A Journey Across Terra

9

The jingle of a store's front door opening alerted the storekeeper of the weapon shop as Susie, Quercus and Yuki all walked into the store.

"Welcome to the-oh...You're a new set of faces. What brings you all to my store." The shopkeeper gave them a polite bow.

"Just here to get this one a new weapon." Yuki points towards Susie. "We're looking for something that she can remotely channel her arts through."

"Humu humu." The Shopkeeper rubbed her chin. "Okay. Just follow me." She wanders deeper into the store.

As they walked through the aisles, there were many weapons of all shapes and sizes lined up neatly on the aisles.

"I think that these Driftbeacons would be a good choice for this young lass." The shopkeeper stops and picks up a few objects.

They seemed crystalline in property as they had a dull grey colour to them.

"Can I see it?" Yuki holds his hands out for the driftbeacons.

"Sure thing. I'll just be around the corner if you need me." The shopkeeper hands the driftbeacons to Yuki and promptly walks to a different corner of the store.

"Hmm..." Yuki was lost in his mind as he inspected the driftbeacons.

"Mr Yuki, what are you doing?" Susie enquired.

"He's probably trying to calibrate the beacons." Quercus answered Susie's question. "These types of arts units don't really work as intended if you don't calibrate them properly. Don't worry. Once they're calibrated,  you don't have to calibrate them anymore."

"Wow really?" Susie had a look of wonder on her face.

"Yes really." Quercus smiled as she looked over at Yuki. "And you'll get a first-hand experience on how to use this type of arts unit."

As both of the girls attention was back on Yuki, he began to pour his arts into the beacons. They glowed a slight green as they laid in his hands.

"Hey aren't they supposed to levitate?" Susie had a confused expression on her face.

"And that's where I come in." Quercus chimed in as she picked up one of the driftbeacons. "Not everyone can do such things like remotely controlling an arts device."

And Yuki also began to talk. "Yes, exactly. My arts are more...People focused rather than making things levitate. However, I can-never mind." He cut himself off. " let's just say that my arts aren't really tuned for that use."

"Yeah. Most casters that aren't affiliated with organizations like the military don't really go much further than honing in on one thing for them to do either for convenience or to cure their boredom. Or like most people, their circumstances deny them any chance at getting better at their arts and in turn don't learn things like what you can do."

"Ahh, so that's how it is. That makes a lot more sense."

"Alright Susie, how's about trying these out for a bit." Yuki hands the beacons over to Susie.

"Yes, of course...Here goes nothing." Susie closes her eyes and ever so slightly pours her arts into the beacons. The beacons began to glow a bright pink as blue flecks of electricity flickered out from the beacons. Soon enough the driftbeacons ever so slightly began to rise out from Susie's palms.

"Haha, there you go. Now you're getting it." Yuki gave her a reassuring smile.

It was at this point that the shopkeeper returned to see what the group was doing. "Seems like she's getting the hang of it." She watched along with Quercus and Yuki as the beacons began to rise higher and higher.

"Wow!" Susie had a look of amazement on her face. "Now to move it around..." The beacons glowed even brighter and began to effortlessly glide around the air.

The shopkeeper who was observing from the side, picked up a clay target and tossed it over to Yuki. "It's on the house. I wanna see what she can really do with those beauties."

"Well you heard her Susie." Yuki said as he held up the target. "Try to focus the arts at the tip of the beacon and it should shoot some electricity out."

"U-Umm. Okay."

"Alright, ready...3...2...1..."

*Bzzzt*

One of the beacons fired off a stream of electricity as it arced towards the clay target. The target had a streaking black pattern over its surface that resembled the lightning you would see on a stormy night.

"Would you look at that." Yuki said as he inspected the now charred target. "I'd say that's pretty good for your first attempt at using your arts offensively."

"Ooh ooh, can I intervene before anything else?" The storekeeper spoke up.

"Sure."

"I think because she's a beginner; she should also have a staff to make it easier to use her arts. It also lessens the chance of her unintentionally using too much arts for the beacon's capacity."

"Hmm, yeah I suppose that's true." Yuki replied. "Lead the way."

"Why of course." The storekeeper happily skipped over to another section of the store. "And here we have our staffs. Some are better at doing certain things than others like these ones." She gestures to a selection of staffs on the wall.

"Do we have any elemental staffs here?" Quercus chimed in as she looked over the assortment of staffs.

"You took the words right out of my mouth Ma'am." The shopkeeper had a happy grin on her face. She seemed to really enjoy nerding out on these weapons. "We have them right over here. And over here are the ones that are more suited to electrical type arts."

"Well there you go. Go ahead and make your pick." Yuki gives Susie a slight grin as if he was watching his child take their first steps.

"Ooh. These look so cool!" Susie's eyes lit up as she looked through the assortment of staffs until one of the staffs caught her eye. "I like this one."

Susie picked up a staff that was made of black metal. Within the metal shaft of the staff was a compartment that opened and in there was wires that ran up the length of the staff and at the top of the staff was a glass globe that resembled a plasma globe.

"Looks pretty nice." The shopkeeper gave her a thumbs up for approval.

"Thanks. Hehe. I wanted to stay on theme. You know with my electricity and all." Susie chucked as she rubbed her nape.

"Alrighty, I think that about finishes our little expedition to the weapon store." Quercus clapped her hands.

"Oookay, just follow me and I'll send you all on your merry way!" The shopkeeper walked to the the checkout with a happy stride.

{ - Adventures Across Terra - }

"Happy travels!" The shopkeeper happily waved at Yuki and the rest of his little group.

On a nearby rooftop stood a group of individuals as they intently watched the three walk down the streets.

"The green spark eh? So that's where you're staying." One of the individuals said with a slight smile present on his face.

One of the people standing on the rooftop was the same guy that Yuki had run into before. He was angrily tapping his foot as he watched them. "They're mine. I'll deal with them."

"Buzzard...You know what he's capable of." Another person facepalmed as she watched the man angrily tapped his foot. "Why'd you even decide to accept this commission." She sighed.

"Both of you. Just shut it." The leader of the three spoke up. "You can deal with them later, now's not the time Buzzard."

"Tch...I can't believe you. You don't know how humiliating it is to be-"

"Buzzard. Just shut up." The leader glared at the furious man.

"...Fine...But no promises. I've been itching for a fight for a while now." Buzzard let out a sadistic grin as he let his mind run wild at the possibilities of the future.

{ - Adventures Across Terra - }