(Kathrine's P.O.V.)

I awkwardly waved goodbye to the cashier person and ran out the door alongside Astrid.

"Seriously...transactions and talking to people are just as awkward as ever." I sighed. Astrid grimly nodded.
"I wasn't even the one who talked to her but I already hated it." She looked at the bag I was holding as well as my staff. The bag contained the hat and robes. "I hope it's worth it."
"I hope so..." I agreed, clutching the white paper bag closer. It had their logo on it, which was a green wand with some effects. Below it, it said: A Magical Surprise. How cheesy. We decided to buy lunch on the way, so we wouldn't have to go out once it's lunchtime. I smelled spices, chicken and pork. I was in food heaven. I probably had a stupid look on my face because Astrid seemed to be snickering at me. Other than the chattering of people and merchants and the chirping birds in the sky, there was the heavenly sizzling of food on grills and stoves. I wanted to eat every single thing but I probably couldn't afford that. We ended up buying roasted chicken, that I had no idea how they prepared it in such a small stand. That gave me 35 left on me. We had it in a tiny container, and it also had white rice. We cherished the smell and sizzling. I looked at all the similar buildings. The only difference of each building was its shape. Some were plain rectangles, while others had tall peeking areas like towers. All of them still looked similar but I somehow liked some more than others. I'm a weirdo so it made complete sense. We finally made it back to Astrid's home. She pushed open the wood- wait a minute...she isn't even touching the door! It just...opens for her. Just like a game. Maybe we are in a game. Maybe...

"So?" She threw her food down on the coffee table and slumped on the couch. "Change up!"
"Wha-!" I completely forgot about my new things due to the food. "Oh ya!"
First, I held onto my brand new staff. It's top was shaped in a crescent almost like a moon, and in between was a pink glowing crystal. It was pretty thin, but very heavy, the staff  seeming to be silver due to its color. A bit of golden lining rounded the top. Power seemed to surge throw me, the energy flowing through my veins. You know those movie scenes in which the main characters gets some sort of powerful item and their hair gets starts to move in the 'wind' even though just a moment ago it's wasn't windy at all? Well this is that moment.

"Feel good?" Astrid laughed. I must've looked really weird while doing it cuz' she seemed to be snickering.
"It feels too good!" I spun around, almost hitting the coffee table.
"Hold it, be careful you reckless dummy!" Astrid rolled eyes. "I thought you'd be more mature..."
"And I thought you'd be a bit more considerate! I bet you were probably like this when you got your staff."
"Not at all." She crossed her arms, puffing her chest out.
"Uh huh." I waved it off. "I'll just put my clothes on..."

I opened the white paper bag and pulled the pink robe out of the bag. It had silver lining on it and it put it over my plain clothes. The same feeling filled me as the wand. I felt a rush a power go through me.
"You have mirror?" I asked. She shook her head.
"Nope." She said. I gave her the 'what-the-heck-is-wrong-with-you' look. "Jk."
She winked. I grumbled. "It's right besides the bookshelf, stupid."

I went towards the shelf and put on my matching hat before facing it and...bam! It looked absolutely amazing. I loved it. Not only that, I finally got a look on myself. I had green eyes, and I wore silver boots. Just as I thought, I have dark brown hair. The robes and hat, in their pastel pink color, matched my eyes. The boots seemed almost planned and the staff contrasted everything. Finally, I won't seem odd and out of place (even though the people here are the ones that seemed odd and out of place.). "Awesome!"
"You look great in those!" Astrid complimented. She stood up, walking beside me. "Now we're comparable!"
"So your saying before we weren't." I glared at her, with death in my eyes.
"Whoopsies." She scratched her head, sticking out her tongue. "Hey, why not try out some spells?"
"Spells...?" My eye's shimmered in the light. Excitement rushed through me, even though I knew this was just a way to change the topic.
"Yeah. Like, magic spells." She said.
"Isn't the answer obvious?" I skipped towards the door. "Hell yeah!"
"Hold one!" She grabbed my robe. "You need a job first."
"What?!" A rain cloud seemed to just go over me. "Way to get my hopes up..."
She giggled, evilly. "Welcome to reality. Of fantasy."
"Ugh...whatever." I stuffed my wand into my robe's pocket. "How do we get one?"

~~~

We spent the whole week trying to find me a job. I slept on Astrid's couch every week because she had no other bed. I had to owe her a whole 150 for the week. On the first day, I tried working in a tavern, but I got fired on my first shift because I refused to talk loudly over the chattering customers. The next day, I tried to be a house maid, but my cooking sucked, I probably made the house dirtier and I had no idea how to take care of kids. Next, I tried to be the assistant to an alchemist but I didn't know the different between all the herbs. I even gave him poison once instead of the healing mixture. I tried to be librarian but I didn't know where all the books were. I applied to be an author in a small publishing house, but even there my writer's level was too low...well, it was level 1. Next, on the sixth day, I tried being an assistant, once again, but to a vet in which I knew a lot more when it came to animals. I survived the first day but then I ended up getting fired for not knowing the difference of the different cold medicines for different animals. Every single time I got fired, I glumly walked back to Astrid's sad face with a depressed look and dumped myself on her couch.

~Day 7_2:00 pm in the afternoon~

"Ugh..." I let myself into her house, because I was given access to get inside whenever I wanted to. "Why is getting a job so hard?"
I sat beside Astrid on her black couch,
"I feel ya." She said.
"Hey, what's your job?" I asked. "Maybe I could try it."
"I'm an computer programmer." She said. "I remember a bit from the past about programming so yeah."
"I remember that too...but not my type." I sighed. She tossed a newspaper to me.
"Here, maybe you'll find a job."

After 30 minutes of reading, I found the page. The job I knew I'd take.

---
"Help the community now! Be an adventurer and kill the evil!"
---
"What's this?" I pointed to the add.
"Oh, the adventurer job. I was hoping you wouldn't find that..." She admitted.
"What do you do?" My curiosity switch flicked on and bam. Questions filled my head, theories swirling inside.
Astrid explained to me that I needed to be able to fight. After that, I get a Quest and do what it says like 'kill this thing'.

~After a while...~

"I'll go practice then." I announced.
"Wait! You'll need a teacher, but those dudes cost a lot." She walked beside me. "Why not buy a book? I'll help you along the way."
"Yay!" We walked through the cobblestone road back to the mage shop we visited before. It was as amazing as ever, multicolored robes and wands everywhere. I walked towards the one of the employees and asked:
"Do you guys have any magic books?" I asked. The staff was a boy and he gestured to one of the higher shelves.
"We have a bunch: from elemental magic to divination/fortune telling. Check as you wish." He smiled. Astrid said to get three books. They were really pricey, ranging from 200-1000 per book. She also added the budget was one thousand. I wondered how she was so rich and if I'll ever get to that level. I got the books "Magic 101" for 250, "Incantations, Symbols and Rituals" also for 250 and finally "Elemental Magic at its Finest" for a whole 500. Astrid paid for it so she had to undergo the terror of socializing. I'm just watching and I'm already shivering. The chills. I may be too anti-social. We walked out then she looked at the store's clock as we walked out. It was 2:40 pm.

"Oh no! I was given a program to finish and I haven't done it yet! You'll have to practice by yourself." She tossed me the books, almost making me fall as I stumbled. She started to run away.
"Hey!" I screamed after her.
"You'll find open plain if you turn to the right to a dirt road! Get back home by seven, 'kay?" She dashed away, leaving me alone in the middle of the road. Great. I followed as she said, heading to a dirt road. She was right, it did lead to an open plain it was empty and perfect for training. A sat on the grass, placing the heavy books on the ground. I got comfy, and opened the first book, "Magic 101". The books page counts from 300, to 350, to 500. Thankfully, I seemed to have read books in my life. I only spent an hour reading the first book about the basics. Another hour was spent on the second book but this time I cast spells and tried incantations in between everything.

---
Protection Charm: Creates a weak and small magical force-field that can prevent simple spells from hurting the user for 3 hours.
Requires Magical Circle? Yes.
Incantation? I control magic, so it shall do what I say! Let the angels of the sky protect me for all evil and let me live another day!
I really wanted to try the charm out so copied the example of the magic circle on the ground using a stick I found by a tree. It was a basic protection charm so it shouldn't be too hard, right? I wrote it on the ground using a stick I found. It was a circle encircling a smaller circle with a star stretched across the whole thing. In the space between the big and small circle, I wrote Greek words saying: "Protect me from all evil" three times. Then, I pointed to it with my wand, I chanted: "i control magic, so it shall do what I say. Let the angels of the sky protect me from all evil and let me live another day!" another three times and...wah! The circle exploded and instead of destroying the ground and me in the process, a black cat just appeared. I probably slipped up with a part...but I want this cat.
---

Page after page, spell after spell, I finally finished the 2nd book remembering a few spells. I read the final book which was the longest and most complex. It's cover was red and it had a golden spine. It seemed extremely old, and probably was. The cover was dusty and greasy, the title almost completely worn out. The pages were very fragile and ripped on the edges. They were yellow and stained, their definitely age showing. I carefully lifted the cover, flipping to the Table of Contents.

Introduction- Page 5
Nature Magic- Page 7
Water Magic- Page 116
Air Magic- Page 212
Fire Magic- Page 315
Electric Magic- 420
Tips- 522
Glossary- Page 539

This is gonna take a while...

-6:54 pm-

I decided to go back 'home' before 'Astrid the Hobo' starts choking me to death in both worry and anger. I skipped down the ol' dirt road. I finished the final book, but I was unable to practice all that much. I'll probably be ready to be an adventurer by tomorrow or day after that. I reached Astrid's Home (which, I might as well consider mine at this point) and went inside. Astrid wasn't in the living room so she probably locked herself in her room. Just as I expected, her room's door opened and I saw Astrid walk out, laptop in one had, a huge bag of Lay's chips in the other.

"Hey!" I went over to Astrid who looked really drunk right now. "What did you do all day?"
"StAYed iN Me rOOm, BEinG sUPer DupER prODucTivE aND DOing mE jOb." She explained very drowsily.
"In other words, you locked yourself up in your room, not eating, going to the restroom or taking any breaks and then got your program-thing finished, got bored, then started playing video games and watching anime?" I rephrased. She nodded. "Of course..."
I tossed myself onto her couch. "Well I did the same, except this time I wasn't bored." I smiled brightly. Astrid sat beside me, fixing her hair a bit.
"Good for you..." She yawned. "I finished my program though, so I did fine for the day. Sent it to the boss."
"You gonna sleep soon?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"Nope, I need help in a level." She skipped to her room, pushing the modern wooden door. "Hurry up!"
"Of course..." I sighed, acting annoyed, but I was really happy when I played with her. I just hope she doesn't keep me up all night making me do all these levels...I still gotta train tomorrow.