Prep for Academia

Mark gently peeked outside the black curtains, noting the fact that it was still dark out, this could be a good opportunity to venture out, the sun would probably take a few more hours to rise.

"Kid, that is fucking risky," Asshole announced.

"Yeah well, what isn't?" Mark answered as he fixed the curtains back in place and turned away from the window.

Mark went over to the closet to look for shoes, he managed to find a pair of neat black ones that had shallow, stubby heels.

They would be good enough for now.

He put them on, now realizing he was walking in purple socks this whole time.

Well, at least he liked the color.

Before leaving, Mark grabbed the glasses from the night table.

Mark then walked down the stairs as quietly as possible, which proved surprisingly difficult with the stairs squeaking every second.

"God damn! Wanna make more noise?!"

"Honey, have you considered trying to jump out of the window in your room instead?"

"He can't do that, the gravitational pull of his boobies would cause an earthquake!"

After (somewhat) successfully sneaking down the stairs, Mark went outside. Rolling his eyes at the comments in his head.

"What? I wasn't that perverted this time!"

"Not true. Still, I wasn't rolling my eyes only at you." Mark responded.

He and the voices bickered for a while, roughly 30 minutes or so, until Mark realized he had gotten lost.

"Fucking great, I was paying too much attention to you all," Mark murmured to himself.

The place he is currently in could only be described not as A shady alley, but as THE shady alley.

Suddenly, as he turned to get out of there, he heard a male, scruffy voice behind him.

"Say miss, you wouldn't happen to have a spare coin, would you?"

Mark sighed internally, this was a pretty bad situation.

He already knows the guy has a rusty knife or something in his pocket, ready to stab him should he refuse, but if he does give money, the other homeless people will swarm him sooner or later, begging for some as well.

"We should give him some! Let's be nice to him and give him a chance dear," Momma spoke up.

"...Fine," Mark responded in his mind.

He then turned his body around. The homeless man could be seen standing a few meters away from him at the back of the alley, he is covered in a dark green cloak which itself is covered in dirt, and the hood of the cloak is up, obscuring the man's face.

He is also wearing dark brown leather boots, all of his items must have been of high quality at some point, though the wear and tear have reduced them to mere rags that still manage to fulfill their purpose somehow.

Mark searched a couple of his pockets until he managed to find a small sachel of coins. He opened it and witnessed what looked to be roughly 30 shining gold coins.

He stared for a few seconds, judging by appearances alone, this genuinely seems like pure gold. But he is no expert, so he had no way to be sure.

Mark grabbed one and flicked it over to the homeless man, who caught it with a shocked gasp.

"Seems like that's a lot of money" Mark noted as the man's hands trembled in awe beholding the gold coin.

"Or his perspective is warped, do you see how the guy looks?" Asshole questioned.

"Well, we made his day nonetheless!" Momma celebrated.

"Imagine what he would be willing to do for more money..." Pervert fantasized.

Mark was brought out of his head again when the man spoke.

"T-This is so much! How will I ever repay you for this...?"

"You don't need to, just put yourself together and live well from now on," Mark said this and then turned around, leaving the stunned homeless man looking at his back.

"W-Wait! Could I get your name...?" He murmured to himself.

"Ah." Mark stopped for a second.

"What was I called in that letter again?" Mark asked the voices.

"Fucking idiot! You didn't memorize that?!" Asshole immediately fired.

"And you did?" Pervert asked, receiving only silence from Asshole.

"That's what I thought," Pervert said with a cynical tone.

"It was Markaleria von Girtunont sweetie." Momma finally answered.

"Thank you." Mark then returned to the real world, still turned away from the homeless man.

"Its Markaleria von Girtunont." Mark then left the alleyway.

"Where have I heard that name..." The homeless man muttered to himself as he removed his hood, revealing a dirty face with a crooked nose. His teeth are pure yellow while his long greying disheveled hair goes down to his shoulders, he also has a big, bushy, grimy, greying beard.

His eyes, which held a spark of insanity, were colored blue.

"No- No way!" He then laughed.

"A battle mage?! That is... Wow!" He chuckled lightly and then began walking out of the alleyway.

Mark, who had overheard him thanks to his extremely good hearing and the fact he was still just around the corner noted these things down.

As the homeless man began leaving the Alley, Mark lightly jogged away, meaning he was roughly 100 meters away by the time the old man left the alleyway.

He lightly shook his head as he looked at Mark for a few seconds, then continued moving on.

"So a soldier and a mage combined huh." Mark voiced.

"Yeah, you will have to start acting like one."

"We dont know that yet dear, we have to figure out what kind of person this form belonged to first. Just because they were a soldier doesn't mean they had to be as efficient as a machine, though it is more likely."

"I mean, they sure as hell could have just been a propaganda machine with tits and ass like that." Pervert pointed out.

"That is... Not unlikely." Mark marveled at Pervert saying something intellectual, though of course it was still related to someone's, now his, body.

As they were discussing, Mark put on his glasses and continued looking around, looking for a shop that sold magical items.

"You think one will be open at like 4 AM?" Asshole sarcastically commented.

"I mean, it's better than not doing anything right?"

"Fair enough I guess." Asshole agreed.

Mark walked about the streets for a good ten minutes, eventually finding what appeared to be a higher-class district, he noted the fact that the place he was currently in was populated enough to have all three wealth classes, yet small enough for there to be no physical separation between them, like a wall.

In simpler terms, a town.

The area seems to be truly medieval in technology, though there was not as much filth as one would expect, most likely thanks to some magical items or spells.

So far, Mark had seen no patrols, but this changed as he heard the first group of people approaching, the metallic clinking of their armor echoed across the silent streets, which were lined with wooden, germanic buildings.

As Mark peeked over a corner to observe them, he felt a bit dizzy.

Something about them made him very uncomfortable. But he couldn't place his finger on what.

All of them were wearing spartan-esque helmets, with a black feather stretching out of the top of their helmet, on their plate armor, various symbols and emblems were engraved, none of which Mark recognized.

"Avoid them kiddo. It's too risky." Asshole said in his mind.

"I agree, they make this body feel... strange. most likely for a reason." Momma also agreed.

"Yeah, I don't like this either." Pervert also agreed.

Mark looked at the guards and slinked back, they seemed too busy talking about something to notice him anyway.

Their faces were hard to make out, but none of them had any beard or facial hair, that much he could tell. None of them were fat or overly muscly either.

"Man, you heard about that fuckin' vampire infestation? Seems the heathens are acting up again." One of them spoke up.

"Yeah no shit, why did you think we got deployed here, so we could fuck, shit, and giggle?"

"...Yeah okay man. Anyway, what do you think about this?" He turned to the third guard, who then proceeded to do some motions with his hands, most likely sign language.

"Huh, they accept people with disabilities? That seems like a bad idea."

"A man with no tongue cannot speak, silencing someone like him sure is a lot easier. If he sees something bad, just cut off his fingers or kill him, what will he do, scream in sign language?" Asshole spoke up.

"..." x3

Mark returned to the conversation between the guards.

"Yeah man, I agree, this whole thing is bullshit. How come the church can give us holy symbols to ward them off but can't send a single priest to purify the land? Something is fishy."

The rude guy spoke up again: "There is also that Mar-something chick, she's a battle mage, apparently she killed lots of guys on the border, would love to see her kill a real man."

*Scoff* "Like you?"

"Yeah yeah whatever, anyways, we need to keep moving." As he said this, a spear materialized in his hands.

"Yeah okay, no need to flex your magic on us."

The seemingly mute one nodded.

Mark then proceeded to skedaddle out of there while he could, going around the street the guards were on.

As the guards exited, the mute one paused as he stared at where Mark was a minute ago.

The Eternum in the air felt disturbed like a powerful mage who didn't bother hiding his might was there a few seconds ago, how strange...

The possibility of it being a vampire is high, but as he was about to inform his compatriots, he paused.

They couldn't take on a vampire with that much power with their skeleton garrison, there were barely any guards in the whole town! They would just kill themselves.

So, he continued to walk, as if he saw nothing.

Mark meanwhile continued to walk, still searching for a magic shop.

"Why are you looking for a shop anyway? Wanna buy a dress or something?" Asshole asked.

"Asshole." Momma spoke up in a very firm tone, clearly unhappy.

"What?" Asshole asked.

"Dude, gender dysphoria? Remember?" Pervert answered.

"Oh right, well come on, Mark isn't such a sissy, right Mark?"

"...To answer your previous question, I am going to buy an umbrella, and see what kind of magic I can put on it."

"An umbrella?" Momma asked.

"Yeah, I have a theory." Mark elaborated: "Since only direct sunlight can harm me, if I have an umbrella, I might be able to walk around in the sun just fine. It would also be easy to justify if I make it ✨stylish!✨"

"Well, it's worth a shot I guess. Don't get your hopes up though." Asshole pointed out.

"Yeah yeah, I know," Mark said, obviously down.

He walked for a few more minutes, and soon enough he discovered a small shop with light coming out of it, a wooden sign could be seen propped up outside.

After Mark put on his glasses, the words "Hana's Enchanting Shop" could be seen written on it with glowing white text.

The shop itself looked rather small and quaint, made out of wood, it has two floors, on the first floor, two large windows allowed one to look inside the shop, while the door also had a smaller window built into it.

The inside of the shop looked rather homely, with a small desk at the end, a couple of comfy chairs next to small tables, and a fireplace.

"Seems like enchanting takes a while, considering the whole waiting room setup they have going on," Mark noted.

"Mhm, now, how about we go in there to get shit done? We have like an hour till the sun rises."

"True, it's like 5 AM now." Pervert agreed.

Mark nodded along and walked inside the store, as he opened the door, he heard a bell ring out above him.

"Oh, good morning!" A middle-aged lady greeted him, her hair was a bright blonde and her eyes were ocean blue, her outfit was rather orderly, with a large white apron with various small tools, some darker in color than others, stashed away in small to large pockets scattered across the apron. Her outfit beneath the apron was a dark brown shirt and brown pants.

Notably, her skin is in very good condition, so much so that Mark had to pause when he saw her to make sure he wasn't looking at a doll.

Mark spoke to the voices: "She's fucking rich. There is no way that equipment was cheap and I dont even want to know how much her skincare routine costs."

Asshole responded first: "Kiddo, no shit."

Pervert jumped on the train second: "Fuck man... Another sexy chick!"

Momma got on last: "Ignore them honey. You need to talk to her, she's gonna start looking at you funny at this rate."

Mark returned to the present, where the woman was awaiting his response.

"Good morning, I hope you are open?" Mark approached the desk as he walked.

"Oh of course! Are you here to order a commission?"

Mark now stood in front of the desk: "I was meaning to ask, would it be possible to enchant an umbrella?"

"Huh?" The lady seemed truly stumped for roughly 10 seconds, long enough to make Mark feel awkward: "A-Ah, forgive me for my rude behavior Ms. Markaleria, I've just never had that request before! It should be possible, yes."

"Wonderful. Do you think it would be possible for you to get an umbrella for me? I'm quite busy with preparations."

"Oh sure! Could you describe to me what you want it to look like and what you would like the enchantments to be?" She then pulled out a small notebook along with a small glass of ink and a pen.

Mark nodded and spoke: "I would like to be able to manipulate light with it, no light should go through it either."

The woman nodded and made notes.

"I also need it to be able to compress itself to become a cane if possible, or to look like one at least. I additionally need there to be an enchantment hiding all enchantments on it."

The lady paused for a second, thought about something, but then nodded and spoke: "I'm sorry, but I am not skilled enough to hide all enchantments, the enchantment hiding the others will still be easily detectable."

Mark nodded, "That's understandable. Lastly, I would like for it to be very heavy and durable, this doesn't need to be an enchantment if you manage to find one that's so naturally, but I doubt you will."

As Mark stopped talking, he remembered one more thing: "Oh! Make sure the tip of the umbrella is sharp and made from steel, like a spear."

The lady nodded and smiled as she finished writing everything down.

"Well, that will cost you a total of 20 Rheingolds. Normally I would have people pay upfront, but you may pay after you pick up the product."

Mark sighed in relief internally, it's a big stroke of luck the currency has the word 'gold' in it, otherwise, she might have been referring to another type of coin.

Mark reached into his pouch and pulled out 25 Rheingolds.

"Here you go, 20 for your work and an extra 5 for being discreet about this."

She looked at him, then at the money, and nodded with a smile.

"Thank you for your patronage. I will deliver this to you today in around 20 hours, or would you like for me to deliver this to you today at midnight?"

"That would be best actually, thank you."

With that, Mark excused himself and departed from the store while biting his lower lip.

He rushed through the streets, not too quickly so as not to look supernaturally fast since people were now starting to walk around.

As he ran, he felt his throat thump with thirst, a strange sensation for sure. Nonetheless, he felt only one thing dominate his mind:

Thirst.

He had to find blood, and fast. Luckily, Alena had those convenient cups.

Hopefully, they could make some blood for him to drink.

Mark walked inside the humble shop Alena owned, Alena seemed to still be asleep, so Mark snuck inside the kitchen, he didn't notice the dark mist that seemed to follow his every step, nor did he notice his silver eyes glowing through the mentioned fog.

His pupils contrasted even more against his silver eyes now with their added glow, making them look rather eerie: like two black holes consuming the light near them.

His skin, previously pale but still manageable, is now as white as can be while his fangs, previously tiny, are now elongated, becoming twice as long as his normal teeth, peeking out of his mouth as a result.

Mark shifted through the kitchen with the fog following his every footstep like an image, luckily, the fog appeared only as he entered the inn, though his skin was still white as could be outside.

He finally found a couple of the bronze cups, there were three total, and no more seemed to be anywhere else, considering he already searched the whole place and found nothing till now.

Mark grabbed a random cup with his hands, he heard a crunch in his hands as he crushed the cup into a pile of scrap accidentally.

He grabbed another one, this time more gently, his hand shook from the energy flowing through his body, he then whispered "Human blood" to the cup.

A red liquid began appearing in the cup, and Mark immediately started gulping down it while the blood was still appearing.

As it came into his mouth, he felt immense relief and pleasure wash over him, he would make an example, but nothing compared.

An addict getting his first dose of drugs after a week of forced absence would be a good way to put it, except this still wasn't comparable.

Mark gulped down the blood, his hand felt more and more numb as the Eternum inside him continued to be used to create more and more blood.

Mark drank for roughly 20 minutes until he realized he hadn't been breathing, something he still does out of instinct.

He took the broken cup and the normal cup with him and made sure no traces of him remained, he then walked up the stairs and returned to his room.