Like Candy

Fate considered his options very carefully. Price wasn't an issue; while the Tier I wands were five gold coins each, he had more than enough to spare. And since this wand may very well save his life one day, being stingy would only bring him heartache down the line.

"And all of these are Tier I?" Fate asked.

"These are just the displays," Famden replied. "They couldn't hold a Will Stone without blowing up. It helps to deter would-be thieves. But yes, all of these designs are available for Tier I, as well as every other Tier."

Fate reached his hand out before stopping himself. "May I?" he asked.

"Go ahead. If you break it, you buy a replacement. I'll take it up with the Academy personally if you try to run," Famden said calmly, eyeing the white robe slung over Fate's shoulder.

Fate nodded, picking up one of the display wands. This one was made of a light red wood, with a thickened handle separating from the body by a bumpy ring. The body was engraved with jagged patterns that gave one the impression of fire. The tip was screwed on, and unscrewing it revealed a small depression within for the Will Stone.

He shifted it in his hand, getting a feel for the handle. With a light frown, he shook his head and put it back. 'Too thick. Also, the fire patterns don't fit me.'

His attention was caught by another wand, and he grabbed it and turned it in the light of the shop's glow crystals. The wand sparkled and shimmered under the light, its clear, crystalline body sending cascading beams of light throughout the shop. He couldn't spot how a Will Stone would be inserted into this one, perhaps through a teleportation formation.

This wand was geared more toward Light Mages, the crystal material giving another slight boost to each Spell along with the normal boost from the Will Stone. He shelved this one too, picking up another one, then another one.

He went through the wands like candy, picking up each one in turn, feeling their handles in his palm, imagining what he thought it would look like when he used it before sighing and putting it back. Like this, he went through all ninety wands.

He almost wanted to get one of the metal ones, but he dismissed them when he remembered how one of the Brergan kids had burned himself after picking up a metal pen that had been baking in the summer sun. If Fate ever went against a Fire or Temperature Mage, he'd be disarmed in an instant.

"You got anything else, Mr…?" he asked the man behind the counter when he realized he didn't know the man's name.

"Famden," the man said, adjusting his glasses with a yawn. "And we have a few others, but they'd have to be custom-ordered. We're sold out of them right now."

"How long would the wait time be?"

"A few minutes, thanks to teleportation enchants, but the delivery fee is five Lights."

"Can I see them?"

"Sure." Famden entered one of the doors in the hallway, coming back out three minutes later with a rack of thirty more wand designs.

Instantly, Fate fell in love with at least five of them. As he eyed them, he could tell why they were sold out. These designs were much more interesting than the other ninety. While those were just engraved wood, metal, or crystal, each of these had its own unique flare to it.

With a glance, he noticed one with a built-in flashlight that was made of an alternating pattern of crystal and metal, another that held a stun gun and was shaped like a thunderbolt, yet another made of a golden metal shaped like a rose stem, and even one made out of bone, designed to appear made out of finger bones.

A single one of these wands had more personality than an entire rack of the other ones. Fate went from not liking any of his options to having too many in a split second. Each one pleased his teenage tastes, kindled that little part of his brain and flooded dopamine throughout his system.

As an adult, he would probably find many of these to be average designs, or even cringeworthy, but right now all he could think about was how cool each one was.

He picked up each one slowly, like a mother cradling her newborn, and wrapped his hand around each hilt, one at a time. Each one felt more right than the last, but there was one that caught his attention the most.

Made of sturdy black metal with a length of a foot, the three-and-a-half-inch hilt was covered in smooth black wood for a comfortable grip. The metal was ribbed for an inch above the hilt before returning to smooth black metal that tapered at the end into a blunt point. The other end ended in a flat cap, removable with the Mana of the owner, that housed the Will Stone.

But the design wasn't what caught his attention, since it was more simplistic than even the first ninety wands he looked at. No, what captured his curiosity was the small spatial pocket held within the cap. After receiving permission from Famden, he cast a string of Mana into the cap, finding a miniature world within.

It was only twelve feet by twelve feet, but it held grass and even had sunlight streaming in from an unknown source. He turned to Famden, holding the wand up.

"How is there living grass in here? I heard that space enchantments couldn't hold living things."

"Not if you're stupid," Famden replied. "All you have to do is make weave the enchantment with Health and Space Mana at the same time. It's a complicated procedure, but the manufacturer has gotten good at pumping those things out enough to make them cheap."

"But what's it supposed to hold?" The ring around his finger could only hold his sword and money and nothing else, so Fate couldn't help but think that this would have a similar restriction. And he was right.

"Your familiar," Famden replied, stifling another yawn.