R. A. T. H

Three vol.3

The drone was a silver disk, larger than a head, floating soundlessly in the air right outside of their apartment's door. There was a logo of a black 'N' with a silver line crossed through it on its form. Underneath the machine, a square of condensed mana kept a large, cardboard box protected and snugly attached to it.

Elsa Mont gawked at it as she held her chin, eyes shining. It was a wondrous creature to her, something she aspired to be able to create one day. For now, her 'One Eyes'—which could barely fly and could only send visual information—seemed like cheap imitations that could be duplicated by anyone with even some semblance of skill in Mechanical Magecraft.

'But that's pretty fine too I guess,' She shrugged. She was still growing, learning. Someday she'd reach it, even if that day currently seemed far.

"There we go." Lilias Aunbren tapped the screen of her pad, confirming the delivery of the package and the drone gingerly dropped the box, the mana disappearing, before it flew away, soundlessly into the morning's sky.

Following that, Rose Ausra effortlessly picked the package up and took it inside, placing it on their living room floor.

"Either one of you got a box cutter?" Elsa asked, standing over her crouched form.

Rose shook her head. Then smiled. "Should we use one of Lilias's swords?"

"We are not using my family's heirloom to cut open a box."

"I'm joking, joking. . .mostly," Rose said and she extended a hand forward, "If I went with that option, I would use my own sword. Probably."

"Probably?"

She chuckled. Fire spawned, flickering, then shaped into a knife; orange flames entrapped in a mana coating of thin azure. She sliced open the box.

Inside, stuffed within packets of white foam, were 3 black helmets reminiscent of motorcycle helmets. However, the entirety of their fronts—forehead to chin—were made of what appeared to be glass. While on top of their heads, separating the glass from the metal, were exposed mana cores; spherical blue orbs twisting with energy inside of them. Elsa picked one up. It wasn't particularly light nor heavy. Inside, there was padding and foam.

"Man, this thing is 50k. . .?" She muttered, flipping it around. The design was okay, that was all she could really say about it. It wasn't the sort of magitech that made her heart skip a beat. At the very least, she couldn't think of a way to turn it into a weapon, and that was an automatic point off for her.

Rose picked one up as well. "Mhmm, 50k."

It was a sum of money she wouldn't have thought she'd spend on something like this so soon after leaving the slums. It felt a tad bit wasteful.

". . .is 50k lixels going to kill you two?" Lilias asked, picking the last one and staring reproachfully at her money-pinching misers of companions.

"Nah but, that's a whole chunk of our savings right there no? And we haven't even begun looking for equipment yet! Come on!"

"Investment," The dragonian rolled her eyes and replied, moving back to the couch, "That is all."

Of course, both Rose and Elsa understood her words, but they nevertheless groaned in unison.

The helmets had sent each of them back 50k. They weren't cheap, but they were definitely more economical than a virtual pod, which could be anywhere from 250k to several millions depending on the model. The difference between the two devices? Honestly, they didn't care, they simply went with the cheapest thing for their purpose, and that already made them want to go bash in the head of the company which sold them.