Ch.2 Card magic

A few hours later, after having eaten some cheap but delicious food from a stall, Aidan found an inn. The inn was on the side of the main street. Made of pale brown wood and with clean windows, the inn gave a welcoming feeling.

Entering the inn, the first thing that came into his view was a few tables with clients who were most likely adventurers due to their outfits. Each table had four chairs, and they seemed pretty solid. As Aidan looked over the inn, he noticed a counter at the other side of the room. Behind the counter was a young man. He had two wolf-life ears and wore a clean white uniform with the name 'Quaint inn' written in big letters on the front. With brown hair and sharp eyes, he seemed to see through Aidan as they evaluated each other.

As Aidan looked at the wolf-eared man, the worker also eyed the golden-eyed silver-haired boy holding a sword in its blue sheath over his shoulder. It wasn't every day that one would see these colours in the eyes and hair of a person, even in a city such as Orario, who was known to have many different ethnicities. Despite the peculiarities, he didn't bother as no one was the same in this world.

"What can I do for you?" Asked the worker after sizing Aidan up for a moment and returning to his professional attitude.

"Hi, I'd like a room for tonight if possible." Answered Aidan as he smiled at the young man who had two short fangs in his mouth.

"I see. The room costs 2000 Valis for a night. If you add 300 Valis, you'll also have breakfast tomorrow morning." Answered the man as he looked through the register. He wanted to confirm the inn indeed had some rooms left.

"I see. I'll only take the room for the night." Answered Aidan as he handed over two thousand Valis. After eating the previous food at the stall, he couldn't keep it out of his mind as it tasted too good. As such, he had planned on buying it the following day. Besides, the food at the stall only cost 30 Valis for one serving. With his appetite, he could eat three maximum, which would cost him 90 Valis instead of 300, and he would be sure of the taste.

The young man gave him a look and nodded as he said: "Alright, your room is on the second floor, the third room on the right. Here's the key. Tomorrow, you have until eleven to bring back the key and leave the inn unless you extend your stay."

"Alright, thanks," Aidan said as he took the key from the young man's hands. "Ah, right. By any chance, do you know where the recruitment of the Loki familia will be tomorrow?" He asked before leaving the counter.

"Eum, no. I'm not following the news of the familias." He answered while shaking his head.

Right when Aidan was frowning as he needed to know the location, a dwarf sitting at one of the tables turned towards Aidan before sizing him up. "You kid want to join the Loki familia?" He asked as he looked at Aidan seriously.

"Yes. I want to become strong. I heard the Loki familia is strong and explore the dungeon. So, I want to join them." Aidan nodded as he looked at the intimidating man unwavering.

"I see. You're right about the Loki familia being strong and exploring the dungeon. After all, they are an exploration-type familia. So, if you wish to become strong, that familia is indeed good. The recruitment location is at the Twilight manor tomorrow morning at 9." Seeing the confusion in Aidan's eyes, he continued. "The twilight manor is the headquarter of the Loki familia. To reach it, you have to go to the tower of Babel, the tower in the center of the city, and when you reach it from here, you turn right. You'll be able to see the Twilight manor from there. The manor has high towers. You won't miss it. Anyway, if you're lost, you can ask any adventurers. They should all know where it is." He said before turning back to his drink.

"I see. Thank you, mister." Aidan said while smiling at the man who answered his question before going upstairs to his room. He wanted to work a bit on his card magic before the recruitment. If he managed to use his magic, it would increase his chances of being accepted in the Loki familia.

As he entered the room, he dropped his sword on his bed and sat next to it. He then took out the deck of cards he received along with his few items. Opening the deck, he took out all 54 cards. From the information he had about his innate magic, there were a few conditions to complete before using it.

The first condition was to be the owner of a deck of cards, which he currently was. It was necessary since he could only use his magic through the cards. The second condition was to be able to infuse the cards with magic. According to the information he had, it meant that he had to focus on the card and imbue his magical power inside of it. Easier said than done. However, after this, he would be able to prepare his magical cards.

So, for the next hour or so, Aidan, with his eyes closed, gave every once of his attention to the card as he tried to control his magical power to enter the card. It wasn't easy. However, after a while, he felt a bit of heat on the tip of his finger, which was entering the card. Opening his eyes, Aidan saw as the card's image gradually faded and instead, some markings started to appear on the card.

With a smile, Aidan continued to pour his magical power on the card as the first stage of card magic was to transform the card and make the markings appear. The markings started to appear on the four edges of the card. They were simple lines linked together, which made various markings on each side. It all seemed very mysterious, but Aidan was aware that they only meant that it became a magical card bound to him and that he couldn't lose them as they would find their way back to him.

As he continued to insert his magical power in the card, the black markings became more apparent until it finally stopped changing. Thinking about the second of third stages in preparing his card magic, he turned the card around. After having received his magic, the colours on both sides of the card had become entirely white. One side had the black marking, while the other side had nothing.

Before the second stage, he had to decide what would be the use of the card. If he decided that the card would store a 'Fireball' spell, then, for the second stage, he would have to write the words 'Fireball' with his magical power on this side of the card. As for the third stage, he would have to insert magical power in the card once again. However, this time, inserting the magical power wouldn't write anything or change the markings, but it would store the magical energy to release the fireball when necessary. So, when he fought, he would only have to throw the card at the opponent, and the card would fire the spell at the target. The most astonishing thing about this magic was that once Aidan threw the card and cast the attack, the card would come back to him, albeit empty of the magic power used.

After thinking of the two last stages, he wondered: "Tomorrow is the Loki's familia recruitment. They are probably going to have us fight to test us. I can't see how they would test us otherwise. So, the fireball spell is probably a good idea right now. Since it's a pretty basic spell, it won't take too much magic power to make it, and it's destructive enough. I should be able to be accepted into the familia. However, seeing the time, if I skip an hour or two of sleep, I should be able to create a second magic card for tomorrow. Alright, let's do this." Aidan said to himself before turning back to his card and using his magical power to write the word 'Fireball.'

Half an hour later, he had written 'fireball' on the card. The amount of magic and concentration it took to write the word in magical power was enormous. Firstly, he couldn't make mistakes in the word, which was not the hard part. The hard part started when he had to make the word appear the first time on the card with his magical power. He had to use the same amount of magic on each letter.

Furthermore, after he had written the letter in magical power once, he had to retrace it flawlessly to make it more apparent. He couldn't make a small error such as going a bit more on the right, or it would simply fail. As such, it took a lot of concentration.

Resting for a moment, Aidan soon started to insert magic into the card once again. However, compared to before, he only had to put more magic in the card to make the fireball picture appear. It was a lot easier but also way more costly as there weren't any maximum. He could use as much magic as he wanted to make the fireball stronger.

Continuing until the fireball picture appeared entirely in the middle of the side with the markings, Aidan left the card on the side of his sword before closing his eyes to wait for the regeneration of his magic. He had already decided what his next card would be. He would use the word 'Shield,' which would protect him from some attacks and easily surprise his opponent.

Once Aidan restored his magical energy, he started again. Once he made the card turn white and the markings appear, he immediately began to write the word 'Shield.' this time, it took him a bit less than half an hour to complete the word before he could start to put his magic in the card. Working on it until he exhausted his magic, he laid down and went under the blankets before he immediately fell asleep.