Snippet #2750322

Altian grinned back, snorting in amusement at Emerin's energy. He was far more used to it than most people and while they typically were annoyed or irritated by the constant press of words, he was more than accepting of the fact, "How about we start with breakfast and we can figure out where we wanna go after?"

As they started walking towards the main market where the shops and good restaurants were located, he explained the process of invisibility, "So invisibility is a complicated spell to learn and an even harder one to apply. I'm sure you know that pronouncing the words perfectly and performing the gestures accurately are pretty difficult in their own right. But why people don't like to utilize it is that doing so only makes the caster of the spell invisible, not the fabric around them or the other inanimate objects. So doing the spell by itself will make you invisible, but not your clothes or your sword or whatever you happen to be carrying or wearing."

"But here's the trick to that not many figure out. If you study the language it was written in, you can manually cast enchantments on whatever you want to make invisible when you activate the spell. You just specify what you want to enchant in that language. However, it's hard to find books on it since it's written in an old Ancient text that isn't spoken that much anymore. Luckily I found one in that underground library we found in the desert that one time."

The adventure he was referring to was a few months ago, when he and Emerin went exploring the southern part of the desert. After decimating the Giant Scorpion because Emerin had never tried fried Scorpion meat, the resulting holes from their battle unearthed a hidden palace that was lost to time. They had spent three days walking around in the underground magnificence, taking in the musty atmosphere, the crumbling architecture, dodging the carefully placed traps, avoiding palace wall cave-ins, and even putting a tortured Pharaoh King to peaceful rest by mummifying him, placing him into a Sarcophagus, and placing it where the throne had once stood. Emerin still had the golden staff he grabbed, causing the Pharaoh to awaken. When he asked why he'd grabbed it, Emerin simply protested, "Well, it was shiny! Of course I'm going to grab the shiny staff in the hidden palace!"

Which was as good enough a reason as any.

Rounding a corner, the two young boys came across the busiest part of the desert town called Azma. The main market was always bustling with life and energy, people selling the goods they crafted or obtained through various methods of their own that stretched all the way down the main strip. Altian could easily distinguish the legitimate vendors from the shady ones, given the latter typically didn't have stands and usually had an odd end of assorted items, varying in rarity. He figured both kinds of vendors had their merits. With practiced vendors, they were more trustworthy and he knew hat he was getting more often than not. With shady dealers, they had a lot less credibility, but their scale of items ranged from practically worthless to extremely interesting and one-of-a-kind.

Among the stands were buildings that sold their own merchandise and varying kinds of restaurants for people to rest their feet and get some good grub. Altian pointed out a smaller building on the corner that sold mostly pastries, but had a few breakfast and lunch items. It was one of his favorite places to go.

"I've already eaten, but if you didn't get a chance to have food, we can go there. It's around brunch time, so they'll have more options. I can pay for it. I'm thinking about getting a Hesh Cake anyway."

Hesh Cakes were simple and sweet: bread covered in a strange sauce that tasted like a local brand of coffee mixed with cinnamon. Despite it's three ingredients, no one could replicate the pastry's bitter-sweet taste nor it's perfect moisture. It was the owner's secret recipe, but Altian was determined this time around to figure out what made it so special.