Book Hunting

The bald old man before him, who clearly exuded a sense of age, was, in Saine's perception, a Advanced Apprentice.

Even when Formal Magician like Saine visited his small shop, the old man didn't get up to greet him.

Instead, he remained seated on the bamboo chair in his shop, his eyes filled with whites that barely revealed their black pupils, staring as Saine walked into his shop.

The bald old man was quite interesting, and Saine didn't mind his indifference, instead wandering around his shop on his own.

This dilapidated little shop, located in the southwest of the port city of Jimos and in a very poor location, looks like it has no business.

There was obvious dust and stains in every corner of the store.

Whether it was due to old age or the depletion of his Magic Power, the old man showed no intention whatsoever of repairing or cleaning his shop.

However, although the shop was a bit run-down, after wandering around for most of the time, Saine still found quite a few things that interested him.

Saine didn't touch the magical materials in the shop; they were all filthy and had a distinct musty smell.

It's estimated that all the Element Power inside has been lost, so what use would Saine have for them?

However, it was the yellowed books, clearly showing signs of age, displayed on the shelves inside the shop that really piqued Saine's interest.

These Magic Book are of unknown origin; some are signed, while others don't even have an author's name.

Furthermore, not all books are magic books; many of them are even diaries casually recorded by Mage or magic apprentices.

For example, in a small, gray notebook, no bigger than the palm of his hand and without any description, Saine saw the following:

On May 23, the 173rd flesh-and-blood synthesis experiment...

The test subject was particularly active today, probably because of the mixed magic essence I injected it with yesterday evening...

Master Apula's theories on Corpse Refinement Synthetic Beast and Life Science are far too profound and obscure. I don't know if this little tumor, named "Enigma-1," can be considered a life, a life I created...

It succeeded... no, it failed... this thing is not life.

It is just a collection of cells that can only divide and reproduce on its own; it has no consciousness!

This little notebook was filled with all sorts of information.

However, this notebook must be quite old, and despite the passage of time, it has not been properly maintained or repaired.

Many of the characters had become so illegible that some of the content required Saine to guess.

No wonder this bald old man's shop isn't doing well. Magic Books like these, with their limited content and even dubious accuracy, are only of interest to magic apprentices in the Underdark who have little access to resources and channels.

In other regions, any Mage with a certain historical lineage and organizational foundation wouldn't even give it a second glance. →

Because books of dubious origin, and whose authors themselves may only have a vague understanding of them, can easily lead readers astray if they delve too deeply into them.

However, Saine himself was quite interested in this kind of magical diary.

He wasn't interested in the diaries and experimental information recorded in these notebooks, but rather in the books about Undead Element, life modification, and the Corpse Refinement Synthetic Beast that were commonly found in the shop.

Rather than calling it a run-down little shop, it's more like a haunted house for the dead.

All the books in the shop are intricately connected to Undead Element.

So much so that Saine couldn't help but suspect that the owner of this shop was probably connected to a master of Death Element, or even a Holy Tower with death attributes.

The latter is more likely, because the content of the books here is quite diverse and doesn't seem to be from the same master.

Turning his head again to look at the bald old man, a pale white shadow suddenly flashed past from the roof beam directly above the old man.

The other party seemed somewhat afraid of Saine and refused to come out.

"Heh, Jimos Harbor allows the keeping of ghosts within the city limits?"

"I've heard that this kind of creature, along with other undead creatures, is absolutely forbidden from appearing in any human settlement in the Wizard World," Saine said with a light laugh.

Faced with Saine's laughter, the bald old man finally uttered his first words since Saine entered the small shop.

He opened his mouth, revealing the few yellow teeth he had left, and said in a very hoarse and dry voice, "My family has served the Death Holy Tower for more than ten generations. In my generation, there is no successor, so I chose to move to this scenic port city."

"Although my family is of low status and I myself have not broken through to the first level, the city lord still gave me some face."

"Monasha is just a child who doesn't understand anything. It doesn't even have a fully developed mind, so of course it can't harm people. It's my only support now. The city lord and the law enforcement team in the harbor know about its existence."

The bald old man's voice was harsh and grating, like rusty iron sheets rubbing against each other.

Upon hearing this, Saine nodded. The old man and the little ghost were both below level one in Life Level, while the highest combat power in the Jimos Harbor was likely at level three.

With such a powerful figure in charge, they really can't cause any trouble.

"You mean, these Magic Books all come from the Death Holy Tower?" Saine looked around and asked casually.

The bald old man nodded and replied, "These are all collected by me and my ancestors. They are usually 'trash' that nobody wants, but there are always people who are interested in them."

Saine stroked his chin and walked around the shop for a bit.

Finally, he seemed to have discovered something. After saying "Huh?", he found a Magic Book with a black cover and no title in a corner at the bottom of a bookshelf.

Opening the black Magic Book, Saine saw a line of text: On the compatibility of death and Summoning Element magic - Rogge.

In the end, Saine bought about twenty books in this gloomy, dark little magic shop.

These books were very cheap; for Saine, they were practically free.

This bald old man had no descendants; his only companion was that ghost.

I reckon the money I made from selling books was all used to feed that ghost. How many Magic Coin could you possibly use to raise a regular ghost below level one?

Because he was not very familiar with the power dynamics within the Mamet United Alliance, Saine was not yet aware of the Death Holy Tower's influence within the Mamet United Alliance.

If you think about it carefully, you can understand why. Naming Holy Tower after the word "death" is something that no ordinary Holy Tower can do.

Saine himself is quite satisfied with what he gained from this trip.

Apart from the black Magic Book that particularly caught his interest, the other books that Saine found, after being screened, were at least largely complete in content.

These books primarily focus on knowledge Death Element, but also include information on Summoning Element and the Corpse Refinement Synthetic Beast.

Saine had long been extremely interested in these fields, and he himself had a certain Elemental Affinity for negative energy fields such as dark energy.

With these Magic Books as his guide, Saine finally began his journey of learning death and Dark Element Magic.

I was too tired yesterday, so I didn't write anything last night.

I'll try to write one or two more chapters this afternoon, and I should be able to resume normal updates tomorrow.