“How was it?” Clay asked.

  “Barely enough,” Thorin said when he opened his eyes. His heart was more vigorous than before, but the beats the Ghost added to it were minimal. He needed more Ghosts, a lot more. “It gave me less than a month.”

  “Why?” Quin asked, frowning. “That was enough for several months before.”

  “Perhaps because I’m a Magus now,” Thorin said as he gathered the ashes into a vial. Because he collected it from the ground, what he finally got was a mix of ashes and soil.

  “So, becoming a Magus is a disadvantage now?” Quin asked, clicking his tongue.

  “Without it, I couldn’t eat this Ghost anyway,” Thorin said. “It’s not a disadvantage, just the situation has changed.”

  “If these Ghosts can't do it, then we’ll find stronger ones,” Clay said. “There must be stronger Ghosts that match the levels of Magi. We as mortals just haven’t encountered them.”

  “Yeah, we can only do that,” Thorin said. “Let’s hunt some more then head out.”

  …..

  While Quin dealt with a spell of diarrhea, always a shred of caution away from soiling his pants, Thorin and Clay focused on triggering their arcanas during the journey where they moved closer to the sea. The rough bull ride made it harder to concentrate on the tug. But their previous failures had stacked up and made the task easier. The pulls from the arcanas were much stronger now. And thus, Clay succeeded first. His second Arcana was the Insect Arcana. Thorin followed him hours after and triggered his second.

  [Arcana Triggered: Connected to the Temperature Arcana.]

  Yet again, the wave of vigor embraced his soul and strengthened him. His ‘Spirit’ rose to 2.21. With his increased capacity, he hunted even more Ghosts and mended his heart some more. The days ahead looked sunny for him as his beats became stronger, and for Quin too now.

  After a soothing porridge in the second town by the beautiful and busty innkeeper who healed his body and soul, Quin’s stomach stopped troubling him. Soon, he triggered his second Arcana as well and matched his cousins—his was the Weapon Arcana.

  Their failures had already rolled the ball, and their successes gave it a hard push. Before long, they triggered their Arcanas one after another.

  [Arcana Triggered: Connected to the Potion Arcana.]

  Thorin’s ‘Spirit’ also changed accordingly—2.31.

  [Arcana Triggered: Connected to the Paper Arcana.]

  Spirit—2.41.

  [Arcana Triggered: Connected to the Space Arcana.]

  Spirit—2.51.

  Thorin now had his complete set of five Arcanas—Death, Temperature, Potion, Paper, and Space.

  Clay matched him to the tee and finished before him, as he only had four Arcanas to trigger. His complete set came out to be—Mind, Insect, Shadow, and Illusion.

  Quin caught up a day later, when they neared the street market. His complete set was—Blood, Weapon, War, and Artifact.

  Finally, after a tiring week of travel that left them dust-ridden, they reached the nameless town. They said the town’s birth was from a group of guides who often escorted new Magi here. Since then, it had evolved from a makeshift campsite into a full-fledged town. Without a name. Without its share of space on the map.

  The forest that bordered the town gave way to a narrow trail, one that sank deep into its belly. At its end lay a mountain valley wrapped in thick mist. This was what they came here for.

  “This is it,” the carter said when they entered the nameless town. “You can hire any guide, and he’ll see you to the market. Though I hear it’s a straight path from here.”

  “Thank you for the ride, Byram. I’m sure it was more than what you signed up for,” Clay said and gave the young carter a bear hug. He also handed him a pouch thick with coins. “And sorry about your cart. Buy a new and a better one this time.”

  “Make sure the wheels are sturdy when you buy it,” Thorin said, chuckling.

  “Better yet, upgrade to a horse cart,” Quin said. The bulls mooed in protest and slapped him with their tails.

  “I’m planning on staying here for some time,” Byram said. “There might be good business here. If you guys need a ride, come find me.”

  “Alright, let’s head out now,” Clay said and walked towards the forest with Thorin and Quin after a simple farewell.

  The old guide by the woods flashed a friendly smile which turned into a hearty grin when he saw the coins they offered him. He led them in, explaining the layout of the area and the rules that bound them. They couldn’t fight within the street market, and they couldn’t ambush anyone in the vicinity. Killing the mortals on a mass scale was also against the rules. Besides these three, the rest of his words were about the common sense of the market. The first of which came in play when the mist parted for them at the end of the trail.

  The guide bid his farewell here, and the guard who sat at the entrance asked them for their names and the color of their blood.

  “Thorin Ashnard Aether,” Thorin said then nicked his finger to show his blood was red, ignoring the oddity of the ask.

  “Clay Ashnard Aether,” Clay said and cut his finger as well.

  “Quinlan Ashnard Aether,” Quin said and did the same. “It’s our first time here.”

  The guard handed them simple wooden tokens that carried the carvings of a sea wave and asked the three to pass their mana through them. It boasted the label of ‘Greysnow Street Market’ with the other side mentioning ‘Sequence-0’.

  “Did anything go wrong on your way here?” the guard asked as the three tokens accepted their mana and melded with their smell.

  “As in?” Thorin asked back, licking his cut.

  “Did someone hunt you down?” the guard asked.

  The three cousins looked at each other. “Someone really did,” Clay answered the guard.

  “Alright,” the guard said. “When you go in, give all the details to the guard stationed in the booth to the right. If he’s satisfied with the details, you’ll get one mana shard.”

  Thorin nodded and thanked the guard before moving in with the two. Beyond the arched gateway, the street market sprawled before them. The hubbub of the businesses drowned the quiet of the forest outside. The hawkers, the buyers, and the heated bargains breathed life into the market. They were no different than the mortals, yet what changed hands above these paved streets were beyond anything a mortal could have. This was truly the world of the Magi they had dreamed about. The thick wave of Mana that drowned them further cemented the fact.

  “You guys check out the map,” Clay said. “I’ll go in and talk to the guard.”

  Thorin and Quin let him go into the booth while the two checked out the large map by the entrance. It sketched an outline of the street market with the legends marking the areas and the shops. It saved them from being lost sheep in a pack of wolves.

  “Where do we go first?” Quin asked.

  “We mainly need to do two things for now,” Thorin said. “Figure a way out to earn mana shards and buy spells.”

  “Should we head to this place then?” Quin pointed at a dot on the map that carried the mark of a shop selling spells.

  “Let’s check it out,” Thorin said. “We can get an idea on how much weight our mana shards carry here.”

  Clay came out when they’d waited for minutes. “Got it,” he whispered, and sneaked a mana shard into Thorin’s pouch. They had four now.

  “What did he say?” Quin asked.

  “The guy who attacked us, apparently, he was a Shepherd. One of the Whitebloods,” Clay said. “There’s a group of Shepherds who’ve been targeting new Magi in the last few years. They were mostly active around the street market before, but they seem to have expanded to mortal towns now.”

  “Ah, that’s why he checked the color of our blood,” Quin said.

  “Did you tell them about your guy in the mercenary guild?” Thorin asked. “That he might be selling information on new Magi.”

  “I did,” Clay said. “If they get to him, you probably won't get your revenge.”

  “Its fine,” Thorin said. “It’s not really important.”

  “From the looks of it though,” Clay said. “You’ll still get your chance. If they haven’t caught these fuckers by now, I doubt our statement will make much difference.”

  “Next time we meet him, I’ll crush his skull myself,” Quin said.

  “Let’s head to the spell shop now,” Thorin said then smiled. “Let us become proper Magi.”