Noah bit into one of his few remaining at buns when Arlo, mid-sip from his flask, suddenly asked, "So... how many gold coins were in that pouch you took from Damien?"
Noah blinked, chewing slowly. "Twenty," he said after a mont.
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled one out, holding it up against the light streaming through the cafeteria windows.
It was heavier than it looked, slightly larger than the coins back on Earth, with a square hole in the center.
But what caught the eye was the way it shimred faintly. Delicate threads of golden light ran through its surface like a spiderweb of molten veins.
Arlo snorted, amused. "Figures. He tried to scam the whole floor."
Noah turned the coin in his fingers. "How so?"
"Twenty gold coins?" Arlo grinned. "That’s barely enough for a single F-tier spell."
"The common ones, like Light Orb? They go for about twenty five gold coins each. And if it’s a rarer F-tier spell, one with more utility or combat value, it can go as high as forty."
Noah raised an eyebrow. "So... is that cheap or expensive?"
"Oh, it’s expensive." Arlo said. "Most people never climb past F-rank, so those spells are their peak. For them, an F-tier spell is the Holy Grail. And spell parchnts aren’t easy to make. That’s why people will kill for them."
Noah frowned slightly, glancing down at the coin in his hand again.
Arlo leaned in, lowering his voice. "You know that B-rank spell token you’ve got? If you ever learn how to copy that spell onto a spell parchnt and sell it?"
He whistled. "You could make at least five hundred thousand gold coins off it. Maybe more if it’s a rare spell."
Noah blinked. "Half a million?"
Arlo nodded. "Easily. Enough to buy a manor in the capital and have more than you’ll ever need. You’d be set for life. Most mages would give their right hand for a B-rank spell they can actually cast."
Noah glanced at his pouch again, even more aware of just how precious the token in his possession really was.
Arlo tilted his head. "Wait. Do you even know how the coin system here works?"
Noah shook his head. "Not really. Just that everything seems overpriced."
"Well, Calot only uses two types of coins." Arlo explained, tapping his fingers on the table. "Bronze and gold. One gold coin is equal to one hundred bronze coins."
"That’s it?"
"Yup. No silver or stone, or whatever you guys have in your world. Just two types. But they’re enchanted."
Arlo grinned and held out a hand. "Give that coin for a second. I wanna show you sothing cool."
Noah hesitated, then placed the coin into Arlo’s palm.
Arlo held it up between his fingers. "Watch closely."
With a sharp snap, he broke the gold coin in half.
Noah sat up straighter, startled, only to realize the halves shimred as they split, reshaping into two new bronze coins. Each had a bright "50" etched into its surface.
"Every gold coin," Arlo said, "literally has one hundred bronze coins stored inside it. It’s part of the royal treasury’s enchantnt."
He snapped one of the 50 bronze coins. It shimred and turned into two smaller bronze coins, each stamped with "25."
Then he snapped one of the 25s.
A soft glow rippled outward, and twenty-five individual bronze coins clinked onto the table in a neat little pile.
Noah blinked, picking one up. "What kind of magic is this?"
"One of the most advanced enchantnts in Calot." Arlo replied proudly. "No one outside the royal treasury has been able to replicate it. Enchantnts are ridiculously hard to create, especially ones that interact with other enchantnts like this."
Noah leaned forward, gathering the tiny bronze coins and stacking them on top of each other.
They shimred, fusing into a single 25 bronze coin again.
He picked up the second 25 and pressed them together.
Shhk!
The two reford into the 50.
He took the second 50 and tapped them together.
With a faint hum, the golden shimr returned to his palm.
He was holding a gold coin again.
"Twenty-five individual gold coins can even be rged into a single 25-gold coin." Arlo added. "And it scales all the way to a 100-gold coin. That’s the highest denomination."
Noah stared at the coin in his hand, now more curious than ever.
He didn’t know much about enchantnts yet.
But if this was what they could do with currency... what else were they hiding in this kingdom?
With that in mind, they finished their snacks and left the cafeteria.
Noah kept walking without putting much thought into where he was going, his mind still buzzing from what he’d learned about Calot’s enchanted currency.
Arlo followed beside him, chewing the last of his at bun as they walked toward the western wing of the school grounds, where the Enchantnt Departnt was housed.
Compared to their other lecture halls, the enchantnt classroom was smaller, older, even. The walls were lined with tall shelves filled with scrolls, tools, and strange items. Everything looked like it belonged in a scholar’s workshop more than a classroom.
Standing at the front was a man with thin white hair and sharp cheekbones, dressed in dark brown robes laced with silver thread.
His eyes swept across the room as each student entered, the corners of his mouth twitching downward as if every breath they took offended him.
Noah took his seat quietly near the center, Arlo beside him. They reached into their satchels and retrieved their scrolls, ink bottles, and quills. Around them, the rest of the class did the sa, the room slowly falling into silence.
Once the last student had sat and the clock struck the hour, the man finally spoke.
"Welco." He said flatly. His voice was rough, every word clipped. "I am Professor Halric. This is the introductory course to Enchantnt."
He paused, his eyes roving over the class once more, as if committing their faces to mory, before speaking.
"If you are here because you think this will be easy, you are already wasting my ti."
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