by Weiqi Wang
‘A what?’ This time Max could no longer pretend to be calm. His eyes turned red from what he had just heard. ‘A Baron?’
‘He can dream about it.’ Casavin yelled. ‘Just because he couldn’t figure out what species it is, it must be a Baron… ha-ha, of course!’
Max got the message now. Although Soarame’s cat-like magimal had not been identified as a Baron, it must still be a rare kind. Wait… if it’s cat-like and hatched from an egg, it must be a really rare kind! Max realised.
This kid must have some serious secrets! Max sat back down into his chair and took a deep breath, trying to slow down his speeding heartbeat, deep in thought.
****
‘Look at you!’ inside the institute, Kardiac was holding the campus newspaper and pointed at Kriagon’s photo on top. ‘You made the headlines!’
‘Yeah because I look good.’ Kriagon was proud of this — his recovery marvelled everyone and therefore he had become famous. Seeing Kriagon let go the true face of the medicine, everyone chuckled. The Fledglings Tournament had finished; because of Kriagon’s accident, Omifo had no interest in competing in the tournament anymore. Even so, everyone had already witnessed Omifo’s excellent performance. Kriagon was healed after all, which surprised everyone and even made the campus news of the month.
Because Kriagon was healed, the problem between him and Omifo had vanished. Plus, Kriagon knew that he was the one who kept stirring up trouble in the first place; he had come to apologise and was now a close friend of Omifo’s. Another surprise to Soarame’s crew was that Alicey came along and hung out with them; she even brought her friends. The friend-zone therefore kept growing bigger and bigger.
Interestingly, Alicey actually had a magimal —a baby girl windwolf named Niuniu. An adult windwolf was ranked level 8, and it was born with Wind and Darkness gifts. When the crew first met Niuniu, they were really amazed by her high ranking; for that reason, Halgon decided to acknowledge that he actually had a magimal too — how could a magimal dealer family member not have a magimal? This afternoon, Halgon had brought his buddy magimal to the dorm and introduced him to his best friends on campus.
‘How adorable!’
In the dorm, the girls all squealed in delight. Halgon’s magimal was a firntiger boy, named Icer. Icer’s birthday was actually shortly after Snower’s. Halgon had let him stay with his mother over the past few months, so once Icer came to join the family on campus, he instantly had two big sisters — Niuniu and Snower.
‘Aww…’ Icer was making his naïve roaring sound towards his new friends, looking excited.
As the king species of the icefield, Icer was born lovely and strong. Unlike Snower, who looked like a cute little cat, Icer looked quite tough and ferocious, even though he was only a couple of months old. Adult firntigers were ranked as level 9, but some of them could level up to Baron once they were fully grown. So before long, Icer would be stronger than his big sister Niuniu — even though he’d failed when he tried to challenge her just now.
‘Come on Icer, be nice!’ Seeing that Icer was not willing to declare a loss and was about to challenge Niuniu again, Halgon pulled Icer away. ‘That’s your big sister, don’t fight her!’
‘He’s really playful and naughty, huh.’ the girls watched, chuckling. ‘Why didn’t he fight Snower? He could probably win easily.’
‘No he wouldn’t.’ Halgon was caressing Icer. ‘He recognises that Snower is special, so he won’t even try.’
‘Really?’ Soarame was surprised to hear this. ‘Not because they have similar names?’
‘Ha-ha, by the way his name was actually inspired by you.’ Halgon laughed. ‘They are both pure white; you chose Snower, so I had to choose Icer.’
‘Hey guys, what did I miss?’ Rodka’s voice piped up. ‘We’ve got new family members?’
‘Yep, and they are getting along pretty well.’ Alicey said hello. ‘Rodka, have you ever wanted a magimal for yourself?’
‘Hmm, good question.’ Rodka smiled. ‘Two years ago, I won the tournament of the institute and got the chance to choose an award. The best options were a magimal egg, a magic wand, and a defensive cloak, all Expert level.’
‘So you chose the wand?’ The crew got it. They saw Rodka’s high-ranking magic wand that he carried with him all the time.
‘Yes, it took me days to struggle with the decision.’ Rodka was recalling it. ‘Sometimes you just don’t know which option is the best, but you still have to choose.’
‘I totally feel you.’ Kardiac cut in. ‘Take naps or take snacks, it’s always hard to choose but you still have to.’
‘Hard? You always chose both!’ Omifo chuckled and turned to Rodka. ‘I feel you too — as wizards we need to prioritise our own power over anything else; at least, our Dean claims so all the time.’
‘Yeah, it was actually the Dean’s words that led me to this decision; otherwise, I probably would have chosen the magimal egg.’ Rodka sighed as he was recalling all of this. ‘Oh by the way, I just came back from off campus and saw a notice from MagiMax.’
‘What’s MagiMax?’ Alicey asked. She didn’t know about the duckbear story because Halgon demanded his friends keep quiet about it.
‘It’s a magigear shop in downtown Cylone.’ Halgon quickly explained to Alicey and asked Rodka. ‘What was it about?’
‘There will be a big sale this weekend, everything is half price for students with Libral Emblems.’ Rodka looked around at his friends. ‘I really don’t like that shop, but I do need to buy some expensive magigears while they are on sale.’
‘Sure, let’s all go.’ Halgon knew what Rodka was thinking — Rodka had explained all this because he didn’t want Halgon to be unhappy that he still did business with MagiMax.
‘Oh no, why didn’t you tell us earlier!’ Dileys’ crew was complaining. ‘We already made plans with another group of girls… It’s such a shame! But Alicey, you should go; hopefully it won’t be too crowded to get in.’
‘Cool, I want to go!’ Alicey cheered up instantly.
‘Alicey, it’s not that much fun…’ Soarame tried to stop Alicey from going, but lacked a good reason.
‘You don’t want to bring me?’ Alicey was disappointed to hear this. She watched Soarame in surprise, her eyes even started to redden.
‘Woah, I didn’t mean that!’ Soarame explained hurriedly; he realised that this little girl was very fragile. ‘You are most welcome to join.’
‘Don’t mind him, just go with them.’ Jemario stared at Soarame and smiled at Alicey. ‘He always does weird things; let me tell you a secret about him…’
‘What secret?’ seeing Jemario whispering with Alicey, Soarame butted in. ‘The dream-walking was just an accident!’
‘You do dream-walking?’ Alicey muffled a scream.
Great! Soarame rolled his eyes and decided to zip his mouth. Jemario chuckled and whispered to Alicey; Alicey burst into laughter, and the girls hurried off with ‘goodbyes’.
‘Wait, what’s that whispering about?’ Soarame shouted to Jemario’s back.
‘The point of a whisper is that I can hear it but you can’t!’ Alicey chuckled and ran away. ‘See you guys tomorrow!’
‘Hey guys, Alicey reminds me of something.’ just when Soarame was about to shout back, Omifo suddenly clapped his hand to his head.
‘What is it?’
‘During the Fledglings Tournament, when I competed against Kriagon, I heard someone whisper to me. It actually helped me beat Kriagon!’ Omifo looked around at his friends. ‘It was very weird — the voice sounded like a whisper, but it came from inside my mind. Have you ever heard of this before?’
‘Really? What did he say?’ Halgon instantly sat up straight. ‘You should have told us about this earlier, it’s very abnormal!’
‘How so?’ Omifo was startled to see Halgon’s reaction, so he tried his best to describe all the details.
‘That was definitely mind-talk, that’s the only way it could sound as you described
.’ Halgon looked serious. ‘Someone communicated with you directly through his mind power — just like what Soarame does to Snower — only that you are not his magimal.’
Soarame nodded in silence; his master could do mind-talk, so he knew mind-talk could happen between people too. After he had Snower, Soarame had realized that mind-talk between people feels exactly the same as talking to magimals using the mind connection; just that he never knew how to do it with a person that didn’t already have the mind connection with him.
‘Could it be Chelonad?’ Kardiac guessed. ‘But Chelonad’s voice can be heard by everyone, not just you.’
‘Exactly, plus the voice was not Chelonad.’ Omifo confirmed.
‘How about the Principal, Professor Gazbell Raymend?’ Rodka asked. ‘I heard only Masters can do mind-talk, and our Principal is the only Master-level wizard on campus.’
‘No, it wasn’t him. I’ve heard him giving speeches before.’ Omifo shook his head. ‘And I’m very good at recognising voices, so I’m sure I’ve never heard this voice before.’
‘Guys, don’t panic.’ Soarame suddenly thought of a possibility that he had refused to believe until now. ‘It could be my master!’
THE MOST POWERFUL MAGIC
‘What?’ Halgon looked at Soarame. ‘You have a master?’
‘Yes, before I came here I learnt magic from my master.’ Soarame got excited. ‘He can do mind-talk!’
‘What’s his name?’ Halgon wondered.
‘Mr. Swanflew.’ answered Soarame.
‘Swine flu?’ Kardiac muttered. ‘What a… unique name!’
‘Let’s hope you are right. Hopefully whoever helped Omifo is not against us.’ Halgon had a thoughtful expression on his face.
Master! Soarame was screaming inside, it must be him! Master is hiding and watching me!
‘Soarame, if it’s truly your master, could you ask him to help us with the MagiMax problem?’ Kardiac asked.
‘Well, I can’t get in touch with my master, unfortunately.’ Soarame shrugged his shoulders. ‘I guess he’s here observing me, but won’t show up unless it’s absolutely necessary.’
‘Soarame, are you one hundred percent sure that was your master?’ Halgon hesitated. ‘What if it’s not?’
‘We are going there anyway, right?’ Soarame shrugged his shoulders. ‘Plus, whoever helped Omifo is probably on our side.’
Halgon had to agree; there seemed nothing to lose anyway.
The weekend came soon enough and for the second time the boys went to MagiMax together; this time Dileys’ crew didn’t go with them, but was replaced by a little tail — Alicey. The little girl was really excited about going out with the older students; the boys had only just got to know that morning that she was only nine.
What a genius! They were all amazed at her talent; they couldn’t believe that this girl was actually a Grade-3 wizard!
‘Hey guys, what’s that about?’ Alicey was the first to see a large crowd in front of MagiMax. The crew walked to the crowd soon and the crowd began to cheer. ‘Hey, another group of Libral wizards!’
‘Morning, Your Honour!’
‘Bless you, Your Honour!’
‘No wonder there were no people by the gate this morning.’ the crew walked through the crowd and noticed that the city force was here too to keep order. The reason was that a large amount of people in the city had gathered to see the line of Libral students in front of MagiMax. The mayor and all the government officers were worried and had sent out their security forces in case an accident happened.
‘God, we thought we were early?’ Seeing the long line outside MagiMax, the crew was dumbfounded. There were so many people queuing up to enter MagiMax, and each of them was holding a Libral Emblem.
‘Oh dear, half-price has such power?’ Alicey goggled at this unbelievable scene.
‘Oh yeah, that’s the most powerful magic in the world.’ Rodka wore a bitter smile on his face. ‘So, what do we do now?’
‘Don’t know.’ Soarame looked around and all he could see were Libral students one after another. ‘I didn’t even know that our school had this many students.’
The crew was chatting in line outside MagiMax until noon; but the line was still so long that they finally lost patience. ‘Let’s go, we won’t even get there before it closes.’ Halgon tried to persuade his friends to leave.
‘Yeah, he’s probably right.’ Rodka had to agree, although he really did not want to accept this likely fact. ‘We should have listened to the girls; they knew it would be super crowded so they didn’t even bother to change plans.’
‘That’s because it’s not a shoe store, man.’ Kardiac said. ‘Otherwise we’d have had a chance to witness their real power. Oops, no offence, Alicey.’
‘Ladies and gentlemen, attention please!’ Just when the friends were about to leave, a voice was broadcast from the building. ‘First of all, thank you so much for your passion and support to MagiMax. I really appreciate it.’
‘However, due to the high volume of purchases this morning, half of my stock has been bought up. I hope you all had a good time robbing me.’ the voice continued, and everyone knew that must be Max, because it sounded the same as Blamer. ‘To be honest, I really wish I was on the other side of the counter.’
‘This Max is pretty funny, isn’t he?’ Kardiac was chuckling like everyone else. ‘If not for the crap last time, I would like this guy.’
‘Yeah, I heard he’s got a good reputation out here.’ Omifo shook his head. ‘He should pursue an acting career.’
‘However, if this goes on I’ll go bankrupt, so I have to update the policy.’ Max’s voice attracted everyone’s attention. ‘For those of you who have done business with MagiMax before, you can still come in and try to bankrupt me. But for the rest of you… sorry; MagiMax welcomes you next time. My deep apologies!’
‘Oh nooooo!’
‘What the heck? That’s ridiculous!’
‘What about wasting our entire morning!’
Hearing this, many students started yelling and complaining. However, a bunch of magimen were already blocking the gate and checking purchase history, causing most of the students to be turned away. On the other hand, Soarame’s crew was in overjoy; they proceeded to the store very quickly, and the magiman was nice enough to let Alicey in too.
‘This gown looks so nice!’ Alicey dashed to a clothes stand and picked up a decently decorated gown. ‘Blamer, how much is it?’
‘Blamer, how much is this wand?’
‘How about this necklace?’
The students were competing with each other over shopping; after all, none of them had ever seen a half-price deal in MagiMax. Soon enough, most of the students there couldn’t afford to buy anymore and had to leave. Consequently, as time passed, there were only a few students left.
‘Guys, everybody is leaving, we should be going too.’ Halgon checked the light outside; it was already getting dark. ‘If you want, we can come back tomorrow.’
‘I’m sorry, but we will no longer offer the deal tomorrow.’ a magiman instantly answered.
Halgon frowned upon hearing that. With a glance at the robot, he turned to his friends right away. ‘Guys, we need to go. Can you really afford any more anyway?’
‘Okay, I’m done.’ Kardiac came over. ‘From now on, Kardiac is a poor guy. I’ll have to rely on you guys for my next meal!’
‘Same here.’ Rodka had also finished his shopping. ‘I got some good stuff! But I’m poor as hell now, ha-ha-ha.’
‘I’m ready too!’ Alicey came over, bouncing and vivacious.
‘Soarame, you didn’t buy anything?’ Kardiac asked, seeing Soarame’s vacant hands.
‘Well, yeah, I don’t really need any of these.’ Soarame was a little shy about saying this.
‘Oh no, my bad.’ said Kardiac. He realised that Soarame was not from a rich family, so he couldn’t afford to buy stuff here, even though it was on sale. Thinking of this, Kardiac handed over a ring. �
�I almost forgot, I bought this for you!’
‘Kardiac, your finger is as big as Soarame’s thumb!’ Halgon was laughing. ‘It’s okay, Soarame doesn’t mind.’
‘Plus, a guy giving another guy a ring… that’s super weird.’ Omifo laughed too and put a wand into Soarame’s hand. ‘Soarame, I got you this, really this is for you, I swear. Your wand was old; it’s time for a new one.’
‘Thanks.’ Soarame was a little overwhelmed by the generosity of his friends.
‘Your name is Soarame, right?’ The magiman nearby spoke up. ‘Since your friends bought so much today, I’d like to offer you 70% off one item, no more than 2,000 gold in value. How about that?’
‘Wow, really!’ Alicey’s eyes widened with excitement. ‘Soarame, let’s go and choose something!’
‘Guys…’ Halgon immediately sensed something odd. Max was by no means a good man; why would he do this? Looking around, Halgon suddenly realised that they were almost the last group of customers. There was only one group of students other than them and they were checking out.
‘Hey guys, how’s it going?’ Halgon instantly started talking to the other students.
‘Not bad, yourself?’ A dark-skinned boy gave Halgon a big smile; obviously, he had found something that he really liked.
‘Sir, we are closing, please.’ the magiman beside them hurried them along.
‘Hey, guess what? We got a gift from the shop that gives us a 70% off special offer!’ Halgon waved at those students to come back. ‘What do you think we should buy?’
‘Sir, you can’t do this!’ The magiman beside Halgon was suddenly anxious.
Something is wrong! Seeing all of this, Rodka was the second to react. Although he was really excited himself, he did not forget what had happened last time. Halgon is sending signals!
‘It’s okay Blamer, we just want some advice.’ Omifo also became aware of the situation, stepping back from the magiman.
‘No, you can’t do this. Otherwise you will have to give up the special offer.’ Several magimen began to move towards Soarame’s crew.