AN: So here is chapter two of my not-really-that-original story. Sorry for the long wait. Just… didn't feel like writing to be honest. Video games, reading fanfiction, and recently gobbling down Isekai manga at an insane pace have been my dominant hobbies for the last couple of months. Summer makes me lazy, probably because I'm so obese.

Isekai, will now be an influence on this story. Well, not so much isekai, but a lot of the tropes those fantasy worlds have. Most isekai are also Gamer stories which I find hilarious, but no, this won't be a Gamer story. Expect labyrinths and monster drops and cheesy medieval fantasy.

All that besides this being a thing where all sorts of video game characters will be showing up in cameos as enemies or allies… mostly enemies because I don't want to keep them around. Just me and my OCs… yup.

Anyway, on with the story.

~BoaK~

Chapter 2: Sometimes Prostitution is the Answer

The next morning Kellam woke up the Big Spoon to the cutest little girl in the world and smiled. Because she was safe.

The night before he had stripped the stranger of his garb and tossed said garb into a bucket of water before dragging the body far into the plains and burying it with the shovel he had found. Rex Farm was barely a speck in the distance meaning the grave was far enough from home that Kellam would never have to think of the pink-haired man again for the rest of his life. Sleep came easily to the potato farmer that night.

'And now it's time to get up. Damn. I've got a lot of crops to grow and not a lot of time. But first, breakfast.'

An hour later Kellam and Tragica were wandering around their tiny town looking for Besheba so that Kellam could take care of business with peace of mind. Besheba was the town's "old lady" and she acted as a babysitter and educator for children. She, like Tom, was an out-of-towner who came from a land that had a king, she never spoke about herself much, but Tom had once let slip that she had been a royal nanny in her youth. Hence her skill in corralling and teaching children.

The town could barely be called a town, it was more of a smattering of homesteads with a road running through what could be called the center of town. Besheba lived in a very small house by herself, luckily it was close to the road and easy to find.

After dropping off Tragica, whom Besheba was trying and failing to teach Braille due to an unfortunate lack of texts, Kellam steeled himself for a most unfortunate encounter.

The small town of Membosan had a very simple and straightforward bartering system of economy. Want some fruits and veggies? Well, you need to bring something worth trading. The families of the town had made themselves the sole producers of some product or another. The Rexes farmed potatoes, the Jibargos hunted the local game and acted as butchers, leatherworkers, and furriers, the Pantoses were millers, wheat farmers, and bakers, the Bainnes raised chickens and cows, and so on.

In a town of fewer than 100 people, everyone knew everyone and everyone was friendly, but the bartering system was strictly adhered to. Favors were not common in the town, only in times of extreme hardship would families relent and give away some of their products in exchange for a favor or a future repayment. Future repayment is the preferred method of compensation, but sometimes a favor is required when future repayment is far off or the giving family has no need for the future repayment.

A favor was how Melissa Pantos and Xavier Saitsarr got married. The Pantoses had a bad harvest one year and the Saitsarrs were the ones to get screwed over when the Pantoses were trading what bread they could. Papa Saitsarr saw an opportunity and grabbed it, you see, Xavier is… attractive in his own way, unfortunately, his way was extremely...unique and very few people saw things his way. Xavier is ugly as sin and should probably stay inside.

Wanting to help his facially challenged grandson Papa Saitsarr demanded the Pantos family's third daughter, the most beautiful one, as a bride for Xavier or the Saitsarrs would not help the Pantoses repair their homes when the Great Winds struck. The Pantoses had no choice but to give in and now Xavier and Melissa have two kids together.

Situations like that are why favors are so rare, but even then no one in the town has more favors owed to them than Marcy.

Marcy was a recent addition to the town of less than 100 people. About eight years ago she had been a simple traveler out to explore the world, but upon stopping in Membosan she was horrified to discover the state of our tools. Tool repair had simply been another chore the families of Membosan had to deal with, but as no one was a trained blacksmith the quality of the tools had always been quite poor. In exchange for repairing the tools and even making new ones of a much higher quality Marcy agreed to settle in Membosan.

She found herself a nice little patch of land close to the beginnings of a mountain range to set up shop. Marcy knew there was a chance to find a good mining spot to get iron and copper and lo and behold she found one not 100 yards away from her homestead. Everyone in town was enamored with her creations and jumped at the chance to trade with her in order to use and repair them. Marcy quickly gained an overabundance of food and clothing so she soon turned to favors. Everyone was naturally very wary of giving away favors, but Marcy proved to rarely if ever call them in, though she made sure everyone knew she was keeping track of them.

Kellam made sure to never owe Marcy a favor, hence the lower quality of his farming equipment, but she had made it very clear what she wanted from him and he knew he was not comfortable with giving it. Unfortunately, he knew there was no way to avoid it today. So it was with great trepidation that Kellam knocked on Marcy's door.

"The door is open, I'm in the back." He heard her yell.

Kellam looked up and slapped his head in embarrassment. The telltale plumes of smoke could be seen rising behind Marcy's home meaning she was working in the forge. He then entered the home and exited through the back door. Marcy had set up a large area of compacted dirt dedicated solely for her blacksmith and mining duties. The woman in question was busy beating a piece of red hot metal into shape so Kellam stayed quiet and simply watched her work.

Despite his aversion to her Kellam was not a blind man, he knew Marcy was a beautiful woman and the most sought after bachelorette of the town after Melissa got married. She was wide hipped and very well endowed, some of the men of the town thought that you could bounce a coin off of her large and plush behind and on top of that she was fit. Years of being a blacksmith and miner had shaped her body into something you would expect to see carved out of stone by a great sculptor and her strength was nothing to scoff at. She had beaten most of the men in feats of strength during the couple of festivals the town held every year, the only holdouts being the men of the Jibarge family and Kellam himself.

And none of that took into account her face. To put it simply she did not look like someone who would be a blacksmith. She had high aristocratic cheekbones, a small, pointed nose, delicately curved eyebrows, slightly pointed ears, large, expressive, green eyes, plump, rosy lips, her jaw was slight and ended at a sharp point, and her hair… oh her hair. It was the deepest of reds Kellam had ever seen matched only by the very fires she stoked on a daily basis. Marcy was gorgeous.

Maybe Kellam had a crush.

That crush was unfortunately overshadowed by the simple fact that Marcy was a giant slut. She fucked everyone and in a town where starting and growing a family was so important to survival to never get married was an odd one. Nothing Kellam's parents had taught him growing up had prepared him to deal with such a woman. At the very least he could say he didn't think badly of her…

'She can do whatever she wants. She's an adult. Just… I'm rather fond of the idea that there's someone out there that's only for me. And I'm only for her.'

Kellam's thoughts were interrupted by a loud hissing sound caused by Marcy plunging her work into oil to cool it. The action turned her away from the forge and toward Kellam and upon catching sight of him Marcy lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Kellam! You shoulda said it was you! Ohh…" Marcy pouted when she realized she had to wait and finish cooling the piece she was working on instead of running into Kellam's arms. "Gimme a sec to finish cooling this rake. So Kellam, watcha doin' here?" she asked her melodic voice a balm to Kellam's ears. "Do you need something repaired? Or-"

Marcy then attempted to strike a sexy pose. Unfortunately, as she was covered in heavy clothes, an apron, a mask, and dark black soot while awkwardly holding her rake in oil, that was on fire, she looked less sexy and more intimidating.

"-are you here for me?" she finished, her voice much deeper and more sultry than it was mere moments ago.

"Err… wooh, is it hot out here? I'm… I'm actually here for you Marcy." Kellam cringed away from Marcy's excited yell in response to his words.

"Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods, thank you Jima!" Marcy exclaimed once more causing Kellam to cringe.

Jima was a minor deity and she was worshipped for her powers over fertility, sex, and seduction. To know that Marcy had been actively praying to her so that he would sleep with her was an uncomfortable thought for Kellam.

"And done!" Marcy carelessly tossed her cooled rake onto a workbench and launched herself into Kellam's arms. He caught her of course, no sense in fighting it. "Oh baby, me and you are going to have a lot of fun tonight."

Kellam was dying inside as he held the voluptuous firecracker in his arms. He wasn't ready for this.

"That's nice, but can we talk about why I'm here first?" he pleaded.

Marcy stopped her hip gyrations at his question moved her soot covered face so close to his own that their noses touched. She spent a full thirty seconds staring into his eyes before sighing and climbing off of him. Not that that changed much, Marcy was a full four inches taller than Kellam at six feet tall!

"Fine, I'll take a bath. You can wait in the living room… have a snack."

So Kellam awkwardly waited around for half an hour while snack on some fresh berries most likely recently harvested by the Grenges. Marcy reappeared refreshed and clothed in a see-through shirt of some kind that stopped at her midthigh and did nothing to hide her nakedness.

'Here we go…' Kellam mentally groused as he tried and failed at not ogling Marcy.

"Oh you like it? I had Uriel make it for me after I came across some golden spiders in the forest the other day and took their silk. I think it's wonderful."

"...yeah, you look great in it Marcy."

She lit up once again at the compliment. "Thank you Kellam. Now, what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

Kellam sank into one of the plush couches in Marcy's living room and deeply sighed before telling her about the attack on his home by the stranger the night before.

~BoaK~

"So that's what happened. I've got some cool stuff now, but nothing anyone in town would want that I also want to keep like the magic bag. So my only option is to go around begging for supplies and owing favors until the next crop grows in which won't be for another month. I'm screwed, pretty much everyone in town would own me for years. Or…" Kellam trailed off knowing Marcy understood.

"Or you come to me and I use my favors to keep you and Tragica afloat until the next crop comes in." Marcy chuckled. "I knew I'd have you one day Kell… but not like this." she then frowned. "You'll be my bed warmer until your crops grow in. After that, we're square." she practically ordered.

"That's… fine. I understand Marcy. But I'll need to take care of Tragica-"

"Of course you will. Do whatever you need to do during the day. At night, you come to me. Even Besheba owes me some favros and besides, she adores Tragica, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to watch her during the night until our deal is done."

"But… Tragica she-"

"She what Kellam? Can't sleep without her big brother. She'll be fine, besides, do you really want your sister around when we're fucking?"

Kellam cringed at the crass word. "No." 'But she's still shaken after yesterday. I guess I'll have to dote on her as much as possible during the day.' "Fine, I understand. Err… do you want to-"

"Start today? Hell yes. Go say goodnight to your sister, I don't have any more work today and I want to get started early."

Kellam startled at that. "B-but it's only midday!"

Marcy simply raised one of her perfectly delicate eyebrows. "And?"

Realizing he was not being given a choice, and that from the outset Marcy has no intention to stick closely to her bed warmer agreement, Kellam simply sighed and nodded before getting up and heading out.

As he opened the door to leave he turned back to look at Marcy and said, "I'll be back soon."

"Damn straight sexy boy."

~BoaK~

Kellam arrived at Besheba's house to find Tragica playing a word game with the old woman.

"Rag."

"G-g-g-glass!"

"Show"

"W-w-w-w-week!"

"Know."

"W-w-w-wait, 'No' d-d-doesn't h-h-ave a 'kuh-kuh-kuh-K'."

Besheba simply smiled. "That's the wrong 'No,' dear. It is spelled K-N-O-W."

"O-o-o-oh. That's h-h-h-how that's-s-s-s s-s-s-spelled. I th-th-th-thought i-i-it was l-l-l-like the o-o-other one."

"A common mistake dear, that's quite alright. Now you know."

Tragica giggled at the word choice which was when Kellam made himself known.

"Hello there Besheba, I hope Tragica didn't give you any trouble?"

Tragica pouted at the accusation. "O-o-o-of c-c-course I d-d-didn't." then stuck out her tongue.

Besheba laughed at the display and answered, "She's right of course, Tragica was an absolute doll."

"That's great to hear. Unfortunately I'm not exactly here to pick her up." Kellam said, his shoulders sagging.

"Oh?" Besheba's right eyebrow raised with her voice.

Tragica saw the expression and liked it. "O-o-o-oh?"

Kelam sighed and sat down next Besheba on her couch. "I have an… arrangement with Marcy. I'll be spending the next couple weeks with her at night time. As such, Tragica needs a place to stay and you're the best choice Besheba. Besides, Marcy said she's calling in her favors so that you do."

Besheba's lips pressed into a thin line as she scrutinized the young man next to her. "And why pray tell would all this need to happen in the first place?"

Kellam sighed again and launched into an explanation of the attack on his home by the odd stranger for the third time since it happened. Tragica snuggled into his lap and covered her ears less than halfway through the story and Kellam simply held her close. He was having a rough time getting the story out, he could not imagine what it was like for a seven-year-old.

At the end of his story Besheba took a moment and massaged her temples. "That's horrible to hear, and I'm so happy that the two of you are fine. I can guess why you've gone to Marcy and what her price for these favors were, so I understand… Tragica can stay with me for as long as necessary. Or rather, she would have either way since Marcy's calling in her favors, but know that I am more than happy to do it."

"That means a lot to me Besheba, thank you."

At that Tragica finally decided to butt into the conversation. "B-b-b-but K-k-k-kell, why d-d-d-do you h-h-h-h-have t-t-t-to sleep-p-p with M-m-m-m-marcy?"

Kellam winced at the unintended accuracy of Tragica's words. "Well Tragica… when you're a grownup you have to make hard choices. I don't want to leave you with Besheba at night, but I have to. I don't have a choice and I'm so, so sorry for that Tragica. Can you forgive me?"

"Mmmmm. O-o-okay K-k-kell. B-b-but you b-b-b-better c-c-c-ome b-b-b-back s-s-s-soon!"

Kellam laughed. "I'll be with you all day Tragica. It's just at night that I won't be here. You'll barely notice I'm gone."

"Y-y-yeah r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-," Tragica groaned in frustration. "R-right Kell. J-j-j-just g-go h-h-h-have fun o-o-or wh-wh-wh-atev-v-ver. Hmph!" She ended her command by pouting and turning to Besheba.

Kellam simply laughed again before picking Tragica up as he stood up and placing her back on the couch where he had sat.

"I'll see you tomorrow okay? I love you. I love you so much. Take care of her for me Besheba. Have a nice night." With that said Kellam returned to Marcy's home to… satisfy her.

~BoaK~

They say that time flies when you are having fun and now Kellam understood that no truer words have ever been spoken. The first week was… rough. Marcy was a sexual taskmaster and Kellam's hips and mouth were sore that entire week. He genuinely felt like he was a kid again being taught numbers and letters in Besheba's living room. Only this time what he was learning was instantly gratifying and a hell of a lot of fun.

Sex was great! The first time Kellam came he felt as though he had gained some sort of deeper understanding of life and the universe and goddamn did he want to do it again. Unfortunately, this new take on life was overshadowed by the awkward social interactions Kellam had to deal with during the day.

He still made food for Tragica so he had to talk to the Bainnes, the Pantoses, the Jibarges, the Cepalus and the Grenges to get ingredients. Every single time he had the exact same conversation.

"Oh hello Kellam, you've got some potatoes for us?"

"Haha… no. I don't."

"... then how-"

"I'm calling in one of your favors to Marcy. I just need enough for this month."

"Really? Is she really letting you-"

"Yes, yes she is. Can I get what I need."

"Of course Kellam, of course. But this does me that we're clear of a favor right?"

"Yes."

"Good to know. Have a nice day Kellam."

"You too."

Marcy's lust for Kellam was a well known fact, in a town this small there really were not any secrets. People connected the dots and within days everyone knew and was either making jokes about it or silently disapproving. The awkward looks and conversations did not stop occurring until the fourth week or so when everyone had finally accepted the situation. Though of course the big question on everyone's minds was why Marcy had not just demanded that Kellam marry her. But when your little society exists mostly to survive people get over gossip quickly, even juicy gossip.

Week four marked a change in several things. Firstly, and most importantly, Kellam's crops came in, he no longer needed to rely on Marcy's favors. Secondly, Kellam was able to consistently outlast Marcy during sex to the point that he found himself helping her in her blacksmithing and mining duties due to how sore and tired she was. Finally, everyone was over the gossip.

The month did not pass without consequences though. Over time Kellam found that Tragica was becoming more and more distant. It was not a massive change, but for the last two years she had done nothing but stick to his side and her lack of clinginess was jarring for the twenty-year-old. A short conversation with Behseba revealed that Kellam's worst fears had been substantiated. Tragica was having nightmares and Besheba was not enough to calm her down. Every single night she called out for her big brother and he was not there to save her from her dreams. It was… damaging to say the least and it broke Kellam's heart. For a few days he had been angry at Marcy for taking him away from Tragica, but he could not deny the fact that without her he would not be able to feed the seven-year-old. He hoped that Tragica would get over it soon, but he knew he had to build up that trust again.

Breaking his new routine had also been jarring. That day Kellam woke up, woke Marcy up legs first, made the rounds bartering his potatoes for other goods, and informing everyone that he no longer was using Marcy's favors. He picked up Tragica and brought her home triumphantly, but that night, as he was going through his bedtime routines, Kellam surprised himself by casually returning to Marcy's home.

"Oh? Back again honey?" Maryc asked, just as surprised as Kellam to find him lounging in her living room.

Kellam blinked. "Err, yeah… I mean. WAIT! We're done." he shook his head to dispel the cobwebs that had gathered there.

"...yeah. We are. But, know that there's always an open invitation. Got that big boy."

Kellam blushed at the nickname. "Y-yeah. Thanks. For everything. Really. I'll see you around. Maybe I'll stay over again." As he exited the house, he said, "Have a good night Marcy."

"Yeah… come back soon." she told the empty air.

~BoaK~

"Tragica?" Kellam asked as slowly slipped into bed.

"Y-y-y-yes K-k-kell?"

"You don't have to worry about sleeping alone ever again. Alright?"

"O-o-okay."

"... hey. Maybe tomorrow, I can show you some of the stuff I got from that guy."

"...R-r-r-really? Tragica yawned.

"Yeah, it sounds like fun, I shoulda done it a while ago."

"C-c-c-cool."

"I love you Tragica."

"I l-l-love y-y-you m-more K-k-kellam."

So the two drifted off into a wonderfully dreamless sleep.

~Boak~

"ALRIGHT TRAGICA! Try on this cape, I think it would look nice on you."

"O-o-okay." Tragica reached out and grabbed the air until Kellam gave her the red cape. She tossed it over her shoulders and giggled. "K-k-k-kell, i-i-it's t-t-too b-b-big."

Kellam on the other hand was stunned into silence.

"K-k-kell?"

Tragica's worried voice snapped her older brother out of his shock.

"Gods above Tragica, you're invisible!"

Tragica's dull gray eyes widened in surprise. "R-r-r-really?"

"Yeah, but…" Kellam reached out to where Tragica had been to find that she was still corporeal. "I can still find you without a problem if you talk." He removed the cloak. "Try not to uhh… do mean things with this."

Tragica cocked her head adorably and wobbled unsteadily on her single foot. "M-m-mean th-th-things?"

Kellam laughed. "You are precious. Sit on the bed so you don't get tired when we try the other stuff."

"O-o-okay."

Kellam went to the chest where he had stored most of the stranger's things and pulled out the two wands. '...maybe it's magic.'

"Here Tragica. How does this feel?" he asked as he handed over the red wand.

"Oooh. I-i-it's w-w-warm." Then Tragica swung it which launched a fireball at Kellam.

"AH! HOLY SHIT!" Kellam dove out of the way of the fireball which harmlessly dissipated against the room's mud wall.

"Wha-what h-h-h-happened K-k-kell? I f-f-felt h-h-hot."

Kellam very slowly and methodically stood up and got close to Tragica before gently removing the wand from her grasp. He then let out a loud sigh of relief when the wand was in his hands.

"This is a very dangerous item Tragica. You said you felt hot? Well, you shot a fireball out of the wand when you waved it. We're going to put this back into the chest… I'm scared of what this one will do but~"

Kellam inspected the blue wand for a moment.

"Red meant fire so maybe blue means water?"

"Yes!" Tragica agreed.

"Well, we should probably try it just to be sure." Kellam then grabbed Tragica by the waist and held her under her armpit. "We're going outside to play with the blue one, okay?"

Tragica was too busy giggling and pretending to fly to pay attention, so Kellma simply rolled his eyes and went to find an empty spot of land.

"This ride is over Tragica. Here is the other wand. Please wave it that way." Kellam indicated the direction by pointing the wand in her hand with his own hand.

"O-o-o-o-" Tragica growled and wiggled her stump. "O-okay K-k-kell." and with a flick and a swish a cold projectile was launched from the wand.

"Hmmm. It does something, but… Sit down for a second Tragica, I'll be right back."

Kellam left Tragica to grab a bundle of grass, the land around the farm grew very tall plains grass which was a great fire starter, and set it up in front of his little sister. Once again he tried to direct her aim, this time at the grass.

"Try again- wait. Tragica, do you like this?"

"P-p-p-playing w-w-w-with the w-w-w-wands?

"Yeah."

"Mmmm. I l-l-l-like it. I-i-i-it m-makes m-m-me feel t-t-tingly"

Kellam eyes opened wide at that answer. "What? Tingly? Err- is it a good tingly or a bad tingly?

"G-g-good. L-l-like I p-p-played w-w-with y-y-you a-a-all d-d-d-day."

"Are you tired?"

"K-k-kinda."

"You still wanna play with the wand?"

"Y-y-y-yes"

"Okay then, try to aim where I showed you and use the wand again."

"O-o-o-okay."

Another swish and flick sent another icy ball out of the wand. It almost missed but when it impacted the bale of grass the ball exploded and completely encased the grass in ice.

"Wow."

"Wh-wh-what h-h-h-happened?"

"Well, the bale of grass I had you aim at froze completely. C'mon."

Kellam led the hopping Tragica to the large block of ice and slowly brought her hand to it.

"W-w-w-wow. It-it-it-it's all-l-l ice? W-w-wow. It's s-s-s-so c-c-c-cold."

"Yeah, that's some amazing stuff."

Kellam took a moment to soak in what he was seeing when a realization hit him like his father hit the floor.

"Tragica! You can do magic!"

Tragica's face scrunched up in disbelief. "R-r-really? I d-d-d-didn't n-n-n-notice."

"...your sarcasm sucks."

Tragica struck back with a raspberry.

"Whatever. Let's eat lunch and then we can go talk to Besheba. Maybe she knows something about magic."

"O-o-okee!"

~BoaK~

Two hours later the Rexes were in Besheba's living room sipping on some tea… well, Besheba was. Kellam was pretending while Tragica just played with some toys.

"Now that you are situated, care to tell me why you are here?" The old woman asked.

"Of course. Uhm… well I guess it's better to just come out and say it. Tragica can do magic."

Besheba did a spit take.

"E-excuse me young man? I am getting up in my years and my senses are not what they were. Did you say that young Tragica can use magic?"

"...yeah?"

"Dear gods! How did you discover this?"

"Do you remember that stranger that visited last month?"

"With the pink hair?"

"Yes. He attacked me in my home and I ended up- well, I killed him. He had a whole bunch of stuff and this morning I let Tragica try on a cape and she suddenly disappeared! Then I had her wave around these wand-looking things and she sent out fire and ice with them!"

Besheba blinked in surprise, letting the silence hang for a moment before responding, "I don't know what to say about that first bit. I'm sorry you had to go through that Kellam. I wish you had said something."

"I would have, but I didn't want to talk about it then and after I just forgot. Sorry."

Besheba smirked. 'What a precious boy.' "Don't apologize dear. Horrible news aside, that man was most likely a warrior of some kind who had mana within him, but no way to effectively use it. Items with preset magics within them, such as those two wands and the cape, are often sold to adventurers by mages. Like any item that is personally crafted they can range wildly in terms of quality."

"...Wow. You really know your stuff Besheba."

"Oh, you make me blush. Tragica, tell me, how tired did you feel after using those items from this morning?"

Tragica adorably pondered the question for a moment before answering, "A l-l-l-little t-t-t-tired. L-l-l-like I j-j-j-just ran-n-n-n a l-l-l-lot, b-b-b-but I-I-I wasn't-t-t-t sleepy."

"Hmm. Then it seems like those two wands are cheap items made by a highly skilled craftsman."

"Cheap? Those things?"

"Well… not cheap for you, they probably cost more than you could make in a lifetime as a potato farmer if you actually used money here. BUT, for adventurers those items would not be spectacular. They are one note and given how your house was not burnt to the ground, not particularly powerful. Their low mana drain makes it clear that they are well made items, but that is all."

"Oh… wow."

"Dear gods Kellam, say something else."

"Err… how… intriguing?"

"Nice try. Now the cloak, how invisible was Tragica?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, could you see her outline? Was there a bit of opaqueness where her body should have been? Could- oh. She was entirely invisible?"

"Yeah, I could see through her completely."

"Now that is a high quality item. Low mana drain and true invisibility? Impressive."

"Neat… uhm, I feel like we got sidetracked. Since these are magic items does that mean Tragica can't use magic?"

"No dear, it does not mean anything except for the fact that she has mana. Given her youth and the fact that she could use them at all, even if they are high quality items, I would say she also has a rather large mana pool. If you would like, I could write a letter to an old friend and see if he can get me a beginner's book on magic types and their usage. There should be some exercises in there that could tell us that Tragica is a witch."

That peaked the young girls attention. "M-m-me? A w-w-w-witch?" she said excitedly.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not, we will have to see."

Kellma was stuck on one of the last things Besheba said, "Types of magic?"

Besheba chuckled at his baffled expression, "Yes dear, there are many types of magic, but that's a discussion for another time."

"Oh… fine. Thanks a lot for the help Besheba. We should probably head home for dinner. Also, would you like to watch Tragica try out the other items?"

"That sounds wonderful. I'll be there tomorrow after my breakfast."

"Great, see you then. C'mon Tragica."

"O-o-okay. B-b-bye-b-b-b-ye Gr-gr-gr-granny B-b-b-beshy."

"Sweet dreams child."

~BoaK~

AN: I've just now decided that these author notes are for the dedicated readers. A lot of people skip author notes completely, but I feel that more people read the first one and skip the second one. So I'm going to purposefully put more interesting topics and ramblings down here and stuff my readers NEED to know on top.

Sorry again for the long wait. I easily could have kept up some sort of schedule because I have tons of ideas to write about, but like I said up top, summer makes me lazy.

For people who don't mind minor spoilers, I plan on making the magic system multifaceted. Well, Besheba said that, but I'll put what that actually means here.

There will be Clerics, people who receive their power and spells from gods. Nothing is stopping these people from learning other forms of magic, but gods can be jealous types and take away the power they granted.

Wizards and witches are people who learn magic from an institution and use foci. Wands, staves, etc. These magics are tried and true and will work 100% of the time. There isn't any sort of power limitations, just how much time you are willing to spend studying and memorizing magical words or chants. And mana capacity of course.

Mages or "wild wizards" are people who just figure out magic on their own. They have good senses as far as magic and mana detection goes and they do not use foci. As implied above, this process is a lot of trial and error and spells can fail. There aren't chants or foci, but magic casting isn't instantaneous. This type of magic is also more reliant on the caster's mana pool because it tends to cost a lot more than spells cast by witches and wizards.

Basically Reading/Writing learners vs. Kinesthetic learners.

Demon Worshippers (need a better name) will be people who… worship demons and receive their powers from them. Specifically this is seperate from clerics because gods ask for prayers and maybe evangelism while demons ask for sacrifices. Necromancers will fall under this category. For example, in exchange for the ability to raise the dead a person will have to… slaughter a small town and offer it as a sacrifice. Demon's powers will be death oriented as they are the children of Death. Yes, capital D. So definitely necromancers, magic that has to do with death and decay… Death stuff.

Bards. Just magic and joy and music.

I guess Druids too. They come close to the Mages, but they… are super into nature… but also they come really close to clerics because the Old Gods are gods of nature so they would probably have to derive their power from them. IDK. I want these categories to be very big and catchall, so I think Druid falls under cleric for me since there are gods of those domains and I don't see them letting humans use magic related to their domain so willy nilly. Ehh… but Old Gods don't need worshippers… this is tough.

You can multiclass magical classes, it's just really hard.

Speaking of, something that stopped me from finishing this chapter in a single afternoon (it was half written for like a month before I got back to it last weekend) is because I came up with the cosmology of this world. I am still writing it and will probably update it regularly, but how curious would you guys be in seeing that. I plan on all of the information I've written to eventually be introduced, but since it has to do with gods and monsters and the creation of the universe it will probably take a long time. I could make a little side story that is just Birth of a King Lore. Depends on what I do. Maybe it will just be a special chapter instead, but I do want to get it out there because I think the universe I've created is pretty interesting.

I want to do a lot more for the magical classes. So often I feel there just aren't enough labels for the types of magic that exist. So many people come up with so many cool ideas and I want to get that involved while fitting into the world I'm building. A good example is Samus the magical Bounty Hunter. A Ranger/Mage multiclass is a perfect replacement for her future technology.

There is a lot to think about and say so I think I'll go back to my lore document and get to writing. I've finished the Cosmogony and the stuff the gods did until humans came along and I'm about to start on human civilizations and how those work. I will add stuff to the cosmogony stuff… like giving gods names. The Goddess of Life… is just Life. It's super awkward. On several occasions I've written "Life breathed life into-" and that's just the worst.

Goodbye or I'll write forever. Guess I've finally caught that writing bug again.

Thx ;)