The sound of metal on metal made Pi’ve uneasy. It did not feel right. He ought not take it, but nevertheless, he stretched out his hand. They felt cold in his hand, and the icy touch did not fade. Tiselle watched as Pi’ve inspected the coins for the first time. He had received a fifty, twenty, and a ten Alon coin. They were very much alike, each one sporting the numerical value which displayed their value, although, they had differing pictures stamped on them.

  The fifty Alon coin had a gemstone carved into it. It seemed to be a diamond, in which rays shot out of it. The diamond was one of the four gemstones known to be the most powerful conduits of mana, or magical power as the wizards called it. The twenty Alon coin had a circle, and inside this circle were the symbols for fire, water, wind and earth, and they symbolised the powers which wizards tried to obtain, subdue and master. Pure, unquestionable power over the elements. The ten Alon coin had what looked like a person in front of a banner, and it symbolised the duty wizards took upon themselves when they rose to wizardom; protecting the common people.

  ’No… I think that I will abstain from taking these coins from you, Tiselle.’ Pi’ve said.

  ’Don’t be foolish, Pi’ve, this is a lot of—’

  ’No, no. You are already helping me, tremendously so… Just by taking me inside your home shows Ask and Murgun that…’ Pi’ve said, but did not know what that showed.

  ’That you have connections, Pi’ve.’ Tiselle added helpfully.

  Pi’ve smiled. ’— I have connections, yes, and that they can’t bully me around. And you are showing me where I can sell this.’ Pi’ve said, and he reached over to give Tiselle the Alons back. ’That is more than enough.’ Tiselle took the Alons back, nodding, looking amused.

  He conjured one small vial of , and he handed that to her too.

  ’Well, I am not one to refuse a gift. Thank you.’ Tiselle said. ’I think that this bottle size is perfect for the blood of the Upir. It is a very potent ingredient, and nobody would need more for a very long time.’ She said as she inspected the vial up against the sunlight from her window.

  ’Good. I will need to buy more bottles of the same size if I am to sell more in the future, but I think putting two bottles for sale is enough for now.’

  ’I think so too. Either way, Jasar— the seller I am taking you to— is going to separate the blood into smaller flasks anyways, so two vials will be enough of a profit for him for some time too.’ Tiselle said, and Pi’ve nodded.

  ’Well, then,’ Tiselle said, and placing the vial on the shelf in the corridor, and she opened the door and walked down the stairs to the street outside. Pi’ve followed. He was looking around to see if Ask was around, but Tiselle said, ’Ask has left. I think he thought it unwise to stand outside my home for too long. And right he is…’

  They joined the many people on the main road going towards the centre of the city. It was still quite early in the morning, still the street was filled with people, wagons, horses and dogs. The dock was quite close, so the seagulls were flying above them and swooping down at times trying to steal some bread, even those still in the hands of people.

  ’This is the least busy street going down to the docks. There are many streets going there, but this one is not so popular. If you went one street over, you would have trouble not being pushed around as you go.’ Tiselle said. They were walking quite casually towards the main square of the city, but sometimes Tiselle stopped to have a chat with some of the shop keepers along the street. Pi’ve did not push her to hurry. It was her street.

  Pi’ve could not help but notice the similarities to Thergiam. Shops lined the street all the way, on both sides. Some of the shops were open, with just an overhanging roof of fabric, while other shops had glass walls and doors. Some of the more food-oriented stores had shelves outside with vegetables, fruits and nuts. Others sold fabrics, clothes and carpets. The shops which intrigued Pi’ve the most were the shops which specialised in very few things, like , which sold rope. All different material, length, and strength. Or .

  Soon they saw the street opening, and in the background there stood some very tall buildings. They were more than four times the height of the normal two or three storied buildings lining the street. They were also much longer and wider.

  ’Banks.’ Tiselle said, as Pi’ve stood fixed looking at the massive buildings surrounding him. ’Not only banks, of course, but the common people— some of them— earn so much that they get other people to watch their money. Funny business.’

  ’Funny, indeed.’ Pi’ve said. He had of course heard of banks, as his father had taken up a loan long ago to build a new ship, but the sheer size of the stone buildings here in Vesen City told him that the difference in how much money people had were not on a scale one could understand. It may be that there were banks as large in Thergiam, but Pi’ve had not been to those parts of the city.

  ’The main wizard square in Vesen City is not too far from here,’ Tiselle said, and she began to walk across the massive square in the middle of these large buildings. In the middle stood the characteristic fountain, and Pi’ve could not help but to gawk at the size of it.

  ’There must be magic driving that monstrosity.’ Pi’ve said in disbelief. He was looking at a 100 feet tall fountain, which sprayed water another 50 feet. Somehow, with all the small water droplets that the fountain produced, none of them reach further away than ten feet beyond the fountains border.

  ’My husband worked together with the makers of the fountain. The same runes that are on the portals, are on that fountain. You can see them on the bottom there. They prevent the water from leaving the fountain, and gives force to the water being ejected… I come here often just to watch.’ She said, and suddenly, Pi’ve could see the old age of Tiselle. He finally got a glimpse of how old she really was. She was just as hunched as Dandrian, yet she still had youthful colour in her short hair.

  Once they had walked across the main square, which was packed with people, they entered a cobbled road going between two of the large stone brick buildings, and the sound of the square became muffled between the walls. He could see two wooden pillars not far away, and a banner stretching across it.

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  ’Incredible.’ Pi’ve said.

  ’A sight to see. This is the same size as the third largest wizard square in Thergiam.’ Tiselle said. ’Come here. Jasar’s shop is just over there…’

  Pi’ve was looking around, and the first thing he saw was the fountain. It was beautiful. It was not totally round as most fountains were, but flowed and weaved like waves. The monolith in the middle shot a tall stream of water which fell down upon itself and then spread, shooting all the colours of the rainbow in the air.

  Unlike the wizarding square in Thergiam, which was round, this square was made to be the shape of a square. Gravel paths went here and there between bushes and flowerbeds strewn across the ground, making a delicate design of a garden in the centre around the fountain. Shops lined the outer edges, but there were also carriages and stands in the innermost circle of the garden, with wizards buying and selling. Pi’ve looked and looked; he could not get enough, and told himself that he had to visit the larger wizarding squares in Thergiam too.

  As he was looking, Pi’ve saw someone he believed familiar. Indeed, it was. He saw Ask walking across the square opposite the large fountain, and he carried a basket. Pi’ve stopped and followed him with his eyes, until Ask stopped by an alleyway.

  ’Are you coming?’ Pi’ve heard Tiselle call.

  ’Yea, yea. Just a minute.’

  Over on the other side of the square, Pi’ve could see Ask looking towards a particular direction. Pi’ve followed his line of sight. Pi’ve froze. Murgun was walking towards Ask, having come out of a shop which Pi’ve could not see the name of.

  Ask raised his hand, and grabbed something from the basket. From a distance it looked like a silver cylinder, but Pi’ve could not be sure. When Murgun came close to Ask, he grabbed the item and put it inside his robe. Pi’ve was watching intently, not daring to blink. There was something curious about Murgun, and he would hate to miss anything. Suddenly, Ask turned to leave, and Murgun was gone.

  Pi’ve’s mind emptied of all thought, and suddenly he knew something had clicked. Murgun had turned invisible as he was looking at him. Pi’ve’s mouth fell open. He had been right. He had been right when he suspected that Murgun could turn invisible. But how was that possible? Pi’ve realised… He been inside the inn yesterday! He knew it! He just knew it! But that meant that he could also be inside the meeting, and not outside listening in. He had to warn Tiselle. He had to—

  ’Pi’ve. Are you coming? What are you looking at?’ Tiselle said, looking in the direction Pi’ve was looking. ’Ask… I see. Is he looking for you, you think?’

  ’No—’ Pi’ve said, and was about to tell Tiselle about Murgun being able to become invisible, but he could not get himself to do it. He decided that he would pretend he had not seen anything. The fact that he now had confirmed that Murgun could turn invisible made his job much harder, rather than easier.

  Pi’ve checked his status menu. He smiled. He knew then what he had to do, but until then, he had to pretend he knew nothing. It was time for him to sell some , and then prepare his newly born scheme.

  ’Tiselle… Could I ask you about magic?’ Pi’ve asked. She had not seen Murgun turn invisible. Maybe she already knew. Maybe all knew he could, but he had to prod for some information. If people knew, then Terler would probably have included that information when he asked Pi’ve to do this job, and Barna would too.

  ’Sure you can.’ Tiselle says. She grabbed the handle of the shop . Pi’ve was met with a mix of smells, both pungent and soft to the nose.

  ’So… I have just thought, since there are spells to turn objects invisible,’ Pi’ve said, careful to phrase his question without rousing suspicion. He also intuited this by his own spell , which indirectly mentioned that things can be hidden in plain sight. ’Are there ways to make yourself turn invisible?’

  Tiselle looked at Pi’ve with an incredulous look. She walked past a line of shelves which housed jars upon jars of fine powder in different colours. She picked up a jar with something called . ’If you ever get into alchemy, then I recommend this powder. It stabilises most mixtures while keeping most of its potency— Fine… Invisibility is one of the hardest forms of magic in the realm of , or , which is a subcategory within . I am reluctant to tell you because it is unhelpful magic, and is so hard to obtain that only a few has mastered it throughout our history.’

  ’I just wonder because I am new to this, and I have not yet decided which direction to focus on as a wizard, but when I do, I want to strive for the pinnacle.’ Pi’ve said, half lying, half telling the truth.

  Tiselle smiled at that. ’What a great sentiment. I commend you for that. Invisibility sounds grandiose, and it is because of the implications, but then again— if you think about it, what is it really good for?’

  Pi’ve could think of many reasons why invisibility spells would be useful for wizards with agendas outside the good of others. Even if invisibility only made you unable to be seen, while smell, touch and the other senses still applied, being invisible made many things accessible for you. You could probably sneak inside the den of a dragon, and while the dragon would be able to smell you, it would only be confused and leave for fear of a hidden threat.

  ’I’m not sure.’ Pi’ve said.

  ’Ahh! Tiselle! back again at last!’ A man said emerging from behind a door behind the counter. That had to be Jasar.

  ’Hello, Jasar. I am just buying this,’ She said, putting the Lamascus Homul powder on the counter, ’but Pi’ve here wants to sell something to you. It will be worth your time.’

  ’Alright, alright. Hasty today… Let me see then.’ Jasar said, and Pi’ve pulled out his two remaining vials from his pocket in his robe where he had placed them. He did not want to reveal to every person that he could conjure items from nowhere. It seemed like it was not something everybody could do, even if some wizards were old and proficient in magic. ’And what is this then?’

  The doorbell rang behind them as Pi’ve said ’Blood of the Black Upir.’

  ’Blood of the—’ Jasar said, choking. ’— Black Upir? Black? Upir?’

  Pi’ve heard quick footsteps behind him, and suddenly a new wizard was standing beside them.

  ’What am I hearing?’ The new wizard said. ’Blood of the Upir?’

  ’— Black Upir…’ Jasar said absentmindedly correcting the wizard. ’I will have to take some tests of the blood to check for both purity and to confirm.’

  ’It is real.’ Pi’ve said, but then he remembered that other wizards could not inspect items to verify. ’But no, of course. Go ahead and check it if you can do it here.’

  ’Do you have more? I would really like to buy some, and going right to the source is cheaper, you know.’ The wizard said.

  ’Please, Eni. Don’t pressure Pi’ve. He does not have more.’ Tiselle said, though she did not know that he actually had a lot more. Like 50 vials or so, if not more.

  After a while Jasar came out from the back room, and he was smiling wide. ’Viscosity is right, purity is excellent. I tested it on pure werewolf blood. No chance. This is the real thing.’ He said, and placed the bottles on the counter. The wizard Eni was almost licking his lips as they stood on the counter. He looked ready to pounce. ’So, price… 100 Alons a vial?’

  Tiselle clapped Pi’ve on the back. Pi’ve looked at Tiselle, and even though she had offered 80 Alons for the vial, he knew by her slight upwards nodding that she wished him to up the price.

  ’140.’ Pi’ve said, reaching for the vials.

  ’No! You are crazy… No. 110. You must say yes.’ Jasar said, and Pi’ve could see that he really wanted the vials. Another clap on the back of Pi’ve back told him he should push more.

  ’130, and they are yours.’

  ’Tiselle! Who is this man you have brought, ay? Crazy man! 120, right now.’ Jasar said, and Pi’ve grinned. He reached out his hand, and they shook. He felt like he had accomplished something.