The Dao of Magic

56 - Sell

I follow Selis to a queue at one of the many gates leading into the dungeon city. The variety of people here is really wide but I recognise three common body shapes. Fat and rich, thin and fast or big and strong. Furniture must weigh a lot and it all needs to be hauled by hand or cart so there are a lot of the big and strong people walking around.

Going through the gates was easy, we waited for ten minutes after which Selis stuffed some coins in a guard's hand. We walk through the dark brown wall, the same colour as the Peak, and take an immediate right.

I am guided through half the city, Selis occasionally stopping someone to ask them some questions. She is wearing a hat to hide her short blue hair and looks adorable, so answers come freely. I look over to Ket who is walking beside me. He just grins at my questioning gaze. It seems I won't get any answers from him then.

I decide to study the city. The buildings around us are made from a hodgepodge of materials. One building has a sparkling white foundation, red brick walls and black stone pillars. Another is made from an eclectic mix of stone, its walls a wide variety of differently coloured and sized stones. I raise an eyebrow as I see concrete slabs beings used as pavement in some parts. I push a strand of augur inside it and see that it is steel reinforced concrete. So the inhabitants of this world decided to build houses with cobblestones and road with pre-fab walls? I can only shake my head at this. It's like seeing cavemen using a supercomputer as a club.

"Teach, can you help me with a problem?"

I look at Ket and nod. "Sure."

We then have the nerdiest discussion I have ever had. He has some problems with integration and differentiation. Me telling him that they are the inverse of the other solves that problem for him. I then introduce algebra to him, replacing set numbers with symbols that can represent anything. I shortly explain how to plot these formulas over a two-dimensional grid. Ket is quiet for a few seconds and starts asking questions about three-dimensional grids. Four-dimensional visualisation has him stumped for a little bit.

"You can also visualise it like an array," I explain.

"Array? What is that word?"

"You can see a two-dimensional grid like a collection of double numbers. The three-dee version is triple numbers. Add another dimension and you have groups of four numbers for each point on that line."

"Hang on, lets me test that..." Ket's eyes sparkle with fascination as he applies this concept. I feel the air around his head buzz with static electricity while his hair starts to rise slowly. He is getting too into this, so I slap him on the back of his head.

"OW, why..."

"You were thinking so hard you could not even dodge a slow slap like that?"

"But I was nearly the..."

"You have some sort of danger detection process running, yeah?"

He nods while rubbing his head. Don't be a baby, Ket, I didn't hit you that hard!

"And you ignored the warning it gave you? What if someone shot an arrow just now?"

He is silent and goes slightly pale.

"Don't think too much if you are not in a safe place and can relax. For you and me, getting lost in the numbers is very, very easy."

Selis stops a woman to ask for directions and we come to a halt. We seem to be in the trading district, there are a lot of open spaces with goods stacked high in between the chaotically built houses. Every man-made structure in this city must be built with leftover building materials, many small leftovers from big batches of brick and stones gathered together.