Second World

”I think the second suit the old man chose was better than this one you wear,” Peniel said.

It was good that the fairy was in her hidden dimension. If not, Jack did not know if he could prevent himself from slapping the fairy away.

After making himself feel much better with profanity, he continued his explorations on the shops. The shop attendances of the subsequent shops did treat him much better after he was wearing the noble attire. Still, he not yet find the goods he was looking for. Most of the goods being sold were just junk for him. Only expensive ornament with no applicable function, like the clothes he was wearing. He had a more enjoyable time shopping in the business district.

On the fourth shop he entered, though, it was different. He felt it as soon as he entered.

”A magic association shop?” He heard Peniel blurted out.

”Magic Association? Like the adventurers and the hunters association? Do I have to become a member also here?”

”No, magic association shops only sell items that are of help to magical classes. You only need coins, not membership. But it was a rare shop nevertheless. You are lucky to find one. Better look around, there might be good things you can use. You should even be able to buy technique books that allow you to learn new spells here!”

”Really? Then I really have to look around!” Jack exclaimed.

There were not many items displayed, but each one looked precious and they were warded with magic to prevent theft and tampering. Jack used his God-eye monocle to inspect each one. There are several ingredients and materials at uncommon and rare rank, not something he could buy in the regular shops.

There were also magic scrolls, but they were too expensive. The normal magic scrolls were already expensive, the ones here were worse. He was not so rich that he could just spend his coins wantonly. There were also several magic tools and devices, some of them with functions that he did not understand.

”Those are some good things there,” Peniel informed him.

”These?” They were a bunch of small balls with irregular surfaces. The color was blue but its surfaces were shiny and reflective. Jack read its description.

Disruptive Bomb (rare consumable)

Deal 300 magic damage to an area with a radius of 6 meters, stop targets within the area for 2 seconds, and curse them for 10 seconds.

Cost: 60 silver coins

”Curse?” Jack asked.

”Itʼs one of the physical status ailments, it prevented you from using skills or spells,” Peniel explained.

”Wow, these bombs can cause big problems, especially for magic users.”

”Yes, and they are pretty rare. Not every magic association shop sells them, and they are quite cheap.”

”Cheap? 60 silvers are cheap? For something that can be used one time only?”

”Considering its effect, yes. They can be a lifesaver or table-turning item during a fight. I suggest you buy them all.”

”All? There are five of them, totaling 3 gold coins!”

”Donʼt worry, you wonʼt regret it.”

”I already am!” Jack uttered, but he still followed Penielʼs advice and bought them.

He felt that he should leave this shop now, or else his stock of coins would soon deplete. But he still asked the shopkeeper, ”where is the section for technique books?”

The shopkeeper smiled at him and took him to the place. He saw three rows of shelves, with several books on them. Jack looked at the books.

”Forget the upper two rows, they are for elite classes. You wonʼt be able to learn them even if you buy them,” Peniel said after observing the books.

He then looked at the one in the first row, there were four books there. He read the skill name on the books, Illumination, Holy Light, Sacred Luminance, and Mana Detonation.

”Only two spells are useful to you,” Peniel said. ”The Holy Light and Sacred Luminance are offensive spells for Healer class.”

The description on the book also indicated so. The Illumination could be learned by Magician basic class, while Mana Detonation was for Mage advanced class. Looking at the prices, Jack couldnʼt help but twitch. The Illumination cost 3 gold, while Mana Detonation was 5 gold coins.

But he knew as a magic user, the more spells he had, the more options he would have to cope with different situations. He gritted his teeth and bought the two technique books.

”With this shop around, doesnʼt this mean that magic classes can learn new spells as long as they have enough coins? And why do I not see that Entrapping Mana Claw Scarface had used before?” Jack asked Peniel.

”Magic association shop only sells spells that are considered general. That Entrapping Mana Claw was a rare spell, similar to your Sword of Light skill. You wonʼt find them being sold in any shop.”

”I see,” after paying for the two books, Jack only had 15 gold coins left in his bag. He was a little depressed by it. He decided to learn the two new spells immediately.

Illumination (Active Skill), level: 1/20

Create a source of light that follows the caster

Duration: 10 minutes

Mana: 20

Mana Detonation (Active Skill), level: 1/20

Deal 120% magic damage to a radius 5 meters area around caster, all enemies within the area are knocked back

Cooldown: 1 minute

Mana: 30

One drawback about having many spells though, was he would need more skill points to upgrade them. Luckily, he had the Container of Souls. During previous hunting quests, one trip had netted him over 900 souls. He had made four trips including the one this morning. Combined with his previous collected souls, he now had 4948 souls collected. The souls were still lacking to upgrade an advanced skill, but he could upgrade a basic skill four times.

This Illumination skill was a basic class skill, but he chose not to upgrade it. It was pretty much a useless skill for him. His Dragonʼs eye already allowed him to see in the dark, he didnʼt need this spell when going into a dark place. Maybe when he was in a party, then he could use this spell so the others did not need to carry a torch.

Mana Detonation was most likely a skill tailored for a Mage to escape from melee encirclement, which made this skill not especially useful for him as well. He preferred a melee brawl considering his main class was Warrior.

He chose to use the souls to upgrade 4 levels to his Energy Bolts. He remembered each four spell levels added an extra bolt to the spell. He would be able to shoot six bolts now.

Energy bolts (Active skill), level 12/20

Create 6 homing magic bolts that deals 128% magic damage each bolt

Range: 15 meters

Cooldown: 60 seconds cooldown

Mana: 26

”Eh? The mana cost had increased,” Jack uttered after reading the description on the upgraded spells.

”Of course, do you expect the mana consumption remains the same at all levels?” Peniel said. ”Most spells would increase in mana consumption after reaching certain levels.”

There were still some things inside the shop he had not seen, but he decided to leave the shop. He was afraid if he stayed longer, he would lose all the coins in his bag. He hoped that the next shop would be the shop that sold the Recording Stone. He couldnʼt afford to keep getting tempted to spend his coins.

Unfortunately, the next shop didnʼt sell Recording Stone. Fortunately, it sold only useless ornamental stuff, so his wallet was safe.

Inside the shop after that, he finally found the Recording Stones. It had three categories. The cheapest one at 20 silver could record an event for 10 minutes, a better one that could record 30 minutes cost 50 silver, the most expensive one at 80 silver could record 1 hour long. The nobles were really rich, all the wares in their shops were all expensive ones. Jack decided to buy one Recording Stone that could record 1 hour, and two that recorded for 30 minutes. He paid 1 gold and 80 silver coins for the stones.

After finished the transactions, he hurriedly walked back to the Noble Districtʼs entrance gate. He swore he would not go shopping in this district anymore before he had at least 50 gold coins!

😉