No Refunds

"Can it hold anything else?" Fate asked.

"As long as it's alive and attuned to your Mana, yeah. But it only fits one thing at a time. All that grass and dirt takes up most of the space. I don't advise removing it, by the way; the enchantment relies on it."

That didn't disappoint Fate too much. All enchantments had restrictions. To save Mana and emphasize what the enchantment could do, there had to be things left out of its capabilities. As for familiars, he would learn more about them next week. The Academy provided opportunities for people to obtain them.

"Does it do anything else?" Fate asked the man.

"Besides hold life itself?" Famden snorted. "But yes. Anything in there that's attuned to your mana can lend its power to your Skill or Spells, giving them some extra, or unique, oomph. For example, sticking a water dragon in there could let someone with an Earth Facet more easily mold the earth they're working on."

"That sounds incredible," Fate blinked. "Why does this cost as much as the ones that do nothing?"

"They don't do nothing," Famden said lazily. "You just didn't bother to ask what they could do."

'Either way, this wand sounds incredible…' "I'll take it," he declared.

"About time," Famden grumbled, putting the display wand on the counter and putting everything else up.

Famden was right to be angry, in Fate's opinion. He had spent the past hour and a half just browsing.

Famden pulled out a small crystal ball and pressed the display wand against it. It submerged into the orb without resistance, disappearing within. The orb glowed green, and Famden nodded to himself before going into the back rooms once more. He came out with a wide wooden bucket about a foot deep and three wide, which he placed gently on the counter.

Fate bent over to look inside, and was greeted by hundreds of shiny white stones the size of a fingernail. Despite the light directly overhead, they didn't sparkle, merely reflecting what was in front of them like mirrors. He scrunched his brows as he looked up at Famden in askance.

"You pick which Will Stone you want," he said. "They're mostly the same, but they got their own… personality, I should say. Not in a literal sense," he said quickly when he noticed Fate's confusion.

"Its' more of a quirk," he continued. "While these work for any Facet and any category, the makers inevitably color the stones during production. Sometimes that means a Stone made by a Fire Mage responds better to another Fire Mage, sometimes it's the complete opposite, and other times it works better for a Mage of a completely different category.

"So, the customer feels them out and picks which one they want. That way it's their choice, and they don't have room to come back demanding a refund."

"How do I 'feel them out?'" Fate asked him.

"Same way you tested the wands: your aura."

"But I'm an Apprentice," Fate told him, growing more confused. "I don't have an aura yet."

Famden squinted at Fate, his eyes piercing through the glass lenses on his face as Fate felt a formless, yet harmless, pressure descend on him. When it retracted, Famden let out a "Hm."

"How'd you test the wand, then?"

"I just sent used my Mage Sense."

Mage Sense was the unevolved form of an aura. Unlike an aura, one's Skill never utilized your Mage Sense, and it required active effort in order to sense things with it. An aura, on the other hand, could be used passively.

"Wait, you what?!" Dreyden's sleepiness vanished in an instant, hands slamming down on the counter. "I swear, if you marked my fucking wand, you're gonna pay for it!"

The man glared at Fate from the corner of his eye as he tapped impatiently on the counter. After an uncomfortable amount of time, the orb on the counter dinged and the display wand popped out, along with a copy. Famden snatched the display wand up and held it up to the light.

As he scrutinized it with his aura, his angry expression receded, replaced by bafflement.

"How…? Your Mage Sense should have made this unusable."

He turned his bewildered expression to Fate, only growing more confused as he noticed the Mana leaking out of the latter.

"The hell? I don't know what weird enchantment you're using to mask your Stage, boy. That's an aura around you, there's no mistaking it. Are you playing a prank or something? I'm still charging you for the wand, it's already here."

"No, sir. I'm an Apprentice. Don't you see my robes?" Fate took his robes off of his shoulder and unfurled them, showing them to the storekeeper.

The shopkeeper snorted. "And I'm the Empress. It doesn't matter either way; you're still paying for the wand."

"I intended to."

"Whatever. Pick your Will Stone so I can stick it in the wand. Use that aura you're so adamant about not having."

Fate neatly folded his robe and slung it back over his shoulder, leaning over and peering into the bucket. He moved the Will Stones around with his hands, digging for one that called out to him. At the same time, he used his Mage Sense to feel each one out. As he lifted one after the other out of the bucket, only to put it back in, Famden Dreyden started to worry he'd be stuck here for another hour and a half.

His fears were quickly alleviated, however, when Fate let out a short exclamation, pulling a Will Stone out and examining it in the light of the glow stone. This worry was soon replaced with exasperation when he noticed what Fate was holding.

In Fate's hand was a Will Stone. In fact, it was a categorized Will Stone. Why would this be in the bucket, you ask? Because it was utterly useless. Famden's dad had tested it against every Facet category recorded, from the Elements all the way to the Universal Forces. Not a single one evoked even a sliver of a response from this stone.

"Don't get your hopes up, kid," Famden started, trying to stamp out the kids' disappointment before it arose. "That thing's useless."

"I'll take it," Fate replied, still staring at the stone in his hands.

"Your funeral. Just remember, no refunds."