Weapon seller in the world of magic

By this time, more than thirty hunters from Starlight Guild and another ten hunters from Haze Guild had already arrived at the mall, entering the dungeon.

The Haze Guild Hunters came down to the atrium to protect them while the Starlight Guild Hunters went to the fourth floor, where the spatial distortion was happening—meaning, it is where the rift will be activated and the monsters rush out.

18 minutes left till the Rift Activation

Tianzhu sat there in a corner; Vera and Theo sat beside him against the wall, Vera sitting in the middle. The former had her eyes closed and was listening to music to calm her nerves, while the latter was constantly observing his father and the surroundings.

The atmosphere was calmer now, compared to an hour ago. It is not that everyone has become calmer.

If anything, more and more people began to worry as the time was ticking down to the last twenty minutes. However, at the very least, there was less noise and crying in the atrium. Whoever had separated earlier was reunited with their companions, with the support of the staff members of the mall.

Meanwhile, Umbra reached nearby and spotted them. As ordered, he kept his presence hidden in the shadows and quietly observed his targets.

Tianzhu, on the other hand, is also busy on his phone, playing an offline chess game against the Bot without a worry on his face. The probability factor was displayed on the side, the engine analyzing the bot’s moves and Tianzhu’s, giving a live score of 46.4: 53.6, i.e., Tianzhu was slightly losing.

He seemed so engrossed in the game that he didn’t notice someone sitting beside him and observing his game for a while, too. As his eyes were darting left and right, all over the board on the screen to find the move, a voice obstructed his concentration. ”Knight to F7.”

”Eh?” Tianzhu cast a sidelong glance to the right and saw a woman looking at his phone and then at him. ”Hi.” She smiled.

She seemed Korean, and yet at the same time, she didn’t seem like one. ”Who…”

Name: Shimizu Noa

Age: 27

Ethnicity: Yamato/Goryeo

Arcane Path: Mage

Ability: Memory Extraction.

Ability Rank: S

Mana Reserves: 9,609,238

”Who are you?” Tianzhu couldn’t help but ask her, who looked at him like she knew him. The fact that she knows him is a grave matter. Tianzhu’s heart did spike a bit, but he kept his composure on the outside.

”Don’t mind me. Your time is ticking.” The woman replied, pointing at the timer on the screen. Tianzhu nodded, going back to the phone. He made the same move as she suggested earlier.

As the Bot responded with a check, forking both the King and the knight, the woman instantly spoke to him again. ”Now, don’t move Bishop, and instead move away the King and sacrifice the Knight.”

Tianzhu glanced at her again, feeling slightly annoyed by her interruption, but then again, he already thought of that move anyway. He followed the move and sacrificed the knight.

Once the Queen of that D-column, Tianzhu took over the control in a few more moves, and the Bot resigned the game when the probability of its winning chances dipped below 5%.

Once the game was over, Tianzhu finally turned to face her. She smiled, tilting her head slightly. ”You are welcome.”

Tianzhu glanced at the digital board overhead. There are still more than ten minutes left. He looked back at her, offering a handshake. ”Qin Tianzhu.”

She didn’t take his hand. Instead, she smiled again, introducing herself. ”Noa.”

Tianzhu pulled his hand back and asked. ”Do you know me?”

Noa blinked in surprise. ”Of course, not. I just felt like we met before.”

Tianzhu shrugged indifferently, ”I wasn’t from even Zhonggou, Ms. Noa. I highly doubt that we met before.”

Noa blinked, but then nodded. ”Yeah, I can guess that you aren’t a citizen of this country and definitely a tourist.”

Tianzhu blinked in genuine surprise this time. ”How do you know that?”

Noa chuckled, shaking her head. ”I just have good observation skills.” She pointed at his smartphone. ”That’s the Aota brand, which you cannot see sold anywhere outside Siberian countries. That gave it away.”

”Hmm… I’m intrigued.” Tianzhu said, facing her. Intending to pass the remaining ten minutes in a piece of conversation with this beautiful young lady, he continued. ”Ok, let’s put your observation skills to the test, then. What else can you tell about me?”

Noa hesitated, but then her gaze sharpened as she observed him again. ”The girl beside you has the same almond-shaped eyes as you; both of you had matching attire, and even the phone straps. But she looks like an adolescent, perhaps 18 or 19. It is unlikely you are a couple. And you look too young to be her father. Hmm, perhaps, brother?” She paused, her eyes flicking to his exposed wrist due to the fact that he had rolled his sleeves earlier. ”You are wearing expensive brands from top to bottom, but the watch was an analog watch with an almost worn-out strap. Therefore, it has a high sentimental value to you. Someone very important must have given you that watch, and judging by how you still treasure it, you were missing that person, and that means it’s been years since you last met that person, or the person might have passed away. I apologize for that remark.”

Tianzhu raised an eyebrow, impressed by her analysis. ”Go on.”

Noa continued by pointing at his left hand. ”The difference in color on your ring finger clearly showed that you were married for a while and recently removed it. The absence of a ring either states that you don’t like to wear it often or that you were divorced.”

Tianzhu regarded her for a moment and then nodded in approval. ”You are good.”

”So, how many things have I got right?” Noa asked curiously with a smug expression on her face.

Tianzhu replied with a shrug. ”Except for two.”

”And where did I go wrong?” Noa enquired, raising her eyebrow.

Tianzhu replied, pointing his finger to the side. ”First of all, she’s not my sister. She’s my niece.”

”Oh?”

”And secondly, I’m not as young as you think. I’m at least 15 years older than you.”

”Wait. What?” Noa’s voice was louder than she intended, catching the attention of a few nearby people for a moment. ”Sorry,” She awkwardly smiled and bowed to them in apology before shifting her attention back to Tianzhu. She couldn’t help but point at herself. ”How old do you think I am?”

”24,” replied Tianzhu right away.

Noa blinked. ”Really?” She crossed her arms with a smirk. ”You said that too quickly. Aren’t you worried that you might offend me by giving me a higher age number?”

”Nope.” He leaned back slightly, staring at her. ”That’s because I’m confident about my guesses.”

”Oh?” She raised an eyebrow. ”But you are off by 3 years then.”

Tianzhu faked a surprise, ”21? Seriously?”

To that, Noa chuckled and shook her head, ”Please, stop it. It’s too cliche… I’m 27.”

”Really?” Tianzhu tilted his head, widening his smile. ”Then I guess we are born in the same year of the tiger?”

”I guess…” Noa replied slowly and looked away, pretending to brush imaginary dust off her sleeve.