The Bookstore Mage

Lucien felt a strand of his consciousness get pulled into the ring. The knowledge of what was inside appeared in his head. He felt as if he only needed a tug to pull whatever he wanted from the ring. The feeling was very strange to Lucien, who never experienced anything like that.

Pulling himself away from the ring; Lucien glanced at it and then back at Moon who was staring at him with a curious expression on her face. "I'm still alive, so I guess that's a win?" He chuckled before shaking his head. I need to stop taking so many damn risks.

With but a thought, the ring began to glow with a faint tint, not even a second later, a book, a dagger, and a bracelet appeared on the counter. Lucien first grabbed the book with an excited expression.

"A journey into the past: mythical creatures. Hmm, interesting." He mumbled, scanning the light red cover for a few seconds, his fingers traced its surprisingly sharp edges before he opened the first page.

"So, it's a study about magical beasts? This could come in handy." Happy with the book, Lucien placed it on the side and grabbed the dark golden dagger with complicated runes and carvings. A small sun was etched into both sides of the handle. The workmanship was extraordinary, even Lucien who had no prior knowledge of blades couldn't help but admire its beauty.

"But this looks like it's meant to be used as decoration?" He wondered out loud. Moon who was sitting by his side lost interest and jumped off the counter and made her way next to the window by the door, where she lazed about.

Turning his attention to the last item, a golden bracelet that looked normal. Lucien was the most excited about this one, as he could see stands of mana seeping into it. 'A magical item!' That was his first thought.

He first studied it for a few seconds, before he carefully willed his mana to it, only to be met with resistance from a foreign mana source that nestled inside the bracelet. It pushed back against Lucien in an attempt to stop him from gaining control over the bracelet.

A frown made its way to Lucien's face. Faced with the resistance, his fighting spirit ignited as he continued to pour his mana into the bracelet, slowly pushing against the foreign presence. Gradually, the resident mana was pushed back and cleansed, leaving the control of the bracelet to Lucien.

*****

On the other side of the city, Ron's car stopped in front of the Goldhearts mansion, he opened the door and stepped out, only to freeze in place. He had felt his connection with the sun bracelet disappear. A bitter expression made its way to his face. He let out a long sigh, shook his head, and began to walk towards the entrance.

He knew that Lucien was strong and that he would have no problem wiping out his imprint on the bracelet, but it looks like he had still underestimated him. Ron didn't expect him to be able to do it so fast.

With a conflicted gaze, the old butler made his way to the office of the family head. The situation had now escalated above what the young master could handle, not to mention, with his flaring temper, there was a risk he would end up offending the mysterious mage.

If that were to happen, then Ron was not sure how he would react. He paid a great price to improve their relationship with Lucien. After walking through the luxurious hallways, and making his way to the second floor, Ron came to a stop in front of a black door with a large carving of a gold winged angel. He knocked and then moved a step back with a respectful expression on his face.

The door opened by itself, revealing its interior. It was an impressive office, decorated with cold weapons all over the walls. A single window was situated on the wall in front of Ron, next to which was a dark brown desk.

A middle-aged man with fiery red hair, and an equally red-trimmed beard was staring at Ron with an inquisitive gaze. He place the book he was reading back on the desk and asked:

"Ron, I believe I instructed you to follow my youngest. Why are you here?" His tone was neutral, but his gaze was sharp.

The old butler lowered his head even further and replied:

"It's about the mysterious mage on the 27th Street, my lord."

"Hmm? 27th Street?" Scratching his head, the middle-aged man frowned as he tried to remember.

"The Bookstore Mage, my lord," Ron added.

"Ah, yes. I remember hearing something about that. And, what does that have to do with me, and why are you here and not with the youngest?"

"It is precisely because of that, that I am here my lord. It's like this, I went to visit the bookstore today-"

*****

Back home, Lucien was fiddling with the golden bracelet with a wide smile on his face. It turned out, that this was one of the so-called magical artifacts. Lucien's knowledge was not very high in the subject, but he was sure, nonetheless, that this was a treasure.

Equipping the bracelet, the wearer would be able to cast five spells without incantation, or, hand gestures! He only needed to 'store' the spell within the bracelet beforehand and then he could activate it whenever he wanted.

Lucien still did not need the bracelet at the moment, but he was sure that it would come in handy in the future. Besides, being able to instantly cast a spell was without a doubt a huge advantage!

Happy with his 'gift'. Lucien wore the bracelet on his right hand with a satisfied expression. The smile never quite left his face. He liked its design as well, it looked very stylish. As he was admiring it, Moon jumped to his lap and began to meow.

"Oh, are you hungry? Let's go, I'll make you something to eat." He said and used Imer to grab his book, alongside the book of mythical creatures, and the dagger, before making his way upstairs.

"My control over Imer is already better than it was before. I can already control this much stuff without a problem. Looks like practice does make perfect." Happy with his progress, Lucien placed everything in his room before he made his way to the kitchen to fix something to eat, for both him and Moon.