The July heat in Emeraldwood City was especially stifling. The sky hovered between clear and overcast, as if a heavy rain might fall at any moment.
Giggs and Leona walked silently along the roadside after leaving the Black Ring Assembly. Beads of sweat quickly formed on their foreheads.
"Where are we going next, Giggs?" Leona asked after a while, his tone weary and discouraged.
They had gone through every task posted at the Black Ring Assembly, but still hadn't found anything suitable.
There simply weren't many commissions that ordinary people without supernatural abilities could take on.
"We could try finding a job instead of taking commissions," Giggs said, wiping sweat from his brow.
"A job…" Leona nodded, then asked, "But where would we even look for one?"
Giggs paused, visibly stumped. He furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before replying, somewhat uncertainly,
"Maybe we can check with the nearby shops and see if any of them are hiring."
Leona nodded again and let out a breath. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he said, "I wonder how Ant is doing."
"No idea," Giggs replied. "Maybe we can swing by in the evening and talk to him about the rent."
Leona agreed. "If Lynn's there too, let's call him out while we're at it."
Giggs gave a small nod in response, then suddenly came to a stop.
A familiar figure had just appeared at the street corner ahead.
"You guys okay?"
Ant looked at the two of them in surprise, then stormed over, visibly agitated.
"Where's Lynn?" he demanded.
Leona replied softly, "He didn't come with us. He went to"
"He just left you behind?"
"No, it's not like that…" Leona started to explain, but Ant clapped a hand on his shoulder and continued, cutting him off.
"Forget that. Listen, I begged Senior Dor again yesterday. Guess what? Lord Charlie finally agreed to lower my rent. Not by much, only two silver wolves, but it's still cheaper than the usual 20 silver wolves elsewhere.
"You guys want to move in, too? I can go back and ask Lord Charlie if he'll cut you a deal as well.
"Of course, that doesn't include Lynn.
"Not unless he apologizes to me first."
"Uh…" Leona opened his mouth, exchanged a glance with Giggs, then began explaining everything to Ant.
Above them, summer cicadas chirped noisily. The humid air weighed heavily on the three of them.
"...Only 8 silver wolves?"
Ant muttered in a daze, his face clouded with disbelief.
He looked at Leona, searching his expression for any hint of deception.
"You're not messing with me, are you, Leona?"
Leona shrugged. "Giggs can vouch for me. Lynn's the one who helped us find that place."
Giggs nodded lightly. "Lynn was right, Ant. You got played by Dor."
Ant lowered his head, his face shifting through a mix of emotions.
No wonder Dor vanished the moment they signed the lease yesterday…
Wiping the sweat from his brow, he looked up and asked, somewhat aggrieved,
"Why didn't you warn me a little more back then?"
"Because we weren't sure, Ant," Giggs explained.
"No one knew if Dor was telling the truth about other places charging 20 silver wolves.
"We did take a gamble walking away at that point… and we just happened to guess right."
Ant fell silent.
He couldn't argue with that. But after a moment's thought, he pressed further:
"Then what about Lynn? He sounded so certain. He had to know. Why didn't he warn me?"
"Ant, he didn't know. None of us did…" Leona said gently.
"And I did try to warn you. But you were the one who chose to stay."
Giggs looked Ant in the eyes and suddenly spoke in a low, steady voice.
"You've got no reason to blame Lynn, Ant. He didn't do anything wrong. Besides, we've all been friends for nine years now; this is just a small matter."
Ant's lips parted slightly, as if the strength had drained from his body. He gave a weak nod and muttered,
"…You're right, Giggs."
"But don't you feel like Lynn's a little different from before?" Leona suddenly chimed in, a trace of confusion in his eyes.
"He's always been quiet and brooding, but before, you could tell that was just because he was timid by nature.
"But now… he's still quiet, sure, but instead of gloomy, he comes off as composed. And way more mature."
Ant nodded repeatedly. He recalled Lynn's calm expression from yesterday when Lynn had ignored him, and though it made him uncomfortable, he still agreed:
"Lynn has changed."
Giggs shook his head. "It's probably just because he left the academy.
"You've both changed, too, haven't you?"
After a brief pause, Giggs added,
"…You thinking of moving in, Ant? We still have a few empty rooms."
"…Let me think about it."
…
…
Meanwhile, after spending a full thirty silver wolves, Lynn had just about finished researching the market prices for crystal spell plates.
He'd never noticed it while he was still part of the academy.
But in reality, almost every shop in Emeraldwood City that dealt in magical items, even the more modest ones, charged an entrance fee to ordinary people, though the prices varied from place to place.
Back to the matter at hand. Of the seven types of crystal spell plates listed in the book, five were cantrips:
Ignition, Gentle Breeze, Light, Soundproofing, and Echo.
Cantrips were low-level, low-impact spells so simple that even a newly promoted third-rank apprentice could learn to use them with just a few days of practice.
The more formal name was Zero-Ring Lesser Spells.
Among these five, the Gentle Breeze and Light plates were by far the best sellers.
The former was mostly used for cleaning, and when paired with an unlisted cantrip called Drizzle, it could even be used for bathing.
The latter served as a light source; its effectiveness rivaled that of incandescent bulbs from Lynn's previous life.
The remaining two spell plates corresponded to:
A Zero-Ring Lesser Healing spell for minor injuries
A Zero-Ring Intermediate spell: Mind Shock
Both were popular, but in terms of profit margins, nothing beat the crystal plate for Mind Shock.
"The Mind Shock plate uses white crystal as its base material; even a low-grade piece will do," Lynn noted.
"Roughly one gold dragon's worth of raw material can make two plates.
And each plate sells for no less than 1.5 gold dragons!"
That meant, if Lynn had a 100% crafting success rate, each plate could earn him a full gold dragon in profit.
At a pace of one plate per day, that would be 30 gold dragons a month, or 3 lesser magic stones.
Even if he used one to pay off his debt to the academy, he'd still have 25 gold dragons left over.
Of course, that's all assuming a perfect success rate,
Lynn reminded himself, though his mood eased slightly.
At least now, he could see a glimmer of hope.
He continued browsing the market when a sudden argument erupted from a nearby stall.
"This is a top-tier sword-staff! The blade's just got a small chip, but it's still worth at least one gold dragon. You wanna buy, fine. If not, move along, don't scare off real customers!"
The image of Charlie pulling a dagger on him yesterday flashed through Lynn's mind.
A thought struck him:
The foot of the mountain isn't like the top.
Maybe I should get myself a weapon for protection.
With that in mind, Lynn bypassed the shouting vendor and made his way to a budget weapons shop.
He had no intention of buying the sword-staff mentioned earlier; he couldn't afford a chipped weapon priced at a full gold dragon anyway.
A few minutes later, he left the shop with a short crossguard dagger, no longer than his forearm. It had cost him 25 silver wolves. He tucked it securely against his body, then headed back to his rented shack.
As for why he didn't buy any crystals first, he didn't have enough money with him; second, he figured it'd be smarter to confirm his Insight ability worked properly before making any big purchases.
When he passed by the Greenwater River near home,
A commotion broke out from a narrow alley ahead.
Shouts of pleading mixed with the dull, heavy thuds of clubs beating against flesh.
Lynn slowed briefly, tightened his grip on the coin pouch at his chest, and quickly circled the alley.
Emeraldwood City might have laws, but there were no surveillance systems. Unless the case was extremely serious, mages rarely got involved. The crime clearance rate here was abysmal.
If a regular person got mugged, they usually just had to suck it up.
Back at the shack, Lynn closed the door and put away the food and cooking utensils he'd bought.
Then he took out his only lesser magic stone and chose to absorb it.
Under the effect of his Insight ability, the magic stone in his hand began to dim as the World Energy within it flowed into him.
Soon, the stone crumbled to dust.
The "World Energy" field on his status screen ticked up by 1 exactly as expected.
Lynn got up and paced for a while, then sat cross-legged on his bed for a long time. Finally, he took a deep breath, pulled out the pale green book, and flipped to the page detailing the Mind Shock crystal plate.
This time, he didn't hesitate; he activated his Insight ability!