With the two hundred heavy Gold Rolands Aunt Margaret had given him in hand, Leon felt as if he could stand a little taller, as though he had gained a newfound confidence. Early the next morning, while the sky was still pale, he eagerly left Count Strauss's Mansion with his "fortune" in hand and headed straight for the Star Radiance Merchant Guild's headquarters in the Imperial Capital's central commercial district, renowned for its excellent reputation and fine wares.
The Star Radiance Merchant Guild's building was imposing. Its enormous archway had been carved from a single slab of white magic stone and inlaid with countless tiny Magic Crystals, forming a vast map of the stars. Even in daylight, it shimmered with a faint glow. The interior was spacious, the floors polished to a mirror shine, and attendants in matching silver-gray uniforms moved soundlessly through the halls with graceful poise. The air held a faint scent of sandalwood and magical incense, creating an atmosphere of solemn tranquility. Leon presented Aunt Margaret's credentials, and after a sharp-eyed old steward had scrutinized them and completed a tedious registration process, he finally received two hundred freshly minted Gold Rolands in a heavily guarded inner hall. Their edges were sharp, and their golden sheen was alluring. He carefully placed the coins in a plain, old leather pouch he had prepared in advance and tucked it close to his body. Only then did he feel a little more at ease.
He wasted no time, plunging straight into the Imperial Capital's largest and most renowned center for trading magical materials and curiosities: Starlight Plaza.
Calling it a plaza was a bit of a stretch. It was more like a maze of magical wares, made up of countless crisscrossing streets, rows of closely packed shops, and dense clusters of stalls. As soon as he stepped onto its outskirts, a cacophony of noise and a jumble of scents washed over him. There was the fresh scent of herbs, the earthy smell of minerals, the rank odor of monster materials, and the strange fumes of various magical potions. The din of voices, arguments over prices, vendors' loud shouts, and the occasional faint magical fluctuation caused by an unstable item all mingled together, creating a chaotic yet vibrant atmosphere. Mages in robes of every color, adventurers with weapons on their backs, shrewd merchants, and servants sent to shop on behalf of great families streamed endlessly through the crowds.
Leon took a deep breath, tamped down his nervousness, and merged into the bustling throng. His goal was clear: to find a gift for Elisa that matched her three keywords—"purple, quiet, useful"—and had some connection to the stars or the moon, offered a genuine benefit to her magical practice, and, ideally, was one of a kind. It was a demanding list, especially given his limited budget.
He started with the grander shops, whose lavish decorations suggested they could be trusted. Their goods were good, but their prices were often enough to make him balk.
At the luxurious shop called Heart of Elements, a cheerful clerk in a velvet waistcoat eagerly showed him a silver brooch set with a "moonstone." The moonstone lived up to its reputation, radiating a soft, moonlike glow. The clerk enthusiastically explained how it could calm the mind and aid meditation, making it an excellent gift for a female mage. But when Leon focused his half-baked magical perception on it, he found that the stone's magical fluctuations were so faint as to be nearly negligible. It was more an ornament with a mild soothing effect, yet its price was a staggering eighty Gold Rolands. Leon shook his head inwardly. This was far from the sort of "magical curiosity" he had imagined—something that could genuinely improve one's abilities.
He also visited a more upscale store, the Arcane Marvel Pavilion. The items on display were bizarre and varied, and their energy fluctuations were considerably stronger. The numbers on their price tags made Leon's eye twitch, too. His attention was caught by an "Ice Soul Crystal," said to have come from beneath an ancient layer of ice in the far north and to contain pure frost energy. The crystal was clear and gave off visible cold mist; standing near it did indeed invigorate him. But an experienced clerk candidly explained that this Ice Soul Crystal was better suited to ice mages who wanted to momentarily boost the power of a specific spell. For a mage like Elisa, whose studies leaned more toward changes in elemental forms and a pursuit of precise control and theoretical depth, its violent energy might do more harm than good. Its power would also diminish rapidly with each use. The price was one hundred and twenty Gold Rolands. Leon turned it down again. It might not even be useful, and it sounded more like a consumable than a quiet, useful gift.
He still hadn't given up on finding Moon Shadow Gauze. He asked several large silk shops and stores specializing in magical textiles. Some had only heard of it and said it was a legendary material; others tried to pass off imitations woven from Moonlight Butterfly Silk mixed with Mithril Silk. Though they had a faint sheen and an affinity for magic, they were nowhere near the legendary wonder that "flowed like moonlight and concealed one's tracks." Yet the asking price was still well over a hundred Gold Rolands.
The morning sped by in a succession of hopes and disappointments. Leon gradually realized a harsh truth: truly good items—magical objects with unique effects that suited Elisa—had either already been reserved or collected by great nobles, top mages, and large organizations, or else they simply weren't sold in these reputable shops with fixed prices and open to the general public. They might circulate in more secretive circles or private auctions, or require special connections and a great deal of luck to find.
The Gold Rolands in his pocket seemed to grow hot. Did he really have to settle for a high-quality but uninspired Tranquil Amethyst or Elemental Crystal? That would be safe and inoffensive, but it wouldn't surprise her at all, nor would it show the thought he had put into choosing something to suit her tastes. It would do nothing to improve their relationship or leave a lasting impression.
Unwilling to give up, Leon turned his attention to the stalls and little shops that seemed more haphazard and had a more disreputable air, on the edge of the plaza or deep in its narrow alleys. The surroundings were noticeably noisier and more chaotic, and the vendors were an even more varied bunch. Some had eyes as shrewd as a fox's; others bore the weathered, wary look of adventurers. A few even carried a faint smell of blood or an odd aura of curses.
At a stall piled with all sorts of strange, dirt-caked stones and dried plant roots, Leon's eye was caught by an inconspicuous, pitch-black rock. Its surface was riddled with honeycomb-like holes, and it looked unremarkable. But from a particular angle in the sunlight, a faint rainbow shimmer seemed to flash deep within the holes, vanishing in an instant.
"Hey, how much for this?" Leon crouched and picked up the stone, weighing it in his hand. It felt surprisingly smooth and warm, not nearly as rough or uncomfortable as it looked.
The vendor was a short figure wrapped in a filthy gray cloak, with their face hidden from view. Their voice was as raspy as sandpaper. "Kid, you've got a good eye! This is a Star Remnant, the unburned core of a fallen star, or so the legend goes. It contains the source of the stars' power! Since you know what you're looking at, I'll make it easy for you: thirty Gold Rolands!"
Star Remnant? The name sounded incredibly mysterious. Leon tried to focus his perception. He could indeed sense a very subtle fluctuation inside the stone, with a quality utterly unlike the elements of earth, water, fire, or wind he had sensed before. It carried an ancient, dormant feeling. But he couldn't tell whether it was truly some heavenly wonder or just a rare mineral the vendor was dressing up with an elaborate story. Thirty Gold Rolands was no small sum, and he didn't dare take the risk.
"That's too expensive, and who knows if it's real? For all I know, it's just a chunk of scorched Volcanic Stone." Leon put the rock down, shook his head disdainfully, and turned to leave.
"Bah! You wouldn't know a treasure if it bit you!" the vendor grumbled, then ignored him.
Leon continued weaving through the disorderly market and stopped at a stall piled with old, even damaged books, scrolls, and parchment. He hoped to find obscure notes or fragments about Star Magic, the Moon Ritual, or Ancient Magic Theory. Even a few words might inspire Elisa, who was obsessed with magical research, if they contained something valuable. He patiently leafed through several books, but most of them were shallow nonsense or written in ancient scripts that had long since fallen out of use and were completely beyond him. They might as well have been gibberish. Just as he was about to leave in disappointment, the corner of his eye caught a thick tome tucked into the farthest corner of the stall. It was wrapped in some kind of black animal hide, and its cover bore no title. The edges of its pages were badly yellowed and curled, and there were even signs of insect damage. It was clearly extremely old.
As if compelled by some unseen force, he picked it up. It was heavy in his hands. When he opened it, he found characters he had never seen before, formed from twisted lines and strange symbols, accompanied by diagrams that looked like the paths of celestial bodies and complex cycles of energy within the human body. It was filled with mystery. He couldn't understand a single character. Yet when his finger accidentally brushed over an especially complex star chart on one of the pages, its center resembling a whirlpool, the strange magic within him—the power that had always lain dormant, born from the soul of an outsider—stirred ever so faintly!
The sensation vanished almost as soon as it came, so faint it might have been an illusion. But Leon's heart gave a sudden jolt. His magic had reacted to the book?
"Hey, what's this book about?" Leon suppressed his excitement and tried to sound calm, even casual.
The vendor was an old man with graying hair and thick crystal spectacles. He had been bent over, repairing a worn herb guide, but at the question he raised his eyelids and glanced at the black book in Leon's hands. "That thing? It was dug out of an old tomb that collapsed near the southern swamps. I bought it along with a pile of junk. Nobody can read the writing, and the drawings look like gibberish. No one's been able to make heads or tails of it. It's been sitting here for over half a year. If you're interested, take it for five Silver Crowns."
Five Silver Crowns? It was practically free! Leon's heart beat even faster. But the last bit of reason he had left told him that a book even the vendor considered worthless, with no one able to decipher it, probably really was useless. That faint stir might have been a coincidence, or just a trace of energy left in the book's unusual material. Besides, even if the book did hold a secret, he wouldn't be able to unravel it anytime soon. More importantly, giving Elisa a mysterious, battered tome that he couldn't understand for her Coming-of-Age Ceremony? That would be even more absurd and disrespectful than giving her a flashy but impractical piece of jewelry.
He held the book and wrestled with himself for a long while, his fingers rubbing over the rough animal-hide cover. That faint stirring seemed to linger at his fingertips. In the end, he took a deep breath and put it back. "Forget it. There's no point buying it if I can't read it," he said, trying to sound nonchalant. Then he turned and walked away, not daring to look back for fear he might change his mind.
By the time Leon had explored nearly every part of Starlight Plaza and the setting sun had turned the sky orange-red, his legs felt as heavy as lead, and he was worn out and frustrated. Two hundred Gold Rolands seemed like a lot, but in a world of magical objects that truly held secrets, they were woefully inadequate. He couldn't even buy a single gift that satisfied him and suited Elisa's tastes. Was he destined to settle for less?
He stood at the entrance to a relatively quiet alley on the edge of the plaza, watching the magical lights along the main road gradually come on and the crowds continue to bustle. He was preparing to head home and try his luck at the biggest jewelry shops the next day. Just as he turned to leave, something deep in the alley caught his eye: an extremely inconspicuous little stall.
The stall was pitifully shabby. It didn't even have a proper storefront. Beneath a protruding eave, its owner had spread a faded piece of coarse dark blue cloth with frayed edges on the ground. A sparse handful of items lay scattered across it: several dull, lusterless raw crystals, a few roughly carved wooden amulets, and one or two old booklets with blurred covers. What caught Leon's eye was an item in the corner of the cloth—a gray, utterly unremarkable Silvery White Metal Bracelet.
The bracelet's design was extremely simple, just a smooth, unadorned ring. Its color was dull, as if coated in a thick layer of dust. It wasn't the bracelet's appearance that drew Leon's attention. When his gaze happened to fall on it, the strange magic that had lain dormant within him stirred again! This time, the sensation was far clearer and lasted longer than it had when he sensed the black book. It was as if a small stone had fallen into a still lake, sending out a ripple he could distinctly feel!
This time, it was no illusion!
Leon's heart leaped into his throat. He could almost hear his blood rushing through his veins. Forcing down his excitement, he pretended to be casually browsing and hurried over.
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