Old Saldean's Hidden Depths

With four pieces of equipment in hand, Shawn's attributes immediately doubled.

Specifically for Spirit, the Mage Robe added 6 points, the Staff added 4 points, the Arathor Gold Medal added 5 points, and the Ring of the Arcane Saint added 4 points. From the original 19 points, it had exactly doubled to 36 points, already exceeding the base stats of many high-level mages without gear.

Shawn was, of course, very happy.

He had not expected that this "Beginning of Arcane" quest would yield such a bountiful harvest.

The celebration was followed by a grand banquet, where various rare ingredients were crafted into an exquisite dinner.

Shawn remained relatively reserved, but Meryl Winterstorm let himself go, eating and drinking to his heart's content. In his words, these delicacies were money, money, all money! Every bite was a profit, and it would be a waste not to eat; heaven knows when he would get to eat like this again.

This guy was truly beyond saving!

Shawn drank a little wine.

Since his tolerance was low to begin with, a faint flush spread across his face, and he felt quite dizzy; when he held up five fingers, he saw six. Even so, he had to struggle to stay awake, because he still had to drag Meryl home.

This fellow usually weighed at most 80 pounds, but now he felt like at least 100; heaven knows how much he had eaten and how much wine he had drunk! Being this drunk made him dead weight. If the female elf mage hadn't cast Levitate on him, Shawn would have tossed him on the ground long ago!

It was already late at night when they returned to the room.

Lying on the bed alone, listening to Meryl's snoring, Shawn fell into deep thought.

Now, only 3 days remained of the one-month mission time. Shawn knew it was time to leave.

However, before leaving, Shawn had other things to do.

Over these past few days, Shawn had read many books and felt a great interest in the books from the Arathor royal collection, as well as the magic books brought by the female elf mage. By nature, he loved to read; how could he not feel distressed leaving so many unread books behind?

Mages pursue knowledge and truth, and reading is the most efficient way to acquire knowledge.

To read ten thousand books and travel ten thousand miles—this was what Shawn most wanted to do after arriving in this world.

So he had a plan: to take the entire room of books with him!

This was, after all, another world, and he didn't know if he would ever be able to return.

Most of the humans of Arathor did not like to read; these books could sit here for a hundred years without anyone flipping through them.

The magic books brought by the female elf mage were also rarely read. Even the humans who had embarked on the path of a mage were all busy learning combat spells rather than earnestly studying the essence of magic.

Shawn tucked the books into his Spatial Pouch one by one.

He prioritized the magic books first. Once those were collected, he moved on to the beautifully bound volumes.

Because there were so many books, Shawn couldn't take them all. By the time the Spatial Pouch was full, he had only collected half. Fortunately, the ores and mine carts inside the Spatial Pouch had all been converted into Garrison resources over the past few days, or else he would have been in trouble.

In the end, Shawn gritted his teeth, spread out a bedsheet, piled a large stack of books onto it, bundled them up securely, and then waved toward the royal palace, bidding a silent farewell to everything here.

After a moment of darkness, Shawn returned.

Lying on his bed, Shawn was in a very pleasant mood.

The Space Garrison sent a stream of notifications that made him beam with joy.

"Ding!"

"Mage class quest line, Tier 1 Mage advancement quest 'Beginning of Arcane', successfully completed. Completion rate: 100%. Do you wish to claim the reward?"

"Yes/No."

Shawn naturally chose "Yes."

A complex flood of information surged into Shawn's mind. It took half an hour for him to fully process it, and he was absolutely delighted.

This information was a skill, and the sole reward for his mage advancement quest.

"Eye of Insight, active skill, unique skill, cannot be upgraded. Relying on the Ley Lines spread across Azeroth and using the Space Garrison as a hub, it provides insight into the truths of Azeroth and probes the information of objects. It can detect information about creatures and items not exceeding the Commander's current level +5. Details are as follows..."

What followed was a complex and intricate introduction.

Taking Shawn's current level as an example:

Shawn was currently a Tier 1 Mage (Level 1). Therefore, using Eye of Insight, he could detect information on creatures up to Level 1+5=6. Level 6 creatures fell into the category of mid-tier professionals, and the corresponding equipment should be Green-grade Excellent gear; thus, Shawn could only detect up to Green-grade Excellent gear. For life professions, it corresponded to the Expert level. As long as the professional skill did not exceed the Expert level, Shawn could detect it.

This skill was incredibly useful, arguably no less powerful than the legendary "Appraisal."

After a good night's sleep, Shawn got up the next morning and went outside to see Old Saldean.

"Father Saldean, is everything ready for the trip to Goldshire?" Shawn asked, stretching as he saw Old Saldean stuffing items into the carriage.

"Almost, almost. With Lord Gryan Stoutmantle providing escort this time, we have to load up as much cargo as possible to trade for more supplies in Goldshire. Sigh, the Defias bandits are becoming more rampant; times are tough!" Old Saldean loaded a sack of grain into the carriage, turned around, and upon seeing Shawn, he paused, rubbed his eyes, and asked with a strange expression:

"Shawn, why do I feel like you've changed? You look different. There's a... a feeling of a Stormwind City noble about you? No, that's not it, it's more like... like the mage lords I used to see in Goldshire?"

Shawn couldn't help but marvel at Old Saldean's keen perception, and he cast an Appraisal—no, an Eye of Insight—on him.

"Name: Saldean."

"Attributes: Strength 13, Agility 11, Stamina 15, Intelligence 12, Spirit 14."

"Profession: Farmer (Expert), Tier 1 Warrior (Level 4), Merchant (Advanced)."

"Skills: Farmer's Three Punches (Tier 0), Basic Swordsmanship (Tier 0), Planting (Expert), Engineering (Novice), Mining (Novice), Fishing (Novice), Cooking (Novice)."

"Challenge Rating: 5."

Old Saldean was actually a hidden... Advanced Merchant!

No wonder this guy's observation skills were so sharp!

Shawn's perception of Old Saldean shifted 180 degrees instantly.

He had always thought Old Saldean was just a simple, honest, skilled, and kind-hearted farmer. Now he realized that Old Saldean was not only an Expert-level farmer but also a Level 4 warrior and an Advanced merchant! Moreover, his Challenge Rating was as high as 5. And the Challenge Rating shown on his own attribute interface was only a mere... wait, it was 6?