptable social conventions as it did on earth.
However, I was wrong.
The reason birthdays weren't celebrated was because of the first night.
A baby could pass away when it was young, or even on its birthday. That didn't include the ones that survived the initial night but passed away later due to complications.
The tradition had never caught on because of the tragedy of the first few years of their lives. Nobody wanted to mark the first year, and so they didn't celebrate the rest with celebrations.
A gift was still nice to receive, at least among friends.
"Amanda's hobbies." I pressed a finger against my chin pensively.
I knew that she loved reading. And fighting.
A regent that could train fire magic in the arena would probably be too expensive, even for William.
"Reading and fighting.” A lightbulb flashed in my mind. "Something for Agni would be good.”
I wasn't sure if the phoenix and Amanda shared the same birthday but getting a gift for both wouldn't be a bad idea.
"Those are broad categories.” William smiled. “But I believe I'm getting some ideas.”
"That's good, now I need some for myself." I scratched my head.
My mind worked overtime as I thought about what I could get Amanda. It didn't have to be fancy, but I still wanted to get something nice.
I pulled a pamphlet out of my inventory. It was one of the Gesti Sky attractions pamphlets.
One side had a restaurant advertisement.
The other side had—
Jackpot.
There was a bookshop in Gesti Sky.
"William, you're the best friend a person can have." I gave him a pat on the back. “I’m not missing anyone else's birthday this week, am I?”
“You're not.” He smiled bashfully at my words.
His own birthday had been celebrated only a few days ago. He'd turned four, and we’d hung out during the school’s mandatory break.
The toddler was growing up into a bigger toddler. Except this toddler was a teenager.
Gold had given him a song for his present.
William had enjoyed the gift so much that he’d made and kept a recording of it. I'd never understand how Gold managed to nail every social interaction.
Even now I could see him putting in a show in the sky above us.
After this we would be going to the haunted house. The next couple of days would also be full on. If I wanted to get a gift and spend time looking for a proper one, this break period was my best time.
The group wouldn't mind me missing out on a walk in the park.
I tapped William’s shoulder and he glanced towards me with curiosity.
"Can you cover for me?" I gestured towards the group with my thumb. “I want to go look for a present for Amanda.”
Unlike William, I couldn't have whatever object I wanted teleported straight to me.
I had to find and carry things the old-fashioned way. In my magical physics-defying box that was bigger on the inside.
“They'll never know that you didn't know.” William assured me. "I'll tell them you have extensive stomach issues.”
"Please don't do that." I said. “Just say I forgot something at the hotel. Or that I have a headache.”
"We'll see." He smiled. "Go, go. You can make it quick if you teleport.”
I nodded in thanks and tapped on my hotel key card to let them know I wanted to teleport. The last thing I saw was William rubbing his stomach in demonstration and the group looking up towards me.
Oh no.
I had no time for regrets as I appeared in the hotel corridor. Another few instructions later and I was in front of a giant windowed storefront. Hundreds of books were shelved inside, and I could see people browsing the contents.
It blew my mind how easy it was to get around to places.
Magic was amazing.
I walked through the doors and counted my money at the same time. Not all books were equal, the bigger tomes that contained knowledge could cost anywhere from a few silver to a gold coin.
Skill books were far out of my price range.
They also weren't available commercially. Not the good or even decent ones, at least.
"Can I help you, sir?” A staff member approached me.
I turned to him with a smile.
"I'd like to view your section on Marked one fiction, please.”
My target was simple.
Amanda liked fiction and fantasy, and I had seen her collection twice. I took a second to bring up the memory of her book collection. I had looked through every title involving Marked ones and reincarnation.
That meant any book not in my memory was new to her.
The staff member guided me to the relevant shelves and disappeared. One thing was made apparent as I looked at the seven rows of fully stocked bookshelves.
I'd vastly underestimated how popular Marked one fiction was.
Not to mention the incredibly popular reincarnation section, which was the next section over.
I was quiet as I searched.
The variety was endless, and it took time to compare the books in my mind to the books on the shelves. The new books I judged by their covers, and I also read their blurb—
I paused.
There was something moving toward me.
My fingers shot out and grasped the object before it could touch my inventory. It wriggled in my grip, and I glanced down at it.
It was a hand.
"Hello there, little Bob.” I spoke. "Hasn't your dad taught you that stealing is bad?”
I turned around to face the newcomer. The shy little boy looked down as I spotted him.
Silver hair swept over his eyes and his skin was cool to the touch. I had only spotted him because the guards had explained how his invisibility worked.
It was connection magic.
He wasn't really invisible, but everyone around him felt the need to not notice him, so long as he cast the spell with one person in mind first. It was easy to break the effect.
I just needed to know that the spell existed.
"Where’s your dad?” I asked cautiously.
The elder Bob wasn't anywhere in sight.
Little Bob ignored my question and pulled my arm forward. He wasn't trying to take anything. He was trying to lead me somewhere.
He wanted me to follow him.
