010 Launtel City

Nico arrived in front of Windel Plaza, the public ceremonial court of Windel Academy. There were dozens of registration booths set up for the Windel Academy Entrance Exam.

From the booth, the male clerk requested his recommendation letters or exam token. Nico turned in his letters, and the male clerk scanned the seal with a crystal shard. Afterward, the clerk asked Nico for his identification papers. Once the paperwork was completed, the clerk gave Nico a numbered token, #8425, with the Academy insignia.

Nico scurried out of the way for an impatient mother and her young child waiting from behind. He headed outside the city, hoping to train.

Near the western gate, Nico scoured the surrounding area for a vacant spot to camp at night. Just as he found a good site, a party of 4 scrambled in and started to set up camp.

Eh!? I was here first...

Nico walked a little further out. He found a vacant clearing between two trees. Just as he approached the site, a party of 6 staked their tents.

Damn it!!! Nico threw in his towel and headed back into the city.

The people of Launtel were very different from the people of Rinlin. They were more fearless and willing to go outside into the wilderness. There were many camps set up outside the city safe zone just for the opportunity to encounter manabeasts.

Nico best option left was to search for an inn. Nico wasn't familiar with the area, so he didn't want to travel too far away from the city. Also, he had enough money. He stumbled upon Killo Restaurant Inn. It was close to the academy, but a bit expensive for him. Nico liked the smell of the food, and decided to stop by for dinner. Most of the tables and seats were taken, except for a few spots in front of the counter area. Nico took a seat and eyed the simple menu board above the open kitchen.

"What would you like to order kid?" Asked a bearded man handling several sauteing pans from behind the counter.

The man, who introduced himself as Busho, had one assistant helping with the flame and two sous chefs chopping onions and preparing side dishes.

"Just water is fine," Nico requested. "Any specials for today?"

"Today special is braised neck-bone stew," Busho responded.

"Yum! Sounds good, can you get me an order?"

"Sure!" He initiated another fire for the order, and went back to finish the other food he was already preparing.

"It also goes well with a nice light spring squash broth." The young pretty waitress added. "Hello, my name is Lulu, here's your water."

Lulu tilted the ceramic water pitcher and filled Nico's cup with water.

"Me too, Lulu!" a voice demanded.

Nico teetered to the left by the unexpected voice. He was sure the seat next to him was emptied a moment ago. He stared at the elderly man now sitting to his right, riddled with winkles and dark spots. The elderly man felt a bit self-conscious.

"Whaattt? You have never seen a beautiful face like this before?" He barked.

"Mumu, don't cause trouble with my customers." Busho warned with his kitchen knife. "What are you having today?"

"The special!" The elderly man Mumu shouted back his order.

At that moment, three men walked into the restaurant and stared at the couple eating by the entrance corner. The men signaled the couple to leave. The couple paid the tab and left without any discussion. The three men took their seats.

"That damn Gafney took away our job again!" shouted one of the bigger men with an anchor tattoo on his face.

Some restaurant patrons glanced at the men, but quickly returned to eating their food.

"Don't remind me Tanner," said a skinny man with an anchor tattoo on his left arm. The man looked at a buff man sitting next to him. "Boss, what are we going to do next? We haven't completed any missions in two weeks."

The buff man with a gold plated tooth spitted next to him.

"Let me see if Gafney can continue the current mission," said the Boss. People in the area called him Ivan. "Retrieving a stolen cargo from the Red League Bandit isn't going to be simple. If anything… Skinner, talk to our friends at Garber tavern about this."

Skinner, the skinny man, immediately knew what Ivan was talking about. He then laughed. "Yes boss! Excellent idea!"

"What? What idea?" Asked Tanner who was clearly lost in the conversation.

"Never mind Tanner!" Ivan pounded on the table. "Waitress!! What's with the wait, we're here to order!"

They were barely there for two minutes and already complaining. Lulu saw her mom, Innes, in the middle of an order, and rushed over to greet the three men.

"Hello, my name is Lulu, how may I take your order?" she asked meekly.

Tanner made his order. Skinner ordered for himself and Ivan, who was ogling Lulu.

"Yes sir, we'll be out with the order quickly," she eked out as politely as possible trying to hide her discomfort.

The group of three were rowdy into the late evening, ordering more wine bottles. The patrons started to retire, and Lulu and Innes cleared the tables.

"Busho! A good stew you have there," Mumu stated as he finished. "For someone of little talent, you're already on par with Jantilo Restaurant."

Busho didn't know if that was a compliment or insult, but Mumu was already heading out.

"See you again Mumu!" Busho yelled out. "Don't come again unless you plan to pay!"

Nico had also finished his meal, but he didn't want to leave.

"Come on Chef, what's in the secret sauce?" pleaded Nico. "You can't get the tanginess of the honey unless you add lemon zest. But there's another note of spiciness that isn't chili or pepper. I can't figure out that one ingredient."

Busho laughed at the eagerness of this patron. He often encountered mamas and Mumus who wanted his recipe, but very few boys were interested in cooking. The boy was lively, and a bit unusual. He had two silver wolves strapped to his chest. Busho was one of the rare restaurant owners who allowed pets in his restaurant as long as they were leashed.

"You're a chef yourself?" asked Busho.

"No, but I like to eat well," said Nico.

"I can't tell you the family secret recipe sauce, but you're always welcome to order the special." Busho was good with faces and could remember everyone who had eaten in his restaurant. Nico was a new face. "You're here for the Windel Academy exam?"

Nico nodded. "I've just arrived."

"It's going to be tough at your age," said Busho. "Have you tested out before?"

"Nah, it's going to be my first time. This old man recommended it to me. He was concerned the empire might draft me up, and told me to either join the academy or join the military. I really didn't have an option."

Busho had heard about the rumored draft, as it was partially why there was a spike in people applying to join the academy. Although, not everyone could join the academy just because they wanted to.

"Ooh, but I heard the Academy students get special privileges," said Nico. "What exactly are those?"

"Students get protection from the Academy," said Busho. "That's the number one privilege. To go against the students is like going against the entire Academy. The second privilege is priority in selecting missions from different guilds. And the last privilege is discounts from LaRue Auction House, who has outposts all over the continent."

Just as Nico was about to make a comment, he saw Busho glaring at the group of three men. Ivan grabbed Lulu's wrist, and she tried to yank away.

"Please mister, let me go!" Lulu pleaded.

Busho quickly gripped his butcher knife and prepared to hurl it.

"Hey!" he screamed. "Release her now! Or this knife will be sticking out of ya!"

The three rough looking men laughed as if it was the funniest comedic show they had ever seen. They were clearly drunk. Ivan, with Lulu still captured by left hand, slammed his right hand down. The table split apart, shattering bits and pieces all over the floor.

"Come on old man, this lass is lucky to catch the eye of our boss!" said Skinner. "We are just going to take her for one night."

"Another word out of you and I'll cook your tongue in acid!" Busho barked angrily at the three, but his palms were sweaty from anxiety. He knew his strength wasn't going to be enough.

Ivan got up from his seat and dragged Lulu to him. She screamed and kicked, but he seemed oblivious to them.

The spectators peeked in from the front of the restaurant to see the commotion, but no one reacted or helped. To them, this wasn't something they could stop. The three men were clearly from a gang and dangerous. They pitied the girl, but events like this happen everyday, why should they risk their own life? Maybe a young hero will come to save the damsel, but it wasn't going to be them.

"Dear, do something!" Innes panicked as the three ruffians were about to leave with Lulu.

Busho threw his butcher knife, but the knife dislodged inside a table that Tanner had tugged from the side.

"Ha! Slow," Tanner taunted.

All of the sudden, a table leg smashed into Tanner's back skull and he tumbled forward. Skinner was already smashed into the wall.

Ivan saw the incoming attack from a patron boy. The table leg path was heading toward his elbow. Ivan released Lulu and quickly backed away from the impact. Ivan watched the swinging movement of the table leg, and carefully avoided the splintered edge. Nico swung the table leg back up. Ivan saw the boy swinging wide and rotated his head to observe the table leg. It moved too high out of range, he grinned. Stupid boy.

Before Ivan could counter, the boy abandoned the table leg, turned to re-position his body and punched Ivan directly into his stomach. Ivan's body flew out into the streets and collided into the paved road. He angrily pulled himself up and prepared for an attack.

"How dare you mess with the Fishman's Gang!" Ivan roared.

S***! He's still awake after that hit, Nico scrambled to think of something.

"I dare you to say that again to the Academy," said Nico flashing a badge. "Now leave before I burn all your hair."

Nico took out a Red Flame Talisman and pointed it at Ivan. Ivan didn't get a good look at the badge, but he had seen a Red Flame Talisman before. He could tell that it was real. Very few people carry talisman, only magicians and cultivators have them. Ivan was about to scramble off, but Nico instructed him to carry both his minions away. The small crowd of people clapped at the heroic effort of the young hero. They really didn't expect anyone to help out, and although they felt ashamed for not being capable, they will always cheer for the good guy.

"Ah, it was nothing much!" Nico thanked the crowd.

"Thank you." Lulu smiled warmly at Nico and hugged Nico lightly, making sure the cubs weren't sandwiched in between.

She was still a little shaky.

"Thanks kid, what's your name again?" asked Busho.

"Nico. And it's not a problem, just helping out."

"Well, you've just arrived? Do you need a place to stay?" asked Innes coming out with a broom. "Why don't you say with us until the exam."

There were still seven days left before the exam week.

Nico glowed. "That would be great!"

"All right, it's settled then," said Busho.

"Let me help you out a bit," Nico took an extra broom and helped the family cleared up the mess.

Later that night, Nico followed Innes to his room on the second floor.

The room was one of the simple guest rooms. It had dark wooden bed, dresser, desk and chair. He didn't bring much to Launtel, so it was perfect for him.

Nico unwrapped the manaherbs and re-potted them by the window. The manaherbs were mostly clippings from the manaherbs with the most symbols. He left most manaherbs at the farm, but he took the ones that he wanted to feed directly with the lifeless water.

Nico unpacked some of the talismans he had made and a journal. The journal recorded his observations regarding Shadow symbols, the symbols he could see through Minko's vision. They were the basis of talismans. He had experimented with different combinations of Shadow symbols while he was still in Rinlin.

He noted down that if he altered the amount recommended by the system, the flame talisman would be weaker. Changing the order of the Shadow symbols caused the talisman to fail completely.

Persona symbols were basically the language of the system, and the language used on the face of every talisman. It was strange that he could understand and read the Persona symbols, but he couldn't come up with one until it was revealed to him. He knew two talisman Persona symbols, one was Red Flame and the second was Tri-color Flame.

He wanted to create a new talisman based on the Persona symbols. In theory, it was possible to create as talisman as long as he know the Persona symbols, and the correct combination of shadow symbols.

Most of the word modifiers he had experimented with came from the recipes description, such as the mystic purple flame from the enhancement inscription, green light flame from the healing balm, and blue crimson flame from the firehouse steak.

He spent most of his time testing out "light" Flame Persona. There were many possible combinations with shadow symbols of multiple characters. If he limited the characters, it may be easier to test. He used the various light symbols that he knew and tested them in different order with the base flame talisman symbols.

Before arriving to Rinlin, he had successfully formed the Light Flame Talisman, but it was only after a month of experimentation. Unlike Rinlin, Launtel had many shops that sold mana objects, especially the Fenrir Shop. The Fenrir Shop displayed 32 variety of level 1 talismans, characterized by a single character symbol. There were few level 2 talismans, but they were expensive.

Nico studied the visible Persona symbols written on them. Studying the Persona symbols filled in the majority of missing Personas Nico had not learned. He noticed that the ugly looking Red Flame Talisman was labelled "Fiery Firebolt" Talisman. The rivaling Camber Shop called it the "Super Firebolt" Talisman. Nico was sure these were named for marketing purposes.

From the talismans on display, he learned the Personas symbols for Rain, Lightning, Earth, Light, and Darkness. He had already learned Flame and Gale. He also learned the different color modifiers; white, black, yellow, orange, and purple.

Nico took one of each talisman in order to examine the shadow symbols, and one "Booster Strength" Pill, which could add strength for 48 hours. Although Nico could see shadow symbols embedded in talismans, he did not know the correct order unless he used and analyzed them with Minko's vision.

Fenrir Shop was always busy, so Nico waited in line for his turn. He smiled, it reminded him oddly of home, waiting in line at the grocery market. When it was Nico's turn, he asked if they could trade. Nico took out 37 Red Flame Talismans. The manager looked through Nico pile of talismans, scanned the authenticity with a scale and then agreed to the trade. All level 1 talismans were roughly the same price, but the Red Flame were more useful and more expensive than other level 1 talismans. The manager also agreed to five talismans for one level 1 Pill.

Within a week, he had replicated 32 different talismans, but not without failure. Nico attributed the failure to the Persona symbols being inaccurate. He didn't know the exact lines of the Persona symbols, but as he reformed the symbols on paper, he was able to see when the lines were written correctly.