As soon as Zane touched the staff, he felt a strange feeling; his mind seemed to have achieved a level of focus unlike anything he had experienced before. All the energies in his body seemed easy to manipulate as if they were a part of him — as if they were another limb.
"A wonderful feeling, isn't it?" Lysana smiled. "Magic staff or Arcane Focus boosts a mage's mental energy, which in turn, drastically increases their control over mana. For apprentices such as you, the boost allows you to engrave spell models without the use of your hands."
"Really?" Without waiting for an answer, Zane tried it. Pointing the staff forward, mana traveled directly from his body and was injected outward in the air through the tip of the staff. Sensing the connection between his mental energy and mana, Zane started engraving a magic circle with his mind, with no hand engraving required. A few seconds later, the incantation ended, and a Mana Shield materialized in front of him.
"It's true," he muttered.
"Mana Shield?" Lysana asked. "Such swift and effortless casting — you must be quite the talent."
"Am I?" Zane replied. Without any reference to compare with, he couldn't tell whether he was talented or not. However, his focus was not on Lysana's words; he wanted to know how fast he could currently cast. The previous record after more than a day of practicing mana channeling was 3.54 seconds.
"About 3.34 seconds," Zane calculated in his mind. "If not for the pesky incantation, I could probably reach less than 2 seconds."
"You're in luck. Wordless Casting is one of the easiest magical skills to learn, and the tower will probably teach it for free."
"Wordless? That would be great," Zane thought with a smile on the corner of his lips. Although it may not be the same as instant casting, the ability to skip the incantations will be a tremendous assurance to his safety.
"By the way, can an apprentice learn to instant cast?"
"Yes," Lysana nodded. "Magic Skills are the mark of a truly powerful Battle Mage. But even if you're not one, as long as you become a 1-ring Mage, your mental energy is enough to instant cast all spells one tier below your level after a bit of practice. That's true for every tier."
Zane's eyes shone with a great brilliance. Zero-circle spell might be the weakest, but every one of them is enough to take on a small squad of well-trained military soldiers. Not to mention that after becoming a 2-circle Mage, Zane will be able to instant cast 1-circle spells, which he assumes are even more potent. "No wonder Mages are so powerful," he thought.
"I'll take the staff."
"Wonderful," Lysana smiled. "That will be 16 mana crystals."
Zane's lips twitched. One minute, he was celebrating the fact that his bank account went up by 20K, and the next, he had to spend more than two-thirds of it. Sighing deeply, he handed her the money. With the staff, there should be more opportunities to make money.
"You still have 4 crystals left, right?"
"What are you trying to do?" Zane asked, moving his almost empty bag away from her.
"How about I give you another discount? See that Communication Orb over there? Give 4 crystals, and it's yours."
"Communication orb? Is this the version of a magical cellphone?"
"Yes, but it doesn't rely on a satellite or cellphone towers. And this one is the lowest quality one, only capable of sending messages over 100 kilometers."
"No tower? Then, how does it work?"
"I don't know. Probably a Divination Spell," Lysana shrugged. "Are you buying or not?"
"Not now," Zane shook his head. Such a tool would be perfect for the shifts and to hide his tracks in the modern world. After all, no matter how good a hacker he is, there is still a chance of being discovered. However, if he uses magical communication for his upcoming shady activities, many things will be much easier.
"Miser," Lysana muttered under her breath, or so she thought. Zane ignored her comment as he had already planned for the remaining 4 crystals. As soon as he leaves this place, Zane will head to the exchange offices to receive $3,000, two-thirds of which he will use to reclaim his car from Juan, and the rest to keep him afloat until he makes his next pot of gold.
"Well, customer, you're welcome to visit Mandigus All-Purpose Shop any time during business hours. We offer a variety of cheap and affordable products."
Zane nodded. Since the owner or seller has already hinted that he should leave, he would not delay her business. However, as he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something: "Could you help me identify these two potions?"
Lysana took the two transparent bottles, containing one blue and one green potion. Removing the lid on the green potion, she sniffed. "Feels familiar," she commented. Zane frowned before his eyes shone with excitement. As soon as the potion's smell spread, his nose activated, and he immediately identified 12 different odors.
"Can I identify the materials of a potion through smell? If that is so, then this title is far from useless as I believed," Zane thought excitedly. However, his expression remained calm and composed, not showing a hint of his emotions. Meanwhile, Lysana placed the potion in a box or machine that resembled a centrifuge. After muttering an incantation and injecting mana, her expression suddenly changed:
"An Astral Guide Potion? How can you have such a thing?"
"So, it's valuable?"
"More than that, it's in high demand. The official price for this potion is 250 mana crystal, but no one can buy it for such a price," Lysana said. "Astral Guide Potions require extremely skilled or high-level Potion Masters. Due to its difficulty, only a small quantity is sold out; most people can only use their connection to ask a potionist to refine it. And when they are sold, the price is usually between 400 and 600 mana crystals. At an auction, it may even reach 1000 mana crystals."
Zane stood planting in the ground, mouth wide open. One thousand crystals were the equivalent of 1,000,000 US dollars. The idea that he had such wealth — no, it was more than that, since he had 4 of them — was mind-boggling. After so many years of suffering and financial turmoil, it was hard for him to conceptualize.
"What's the effect?" Zane asked after calming himself down.
"It's a way to aid and accelerate the mastery of knowledge and skills," Lysana replied, not hiding her envy. "Once you drink it, your soul will enter a protected area of the Astral Realm, and the perfect teacher will manifest to assist you. The manifested teacher will know your progress and teach you based on your aptitude, personality, and mode of thinking."
Zane couldn't help but remember Lucy. Learning has never been an issue with him, but now that he thought of it, the entire experience felt easy, smooth, and effortless. "What's the Astral Realm? Is it —"
"Don't worry about it. How did you get this potion?"
Zane hesitated briefly before explaining what he experienced learning the Gremorian Language. Of course, he did not reveal that he still had 4 potions left. Although this plaza probably has rules, what if this shopkeeper is tempted?
"You didn't just get a Language Potion?"
"I thought only knights and warriors received them."
Lysana sighed; her envy intensified. Zane might not know the resources involved, but she was as ignorant as him. The Gremorian Language is connected to runes; the language was created from the analysis of runes, or runes were created from it — Lysana doesn't know exactly. What she does know is that the deeper a mage's mastery of Gremorian is, the easier it will be for them to learn and master Rune Theory.
From Zane's experience, she realized the tower not only gave him the Astral Guide Potion, but they even granted him a Gremorian Language Inheritance Book, establishing the perfect foundation for him to learn runes and become a top-class mage.
"The reward is based on your performance in the first shift," Lysana explained. " Ordinary performance received the lowest Language Potion, which is just enough to understand and converse. Extraordinary Performance received a High Language Potion, which is crucial to reading complex magical books or battle techniques.
"Meanwhile, High Performers received an Inheritance Book, and apparently, Astral Guide Potions as well."
Zane squinted. He was not surprised that the Dimension Tower was observing everybody and was even grading the trainee's performance. If they didn't do that, how could they determine the five spots? The true value of Lysana's words is that his performance had garnered the attention of the tower's executive.
As he remembered his action in the first shift, he understood why he was rated so highly. After all, he had eradicated an entire goblin village and killed a shaman priestess. It seems that whatever criteria the tower is judging everybody by, Zane's actions were considered among the best. Then, there is Ricardo.
"Based on how he spoke, I don't think he performed well in the first shift. However, based on what he did in the second, he'll probably receive an extraordinary performance," Zane thought.
"How much can you offer me for the potion?"
Lysana looked at the green bottle. "I wouldn't sell it if I were you."
"Oh?"
"As a civilization under threat of invasion, you have a short window to improve yourself. If you use this potion wisely, you have a higher chance of survival."
Zane hesitated. On one hand, there was the opportunity to swiftly learn a magic skill such as [Instant Casting] through the astral guide. On the other hand, this was an opportunity to instantly become a millionaire. "I can do so much with that money: improve my life, start a business, help mama and Alisha — not to mention the resources for magic training."
The urge to immediately sell the portion was overwhelming. For a few seconds, Zane opened his mouth and shut it, unable to decide. "Even if I don't sell all of them, I can sell one, right? No, one potion doesn't equal mastering four different skills. I may need all four of them." Only after drinking 3 potions did he finally learn everything he needed to from Miss Lucy.
Zane was truly in a dilemma. After suffering for six years, the prospect of escaping his poverty was too tempting. However, he soon realized he was about to make a decision driven by emotions and desires. So he closed his eyes and exhaled, repeating the process more than 5 times. Once he had calmed himself, he reviewed his decision with a more logical mind.
"In the short term, selling is the best option. It can immediately solve most of my problems. However, in the long term, keeping it is the best option. With the potion, I can learn instant casting and hunt magical beasts to make money. Or better yet, I can become a potion maker and learn how to brew the Astral Guide Potion. With such ability, making money will be as easy as breathing."
Zane opened his eyes.
"It seems you've made your choice."
"Thank you for reminding me," Zane nodded before putting the potion away.
Lysana smiled. Just the fact that he was able to resist such temptation showed how extraordinary Zane was. "Maybe he can survive after all."