Nora's Grimoire arrived the next day—along with their IDs—just before they went on their morning jog, packaged like a Christmas present specifically handpicked for the only child of a magnate. She was currently tearing the packaging open with a smile on her face, while Merlin stood behind the couch, arms folded, face grimaced, and thoughts, one of jealousy.
"Stop taking your lovely time with it, would you?" he grumbled, unable to hold back any longer. "I'm waiting here."
Nora glanced over her shoulder, looking around as though she couldn't see him. "And what does that have to do with me?"
Merlin waved the back of his palm languidly like he was shooing away a chicken. "Just hurry up so we can practice. I need to see if this stuff actually works."
"My Grimoire?"
"No…" He looked disgusted. "My System, obviously."
Nora mumbled something under her breath. Merlin ignored her, since she went back to unpackaging her Grimoire—that was what mattered. And a few seconds later, when she was done, he flung himself over the couch and plopped down beside her, getting a closer look at what it looked like.
It was not exactly different from those he had seen while watching the videos of Mages on the net, a leatherbound tome the size of a small diary, dark-brown, signifying that it was for an A-Class Mage—different colors for different Classes of Mages—and with an orb at the center of its cover. To Merlin, it was beautiful. To Nora, however…
"Why's it so small?" she grumbled, flipping the Grimoire around, like it was a handfan.
"Stop complaining about everything, will you?" Merlin pulled her cheek. She slapped his hand away.
"Shut up." She picked up the manual that came with it, wondering what was written inside. Merlin was curious as well. "Channel a bit of your mana into the Grimoire—just a bit—and a symbol representing your ability will appear on the orb," Nora read.
For someone who had aced the written entrance examination into Prestige Academy, the second ranked Mage Academy in the world, channeling mana was a trivial thing. At least, theoretically. All they had done before the exam was attend lessons in preparation, they had never really put what they had learned into practice due to the restrictions that came with magic as a whole. Now that a Grimoire was present, though, there was no problem in engaging in such—hopefully.
Merlin watched as Nora tightened her fingers over her Grimoire, her shoulders tensing for a brief moment, before relaxing. She closed her eyes, and Merlin could instinctively feel something move gently within her. And then, the orb on the cover of the Grimoire glowed, and what seemed to be a spiral appeared within it. His brows narrowed. Nora opened her eyes.
"It's not really that hard," said Nora. "Channeling mana, I mean."
Nope. I think it's because you're just too smart.
Merlin didn't let her know that, though. She would just have a bigger head than she already did.
"A spiral," he turned to the symbol on her Grimoire. "Is that air?"
Nora tilted her head slightly. "Yeah. I guess I'm an Air Mage."
"It seems so." Merlin nodded. "What now?"
"Uhm… We practice. What else?" Nora said, as though that was common sense.
Reading Singularity Mage and actively participating in it had given Merlin a lot of ideas on spells as a whole, their functionality, and how they were casted. He was not certain how much of what happened in the novel could be related to spell casting in reality, but if The Sleeping Jacket was a Mage—there was no reason to claim that they were not; even Mages had hobbies—then it was probably ninety percent correct.
However, there was no way for Merlin to figure that out. He glanced at the Grimoire in Nora's hand and caressed his chin. And the lessons they had taken in preparation for Prestige Academy's entrance exam was not one that touched deeply into magic in its entirety. They had just been taught enough to aid in them passing their exams. It had only been for a month, after all.
Honestly, Merlin was still on the idea that the most sensible thing for them to do was to wait until they got admitted into the Academy before playing with spells, or they hired a supervisor. But the latter was really out of their options, if he was being honest with himself.
Supervisors were very expensive, and it was not like their family was swimming in money. Why waste the cash when they were going to study it all in the Academy either way? That would be the point of view of their parents. Of course, there was nothing a little grumbling from the twins couldn't change, but that would be irrational of them.
Merlin sighed. Between them both, he was the one who had something of an idea on how spells were being cast, so he believed the task of teaching should fall upon him.
"Do we use here or do we pay for a membership at a Mage gym?" Merlin asked. If it was left to him, he would prefer the latter. That way he could both practice his Reader Mage Perk, and engage in his fitness at the same time.
"That depends on how much the membership is, you know?" Nora tossed her Grimoire onto the table like it was just a random book, and leaned back on the couch. Merlin wanted to hit her shoulder for treating a magical artifact that way, but he settled for scowling instead. "It's not like we can just afford anything."
That was true.
"Then let's search and see if we can find any." Merlin opened his phone and began to source through the net. Nora just stole glances from where she sat, not moving an inch. It did not take too long for him to find something. "Look at this."
"How many stars?" Nora asked immediately with a bored expression, her eyes telling Merlin that she believed ratings were the most important in selecting most of the things on the internet.
Merlin clicked his tongue at that. He knew, but the least she could have done was indulge him.
"Three stars," he replied.
Nora snorted. "That place would smell like a dump."
Merlin's brows furrowed. "Do you have the money for a place that smells like a garden of roses?" he asked. "They only charge two-hundred-thousand won; that's approximately…" He fiddled with his phone's calculator. "At most a hundred-and-six pounds a month. I don't have more than that; do you?"
And from what he could see of the display pictures here, it probably wasn't all that bad. But he knew better than to trust display pictures. It was like trusting a cat's mood to always remain calm. He knew how many times Po had left her marks on his arms because of that. Never again.
Nora clicked her tongue. "Fine. Fine. Stop shouting. What next now?"
Merlin smiled. "What else?" He stood up. "Let's be on our way."
The fact that Nora was right about the Mage gym left Merlin's mood a disaster. She would never let him live it down now. And despite standing within the rundown shackle, uncleaned, unarranged, graffitied, and reeking of mildew and sweat, she had a grin etched vividly on her face.
"I told you." She almost laughed, perhaps only able to hold back because she was tightly gripping the strap of her cross bag. "I'm always right, Merlin Tyrrell."
Merlin gnashed his teeth together. He hated when she did that—calling his full name.
"Huh? Customers?" A voice came from an opening to the side; Merlin and Nora immediately turned their gazes in its direction. There stood a tall lady wiping her blonde hair, tied into a ponytail, with a face towel. She had a dazed look on her face, as though it had been at least a decade since she'd had any customer, and beefy muscles that made Merlin's jaw drop subconsciously before he even realized that she was in a sport's bra and shorts. He promptly averted his gaze in an instant, his cheeks red.
Nora eyed him and shook her head before walking over to the lady. "Hi," she waved. "We're here for a membership."
Merlin turned just in time—still red—to see the lady jerk her head back with an even worse incredulous look than she'd had prior.
"I'm not sure I heard you correctly," she said, and Merlin's nerves quivered slightly. Even her firm voice was beautiful.
Wait! What's wrong with me?
"You did," said Nora. "We're here for a membership."
The lady looked around the gym and then back at them. One would be forced to think that she didn't like money, but Merlin could see that she was just caught unaware.
Honestly, considering the state of the space, anyone would be. There were plenty of Mage gyms. They could have gone to any other one. But, the thing was, this gym was just a ten minutes walk from their apartment; this way they saved transport money and could just jog to it everyday instead. And it was cheap.
"I see." The lady got tired of scrutinizing them and hung her towel over her neck. Then she said as she walked towards a counter to the far corner, "It's two-hundred-thousand Won a month. There's a shower over there," she jerked a thumb at the door she'd walked out from, "and a sparring room over there," she pointed at another door, "and this place is the main gym. I'm sure you can tell from all the dumbbells lying around."
They could. And they could also tell that it had been a while since they had been put back in their positions, or even cleaned in fact.
"Mind if we take a look around?" Nora asked.
"Knock yourself out," replied the lady. And they did just that.
The place they wanted to see was the sparring area. The shower bothered them so little that they didn't even consider it—their place was not far away after all, and they were not paying for the membership to shower in the gym. And as for the exercise room… Well, they had seen enough of it already.
The sparring room reminded Merlin of a fencing arena—a lot smaller one. It was not that wide of an area, but it was spacious enough to do whatever they wanted, be it rolling around or darting to the side to avoid spells hitting them point blank. And, most of all, it was well maintained when compared to the exercise room; but, of course, it still had the whole unkempt air around it.
Merlin and Nora both glanced at themselves and nodded.
"We'll take it," said Nora as they returned to the exercise room.
"Alright. Cash or card?" the lady asked, now on the other side of the counter, bent over and seemingly searching for something. "And, just in case you're curious, yes, we've not had any customers for a couple of months now. Oh, here it is." She stood upright, a rough receipt book in her hand. "I'm sure you're here because it's cheap, but this place will be closed down in a month's time. So, I suggest you start finding another gym before then."
That explained why she just left it the way it was, unbothered by its state.
"Are you the owner?" Merlin blurted out the question that stormed his head before he'd even had the time to think.
"Nope," the lady replied casually. "I'm just making use of the space since no one is and I don't have to pay. I know the owner personally."
Nora had a skeptical look on her face. The card she had brought out to pay with, tightened in her grip.
"Uhm… Paying to you will not cause any problems, will it?" she asked, trying to be sure. "You see, I don't want to come back tomorrow and meet a new face and start having to explain myself. I hate the hassle."
The lady stared at her for a moment, smiled, and dialed a number on her phone.
"Hey, Janeth, wassup! What's you calling me for? Don't tell me you've ruined another bench! The least you can do is clean the place up, you muscle-woman!" A grumble right off the bat as the person she had called picked up.
"Can it, Sunny, I've not ruined another bench." Janeth laughed softly. Merlin felt his heart beat a little bit faster. "You have two customers here and they're being cautious of paying to the wrong person. I called you to clarify that."
"Customers? Are you drunk again?" Sunny retorted. "I've told you to stop taking soju. Your alcohol tolerance is weak."
Janeth reddened. "I'm serious. You've got two customers here." She motioned for them to say something, still embarrassed at the whole low alcohol tolerance thingy. Merlin couldn't see what was such a big deal about it. He didn't really care. Or perhaps that was because he was a minor, and was yet to be involved in a circle of heavy drinkers. That would change the whole narrative, probably.
"Hi," Nora took the initiative and spoke up. "She's right. We're here for a membership."
Sunny was silent for almost three seconds. "Have you seen the state of that place?"
"Yeah," Nora replied.
He was silent again. "Alright. Janeth will handle the rest. Bye." And he cut the call, as though running away before they could change their mind. Merlin could picture the man's face in his mind—shocked and confused—despite never having seen him.
Janeth smiled. "A month, right?"
"A month," Nora replied with a nod.
Janeth brought out a POS terminal from underneath the counter and certified the payment. "Enjoy your month."
Nora's lips twitched. "I hope."