Chapter 6

The bank was on one of the big eight streets that led to the city center, which also worked as the spawn. Shawn and Hector had to pass it when walking to the bank, and as they did so, they could see new players spawn in every second.

The bank itself looked much like an ancient Greek temple, with great pillars all around the entire building, with carved decorations all around the white stone and dabs of color bringing vibrancy to the entire structure. On both sides of the entrance were two majestic statues of faceless warriors, each holding a long spear with both hands.

Entering the bank, Hector and Shawn came to a vast room that had comfortable looking seating around a table in the center and the left side of the room. To the right, there were multiple doors leading to private booths, and on the far side from the entrance, were small booths where people could make withdrawals and transfers. Walking to separate booths, both Hector and Shawn went to withdraw some money so that they could buy a few useful items, and pay for a longer stay in the inn. Shawn also had a plan in joining the school to further study magic.

"Afternoon Mr, what businesses do you have with us today?" the banker asked once Hector arrived at the booth.

"I'd like to make a withdrawal"

"Alright, please press your thumb over here" the banker said gesturing at a small circular device with a bevel in the middle.

Once Hector did what the banker asked, the bankers eyes widened a little.

"You have 500 aluminum coins (50,000 gold, purchasing power of $5,000,000) in your account, how much would you like to withdraw." the banker said with surprise just about audible in her voice.

Stammering a little Hector said,"I... I'd like to withdraw one aluminum coin as 5 platinum and 50 gold coins... please?"

"Yes sir, just wait a moment please." the banker said before walking away through a door on the other side of the booth, and coming back with 6 stacks of coins, 1 stack of 5 platinum, and 5 stacks of 10 gold each. Thanking the banker, Hector quickly stuffed everything in his small money pouch, barely managing to fit the 55 coins with the seven and a half silver in it. After he was done with that, he walked to the waiting Shawn.

"So... turns out I'm a whole lot richer than I thought." Hector muttered to Shawn.

"What do you mean, how much richer?" Shawn asked.

"Apparently I have a few hundred aluminum." Hector quietly said.

"How in the hell do you have that much, if you didn't even know you had money in the bank!" Shawn nearly shouted, getting a few odd stares from other customers in the quiet bank.

"I don't know, my dad probably gave me some after I died. And now there are a dozen people who think that I am rich, and I don't want to get robbed in my first day here." Hector said with a quiet, slightly annoyed tone.

"Oh, ok. I'm sorry. There should be some magical items that can prevent theft, so we should go buy one or two. Probably some other cool magic stuff we could buy." Shawn mentioned meekly, before they walked out of the bank to the market stalls and shops outside.

Most of the stalls were selling food and clothes, with a few exceptions, it was very similar to a typical street market. After having looked around at the stalls, they realized that the shops were the ones with the more expensive and possibly more useful products. There was a smithy that sold well made tools like hammers, scissors and knives, along with a few weapons and armor. Other shops sold expensive cloths, fancy clothes and instruments. One even was selling all kinds of fantastic animals, Hector even thought he might have seen a small dragon in there. But it wasn't until they decided to check the jewelry store that they found enchanted items. Everything in the store had some kind of enchantment. Looking around he saw all sorts of rings, necklaces, pins, bracelets and earrings, and like with the trinkets in the headmasters room, he could feel the power in them.

"Good afternoon, may I help you in any way?" the man behind the counter politely asked.

"Yes, thanks, are there any storage devices here? Something that I can store gold, clothes and all that without losing it." Hector answered as politely as he could.

"We do indeed." He said as he took out a glass case with 50 different rings laid out. "We have both bloodbound and soulbound closet rings, and a few bloodbound storage rings."

"Umm, what's the difference between the three?"

"Bloodbound means it will forever be bound to the person who's blood is the closest to the blood originally given to it. So when you buy it, only you will be able to use it for as long as you're alive, after that only your children, or their children will be able to use the ring. Soulbound means that it'll always be there for you when you need it. It is impossible to lose a fate-bound item. Closet rings open up a usually closet sized space Infront of you, where you'll be able to store what you fit there. Storage rings usually have a smaller volume, but you'll be able to store and retrieve items directly into your hand."

After giving it a bit of thought, he came to the conclusion that a soulbound item would be better. "How much do the soulbound closet rings cost?"

"Their price ranges from a dozen gold to hundreds of mithril coins, depending mostly on the size. Our most expensive one is just 10 platinum."

"and how big is the smallest one you have?"

The shopkeep took out one of the rings in the case, holding the smooth black ring between his thumb and forefinger. Then he opened a small rectangular hole in the world. The hole led to a space that was about two feet tall, 1 foot wide and 1 foot deep.

"Smaller than I expected." Shawn muttered from behind Hector.

"Yeah, I'll need something just a bit larger. Maybe something where I'd be able to fit inside." Hector said

This time the shopkeep took out two rings, one a polished silver, and the other gold. "This one is the size of a typical closet ring," he said opening a space about six feet tall and three feet wide and deep."and this is our largest ring." he continued, while opening a space seven feet tall, six feet wide and ten feet deep.

"How much is the first one of those two?" Hector asked.

"It costs 3 platinum."

"Great, I'll buy it." Hector said before handing the shopkeep three of his five platinum. He put the silver ring on his finger, and frowned. "It's too big."

"Just send some mana to the ring and it'll scale down to fit your finger perfectly. When you do that, it'll also bind itself to your soul, and only you will be able to use it." Explained

Hector did as he was told, and was overwhelmed with joy. He used a magic item, he could do something actually useful with his magic. After calming down his feelings, he threw his money pouch into the closet, and closed it by sending a second pulse of mana to the ring.

"Is there anything else you wish to buy." the shopkeep asked Hector.

"No thank you."

Shawn, who was now looking very jealous said,"I'd like to have the small closet ring you showed. It's a dozen gold, right?"

"Yes sir." the shopkeep said, giving the ring to Shawn.

As they left the store, Shawn realized that it was already getting late, and he was feeling hungry. After saying so to Hector, they went to one of the stalls to buy something that looked like fried rice with bits of meat and vegetables mixed in it. It tasted way better than they expected, but did have a few unknown ingredients. Some of the diced vegetables were an odd shade of blue, and the meat came from what was described as a four legged bird.

When they got back to the inn, Shawn got himself a room, and a bath, which reminded Hector that he should probably take a bath too. Not having anything to do, and feeling bored, Hector remembered that he could access a web browser through his menu, and went to ask Shawn if he wanted to watch some movies.

"Sure, what were you thinking of watching."

"I was thinking about catching up on a few old series." Hector replied as he searched for a place where he could watch them. It turned out that Amazon was still a thing, so he logged in with his now very old account, and was not surprised with all the reboots of his old favorite movies. He found the movie that he was planning to see at theatres before his accident.

"Hey, I remember this movie. You weren't kidding with 'old', I saw this at theatres on my 13th birthday." Shawn said.

"So your what, like 63 years old?" Hector asked in shock.

"Yup. Got to change my physical age in character creation. put it to the youngest age where I still looked like myself."

"Yeah, I get that, but you talk like someone closer to my age."

"Hah, as if. I talk like someone born in the 2010s, but If you really died 50 years ago, the way you think young people talk, is gonna sound very old to everyone else."

After a moment of silent contemplation, Hector didn't reply, instead he started the movie.

When the movie ended just an hour before midnight, Hector went to his own room to sleep. It was then that he realized he was happy with his new life. He was successfully learning magic, had made a new friend in just one day. He also could catch up with all the new movies, series and books that were released in his 50 year absence. In what he now considered his old life, he always thought of himself as the rich kid. He had achieved nothing by himself, all his friends felt more like acquaintances who were there only when there was something for them in return and as a consequence he felt lost. He hadn't been very happy, which was why he had escaped into fantasy or study as as possible. Now he was truly living in a fantasy, and could achieve unimaginable things with his own effort. He was actually happy for the first time in a long time.