"What about the other potion?" Zane asked.
Lysana slowly removed the lid from the blue potion and smelled it. "Oh, I'd recognize this anywhere: a Mental Stimuli Potion. One sip and your mental energy will enter a peak state of activation for the next few hours, making the mind more focused and rested. Because long-term ingestion has no negative influence, it's a staple for most mages. I wouldn't have survived my exam days without it."
As Lysana spoke, she placed the blue potion into the detection machine.
"What's the price?"
"Yours is only a 0-tier potion, so the market price is 30 gold coins. I can give you 32 coins. Hmm? It seems this potion is the highest quality, which can last 6 hours. I can offer you 40 gold coins."
"Gold coin? Not magic crystal?"
"Mental Stimuli are the lowest tier of potion, oftentimes, the first potion apprentice potioneers learn. Some mages even joked that even mortals — I mean, non-magical individuals — can brew them. So, they are not that valuable."
"I still have 5 of these," Zane thought. Five potions mean 200 gold coins, $2000, or 2 magic crystals.
"Well?"
"I have five of them. I'll sell everything to you if you agree to give me 2 magic crystals."
"No, my small shop can't bear the loss," Lysana shook her head. Only official businesses established by the tower have enough resources to sell in earth currency or use the normal exchange rate of gold and magic crystals. Magic crystals — even low-grade ones — are rare, and Lysana still uses them, even though 1-3 circles Mages mostly use high-grade ones. It can't be helped; she's only an above-mediocre mage who is still suffering from poverty.
"Then, forget it," Zane stated. The things he wanted to buy would still be out of his grasp had she agreed to his conditions. Since she didn't, he chose to keep the potion for his own use. The effects were wonderful, and it may come to his advantage if he uses it during the upcoming class.
"What a shame," Lysana nodded. "Do you have anything else?"
"No," Zane shook his head. He was about to ask her about the class registration when he felt his mother's amulet wriggle around his neck due to his movement. Slowly removing it and showing it to Lysana, he asked: "Can you tell if this is valuable?"
"An enchanted item?" Lysana asked as she used her magical magnifying glass to observe. "It's indeed a magical item. The body is created from an unknown magical wood, and the enchantment is from a quite powerful Shaman. I can't recognize the runes. Did you get this from your shift?"
"It's an item from Earth."
"So, the rumors were true," Lysana nodded; she had heard this newly discovered dimension used to have its own magical civilization. Unfortunately, her status was not high enough to confirm these rumors.
After observing the enchanted item for a while, Lysana shook her head before handing it back. "I don't know enough about shamanism to determine the item's function or value. However, if you insist on selling, I recommend finding a collector or a dimensional anthropologist; these guys are rich and would fight for any items from Earth. However, you should be careful. If this thing lands in the wrong hands, they might use it to calculate Earth's dimension coordinate."
"Forget it." Zane never intended to sell it; he just wanted to confirm whether it was magical. However, after hearing her warning, he was now concerned that other people might find Earth's coordinates. Their current situation was because Demon Lord Shakurri "discovered" Earth.
Zane asked Lysana about the effect of other dimensions discovering the coordinate, and she explained how their presence would complicate the tower's training program and might make things worse. Luckily, it's the tower's job to keep Earth's coordinates safe from foreign detection, so they should be fine for now. Lysana didn't know much about the topic, so Zane didn't insist. Next, he asked how to register for his class.
"There is a big white posting board in the middle of the plaza; you can't miss it if you try," Lysana replied. "Go look it up and memorize the content; it contains a map that can help you navigate this place."
"Thank you."
"No problem, and come back again. My store offers the best prices for low-grade goods."
"I will," Zane nodded. Assuming she did not rip him off, he was willing to become a regular customer — not only for the prices but also for Lysana's information and knowledge. More importantly, he was intrigued by her status. It's obvious she's not one of the staff in charge of the training program, but it's also apparent she's a member of the tower. Did that mean the tower had regular members? How are they recruited? What's their purpose? He wanted to know, so establishing a friendship might be a good idea.
As Lysana stated, the posting board was impossible to miss. After being mesmerized by how large this plaza was, Zane memorized the map before leaving. "I pity any trainee who is directionally challenged," he thought as he headed to the Dragon Fire Bank. As the official asset of the tower, the bank's sign was similar to the crest found on the back of the gold coin, making it impossible for Zane to make a mistake.
The process was fast and smooth. The banker — a humanoid lizard — spoke in a kind, soothing voice. With their help (Zane couldn't tell the gender), he created an account using his soul crest as identification. After receiving his bank card and instructions on how to utilize it — including through the DT Corporation — Zane handed three magic crystals, a secure Earth bank account, and the process finished in less than 10 minutes.
"Would you like to exchange gold coins or magic crystals for banknotes? We guarantee you can retrieve the genuine thing at any time and at any of our branches — including the DT Company on Earth."
"I was wondering whether mages carried heavy bags of gold and magic crystal with them," Zane pondered.
"No, thank you." He had no gold, and the remaining crystal was for tonight's meditation. After politely saying goodbye, Zane headed to the Red Flame Academy to register. The school looked humongous, and Zane wanted nothing more than to rush to the library. Unfortunately, for now, his access seemed limited to the registration house, which was a building located 50 meters east of the entrance.
There was a small line, so Zane put on his hoodie and waited. Twenty minutes later, he met a human female mage with a 3-star badge who helped him register for his class. With calm efficiency, she instructed him to come to the orientation in the Mage Department in the eastern part of the school three days later, on August 5th at 8 AM, before asking him to step out of line for the person behind.
"What to do next?" Zane thought. The plaza was too vast and had many things to do. "How about checking out the hunting guild?" Lysana told him the best way to make money in his current state is through the guild, so Zane decided to check things out. The guild was a tall building about 6 miles from the school, and with periodic usage of the mana channeling, Zane arrived in just a few minutes.
As he stood in front of the guild with the name [Dragon Scale Hunting Guild], his lips couldn't help but twitch. He had noticed every official department, asset, or business of the tower used names associated with three things: the color red, the dragon, or the flame. It didn't take a genius to understand why. Lord Drakken is the one in charge. His last name — Ignasol — means [Ruler of Flame] in Gremorian, and he has horns and lizard-like eyes.
"How narcissistic. Is this how all dragons are?" Zane thought as he walked inside. A rowdy and cluttered chatter instantly hit Zane's earlobes. Numerous individuals of different races, dressed in armor and magic robes, sat at different tables, drinking, talking, and celebrating. For a moment, he thought he had entered a tavern, and after seeing a group of women in corsets carrying trays, he guessed this was indeed a tavern.
Zane was soon drawn to a loud group of 20 people in the middle of the room, with 15 surrounding a group of 5. He recognized a few earthlings based on their clothes, but he did not approach. Instead, he calmly listened to the surrounding conversation — especially the loud ones. At first, he thought they were talking about some secret or gossip, but it was just a group of people bragging about having hunted a creature called a drake. Although he was new to magic and was quite ignorant, Zane could tell that the group of five had embellished a lot of things.
"Do you need help?"
"You are?" Zane asked, glancing at this female elf, or so he thought. Her ears were pointy, but not long enough compared to what the other elves had seen.
"Elvira Cloudsprout, a guild's receptionist."
Zane looked at her, a puzzled expression on her face.
"Are you wondering why I'm dressed in such a modern way?" Elvira asked. Her black skirt, white shirt, and black blazer did scream something out of the modern era; without her pointy ears, anyone who laid eyes on her would have thought she was a typical Caucasian woman trying to survive the corporate life.
"Can you read minds?" Zane asked, his body taking a half step back.
"No, but I can read body language," Elvira replied.
Zane felt reassured, but still on guard. He would not rule out the existence of mind magic. "Why are you dressed like this? Is it because of Earth?"
"No, I just enjoy Earth's fashion," Elvira smiled as she walked behind the register. "I want to be a fashion designer, and signing up for this mission means access to new designs, fabrics, and even ideologies."
"Interesting. It seems the ability to travel to countless dimensions broadens the scope of any profession," Zane commented. Lysana once mentioned that dimensional anthropologists desired Earth's artifacts, and now Elvira — the fashion designer — spoke of gaining access to Earth's culture.