1.3 Midnight Curiosity
Vicktor snuck out of the Builders guild barracks.
He wasn't able to sleep. So he had rested for over an hour listening to an ever increasing number of snores as he tried to count the different kinds of soil. A common ritual for him.
"Sand, Clay, Silt, Loamy Sand, Sandy Clay, Silty Clay, Silt Loam, Sandy Loam..."
Nope, that wasn't doing it for him tonight, so he had snuck out. He had dressed in his only set of clothes, still unwashed since he'd received them. He needed a second set of clothes to alternate when the laundry was done. His signing bonus would normally cover weapons, armor, materials, or bags.
He needed clothes, maybe there would be a night tailor somewhere? He hadn't done much exploration on his way to the builders guild.
He liked not having shoes, he liked being able to feet the soil or stone under his feet. It reminded him to ground himself to who he was. To who he truly was, Vicktor Hornless, Exile of the Blue Hills, Mage of Humanity. He hoped he lived long enough to get more titles, while they weren't some official thing, he wanted to be a foundational piece of humanity.
'sure, sure, sure. You want to be a foundational piece of humanity, but you don't even have proper underwear right now oh wise wizard'
Walking slowly out of the barracks, Vicktor only had the unfortunate pleasure of witnessing three nocturnal erections pressing distinctly through the thin blankets. He wondered if anyone had seen him like that. He really did miss the privacy of his single dorm room. Thankfully his cot was closer to the edge of the sleeping area.
He slipped out into the night, into an unknown city and an unknown future.
He wandered aimless, his feet taking him first in circles, then in great arcs around the smooth stone roads. He hoped that he would stumble into an ancient mage's tower or some grand fountain or a great perpetual working that harnessed the ambient mana.
Instead, all Vicktor found was a tree in a small alleyway garden adjacent to what looked to be a library, it was a magical tree to be sure, but it was just a tree. It did smell nice at the very least.
Anchored in a perfect circle of interlocking inscribed granite masonry was a mature juniper tree that seemed to be four yards tall and another four yards across. It grew in a soft sandy soil, its trunk and foliage twisted into a pattern of three distinct styles. A third of the individual branches were ripe, the frosted blue almost glowing in the moonlight. Another third of the branches bore unripe green berries, looking like grapes or gooseberries. The final third of the branches held blood red berries. It was a beautiful aged tree that seemed exceptionally well cared for. There were no anthills at its base or birds nesting in the evergreen whorls.
Vicktor gazed at the ancient tree, appreciating the astringent crisp freshness for several long heavenly moments, then decided to continue his explorations. Anything that well maintained and decorated would be just as, if not more, protected.
'Dull, boring, and garlicky'
The unknown city and unknown future were less exciting than he had expected.
No miscreants or thieves tried to rob him, no mysterious inn tried to eat him. He just wandered past an immense number of closed shops with the occasional working professional working late in their shop to finish some half-arsed engraving or overnight some poor wenches magical infinity inscriptions.
The streets here were more dangerous than the streets of the Academy, sure, but society wouldn't really function so well if every stranger got accosted their first night. There was probably plenty of crime around him, but it was probably just victimless crimes, like tax evasion, dumpster diving or tripping balls from alchemical shroom testicles.
He had found exactly three places open at this hour and they were all inn's. All they had was onion soup, stale bread from the morning. Thankfully, they had an extensive collection of brewed grain and distilled spirits.
They had rather poor quality wine, apparently the soil was too fertile for that, hence all the alliums and grain. They hadn't even heard of Kumis, fermented Aurochs's milk.
"I mean I guess it could be good right?", the confused old female innkeeper of the Bear's Paw had asked incredulously. "Milk's milk and people have been fermenting everything under the stars for millennia, might have to ask the brewer's lass Tiffany if she can pull a recipe from the archive dearie"
There seemed to be less quantity of livestock here rather than the plains. There was more diversity of livestock than there were in the Blue Hills. The Blue Hills almost exclusively had nothing but the communal herd Aurochs. While they were technically beasts –some had even reached thirty hands tall– They were exceedingly useful creatures, gentle with kids, viscous against other beasts.
They were bred with different natural magical abilities mirroring humanities, but rarely ever more than tier 2 which was plenty dangerous enough for the vast majority of magical beasts on the continent.
The true dangers of the world could shrug off a mature Auroch charge. The imagery once described to him was that of a venomous spider trying to kill a tree. Powerful in its own right, but fundamentally unable to damage the wood.
The process of breeding was a closely guarded secret of the Elders. Vicktor had managed to ascertain that it could be tailored to a specific individual. A family friend –A water Mage– who filled their waterskins and maintained the local showers, had been given a pair of Aurochs. These Aurochs were the first in the tribe to condense water from the air as opposed to pull water up from the groundwater.
Overall, pulling water from the air was significantly less efficient, but it was superior during the frigid winter where pulling water up from the frozen plains required digging through a hundred feet of soil. Thankfully, the soil didn't freeze too much after a handful of feet. Vicktor had never figured out more than that.
He decided to spend some of his new earnings on a solid wheat ale, he drunk it slowly, continuing to chat with the older innkeeper. He learned a great deal about the little things in the woman's life.
"The neighbors are a bit young and newly weds you see, they've taken to 'testing out' all of their furniture at almost every hour of the day. At this point I'm pretty sure I've heard the destruction of at least one bed, one table and several chairs. You can hear them laughing about it, then they would continue their 'testing'. Its starting to get on me and my husband's nerves, but what can you say! We did the same when we were their age, my husband's a goat-kin after all, it was fortuitous that I picked up some cleaning magic's when I was a we lass. The stories I could tell! Hah!"
Viktor nodded, enjoying the company of strangers and their tales.
"That's why it's called the Bear's Paw ya know? Lost the hand, won the fight, won the inn! Grandfather is still around and kicking, he shows up with his new lady friend every few years. Looks just as young as the day I was born–"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar woman walking by the inn's large windows.
"Nora!" Vicktor quickly moved to pay, pressing his thumb against the archive slate, verifying his identity.
"Ahhhh, young lust... I remember when I had multiple men fawning over me late into the night. What fun times, definitely needed those cleaning magics then. sheeEESH. Stay safe!"
He darted out the door, looking for the catkin. He spotted her four blocks down. He walked quickly trying to catch up with her, his bare feet slapping gently against the stone street. She turned a corner, he continued following briskly, turning the corner as well. As he did, he saw her enter a medium size building, tucked between two warehouses.
A single red light illuminating the door. He walked closer, stopping just before it. He paused reading numerous signs and disclaimers.
ADULT BOOKSTORE
18+ ONLY, MAGICALLY ENFORCED
CUSTOMER AGREES TO INDEMNIFY AND HOLD HARMLESS PROPRIETORS OF THIS ESTABLISHMENT.
"New place, new rules, why not at least take a look?" He muttered to himself, "What's the worst that could ha–"
The bell chimed midnight.
"Ah shit"
He hurried back towards the barracks, questions echoing in his head, hopefully he would finally get some sleep...