Mages Guild Branch: Purchasing Magic Scrolls

At dusk, a cool breeze drifted in through the window.

Tang Zheng, who had fallen asleep on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up.

Whoosh~

"Did I have a nightmare?"

Tang Zheng raised a hand and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. After letting out a breath, he muttered softly to himself.

He had dreamed of Ainz Ooal Gown standing right in front of him, staring at him coldly with a pair of scarlet eyes!

"Damn it!"

Tang Zheng bared his teeth and cursed under his breath.

Ainz Ooal Gown was a transmigrator, and so was Tang Zheng. Ainz Ooal Gown was a Player, and so was Tang Zheng!

"So why should I be afraid of you?" Tang Zheng took a deep breath, then slapped his cheeks to clear his head before getting out of bed and looking outside the window.

The sky outside had already darkened.

Tang Zheng walked over to the guest room window and pushed it open. Cool air poured into the room, dispersing much of his irritability.

He had not expected to sleep all the way until evening.

The small inn was a two-story European-style building. His room was on the second floor, and through the window he could see a narrow alley directly below as well as the neighboring streets.

There were several wooden railings outside the window, joined together and extending outward. They looked rather old and clearly were not very sturdy.

A Thief with even a little skill could easily use the walls on either side of the alley to climb up to the second floor.

Tang Zheng took a look, shook his head lightly, and closed the window again.

An inn like this could not really keep any Thieves out.

Tang Zheng washed his face to freshen himself up, then left the guest room.

On the street.

Compared with the daytime, there were noticeably fewer people. Only groups dressed like Adventurers and carrying weapons strolled leisurely along the street.

Tang Zheng had already asked the innkeeper about the locations of nearby shops selling various goods.

He first went to a clothing shop.

The clothes Tang Zheng was wearing had already been on him for more than ten days and had long since developed a sour smell. He would also need to prepare a few extra outfits before heading to the Great Forest of Tob.

When he came out of the shop.

Tang Zheng was carrying a fully packed bundle in one hand and wearing a Black robe that covered his entire body.

He had spent a total of three silver coins.

The most expensive item was the Black robe he was wearing, which had cost one silver coin and seven coppers. The other clothes packed in the bundle were cheap, coarse linen garments like the ones Tang Zheng had been wearing before.

The reason he had bought the better-quality Black robe.

Was that Tang Zheng was about to visit the Mages Guild. It clearly would not be appropriate to look too shabby while going there to buy things.

Within the Kingdom, every major city had a branch of the Adventurer Guild and the Mages Guild.

However!

Unlike the Mages Guild headquarters in the Royal City, the branches in other cities did not have much responsibility for cultivating Mana-based Magic Casters.

Whenever someone with talent as a Mana-based Magic Caster appeared, the Mages Guild Branch in that city would send them to the headquarters in the Royal City for training.

The reason this situation existed was naturally a lack of money!

The Re-Estize Kingdom had fairly traditional customs, and the country's upper ranks did not attach much importance to the Mages Guild. As a result, the Mages Guild could hardly obtain any financial assistance from them.

Therefore!

The Mages Guild Branches in the various cities became places dedicated to producing and selling magic items and Magic Scrolls.

The Mages Guild here was a plain-looking, three-story building. If Tang Zheng had not specifically asked a passerby for directions, he probably would never have guessed that this was the Mages Guild Branch.

It was completely different from the bustling Adventurer Guild. The place was exceptionally quiet.

There were not even any guards at the entrance.

But that made sense. There probably was not anyone bold enough to force their way into the Mages Guild.

Tang Zheng arrived in front of the dark-brown wooden door and was just about to raise his hand to push it open.

Ding~

The faint sound of a bell came from above the left side of the wooden door.

Tang Zheng looked up and noticed that a fist-sized bell was hanging above the dark-brown wooden door.

A faint reddish glow could occasionally be seen appearing on the bell.

A magic item?

That thought flashed through Tang Zheng's mind.

Click!

The dark-brown wooden door opened by itself.

So that's how it worked.

A trace of understanding flashed through Tang Zheng's eyes. It was quite convenient, but that bell magic item probably had more than such a simple function.

Thinking this.

Tang Zheng stepped into the Mages Guild. Soft light streamed through the gap in the door, and the interior of the Guild was exceptionally bright.

Compared with the rugged, simple Adventurer Guild, the inside of the Mages Guild was worlds apart from its plain exterior.

The entire hall was decorated primarily in red and Black. The surrounding walls were completely covered with red wooden panels, while only the sections near the floor had been dyed Black.

The hall did not look very large, probably less than a hundred square meters.

From the exterior, the building appeared to have considerably more space. The interior had clearly been divided by partitions.

Six wall lamps hung on each of the left and right walls. Above was a cylindrical chandelier that emitted a soft white glow, illuminating the entire hall.

At that moment.

Perhaps because it was evening, there were not many people inside the Mages Guild.

Only two middle-aged men wearing robes sat behind the counter. One was resting his chin on his hand and dozing, not even opening his eyes when Tang Zheng arrived.

The other was somewhat younger.

He had already looked over when Tang Zheng entered the hall of the Mages Guild.

"I'd like to buy some Magic Scrolls." Tang Zheng walked over and spoke softly.

Unlike magic items, which were expensive and often cost around 1,000 gold coins, Magic Scrolls were consumables. Since their production methods were relatively well developed, their prices were not particularly high.

But precisely because they were consumables!

Even Adventurers who had a little money would not purchase them casually.

"My name is Vala. What kind of Magic Scrolls do you need?"

The younger Mage named Vala looked Tang Zheng up and down, his tone carrying a hint of laziness.

Pure Black hair was fairly uncommon.

"Is there a catalog? I'd like to take a look." Tang Zheng bowed slightly and spoke somewhat awkwardly.

Bang!

As if he had expected this, Vala casually pulled a thin booklet from below and placed it on the table before drifting off again.

Faced with that attitude.

Tang Zheng did not mind. Instead, he picked up the booklet from the table and began flipping through it with slight embarrassment. He had forgotten that he actually could not read the writing of this world.

The first thing that entered his sight was an introduction to 0th Tier Magic Scrolls.

Tang Zheng's embarrassment eased at once. There were pictures inside, so even without recognizing the words, he could determine a scroll's function from its image.

There were more 0th Tier scrolls than he had imagined.

For example, there were 0th Tier Magic Scrolls such as Ignite, Everlasting Light, and Cleaning. They were entirely for daily life and had no offensive power whatsoever. To Adventurers, these 0th Tier spells were also largely dispensable.

He had heard someone from the Rock team mention it.

When some merchant caravans or nobles traveled, they would often carry a few 0th Tier Magic Scrolls to improve the quality of their journeys.

Tang Zheng searched through the booklet and quickly found the 0th Tier Paper Making spell.

However, he did not immediately speak up to purchase it. Instead, he continued flipping through the booklet. Next came the 1st Tier spells.

The number suddenly dropped considerably, but both their practicality and their effects had greatly improved!

"Repair (1st Tier)": Repairs damaged objects.

"Odorless (1st Tier)": Removes one's own scent.

"Floating Board (1st Tier)": Creates a semitransparent floating board to carry objects.

"Magic Arrow (1st Tier)": Releases three magic arrows to attack.

Looking at the information in the booklet, Tang Zheng saw that there were very few offensive Magic Scrolls—only three in total. Most of the others were for support.

Hm?

Tang Zheng flipped to the final page and found that there was nothing else.

Were there no 2nd Tier Magic Scrolls?

Tang Zheng was briefly stunned. If he remembered correctly, given the scroll-making techniques possessed by the humans of the New World, they should have been capable of producing 3rd Tier Magic Scrolls.

Moreover, the Slane Theocracy even possessed the incomparably precious techniques for producing 4th Tier Magic Scrolls!

Even to the Mages Guild, 3rd Tier Magic Scrolls should be relatively precious resources, but 2nd Tier scrolls should not be considered that valuable.

So.

It was not that they did not exist, but that they were not sold to the public?

Or perhaps ordinary buyers were not qualified to purchase them?