Chapter 9
- Location
- Home
Venturing the Wild – 9
The two training swords made contact, but barely any sound was heard as the angle allowed the attacking weapon to slide along the edge. If it had been an actual eightfold blade, the attack would have been stopped by the sword breaker near the guard, if not by the guard itself. But this plain wooden sword lacked both, causing the blade to keep on going.
Magnus only thought about it for the shortest instant before he shifted his grip. One hand slid along the back of the blade as the other opened to hold the handle and allowed Paya's attack to get deflected down to the ground.
Seeing the younger girl quickly recover, he grabbed his sword firmly as he jumped back, just in time to dodge the twin attacks created by her ephemeral clones.
"That's enough." Dorian's voice called the end of the spar. "Paya, well done, but you've to shorten the time it takes your clones to attack, you gave Magnus too much time to dodge. Magnus, you're improving quickly, but you've to be ready to strike back."
Both of them nodded before turning and bowing to each other in respect.
"That was very impressive." He praised her, something he had been doing for a while since he felt she needed more confidence in herself.
"Th- that's nothing, I ju-ust been training longer than you-" She stammered, looking away from him.
"He's right, Paya." Dorian interrupted her. "Even your grandmother's very proud of your abilities."
The girl didn't answer, instead blushing and bowing before rushing away, causing the two of them staying behind to lightly shake their heads.
"At least she can look at you while you talk," the older man noted, "hopefully she will continue to improve."
Once more he felt tempted to ask for the source of her low self-esteem issues. But once more he held back.
"You can go, there's a merchant caravan arriving soon." Dorian reminds him.
He thanked the older Sheikah before heading out.
Magnus quickly washed himself and changed into a clean set of clothes. He was glad to have spared a hundred rupees to buy a set of clothes like the ones the Sheikah used. It was really nice and also lightly enchanted to last longer and protect him from normal weather. Not like Magnus had much issues with temperature.
He fixed the sash around his waist before reaching up to wrap and coil his hair and stick it in place with a couple of hair sticks that had come with the clothes. He honestly had missed when his hair had gotten this long.
He looked at himself with the help of the system and had to chuckle. If it wasn't for his hair color, he could easily look like any other Sheikah. Maybe he would see about getting one of their tattoos, though not on the face unless there was a good reason for it, most likely on the back of his hand or higher on his arm.
As he walked over to where the small caravan he kept in mind what he had discussed with Tasmon about selling his containers. It had been very informative about how to calculate the price, haggle and use them to barter for things the merchants may have that he would find useful.
As he approached he noticed the new faces, mostly Hylians, but there was a Gerudo, two Goron and even a Rito stationed around a small caravan. Though they weren't new for the other villagers from Kakariko, seeing them twice a month meant they were quite familiar by now.
Magnus joined and quickly got talking with a young Hylian his age.
"We usually don't move in large groups like this, but after the sky break event nearly a month ago there was a need to get safety in numbers." The young man explained to him. "It does allow us to move more merchandise because most of us usually won't invest in a carriage."
Beedle was his name, and the beetle motif on most things he owned showed that he knew it. Apparently he came from a long line of merchants.
"I'm not sure how long we'll remain like this." Beedle continued.
"Have you thought about setting up a merchant company together?" Magnus asked.
"There's been a few words about it," the tanned brunette man said, "but I think we all enjoy our freedom a bit too much." He laughed.
"Ahhh, I think I get it." Magnus laughed with him. "Do you think you can recommend to me who would sell woodworking tools?"
"Well, I'm not one to push sales away, but I don't have those, you will want to see the Goron brothers, they tend to have a pretty good spread of tools, a bit more expensive than those sold in most Hylian shops, but you can't deny the quality. You could also check with Horo, the Rito, his people tend to do a lot of interesting things with wood and he may have something." He explained. "Why are you looking for tools?"
Magnus retrieved one of the carved containers and showed it to Beedle. "I've been making these to sell, and my current chisel's not good enough for small stuff. I can still do quite well, but nothing too fine." He explained and allowed the merchant to take it.
Beedle inspected the wood carving, easily popping the lid off after he understood the little twist trick they had.
"Oh, very nice, you've got more of these? I can imagine these would sell very well." He carefully checked the lid before closing it again.
"I made a couple dozen, though only two were carved, mostly as a test."
"Hmm…" He mused.
"They are mainly to store dry things and keep them so. But I originally thought to use them to store instant soup stock made from Hyrule Herbs, it should last a month and yield about twenty bowls of soup without adding anything else. Plus I managed to get it to keep a lot of the healing effects of the plant." Magnus pushed a bit on the sale, and while Beedle could see this, he nodded along.
"I will give you two hundred rupees for the twenty containers." He offers.
"Too little," Magnus reacts, "three fifty and I'm already making a discount because you're taking all of them."
"Two hundred and twenty." He rebukes.
"Three twenty, and I'm adding one of the carved jars too."
Beedle grinned. "Two hundred and fifty if you add both carved ones."
"Two eighty, both carved jars and I fill one with the soup stock."
"The twenty jars, the two carved, the soup stock and I will pay you two hundred sixty and if they sell well I will buy the next ones for at least twenty each if they are all carved."
Magnus thought about it. He wasn't going to be making these forever, but at the moment they were a good way to spend the night and he could make more than enough for Beedle to pick every two weeks if they sold well.
"Then it will be a pleasure to make business with you, Beedle." He finalized with a shake of hands.
"Hopefully I will feel the same, Magnus." The Hylian shook his hand and chuckled.
He quickly went to retrieve the product and happily exchanged it for the money with the man before wandering the rest of the traders.
His time with the Goron brothers, Monty and Tamo, was quite useful. Not only he had acquired a couple nice chisels of the right size, a small saw and a hand drill. He also gained plenty of interesting information about Goron City, putting it in the definite visit in the future list.
The chance of learning from some of the best smiths of the land was very tempting, especially since there were some that worked with glass just as he needed. Also the rock roast sounded very interesting.
The Rito merchant, Horo, had an interesting selection of musical instruments. Unfortunately Magnus had already dipped into his bank a bit too much, leaving him just looking at the beautiful instruments and making a note to save up for next time. Something small that he could take around would be nice to have after all.
The Zora had a nice variety of fresh fishes, apparently caught just early in the morning as the caravan arrived at the village. He mostly occupied a bit of their time asking for different fishes he could find in the area.
Finally he approached the Gerudo woman. He had to admit she was quite stunning, the dark skin and vibrant red hair made her stand out quite easily in the multitude, even when compared to the other races.
"Sav'otta," she greeted him, "you're new here, I don't remember seeing a voe like you before."
"Good morning to you too." He responded, glad that he could understand even if she spoke two mixed languages. "And yes, I arrived a few weeks ago."
"I don't remember seeing you during our last visit." She said, raising an eyebrow.
"Two weeks ago I had just arrived at the village, and I was still finding the ground under my feet as they say." Magnus laughed softly.
"Strange saying," the Gerudo woman laughed softly, "still, it's nice to meet you, I'm Ramella. I mostly deal in gems and jewelry."
"Magnus." He smiled kindly and looked down.
She had a few rough gemstones, red rubies, blue sapphires, yellow topaz and rainbow opals. He could feel the energy stored in each one, once again surprising him how full of energy everything was in Hyrule. Though it wasn't as impressive as the few accessories she was also selling.
Earrings, necklaces, tiaras, crowns and rings. Every piece seemed to magnify the power that had been stored in the gems they were decorated with. Or maybe it was better to say that the gems were the main part and the beautiful gold and silver had been worked around the gem to empower it even further.
"So you will buy anything?" Ramella asked in a very teasing tone.
"Unfortunately my money today went to buy tools so I can have more rupees next time." He blushed slightly as he admitted. "Though I can promise to try and put some apart for the next time."
She laughed. "Then I will hold you to your word." Ramella said. "Sav'aaq."
"And a good day to you too." He thanked her for her time before heading out.
He had spent an hour easily talking with the merchants and learning a bit more of Hyrule, but now he had work to do under Tasmon. The older man had stated that he would expand his lessons if he acquired some harder-to-get herbs. Magnus hoped the man had been lucky.
Things quickly fell back into routine the next day, though not completely.
His morning training with Paya under Dorian was starting to move into trying to harness the energy the Sheikah used for their techniques. The results were…
Magnus had spent the last five minutes looking into himself. It wasn't the first time he had tried, though the first time he had gone at it completely wrong and it hadn't been till his morning routine had ended that Dorian pointed out that trying to pull his energy out when he didn't know where it was to begin with was not the way.
Now he was properly searching for it first.
It wasn't hard, it just felt slow. It was like wading through the thick soup stock he prepared every night while carving the wooden containers. But slowly he was metaphorically approaching what he looked for as he checked every part of his body till he found it deep inside of his chest.
There were two stars rotating around each other. They were completely opposite, one bright and white, while the other was pitch black and trailed ink-like darkness. But even when so opposite from each other, they seemed to thrive in the presence of each other. The more he watched them, the more he started to understand the relationship between the two and how-
"Everything okay, Magnus?" Dorian's voice broke his moment.
"Eh? Oh, yes… I was just…" He started to answer, looking up and noticing it was noon already. "How long did I spend meditating?"
Before the older man could reply, the system popped a small screen showing it had been nearly six hours. Dorian didn't miss the screen, thankfully the numbering and time system was the same as the one he had before.
"I apologize for having interrupted you then, but did you find something?" He asked.
"I…" Magnus started to reply as he coaxed the smallest form of expression of the two stars he now intimately felt the existence inside of himself.
The change was nearly imperceptible, and he could feel it wasn't the most efficient. But slowly the tips of his fingers started to dye with both elements, enough to be visible.
"That's fascinating."
"I know." The young man agreed. "I'm not entirely sure of how to use them, but there's two sources happily and delicately dancing around each other inside of me. I'm just a tiny bit shining through… in a manner of speaking." He added looking at the dark fingertips of his right hand.
A moment later he released his hold on the elements and his hands returned to normal, thankfully leaving no sign or side-effect.
"Dorian, would it be possible for me to meet with Impa later? I want to ask her permission for something." He prompted.
"I will inform her you will come before dinner after you're done with your afternoon work." The older man replied placidly and nodded before heading to a different way.
Magnus' jobs in the village had quickly become a troubleshooter of a kind, moving stuff for some of the older villagers, fixing anything from small toys to problems in some of the houses. It was simple but rewarding. He was also pretty sure that many in the village considered him an honorary Sheikah.
His learning under Tasmon had also been advancing steadily. The Sheikah had acquired a large variety of herbs, fruits, nuts and mushrooms and was trying to teach the use of every medicine on Hyrule.
Though Magnus was starting to suspect the old man was teaching how to recognize, catalog any herb or medicine he found. And he wouldn't say no to such a useful piece of knowledge as it was synergizing very well with his first perk.
Tasmon was allowing him to prepare a variety of basic medicines, having practically ground all the stock of dried herbs already, he had been upgraded to the boring process of extracting the essential oil and pressing seeds and fruits for the oils.
He had also started teaching him about the process to purify monster drops and the production of elixirs. These were potions with specific effects, usually derived from the ingredients mixed in. Though they tended to use insects, lizards and other animals instead of plants.
The effects of these elixirs could go from elemental defenses, health recovery, stamina recovery to giving the person's natural energy a specific element that would bleed through their touch and attacks. Unfortunately the latter wasn't too popular given that weapons wouldn't be spared of the damage of sudden temperature changes or electric discharges.
Also the specific ingredients were quite rare unless one wanted to use shaved gemstones, which was both expensive and not a good idea unless you wanted some internal injuries.
Unless that person was Magnus, he was starting to think he could eat the rocks from the ground and he would be okay. Actually given how full of energy things were in this world he may actually thrive on it.
Finally Tasmon gave him a nod of confirmation and Magnus poured the tincture into the dark glass bottles one by one, his teacher skillfully plugged each one with a cork and placed them away.
"That's good enough for today."
With those words received, Magnus thanked him and set off to visit Lady Impa. On his way to her house, he exchanged kind words with more than one of the villagers. He nodded to the guards by the stairs before heading up.
"Lady Impa." He greeted her.
"Magnus, what did you need?" The woman asked as she sat in her usual spot.
He wondered for a moment if she had been meeting with someone before, or had she made the time just for him.
"I wanted to ask permission and instructions on how to visit the great fairy on the outside of the village." He explained.
The older woman stiffened. "How did you learn about that?" She asked in a hard tone.
He didn't cow under her glare, instead he reached into his pocket and pulled the small bag before dropping the Korok seed he had received so long ago.
"I… I don't have many excuses on why I kept it to myself. I think it was mainly not having a good moment to bring it up." He explained. "But I met a Korok on the morning of the day I met Sidon. They recommended I meet with the great fairy Cotera."
The old woman grumbled. "Honestly, it's been a long time since anyone has tried to contact the Great Fairy Cotera." She said, "A few normal fairies have been sighted from time to time, so none really bothered to check on her."
"Could something have happened to her?" He asked worriedly. "The Korok didn't exactly sound worried."
She chuckled. "From Link's experience with them, Koroks are a bit too soft on the touch of time, for them a week and a century can be the same amount of time. They also rarely remember people for too long, even those few that can see them. But returning to the subject, I don't think anything bad happened, otherwise the area would be dead, Great Fairies are nexus for the nature of an area. If you go see her, she may end up explaining things to you."
"Does that mean I've permission to visit her?" He asked, hopeful about it.
"Yes," she answered softly, "I honestly doubt there will be much danger about it. Though I will warn you that meeting with a great Fairy can be an experience."
He nodded and made sure to be careful.
"Will you need help to find her?" She asked.
"No, I'm pretty sure I can feel her quite well. I think that I can understand why you describe them as you did." He replied.
"Then I recommend you head there tomorrow morning." She offered.
"It sounds good to me. Thank you for your time, Lady Impa." He bowed lightly.
The old Sheikah chuckled. "I told you to drop the formalities."
He laughed softly before he left. He would have to make up his mind about what he would ask to Cotera during his nightly work.
Magnus finished filtering the medicinal soup stock and filling the ready wooden containers, sealing them while it was hot to create a sort-of vacuum. He turned his attention to the leftover, overboiled herbal paste.
Some water along with some flour before he fed the fire once more and started to mix the whole thing into a paste and cook it properly. Once he saw it ready, the pot was pulled off the fire and placed on cold water to quickly chill the content till he could pull handfuls of the dough and shape it into cookies.
These would need a bit more to cool properly and dry, but they should last quite a bit, providing an easy to carry meal. Though he was pretty sure most wouldn't like to bite something with the texture of sawdust. Maybe except the Goron, if he could get them to taste like gravel the rock-loving miners may buy them off him.
The sun slowly dawned as the rations dried and cooled properly. He quickly cleaned his belongings before storing them and the food he had prepared. Following that he spent the morning training the drawing of energy mixed with some more advanced Sheikah physical techniques.
It had only been a day, but he was quickly improving on the basics, most likely because he had done it before. It was just the fact that his body was already familiarized with the process and he was remembering it. There were still a couple problems with it, it was definitely not like the energy the Sheikah used, so even if he learned their techniques, it was very possible he would not be able to use them. Plus his energy seemed to have its own set of qualities he still didn't know nor understand; something to ask Cotera about.
The morning training was done after a short spar with Paya before Magnus took a quick bath and headed North-East, taking the steep way up. In all honesty, it wasn't that steep and his training under Dorian had enough agility and movement that he was stepping back into the forest he once arrived through in just a few jumps.
He only needed a moment to relocate the same sensation he had felt when he had arrived, guiding him. It also only took him a moment to realize the forest's atmosphere was quickly changing the more he approached the source of the sensation.
A light fog had started to weave between the base of the trees, the kind of fog that should have dissipated by now, instead it lingered like spider webs. The trees seemed to grow thicker and taller, the tops becoming lost past the natural ceiling of the forest. Large and larger mushrooms filled the ground, and he was pretty sure he saw one of them move.
Then came the sensation of being watched, unfortunately he lacked the ability to pin-point where it came from. But the soft tinkling chimes and ephemeral giggles made him bet it was most likely fairies. If there was a Great Fairy, why not common ones?
The more he walked, the less the path was visible, what had definitely been packed dirty had been broken by the grass growing, it was only the mushrooms sticking to the sides that kept it discernible. Especially as the mushrooms grew larger and more colorful.
Buttons, flat caps, oyster-like, puffballs, honey fungus, morels and so many more, all with multiple colors, splotches, marks and even a few that he was pretty sure were more creature than fungus. Magic was rich in the air, but it still felt it was lacking.
Suddenly it was like he stepped through a thin layer of lie because in his path there was now a massive plant bulb. It was about two stories high, but the tips of its closed petals easily reached past a third. Though even by how extraordinary it was, it was also very dull. It saw in the center of a clearing where barely some grass grew, and only the stair composed of mushrooms stood out of the normal.
"Oh? A traveler? It's been a long time." An ephemeral and feminine voice spoke from nowhere. "Please come closer, would you listen to my story?"
Magnus couldn't feel any ill intent in the voice, if anything there was a hint of pleading in it, coaxing him to slowly step up the spongy staircase. The large bulb's sepals vibrated lightly as he stepped closer, reacting to his presence.
"This place was once a bountiful spring, but as time passed, the lack of travelers bringing rupees and the constant pressure from Calamity's malice, my power has been spent nearly completely." The voice was sweet. "I just need an offering of a hundred rupees to recover my power."
Magnus stiffened as a woman's hand his size pushed out of the bulb. It wasn't the size, but the suddenness of the request.
"I… don't have that kind of money on me." He admitted. "But could I try something?" He quickly asked before, who he was pretty sure was Cotera, retrieved her hand.
"Hmm? Okay, go ahead." She acquiesced and trusted him.
He reached to gently hold her hand and started to focus on those two stars orbiting around each other. The two reacted to his will, slowly picking up speed as coaxes the produced energy out. It was a much more refined attempt compared to the first time. Instead of having his fingers dye in the elements, it started from his chest, spreading down his arms in thin lines of elemental power that soon reached the Great Fairy's hand.
Cotera stiffened. "Oh! I've not felt anything like this in a long time." She said and a deep giggle escaped the massive plant. "Don't stop now!"
Magnus nodded and concentrated harder, the paths down his arms widened as the two stars orbited faster and faster, their round shape starting to deform with greater speed.
"It's almost like… whoa! Stop there big shot, it's too- Oh My! That's enough!" Her voice broke and her hand pulled away as the whole plant shivered.
The whole bulb shivered at first before it inflated and pumped up a deep cloud of pure natural magic. It repeated the process a couple of times before it shrank on itself before blooming wide open. A deep and intoxicating wave of natural energy spread out of the now open flower pool.
Magnus had to steel herself as it felt like he was going drunk for a moment as the area quickly regained its vibrant colors with plants growing, flowers blooming and even fruits developing. As he turned his attention to the now large pool at the center of the flower, bubbles started to form.
It was a few at first, but quickly grew into a bubbling pot before a nearly twenty meters tall woman popped out of the surface.
"I'm back!" She screamed triumphantly.
