Two sets of throwing knives. Four smoke bombs. A five-meter-long metal wire. And exactly eight shards of mana stones—just enough to equal two proper mana stones.
That's all I could buy with my limited amount of coins.
Given the time, I won't be able to go to the fishing spot to advance on that optional event.
Not to mention, I still have to take the paperwork to the Green Tower to get a license for this cloak.
And the Green Tower is in the opposite direction of the fishing spot.
...
Of course, I ended up going to the Green Tower to get the cloak approved.
The Green Tower is one of the two places that regulate entry into the city for outsiders, the other being the Red Tower.
Towers, of course, seem to serve two purposes.
The Blue Tower is not only a prison but also the base for every member of the Golden Troupe.
From what Goldenlaw and Crowbell told me, the Yellow Tower oversees the sea around the southern and southeastern parts of the city and serves as a place where Aurum Academy graduates can seek higher and more advanced magical education.
Aside from overseeing the entrance of foreigners from the southwestern paths, the Green Tower also seems to be the main gathering point for adventurers.
The outside of the tower is filled with people of all ages, hanging around, waiting to be recruited into a team.
And when I say all ages, I mean it—some of those waiting to be recruited, or already part of a group, look even younger than me.
Scouts roam the area, trying to recruit adventurers for their guilds. Groups missing a single member wait anxiously to complete their party before heading into a dungeon.
The people working at the tower seem divided into two categories: those in brighter green uniforms check foreigners who want to enter the city, while those in darker green uniforms handle the adventurers.
I made my way through the crowd, carefully avoiding the talent scouts, and entered the tower.
I expected something a bit more... official inside the tower.
There are already plenty of bars around the tower—places to drink beer and maybe pick up some adventuring work. So seeing that the interior looked just like another bar made me sigh.
One thing that did surprise me was the presence of several students from Aurum Academy. None of them are first-years, of course—I'm the only one with permission to explore dungeons at this early point of the year.
Apparently, Agatha or someone from her group had already come here and selected a dungeon.
"Excuse me," I asked one of the workers, unsure who to speak to about getting the license. "I need to get a license for an artifact approved. Where can I—"
"Oh, that's on the fifteenth floor. There's probably a line up there of adventurers waiting to get their artifacts approved," the kind demi-human told me with a smile. I could see her dog tail wagging behind her.
"Uh… thank you!" I returned the smile and mentally prepared myself to climb all those stairs.
Fifteenth floor… It is a tower, after all.
By the time I reached the fourteenth floor, I saw a line stretching all the way to the stairs. At first, I hoped they were lining up for something else.
But once I entered the fifteenth floor and saw the door labeled Artifact License, I knew I was out of luck. That was definitely the line I needed.
With a tired sigh, I swallowed my disappointment and joined the line—on the staircase, between floors.
At first, I hoped that everyone would take only a minute or two. But of course, I should've learned by now that things rarely go my way the first time.
One person alone took more than twenty minutes inside.
"It could be a lot worse," I muttered, looking out a nearby window.
Given how high up I was, I had a good view of this part of the city.
Thanks to the presence of many high-ranking nobles in this area, the number of knights and guards was higher than usual.
Members of the Golden Troupe patrolled the streets, ensuring nothing went wrong on such an important day. Regular knights and adventurers were doing the same.
Speaking of regular knights—they belong to the Red Tower.
The difference between the Golden Troupe's knights and those from the Red Tower—besides the obvious power difference—is in their duties. Golden Troupe knights handle serious threats: protecting nobles, taking down dangerous mercenaries or bandits, and so on.
Red Tower knights, on the other hand, patrol the streets and help with things like lost pets.
Ten more people ahead of me?!
Well, at least that gives me time to think and plan.
For example: the next major event in Kaida's story.
This week is actually a big one, with two major plots in the game.
One is the survival test. A challenge where students are thrown into a designated area and tested on their ability to survive and steal important objectives from other students.
I can't do much about that one—it's divided by class, meaning Kaida and I will be taking the test in different locations and probably on different days, too.
As for the second event… I'm afraid my involvement may have messed it up.
Originally, today, Kaida and her group were supposed to be out in the city, where they'd witness a group of shady individuals lurking around.
That group would turn out to be spies from the Montanev Kingdom, meeting up with a ring of drug dealers.
This second event begins today and runs until next week. The survival test only happens on the fourth day of this week.
If the tournament shifted the timeline, Kaida might not get the chance to trigger the second event. And that could be a serious problem.
The drug in question is a substance that enhances perception—allowing the user to see mythical beings that have long since vanished from our plane of existence.
These beings are fairies.
They once emerged from a gate and lived alongside humans. But during the war against the Dragon God, every race began using fairies as mana generators, sucking out their mana until their body withered and died
After watching their people be used like batteries, the fairies abandoned their tangible bodies and became spirits. Over time, they became little more than a folk tale.
Despite fairies becoming a myth, their presence still affected this world tremendously.
The strong incantation for the wind infusion spell, for example, mention spirits being embedded into weapons.
As for the drug. It's called the Grandr Root Dust, or GRD.
The drug lets people see mana—meaning it enables them to see what were once fairies, now spirits since they abandkned their physical body, beings composed entirely of mana.
The game explains that the Montanev Kingdom wants to use the drug to trap and exploit them once again as sentient mana sources.
While the player, following Kaida's perspective, is supposed to stop the drug dealers and spies, a small amount of the drug still ends up in Montanev—just enough for them to trap the first fairy.
Given my knowledge of the game, I could leave a note on the Golden Troupe's base telling them about these spies.
The problem is that I know incomplete information.
Thanks to Kaida and her group intervining today, they change their hiding spot, which means that I have no idea were their current hiding spot is.
"Next!" One of the women working on this floor called out.
It seems enough time had passed and it was my turn to enter the room.
It sucks that I was interrupted out of my thoughts, but I guess I do have time to think kn what to do until that.
Once I entered, I was greeted by a hardened veteran, full of scars and enough muscle to know that he was a big shot adventurer in his time.
As for who he is today, he is Tentatrial Croma, a retired adventurer that decided to work helping the next generation.
But I won't let his appearance fool me. Despite his advanced age, he's still strong.
In the game, he is a solid A tier unit.
"An Aurum kid? Well, I'll be!" He began laughing out as I sat in front of him.
"So, kid. What kind of artifact you want licensed today?"
"This cloak" I put the cloak on the table.
One of his assistant stepped up and grabbed the cloak to begin a quick inspection.
"Where'd you find this, boy? It seems to be a high quality artifact... to good for someone like you to have, if you know what I mean"
I laughed awkwardly at his comment, internally debating whether I should talk about the original owner of the cloak.
"Uh, here... I was told to give you this"
I put all the papers given to me by both Goldenlaw and Lycree on the table.
The old man picked them up and began reading.
"Those two fully agreed to you keeping it!" I heard him mutter under raising breath with surprise.
He eyed me up and down a couple of times.
"How's the artifact behaving?"
"It rejects my mana, sir!" The assistant claimed as she handed the cloak to the old man.
"So, only you can use it. And both of those women trust you a lot..."