The walk back to Melvirn’s tower was easy now that he had been forced to see the building. It was the second tallest structure in town, only the summoning tower beating it in height, and Trevor couldn’t help but wonder what kind of perceptual magic had been used to keep it hidden. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he wasn’t sure how magic worked in this world.

Obviously there were the Summoned, but the Quest Master’s last screen made it seem like native magic wielders were different than that. It had claimed Melvirn had gone to community college, after all, which meant you needed at least some degree of formal education.

Stopping on the step of the tower, Trevor vaguely wondered if sorcerers or druids existed in this world since there were wizards. He shrugged and knocked on the door.

“Who’s there? What do you want?” the same voice as before asked. “I’m very busy, you know!”

“Yes, sir, it’s Trevor Anderson again.”

The door paused. “Who?”

“The guy who brought you Dory’s concoction,” he said patiently.

“Oh, yes! I remember now! Come in, and do hurry about it, lad,” the door said before opening.

Trevor stepped inside the small foyer and waited for the second door to open. The one he had just stepped through closed behind him, and the young man felt his skin crawl and a shiver go down his spine as the room flashed with a bright white light. It was gone in an instant, and he felt as if he had just gone through some kind of deep cleaning.

When the door ahead of him opened, he was greeted by a short human man with a thick beard and mustache, black robes, and an unfortunate, hastily done comb over. The man grinned and offered his hand. “Melvirn, high wizard of Tosa,” he said, his voice sounding exactly the same as it had outside. “I’m glad you came back. You ruined my experiment quite spectacularly.”

Trevor was in the middle of shaking Melvirn’s hand when he was accused of ruining the experiment, and he paused. “I’m sorry, what did I do?”

“No, no, ruined in a good way,” the wizard said as he let go of Trevor. “Come and sit down.”

Following Melvirn, Trevor felt a deep sense of trepidation. Dory said that it had taken months to create that concoction, and even though he was told it had been ruined in a good way he couldn’t ditch the feeling that he had done something wrong. He looked around in order to distract himself.

“It’s bigger on the inside,” he stated more to himself than to the wizard, who would have already known that fact.

The tower seemed to be at least twice as big around as the structure seemed to be. Trevor was sure that the building would have spilled into both of the houses adjacent to it if everything was as it appeared. It was set up like a laboratory with popping, fizzing mixtures, neatly labeled experiments behind what he hoped was safety glass, and journals on nearly every table along with pens to write with.

Melvirn chuckled to himself, apparently very proud of Trevor’s reaction, and led the young man to a spot in front of a lit fireplace on the far end of the room. Two pink recliners were set upon a purple rug, and he gestured for him to sit as he did so himself.

“Tell me, Trevor, do you know a lot about magic?” he asked.

“Nothing substantial,” Trevor admitted. “I’ve been here for less than a week. I know it’s common in Heating Stones and such.”

Melvirn waved his hands. “Child’s play, dear boy,” the wizard claimed. “True magic is wresting control of the universe into the palm of your hand. To alter reality in such a way that you have become its master. It’s power, plain and simple. Through constant diligence and unerring dedication, I have become the greatest being in all of Tosa!”

“Neat,” Trevor said as he adjusted in his chair. It was a little softer than he would have liked, but he didn’t complain. “What about that whole ruining your experiment thing? What exactly happened?”

The wizard looked a little put out that his speech wasn’t very well received, and he sighed. “Okay, so the mixture I asked Dorimy to make for me was supposed to change based on the extradimensional space that it’s put in. That’s my specialty,” Melvirn said, waving around. “I make smaller spaces into bigger spaces. Like this tower, or safes, or wagons, or bags. It’s a long, arduous process, but it’s good money.”

Trevor looked around and noted that most of the items behind the various safety glass around the room were containers. There were satchels, pouches, crates, and even one safe. While he looked, Melvirn continued.

“I’ve been stagnant as of late,” he admitted. “I haven’t had a major breakthrough in years, and at first I thought that I had reached the zenith; that I had perfected the extradimensional space. But then I got really depressed. Long story short, I wanted to get a full breakdown of what I thought a prime extradimensional space was. Then, you get here, and the mixture has been tainted with yours.”

Smiling nervously, Trevor lowered his head. “Sorry.”

“No, don’t be sorry, your strange Summoned space was exactly what I needed!” Melvirn exclaimed before hurrying off to get two journals. He came back and started opening them. “So I drank the potion and-“

“You drank that unstable mess?” Trevor exclaimed in surprise.

“Well, yes, how else was I supposed to figure it out?” the wizard asked with a barked laugh. “I mean, sure, I could have analyzed it in a bit of a safer way, like how I knew it had been tampered with, but that would have taken so much more time. I wasn’t ready to wait. So I drank your extradimensional inventory juice.”

“Please, please don’t put it that way,” Trevor requested with a groan.

Melvirn ignored that and handed him one of the journals before opening the other. “That’s the data that I was able to glean after my depressive episode. As you can see, everything is exactly how it’s supposed to be, and supposedly there’s no better way to do things. It’s not entirely precise, which was what the potion was for, but it gives you a clear enough picture.”

The journal in Trevor’s hands was full of graphs, charts, and writing in a language he could not understand. Even if he did, the contents gave him the distinct impression that this was out of his pay grade unless he was educated in this specific category. Still, he nodded along in order to spare Melvirn his feelings.

And the wizard kept going. “Fascinating, right?” he asked, though he didn’t wait for an answer. “And now this is the result from your extradimensional space.”

With the new book on top of the old one, Trevor saw that the graphs and charts were a little bigger, and the writing was done with a quick and not always careful hand, like Melvirn couldn’t wait to get his thoughts to paper. To the uneducated, it really didn’t mean much more than the numbers were bigger, and there was probably more to it than that.The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“These charts look completely different,” Trevor noted.

“They do!” Melvirn laughed. “The potion was supposed to be inside a dimensional space for a whole day or so, but it gave me the same readings I needed after, what? Twenty, thirty minutes?”

“I’d say that’s about accurate.”

“This data could revolutionize my work. I have plans, big ones, but I was hoping that…” the wizard trailed off.

“Did you need my help?” Trevor asked, looking up from the journals.

“Yes! I didn’t want to presume that you were going to help me, and I’m a bit bad at asking,” Melvirn stated.

Shrugging, Trevor handed back the journals. “Yeah, I don’t mind.”

“I’m not a Quest Giver, never made time for the qualification, so you won’t get any levels out of it, but I promise you it does come with compensation.”

“Sure, that’s fine,” Trevor said with a shrug. “Happy to help.”

“Good compensation, too.”

“Mate, I’m already in.”

Melvirn stood there for a moment as if not sure if things were really as easy as they seemed. “Okay,” he said, trying to figure out exactly where to go from here. It took him a few more seconds of processing before he shook his head, grabbed the journals, and walked away. Trevor watched as Melvirn left him behind with a confused look on his face, but didn’t get up to follow.

The wizard started digging around in a large wardrobe before pulling out an oversized backpack made of brown canvas. Trevor tilted his head as he watched. It looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite remember from where. He shrugged, however, and figured it must have been a popular brand.

Looking back to see the young man still sitting, Melvirn waved him over before heading towards a set of stairs. Trevor didn’t remember seeing a set of stairs along the wall near the door, but they were there now. He stood up and walked over.

“This is my workshop, where the magic happens,” the wizard explained. “But upstairs is where the magic really happens.”

Trevor held his tongue as they climbed, and soon found himself in a large room dominated by a huge magic circle and very little else. Looking up, it seemed as though the ceiling to this room was the top of the tower itself based on how high it was.

“Is there something about cylinders that makes magic easier to perform?” he asked casually.

“Oh, yes,” Melvirn answered. “Cylinders, cones, spirals. Circles, in general, are the best way to capture magic if you’re looking to cast spells or create lingering magical effects. If you could please put this on and head to the center of the room for me, that would be great.”

Hesitating for a moment, Trevor shrugged again and took the backpack, sliding it on. It was tall enough to nearly crest his head, and he could rest against it comfortably. “What are you planning on doing?” he asked as he walked towards the center of the room.

“I’m going to bond that item to your inventory space,” Melvirn explained. “If I get this right, and it only has a 23% chance of failure by my calculations, then it should become a Trinket specifically for you. I’m not sure what it’ll do for sure until it’s done, but I’m excited about the implications.”

Trevor stopped and looked back. “23% is kind of high, isn’t it?” he asked nervously. “What happens if it goes wrong?”

“It’s completely harmless,” Melvirn claimed dismissively. “Even if something goes wrong, the magic circle will take the backlash. Even if the magic circle somehow stops working, then it’ll just be a little bit of pain. Trust me, I’ve tested out this circle on several occasions, the only difference is that I’ve only cast this spell once before you got here.”

“Is that supposed to be reassuring?”

“Is it not?” the wizard asked hesitantly.

Trevor took a breath as he watched Melvirn’s confusion grow. It didn’t seem like there was any malice to the man, he was simply ready and excited to do an experiment with this random stranger who had exactly what he was looking for. “I’m going to trust you, Mr. Melvirn.”

“Naturally,” he said as Trevor made it to the center of the room. “Now, have you ever seen a wizard cast spells?”

“No, sir. I couldn’t see Mayor Jackson summon me, and you’re the only other magic man I’ve met.”

“Yes, that elf sure does like his summoning magic,” Melvirn scoffed before shaking his head. “That’s neither here nor there. This is real magic, after all. There’s going to be an incantation as I prepare the universe for how it’s going to change. It will be sufficiently lengthy, as I haven’t been able to parse the language down just yet, but I assume by your build and stature that you’re quite accustomed to standing still for minutes at a time.”

“I mean, it’s not a hobby or anything, but I can-“

“Excellent, then I will begin momentarily.”

Trevor shot Melvirn a look that just barely managed to be polite. Instead of speaking, he reached up and grabbed the straps of the backpack with both hands and waited this out. The young man was patient, and the wizard was excited, but that was no reason to cut him off.

His eyes widened as the journal detailing his inventory space rose in the air and Melvirn raised his arms. The magic circle, full of runes he didn’t understand, began to glow dark green under his feet. Opening his mouth, the wizard spoke.

“Oh great cosmos that envelops all!” Melvirn shouted. The glowing circle became brighter as he did, though not to the point where Trevor would need to shield his eyes. “Hear my commands, feel my power, and gaze upon this man! Search this space with your all seeing eyes, of which they are multitudinous and infinite!”

Trevor wasn’t sure if Melvirn had to specify that they were multitudinous if they were also infinite, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

“Witness the exponential growth of the ever widening maw, a veritable titan waiting to be unleashed! Witness this space, and the space within! Feel reality slipping from your unnerving iron grip. Feel eternity swallowed in an instant without recourse or hesitation!”

Taking a breath, Trevor tried not to cringe.

“This bag of bags, on this man of mans, desires the power of the universe in its pockets! It desires the power to consume all that it is given with nary a thought of where it goes or when it may be retrieved! This one, singular desire is so powerful that it is willing to bond to this man, Trevor, Son of Ander, in order to get what it wants!”

While he had never corrected Adabelle on the whole Son of Ander thing, he really wanted to now. He was also unsure of this whole power to consume all things that Melvirn was going on about, but figured it was too late to stop now.

“Take your immaculate size, cosmos, universe, and condense it into this space! Use your power that is known to dismantle planets and boil stars and do my bidding! Unleash the infinite energies that you command at my word, and bond this man and his pack!”

Melvirn stopped, hands raised as lights danced through the magic circle, no longer one but several lines shifting throughout the room. Trevor stopped cringing as he noticed the shift under his feet, and suddenly he felt the Power of Inventory expand as it had before.

[[New (Specialized) Trinket! You have received Anderson’s Backpack.

Magic, am I right? Just so you know, it’s all like that. Imbue extradimensional space? Long-winded spell. Throw a fireball? Long-winded spell. Make bread soggy? You can guess from here.

Despite seeming like it was written by a middle schooler, it does work! This backpack is now pack bonded to you. It doesn’t have any intelligence or anything, but those you designate can reach in and grab things from your inventory as long as it is less than a mile away. In addition, when you’re in contact with it, your Capacity stat increases by 1!

And, trust me, you don’t want to know what happens if your inventory is full and you take it off.]]

“See? Nothing bad was going to happen!” Melvirn said as he panted, wiping sweat from his brow with his sleeve.

“Sure looks that way,” Trevor agreed. “Looks like it’s a Trinket now.”

“Excellent.” With a clap of his hands, he motioned for Trevor to follow him downstairs. “Now we can start testing after a short break.”

“Testing?”

“Of course, my boy. There’s magic to be done!”

Sighing, Trevor shook his head but followed. It was the least he could do for getting a Specialized Trinket, as the Quest Master identified it as, but he had a feeling he was going to be stuck here for a while.