The Wizard's Pursuit of Truth

The sloppy, middle-aged Wizard readily completed his trade with Wang Ya.

Wang Ya watched the man walk away. The value of an Extraordinary Item could be gauged simply by sensing it with one’s Spiritual Power.

Extraordinary Items whose power was so well-contained that it couldn’t be observed were incredibly rare.

Extraordinary Knowledge, on the other hand, was a minefield. Plenty of people sold fakes. They might even mix in a sliver of truth with nine parts falsehood to trick Wizards into believing their wares were genuine. Many had been duped into going bankrupt to buy the supposed manuscript of some Great Wizard, only to find that the ”one true part” was just a useless scrap from a personal diary.

He’d gained 40 Magic Stones.

Wang Ya felt the deal had gone through a little too quickly. The man hadn’t even haggled, which made him feel as if he’d priced his goods too low.

’Still, the Eye of Truth’s analysis shouldn’t be wrong. My ideal price was four Magic Stones apiece, so I definitely came out ahead.’

As for the departing, sloppy Wizard, he was inwardly ecstatic. ’I couldn’t have been mistaken,’ he thought. ’These hearts carry the scent of a secret potion from the Demon Dragon School in the Dark Land. It’s just a residual trace, but even that will be useful for Cultivating creatures.’

He wouldn’t probe their origin; as long as he could turn a profit, that was all that mattered. It was just a matter of repackaging. ’The Demon Dragon School’s latest improved secret potion’—that sounded much better.

Wang Ya was already on the fifth Wizard Rune in his Wizard Meditation Method. The Clear Heart Potion helped reduce fluctuations in his Spiritual Power, stabilizing it and aiding in the outlining of Runes during Meditation. The Nightmare Flower could directly increase Spiritual Power, and despite its side effects, it was quite expensive, costing a full eighty Magic Stones.

With his level of Innate Spiritual Power, he would likely still be a little short of advancing to a Level 1 Wizard Apprentice, even after successfully outlining all the Runes in Meditation. He would need to use some auxiliary aids. This was perfectly normal; it wouldn’t affect his foundation or anything of the sort.

The worst that could happen was developing a tolerance to the potions.

After a moment’s hesitation, Wang Ya placed the Water Guardian Witch Array Technique on his stall.

Unless one was an Alchemy Wizard, they couldn’t assemble and implant a Witch Array Technique. Crucially, it would trigger at any sign of danger, regardless of the severity, which made it a bit impractical.

Against an enemy who could defeat Wang Ya, it was useless. Against an enemy Wang Ya could defeat, it was also useless.

He would have to find an Alchemy Wizard and spend time and Magic Stones to have it implanted—a major hassle. He might as well nip the trouble in the bud and trade it for a direct increase in his Power.

To Wang Ya’s surprise, a figure walked over after only about two minutes, letting out a soft sound of astonishment. They came from another narrow street, an area that, from the perspective of Wang Ya’s stall, few people ever walked through.

The newcomer wore a black Wizard Robe and stood about 1.8 meters tall, a head taller than Wang Ya. They wore a White Tiger Mask, and from its eyeholes, blue pupils could be seen. They had short, shoulder-length, aqua-colored hair.

”A Witch Array Technique, defensive type. Not bad.” The voice, surprisingly, belonged to a woman, but it was hoarse, like the rasp of wood scraping against wood.

Wang Ya added, ”It triggers automatically. Can save your life!”

”I’ll take it. What’s the price!”

”One hundred fifty Magic Stones,” Wang Ya stated.

”Done!” the person answered decisively.

As he stored the Magic Stones in his Silver Bracelet and watched the person blend into the crowd, a peculiar look crossed Wang Ya’s face beneath his mask.

’Something’s off about that person!’

It was an indescribable feeling, as if they didn’t belong here at all.

It was akin to intuition. The feeling Lando Wizard and the others gave Wang Ya was of a different kind entirely. Similarly, he could sense the essential difference between the freshmen from the Island Continent and the native Wizard Freshmen.

’Do Wizard Cities in the Wizard World also have Wizards from other regions, like the foreigners in my past life?’

She was also significantly taller than the people of Hanhai Wizard City, and a woman no less. From the residual blue glimmer in her pupils, he managed to glean some information—her Power was indiscernible, just like Wizard Yi Si and the Tuta Wizard.

Wang Ya blinked. ’I must have been mistaken.’ In any case, it had nothing to do with him. The goods and money had been exchanged. This identity as a stall owner could now be discarded.

Emerging from a secluded corner, Wang Ya had already swapped the mask on his face for one with a crescent moon pattern.

Purchased Clear Heart Potion: 30 Magic Stones.

Purchased Nightmare Flower: 80 Magic Stones.

Purchased Red Dogtail Grass: 20 Magic Stones.

Wang Ya now had exactly 100 Magic Stones remaining.

He didn’t know what things were like at the Dark Wizard Academy and worried that their official purchase prices might be as bad as the shops in Hanhai Wizard City. Considering this, Wang Ya decided to see if there was anything else he needed.

He wandered for another hour or so, but everything was either too expensive or unappealing. Of course, the bigger issue was not having enough Magic Stones. Wang Ya saw a place selling Witch Books that was claiming to have an Official Wizard’s experimental manuscript, which had attracted a large crowd of onlookers.

When he looked at it with the Eye of Truth, he discovered it was just a chaotic mess of randomly cobbled-together notes. It had some experimental data, but it was all jumbled and completely useless. The stall owner was swearing on his whole family that it was real, vowing, ”If it’s not real, may my entire family drop dead!”

’Perhaps his whole family is already dead,’ Wang Ya thought as his eyelid twitched.

He left the plaza encampment and looked around the major shops again, but in the end, he couldn’t decide how to spend his hundred Magic Stones. He was still short on funds. There was a dazzling variety of goods, but no suitable necessities.

In the end, Wang Ya gritted his teeth and spent eighty Magic Stones on a bottle of ’Transcendence Potion,’ which could enhance both Spiritual Power and Physique. It was said to grant a complete transformation, a total rebirth.

As Wang Ya walked out of Freedom Street, a sound suddenly drew his gaze. It came from an old man on the side of the street, in front of whom were laid out all sorts of odds and ends: books, a golden pocket watch, a few gold rings, jewelry, jade, and the like.

These items might be very valuable in the Mortal World, but in the Wizard World, they were like dirt. Magic Stones were the only hard currency.

The old man was kneeling on the ground, pleading, ”Master Wizards, I’ll give you everything I have—all of this, and my life! I can sign a contract! Please, save my son!”

Behind him lay a young man in his twenties, his face deathly pale. The wound on his chest was so deep his internal organs were visible, and some kind of energy radiation was affecting it. He was barely hanging on, with almost no breath left.

He had likely gone to sea to capture Extraordinary Creatures and met with an accident. This sort of thing happened a lot.

Not a single Wizard stopped. None even gave them a second glance.

Grief was etched on the old man’s face, tears streaming down his cheeks, but he didn’t dare cry out. Disturbing the peace would attract the Law Enforcement Wizards and get them thrown out, and then there would be no hope at all.

Though he was called an old man, he was only about forty. The long-term, trace erosion from energy radiation had aged him prematurely, making him look as old as the hills.

Wang Ya walked toward them, and the old man immediately looked up at him with pleading eyes.

His Wizard Robe drew the curious gazes of many Wizards. When they saw this young face holding out a bottle of Healing Potion to the old man, they nearly burst out laughing.

One look at his face and the naive aura about him told them he was a Little Wizard who had just entered the Wizard World. ’He’s still clinging to that so-called compassion and hasn’t even developed a true Wizard’s Heart yet,’ they thought. ’What a waste of a good Healing Potion.’

Even when he subsequently picked up the golden pocket watch from the pile of belongings, nobody cared. Gold from the Mortal World was no better than dirt to them.

Wang Ya’s heart, however, was pounding. He forcefully suppressed his turbulent emotions, keeping a look of sympathy on his face.

”Thank you for your mercy, Master Wizard! Thank you, Master Wizard!” the old man exclaimed, bowing repeatedly to Wang Ya. He then had the young man drink the Healing Potion. Instantly, a change occurred. The radiation gradually receded, and the wound began to heal at a rate visible to the naked eye.

In the crowd, one or two freshmen from the Wizard Ship stared with wide eyes when they saw Wang Ya’s face and actions.

”You’ve got to be kidding me! That’s Ghostman Wang Ya!! He’s actually helping someone? This is too ridiculous...”