Dustbuns

Mandy crossed her arms, now then - should she read up on various creatures or head to Elemental magic section right away? Some time had passed in reading the undead book and there was no telling when she would get to come here next so her decision leaned more towards studying up on magic, but she was still curious enough to at least skim info about dustbuns, as she knew Chilli and three of her kind even lived inside of August - what if any of those come out for some reason - being clueless in a situation like that seemed like a bad idea.

Figuring she might as well find the book by looking for the letter 'I', she was surprised to find it awfully easy due to Ian still being by the shelf. He was reading while sitting down on the floor, legs crossed, book placed on his legs, with Chilli floating around him like a little satellite.

Mandy planned not to bother Ian, just float over to the shelf to get another copy of the book (there ought to be at least one), but Ian noticed her approaching despite her not making any sound.

"It's there," Ian pointed to the bottom part of the shelf behind him.

"Thank you," Mandy replied as she found it. Almost half the bottom shelf was covered in copies of this book. She had expected there to be multiple, but not more than thirty, and the covers around indicated that this book was special in its abundance. Other books in the two shelves around them had three to five copies. It was almost as if a whole classroom of kids would come at times and read it all at the same time... perhaps that's exactly what happened? Except, would a kid be able to even lift this book? It looked heavy as heck.

Not too heavy for her though - telekinesis had the book slide out and Mandy flipped to the back first to find the index right away.

She was in the process of flipping to the right page that first mentioned 'dustbun' when August found them with his laptop in hands and two white colored plastic brick like things on top of it. The bag was missing, August was disheveled, one of his sleeves had a piece chipped out and there was a green leaf sticking out from his hair... what had happened just now? Mandy squinted. His expression too was resigned and hopeless.

Ian too noticed August's presence and looked towards him with a similarly questioning look to Mandy's.

"You two can stay here for around a week," August said. "If you go out, just ask the librarians to give you access again.

It sounded like August would be going away first. Mandy tilted her head. Now that she had read the ghost parts in a book on undead, she was aware that you could only move about a kilometer from the person you were haunting. The library was not that close to home. Her expression showed that doubt.

"The range should be fine this time," he said to Mandy, interpreting her expression correctly.

"This time?" Mandy asked. August knew more about ghosts than she did, if he said it was fine, she had no reason not to believe him, but she couldn't change being curious about it.

"I'll explain another time," August said, looking too tired to bother.

Mandy nodded. She didn't wish to derail the point either. August had been in the middle of trying to tell them something and she was worried, he seemed kind of feeble like he might pass out soon.

"That said, this place might be safer for you than moving outside. The library is a neutral zone, conflicts are rare and, unless you meet someone insane, that tattoo on your wrist should work as a deterrent," August said, dragging the words a tad.

Her eyes stayed on the chipped part of his sleeve... someone insane? She had a strong feeling that the chipped sleeve and August's appearance had something to do with Sarah and Gerald, but she didn't think that August considered his relatives to be insane... had the spooking been too effective? Had August jumped out of a window and fallen into a tree? His appearance could be explained that way... But could you actually fall out from these windows? The place did have windows but without the barrier this was a tiny windowless service floor, wasn't it?

August shifted his hands to hold the PC into one, then used his other hand to take out his phone from his pocket. "Take this, and," only when Mandy took the phone, August started passing more things to her - both the white plastic bricks that had been placed on top of the pc and a wire that had been stuffed in his pocket.

Mandy took all of them, having them float by her. She wanted to ask what this was about, but didn't want to interrupt him right now. One thing she did ask: "What happened to your bag?" If she recalled right, the computer and rest had been in a beige leather shoulder bag.

"It ran away," August replied as he placed his PC in a shelf, above some books, then took a hold of his floating smartphone. Before Mandy could ask anything more about the runaway bag, he said: "This is the unlock pattern." August demonstrated, drawing a square shape. "Here are the contacts, tap any to call, Tia is your best bet if something goes wrong. If you must use the internet, head to the staircase, the connection in here is blotchy. This is the browser. If anyone calls tell them that I'm hibernating--"

Hibernating? By now Mandy was certain that August would be leaving her behind in this place, but hibernating? Was he a bear?

"--and to call in a week, except... this guy." August tapped to show a contact named Benjamin Dallas. That was his agent, wasn't he? Mandy recalled him being called as 'Ben' or 'Benjamin' in the meeting about the telenovela. "If he calls, tell that I have a cold and am sleeping with a fever, and ask if it's something urgent. If it is, then tell him I would call back when I wake up. In that case, come home and wake me up."

August really didn't give her a space to interject, so Mandy didn't attempt for now. Being from an older generation Mandy was unaware of smartphone etiquette and how personal those usually were, so she didn't see a problem in using his phone. From the part of waking him up Mandy could figure that it was fine for her to stay here 24/7 otherwise. Mandy nodded to show she understood.

Ian pursed his lips at it, but didn't comment as he listened in. They were talking right next to him, so if this was a personal conversation they were at fault for making it right next to him - or so his gestures seemed to imply.

Then August's expression turned dark. "If anyone asks about Sarah or that church mongrel, pretend you have no idea what they are asking about."

Mandy looked sideways. He wouldn't be referring to Gerald that specifically in a conversation with her if he wasn't aware that she had met them... that part bothered her more than the fact that August had totally done something to them. Done something bad enough for them to be missing for a week, at least. Sarah's spooking had gone a little 'too well' and Gerald had done something bad enough to earn a nickname. August hadn't seemed happy when talking about paladins, but he used the word 'paladin' in an insulting tone, not 'church mongrel' previously.

"Ian, is that clear?" August cast an intimidating look at Ian. From this, it seemed like August was certain both of them had met Sarah and Gerald.

"...you didn't murder your sister, did you?" Ian asked with a frown, although it did not seem like Ian fully believed an idea like that either. Alas, he completely gave away that the two of them had met.

Mandy didn't think August would murder Sarah, but it was true that Mandy was curious what was up with it as well. Sarah was supposedly immortal so murdering didn't even seem like something useful.

"Read on untrals in the travelers section before you ask stupid questions like that," August replied with a sigh.

"Okay," Ian agreed under the impression that it was not murder "do I need to hide I know them at all, or..."

"You can say you met them, but no mention on where they were about to go. Also, none of you go to or even mention that section."

Mandy's eyes and mouth formed straight lines again. "They are fine, aren't they?"

"Alive and unhurt," August said with a sigh and a very done expression. "There's even food around if they need it." August picked up his PC from the shelf.

Mandy and Ian exchanged looks. He had locked those two up, hadn't he? Although the fact that he asked them to avoid the section also implied that if anyone stumbles on it, then those two would be found and possibly released. Where did August get food to leave for the two, though?

"Charge the phone using those and see that it doesn't run out of battery," August pointed at the white plastic bricks, having Mandy finally figure out their purpose, that distracted her from asking about the mysterious food. "I set an alarm for when you need to go home and wake me up."

"Alright!" Mandy nodded.

"If you encounter something fishy on the way home, call Tia," August said. His gestures implied he found the option to be troublesome, though.

Was he worried about her? That was sweet. If it really was about that, of course. He might as well just be worried about not waking up in time, Mandy thought as she nodded. "Will do!"

Mandy did feel like it might be good to at least check up on August in a day or so. To see if he's okay in that hibernation thing. But perhaps that would wake him up before he should wake up. Hibernating bears are bad to poke, after all. In that case, perhaps staying here for a week and picking up useful knowledge and maybe some skills might be better.

August turned to head away.

"You forgot the pin code," Ian mentioned as if by the way.

August stopped in his track. "If the phone shuts down, restart it and when it asks for PIN enter the year of the battle of waterloo."

"Got it!" Mandy replied. Although she was surprised by the roundabout way of saying the number, it is true that saying 1-8-1-5 wouldn't be as memorable. Mandy had majored in humanities studies, so knowing most historical dates was a given, but she was aware that most people wouldn't really know them. Did August take a gamble with that? Or did he think she could easily look it up in case she didn't know? Or did she strike him as a person well versed in humanities? The last one would be flattering to no end considering people had mostly assumed she was a silly girl with feathers for brains for who knows what reason.

"See you, then" August said and left, carrying his laptop under one arm. Mandy saw that there were green streaks and scratches on the underside of the laptop like it had been dragged through greenery-- the theory of August falling into a tree became stronger in her mind.

Although, now that she considered it, August had never treated her like someone dumb. He could be unfriendly, but... it was never the kind of unfriendliness intelligent people directed at her before, the condescending type. In fact, even her brothers hadn't considered her to be as capable as August casually implied to consider her as. He might be doing it because he couldn't care less and was too busy to bother explaining, yet as a result, Mandy felt better about herself when she was around him. Other people might have complained at the scarcity of instruction, but to Mandy, being trusted like that was both a fresh and empowering feeling, she was always the type who liked to figure things out on her own if she could.

Yet that said, none of the people she had met after death had treated her like she had been treated as a living human. Mirrors no longer showed her appearance, but from the body, clothes and hair she could see, Mandy had a feeling her looks hadn't changed one bit since the day she passed away. It was true that now her first encounters (other than with August's family members) were either cautious avoidance or outright wariness, before it had been a varied mix depending on age and gender of the other party, although it was true that she somehow always ended up in the same group with the looks concerned girls and party people and was treated like one of that group outside of it too. For that reason alone, she was so easily caught up in talking about books with Samantha from that nightmare, having conversations like that was a luxury.

"Is hibernating a normal thing for him?" Ian asked after August turned around the bookshelf and was too far to hear their conversation.

"I don't know," Mandy replied, snapping out of her thoughts now that August was out of sight. She was curious about that part too. "I only met him around a week ago, he hasn't hibernated in that time." Was that a half-ghost thing or was that an undead dryad thing? No, if it was an undead dryad thing August wouldn't make that as the official excuse for his absence to all people other than his agent.

Ian cast a surprised look towards Mandy, then his face turned confused.

Mandy made a wry smile at that look. She had said she was haunting August during her introduction to Gerald and she had also said she was from a generation before PCs became as widespread, it didn't take any time at all for Mandy to figure what Ian might be wondering about, but she didn't want to tell him the details on haunting others.

Wouldn't that make a bad misunderstanding? Like she was some loose girl who started following around an eccentric (albeit beautiful) man only after a few days of knowing him. No, wait, the information she dropped was plenty to assume exactly that... Mandy started despairing. What if there was no misunderstanding at all and she was a shallow person like that, only into pretty faces... Of course, Mandy had already forgotten that August had looked like a zombie when she first met him - sleep deprived to the max, messy and mad to meet his deadlines. Ian too had first met August in that state.

Ian looked back to the book to avoid Mandy's despairing look.

Mandy noticed Ian had returned to reading and after a small sigh of relief, she returned to looking through the index. If anything... Right! She had a whole week of studying time, meaning she could look up all the creatures she had wanted to! Her mood improved as she browsed through the index and soon she was lost in reading about Dustbuns.

"Dustbuns are the most common household pet in Ahea and most common household astral in Urea. As they are freely born in both places and suffer no consequences if smuggled over dimensions they are classified as both native astrals and 'Contra' class travelers."

From this line alone Mandy inferred what travelers section was about. If she didn't find anything about that doll-like girl with the help of the Catalogue book here, she could try her hand at using the Travelers section. Travelers section most likely had some info about Grisham too. If not him in person, then about the kind of being he was.

"Dustbuns are born when a dust particle of some sort binds with an aether particle and while they can consume any kind of dust, they have a strong preference towards the type of dust they formed from. Dustbuns are useful creatures as they tend to protect their dwelling place. If there are seven or more dustbuns in a house they can form a powerful barrier that keeps out astrals from entering. Normies tend to accidentally vacuum them or sweep them away while cleaning so they seldom benefit from Dustbun protection. Dustbuns are also grateful beings and will protect inhabitants of the house from harm by warning them of upcoming danger. Dustbuns possess some amount of prophetic ability - if one screeches and self-destructs in fire on the bed of some house inhabitant, then it is recommended to either visit an oracle for a divination on the type of danger that comes, or follow the basic steps of - health examination and doing something unlikely in an unlikely place. Example, taking a month-long vacation at a distant relative's place. Dustbuns normally warn of the incoming danger that would come to pass in a range between two weeks up to a month. Extreme caution should be taken if, after two weeks from the first warning, another warning comes on the same bed.

Often, sudden house fires for no apparent reason are caused by dustbuns and often, as a result of a house burning down, the normie family is forced to move away and thus is saved from the danger that would have fallen upon one of its members. Seeing individuals normally equip their homes with fire extinguishing charms, especially those who house dustbuns, and keep a detection spell on each bed, thus learning about dustbun prophecies with no danger of house fires.

As dustbuns age they gain intelligence and become able to converse in human speech, matching up the language with the one being spoken in their home. They also gain the ability to transform into a humanoid shape. At base rank zero, they are from one to five centimeters long and can neither converse with others nor transform, at each higher rank their height/length gains an additional five centimeters.

At rank one they can speak in simple terms and understand basic concepts similar to a four-year-old human child, in transformation they appear similar to a toddler with naked feet. On top of their base ability to predict danger and form barriers, they can also grant a special boost to the person they stick to. Examples include improved eyesight, night sight, improved ability to remember, sing, dance, run and the like.

At rank two dustbuns match the appearance and cognitive ability of a ten-year-old child, however, it's important to note that dustbuns have no understanding of human morals, ethics or culture - those need to be taught if necessary - their thought patterns and reasoning is animal-like in nature. At this rank, dustbuns are able to grant a boost even to those they don't stick to by kissing their nose. It is common for dustbuns to apply the boost upon seeing off the house inhabitants in the morning. The boost usually lasts from half-an-hour to four hours depending on its power.

Dustbuns above rank two are rare. A rank three dustbun appears and has a cognitive ability of a teenager human, they no longer self-sacrifice to warn of danger, rather - become extremely restless and try to warn vocally. Their boosted ability becomes stronger and the duration also increases up to twenty-four hours. While up to third rank dustbuns are harmless and possess no attacking ability, rank three dustbuns can cause harm based on their source material. Most common attack is a dust barrier that causes sneezing and brings tears to eyes if approached. Shooting out bullets of condensed source material is the second most common form of attack. Third rank dustbuns have a very good presence detection ability, it is hard to ambush a person accompanied by one."

Mandy made a conflicted smile. If Chilli had a dust barrier attack she would cause some serious suffering, even cutting up chili peppers without gloves caused irritation, it wasn't hard to imagine how bad it was to get that into nose or eyes. Condensed mineral bullets sounded bad too - getting penetrated by a chilli pellet would be hell. One mystery solved, Chilli really had the means to protect Ian. Mandy flipped a page.

"A rank four dustbun appears and has the cognitive ability of an adult human, they are rare appearances as dustbuns seldom survive long enough to grow into one of this rank. A fourth rank dustbun has a far more powerful prophetic ability and has a strong instinct for danger and a good hunch for the shape it takes. If a seeing person has one as a companion or a familiar, they are unlikely to perish and live a long, prosperous life. At rank four, a dustbun is capable of forming a barrier against astrals on their own, combined with their presence detection ability, it makes it unlikely for them to become food, which is the most common death cause for dustbuns. Their boosts are also more powerful and might last up to a year depending on the age of the dustbun.

Children among fourth rank dustbun familiars and humans have astral bunny ears, mismatched eye color and are called oracles. Like their dustbun parent they have an innate talent for prophecies, which, if properly trained can earn them a good living. Oracle divinations are the most effective mean for searching missing individuals or things and predicting both dangers and blessings for a certain person. Other than this talent and being born with one seeing eye, they don't have much might, yet these features alone make them the best candidates for working in places where distinguishing between astral and physical traits has huge importance, example, the guild or the library. Oracles are not particularly interesting for astrals as nutrition source or servants so they can live either as normies or as members of seeing side with no particular difficulty. To normies, oracles appear as regular humans with eyes of the same color. Oracles don't pass on their traits or abilities onto the next generation, which is also a reason why they have an easy time integrating into either community of their choice."

Mandy had a hunch that those ears weren't something visible to everyone, so this confirmed it. This also explained why all the librarians had bunny ears and why all the baristas had them too, and why magic supply shop person didn't. The bunny girls didn't have 'much might', so Mandy doubted they would join the guild as members rather than staff.

Divinations... hmm, ah! Right! That was the thing that gave away that August was someone fishy to Grisham. But if that was the most effective mean, then why wasn't it the first choice? From the conversation Grisham and August had had, Mandy had gotten an impression that it was a last resort kind of option not the first choice. Maybe training as an oracle was hard and seldom anyone did... or perhaps Oracles weren't as common? Perhaps seeing all the guild staff members had given Mandy a wrong impression there.

"In very rare cases a rank four dustbun can ascend to become a Novus or a 'wandering star'. The most famed ones are Solus of Ahea and Noctis of Urea. Further reading on Novus, in general, or Solus or Noctis, in particular, can be found in advanced studies sections of either travelers or native astrals."

And that concluded the general introduction to dustbuns. Mandy sighed, no mention of dustbuns that can become organs. That part was important, though, so Mandy put the book back in place. She glanced over at Ian. Ian was showing a sour expression as he looked down at the page, but Mandy didn't feel it would be appropriate to take a peek at what he was reading. As she was about to float away to look for a book that had more information on dustbuns, the phone buzzed.

Mandy snatched it in fright. Making a noise in the library was a taboo. Luckily there weren't any people around other than Ian, but she still felt somewhat guilty for picking up the phone. It took Mandy a few rings before she figured she needed to slide the phone sign to pick up. The name on the screen said 'Kenneth'. Mandy knew it was the inspector who would make August do some work in exchange for cleaning up the mess with those misleading lines in the recording.

"Wow, you actually picked up!" was what Kenneth said. He had a deep, charming voice that one could listen to forever.

"Um, I'm not August," Mandy said, her eyes and mouth forming straight lines again. Was there some sort of rule that people around August had to be... either too good looking or have alluring voices that made female hearts swoon or what have you? She almost felt like a side character in a reverse harem novel or one of those pretty-boys-having-friendship-dramas novels. What would come next - supermodels, pop stars and business tycoons?

"Wow, he actually let his girlfriend take his calls," an even more surprised voice came.

Girlfriend. Mandy was too flustered to speak for a moment. Who was whose girlfriend!!??

"What kind of creature are you, by the way?" Kenneth added.

Mandy huffed. "I'm not his girlfriend! And I'm a ghost."

"Ah, ok! How are you two related then?" Kenneth asked. You could tell from his voice that he was smiling on the other side.

"I'm kind of haunting him," Mandy replied, although her voice trailed away at the end.

"Oh, one sided," Kenneth said with sympathy. "If he hasn't cleared you, it means you have a very good chance, though, he's the last person on earth to keep around those he doesn't like."

Mandy huffed. "I'm not--" but his words made her cheeks turn rosy. If that was true, then perhaps he liked her... maybe not in that way, but... Sarah and Tia thought so too and... hmm, hmm, perhaps, perhaps. August was smiling more often lately too, but... no, he was mostly being amused by something. Mandy sighed, waving the idea away.

"I'm Kenneth by the way, you would be?" he switched the topic since Mandy had paused.

"Mandy," the girl replied, not feeling too angry at the inspector with the charming voice, he wasn't the first to misunderstand, after all. She knew he was Kenneth as that's how August had marked him, but introducing yourself before asking for a name was the proper form.

"Mandy, could I perhaps get to August?" Kenneth asked.

"He is hibernating right now, he said to call in a week," Mandy said.

"Ah, so that's why you have his phone," Kenneth said. "What crazy thing did he do this time?" He seemed both curious and amused as he asked.

"I don't know," Mandy honestly replied.

"Hmm, Interesting," Kenneth said, but Mandy could feel a grin seeping through his voice. "Well, I'm sure we will all know eventually."

Mandy looked sideways with a complicated expression, for some reason she felt like Kenneth was right. When someone stumbles on Sarah and Gerald in the miscellaneous section, that is. Although how could Kenneth tell that August had done something crazy judging from the fact that August was hibernating? Mandy couldn't help but ask. "Why do you think so?"

"I mean ~that~ August Garold needs to hibernate for a week. That's some serious aether exhaustion," Kenneth said in an amused tone.

"Aether exhaustion?" Mandy asked.

"Yes, that's what happens if you use your inner aether reserves over their safe limits. I don't think August would, but some have even died from it," Kenneth properly explained.

Urk. That didn't sound good at all. If it was like that, then Sarah and Garold deserved to be locked up in the miscellaneous section for a while. "Can you read on it in the library?" Mandy asked.

"Ah, yes, that's something all introduction books on magecraft, witchcraft or elemental magic would have," Kenneth said.

"Thank you," Mandy said. Kenneth seemed like someone easy to talk to, helpful and his voice was pleasant on the ears, it was a wonder why August didn't seem to pick up the calls.

"No problem! I will call in a week, then," Kenneth said.

"Talk to you then, thank you for understanding," Mandy said and ended the call. Kenneth hadn't made an unreasonable request about needing August right there and then, that was a relief. She wouldn't know what to do if he had been someone demanding or threatening.

Mandy glanced back to apologize to Ian for the noise, but he appeared to be deeply into reading, so she didn't. She floated away to use the Catalogue.

This time she carefully looked around to make sure no one was close before letting the book generate her list of native astral encounters. 'Undead dryad, Dustbun, Ghost, Forgotten God, Steion, Other minor encounters'

Mandy already expected for the tentacle dog not to be here, considering how it came from another dimension. Grisham wouldn't be here, because he's a traveler. Steion seemed suspicious. She had a feeling like she had heard the word 'Steion' somewhere... right! Sarah had said it was the most powerful magic casting Astral, but where had she met one? Mandy was under the impression you needed some sort of prolonged contact for the type to appear... the doll-like girl didn't strike Mandy as something or someone like that. Mandy didn't have any questions when it came to Forgotten god or Ghost - it was the many-eyed one who had chased them and there were plenty of ghosts in that room with the dreamcatcher.

Mandy figured she might as well have a look at Steion sometime. Perhaps reading would give her a clue of where she met one.

"The big book of Dustbun varieties" seemed to be a good match to what she was looking for. "Dustbuns, their varieties and uses."

The book truly was big. It looked to be twice as heavy as the illustrated astrals book and Mandy had a feeling only a pro weightlifter could carry it to a table in peace. Good she had her seventeen years matured telekinetic ability... the book slid out of the shelf and Mandy opened it finding an interesting entry in the table of contents - 'Usage list'. Mandy flipped to only to marvel at how versatile dustbuns were - anything starting from cleaning and brewing various drinks to stealing bodies and creating undead, of course, replacing missing organs was on that list. Mandy only had a week to spend there, so she skipped all the other interesting and morbid sounding uses and flipped over to 'replacing missing organs'.

Different to the introduction book, this one had a very elaborate description, but in short, it was called a blood dustbun. A special dustbun type that sometimes pops up in hospitals, classified as hyper rare natural occurrence, however, they have become a staple item in a guild members toolbox as they can save a life by replacing an organ or blood in an emergency. Like August said, the main drawback of their presence is that they have a will of their own and can cause pain to their host if the host mistreats the organ they replace (often to a nitpicky level). Normally, the dustbun is an emergency measure and is soon extracted when regeneration magic becomes available, however, many specialists also choose to keep them as their organs as they are far sturdier than originals, and in case of blood, they prevent possible death by blood loss and refuse to spread poison through the body.

Having at least one dustbun in their body is a common practice among exorcists, as their work mainly involves dealing with undead, who commonly use poison or toxic attacks. The more dustbuns a body houses, the more healthy the lifestyle of a person ought to be. When they replace an organ, dustbun also gains a neural connection, so in many cases the host isn't even aware of the interference in the form of cravings for certain types of foods or a sudden desire to head out for a jog.

While Mandy did think that inability to ever have a drink seemed like an awful thing for a human, looking at the whole picture - getting wounded on the job and using dustbuns as organ replacements seemed like a win. And as it seemed like dustbuns forced via pain and subconsciously influenced their hosts, exorcists must be a very fit and attractive bunch. Proper care and nutrition could make a shabby stray cat into a majestic being, shouldn't it be the same for humans? If that happens over generations and both parents are like that, then attractive people were a given.

What wondrous creatures dustbuns were-- Mandy didn't find anything on dustbuns leaving their hosts and it seemed like this type of dustbun prioritized their role of being an organ over giving prophecies via self-sacrifice. Her worry about any of them leaving at random was unfounded - according to the book, the dustbuns only leave the host body when the host dies and if the host lives a long life, then a dustbun might emerge as either a rank three or rank four dustbun. These dustbuns often become familiars of their original hosts' descendants as they feel some level of affection towards them. Most oracles thus come from exorcist families.

August probably had some Oracle relatives, Mandy thought. Even if she felt tempted to look up some more types, Mandy closed the book and placed it back in the shelf.

For a moment she hesitated on the spot about looking up steions and lunaris, but a week wasn't that long of a time. Pretty soon she and August would be heading out on a mission to strike rich, so it was best to start learning some magic as soon as possible. She could always look up other interesting things if there's some time left over!

Coming to a decision like that, Mandy headed towards the elemental magic section.