Old Saldean Had Hidden Depths

With four pieces of gear equipped, Shawn's attributes immediately doubled.

His Spirit had increased the most. The Mage Robe added 6 points, the staff added 4, the Arathor Gold Medal added 5, and the Ring of the Arcane Saint added 4. His Spirit had gone from 19 to a full 36, surpassing the unbuffed attributes of many High-Rank Mages.

Shawn was naturally delighted.

He hadn't expected the "Beginning of Arcane" quest to yield him so much.

After the ceremony came a grand banquet, where all kinds of rare ingredients were turned into an exquisite feast.

Shawn was still somewhat restrained, but Meryl Winterstorm let himself eat and drink to his heart's content. As he put it, all this delicious food was money! Money! It was all money! Eat a little, earn a little. It'd be a waste not to eat, and who knew when he'd get to enjoy another feast like this?

This guy was a lost cause!

Shawn drank a little wine.

He'd never been able to hold his liquor, and a faint flush spread across his face. His head was spinning, and he could see six fingers when he held up five. Even so, he struggled to stay alert, because he still had to drag Meryl home.

The guy had weighed at most eighty pounds before, but now he weighed at least a hundred. Who knew how much food and wine he'd put away! He was dead weight, completely out cold. If the Elf Sorceress hadn't cast Levitate on him, Shawn would have dumped him on the ground ages ago!

By the time Shawn returned to his room, it was already late at night.

Lying alone in bed and listening to Meryl snore, Shawn fell into thought.

There were only three days left in his month-long quest. Shawn knew it was time to leave.

But before leaving, he still had other things to take care of.

Over the past few days, Shawn had read many books. He was fascinated by both the books treasured by the Arathor royal family and the Spellbooks the Elf Sorceress had brought. A natural bookworm, he couldn't bear to leave so many unread books behind.

Mages pursued knowledge and truth, and reading was the most efficient way to acquire knowledge.

Reading ten thousand books and traveling ten thousand miles—ever since arriving in this world, that was what Shawn had wanted most.

So he had a plan: take every book in the entire room with him!

After all, this was another world, and he didn't know if he would ever return.

Most people in Arathor didn't like reading. These books could sit here for decades or even centuries without anyone opening them.

Few people would read the Spellbooks brought by the Elf Sorceress, either. Even those who took up the path of the mage focused on learning combat spells instead of studying the nature of magic.

Shawn stored the books one by one in the Spatial Pouch.

He chose the Spellbooks first. Once he'd packed those, he picked out the books with the most beautiful bindings.

There were too many books for him to take them all. By the time the Spatial Pouch was full, he'd only collected half. Fortunately, Shawn had already converted all the ore and mine carts inside into garrison resources over the past few days. Otherwise, he would have been in trouble.

At last, Shawn gritted his teeth, spread out the bedsheet, and piled a large stack of books on top. He arranged and tied them securely, then waved toward the royal palace, silently bidding farewell to everything here.

After a brief spell of darkness, Shawn returned.

Lying in bed, Shawn was in a very good mood.

A series of messages from the Space Garrison filled him with delight.

"Ding!"

"Early Mage Career Quest: 'Beginning of Arcane'—the Initiate Mage advancement quest—completed successfully. Completion: 100%. Claim reward?"

"Yes/No."

Shawn, of course, chose "Yes."

A mass of complex information poured into Shawn's mind. It took him half an hour to absorb it all, and by the end, he was grinning from ear to ear.

The information described a skill, the sole reward for Shawn's mage advancement quest.

"Eye of Insight, active skill, unique skill, cannot be upgraded. Drawing on the Ley Lines that spread across Azeroth and using the Space Garrison as its hub, it can discern the truths of Azeroth and reveal information about things. It can inspect information about creatures and items no more than 5 levels above the Commander's current level. Details follow..."

Then came a complicated explanation.

Taking Shawn's current level as an example, he was an Initiate Mage (Level 1), or a Level 1 mage. That meant Eye of Insight could inspect creatures up to Level 1 + 5 = Level 6. Level 6 creatures fell into the Intermediate Combatant range, corresponding to green-quality items, so Shawn could inspect items up to green quality. For professions, the equivalent level was Expert. He could inspect any professional skill that wasn't above Expert level.

This skill was incredibly useful—every bit as good as the legendary "Identify."

After sleeping soundly, Shawn didn't get up until the next morning. When he went outside, he saw Old Saldean.

"Old Man Sadin, have you finished getting everything ready for the trip to Goldshire?" Shawn asked, stretching as he watched Old Saldean load things onto the wagon.

"Almost, almost. Lord Gryan Stoutmantle is escorting us this time, so we might as well bring more goods and trade for more things in Goldshire. Sigh, the Defias bandits are getting more and more rampant. Times are hard!" Old Saldean loaded a sack of grain onto the wagon, then turned around and spotted Shawn. He froze, rubbed his eyes, and asked with a puzzled expression, "Shawn, why do I feel like you've changed? Like you're not the same as before? There's something about you that reminds me of a Stormwind noble. No, that's not quite it. It's more like... like the mage lord I saw in Goldshire once."

Shawn couldn't help marveling at Old Saldean's keen eye. He tried casting Identify on him... no, Eye of Insight.

"Name: Sadin."

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

"Professions: Farmer (Expert), Initiate Warrior (Level 4), Merchant (Advanced)."

"Skills: Farmer's Three Punches (Tier 0), Basic Swordsmanship (Tier 0), Expert-level Farming, Beginner-level Engineering, Beginner-level Mining, Beginner-level Fishing, Beginner-level Cooking."

"Challenge Level: 5."

Old Saldean was actually a... merchant with hidden depths!

No wonder the old guy was so observant!

Shawn's opinion of Old Saldean changed completely.

He'd always thought Old Saldean was just an honest, simple, kindhearted farmer with excellent skills. Now he knew the old man was not only an Expert-level farmer but also a Level 4 Warrior and an Advanced merchant! His Challenge Level was actually as high as 5. And the Challenge Level displayed on Shawn's own status screen was only... huh, it was Level 6?