Chapter 40

Picking Up a Bargain?

Seeing that Ah Xue was utterly unwilling to negotiate, Palin looked at the large box of equipment, hesitated for quite a while, and finally succumbed to the temptation of picking up a bargain. He paid ten gold coins.

Then, under Ah Xue's watchful gaze, he began rummaging through the box of equipment.

As a mage who had also worked in a merchant caravan, Palin had quite a knack for appraising equipment. He picked through it left and right, and soon found something of considerable value.

It was a leather cuirass that was mostly ruined, with only about a third of the back still intact. After examining it carefully, he decided it seemed to be made from the hide of some fire-resistant magical beast. Although only a small piece remained, it could still be cut down to make something like a fireproof breastplate. At worst, it could be turned into a pair of fireproof gloves.

A pair of gloves that could withstand flames would be worth at least a hundred gold coins, even if they weren't enchanted equipment. All he'd have to pay was the cost of the labor.

The discovery lifted his spirits, so he didn't rush to finish. He set the damaged cuirass aside as a possibility, then bent back to his search.

However, it seemed he'd used up all his luck. Even after quite some time, he couldn't find a second item of value.

At last, Palin couldn't help asking quietly in his mind, "Your Majesty, what do you think is the most valuable thing in this box?"

Sui Xiong, who had already anticipated this, smiled. "That depends on what kind of thing you want."

"Your Majesty... what do you mean by that?"

"There are plenty of valuable things in this box, but the most valuable one may not be what you actually need," Sui Xiong said. "First figure out what you want most, then ask me again."

Palin froze for a moment, then said instinctively, "What I want, of course, is powerful equipment."

"What exactly do you mean by 'powerful equipment'?" Sui Xiong asked in return.

Palin fell into thought.

Just as Sui Xiong had said, how should "powerful equipment" be defined? Surely price alone couldn't be the only measure.

For example, a top-of-the-line keyboard and mouse set would certainly count as powerful equipment to a gaming enthusiast. And if it were a custom-made set put together by a computer expert, with an extra row of programmable keys that let you pull off all sorts of difficult techniques with a single press, then it would be even more powerful.

Back when Sui Xiong was in college, he'd known a junior who was great with computers but terrible at games. After Sui Xiong brutally thrashed him for more than twenty matches in a row, as if beating up little kids, the junior snapped. He spent over a month making a powerful setup himself. His keyboard had nearly twenty more keys than a standard one, each mapped to a useful technique. With this divine weapon, the junior—whose gaming skills were far inferior to Sui Xiong's—cut him down for forty or fifty matches in a row and swept the campus, becoming an unrivaled master of the amateur, noncompetitive scene.

If even amateur competitions hadn't banned such cheating equipment, perhaps the junior really could have used that esports artifact to break into the professional scene.

Of course, this box definitely didn't contain anything powerful enough to be that effective in actual combat. But there really was something a step below it...

Palin thought for a long time, then finally worked out what he wanted.

"Your Majesty, is there a spellbook left behind by a powerful mage in this box?" he asked.

"Of course. Dig down a bit. Inside a damaged heavy cloth robe, there's about half a spellbook. The spells in it are high-level, and probably too profound for you at the moment. It might be a good fit for Satan, though."

"But I should warn you: the spells recorded in that book... are very unusual. They could bring you trouble."

Palin considered it for a while, but eventually made up his mind. Following Sui Xiong's directions, he quickly found the half-book.

For a spellcaster, a spellbook left behind by a master was the crystallization of experience and wisdom, a symbol of inheritance, and an irresistible temptation. Even if it might bring trouble, he couldn't resist the lure of this treasure.

The pages, made from magical beast hide, were old, but the words written in special ink remained clear. They were in Ancient Elvish, a complicated and long-winded language commonly used by many mages. Yet it conveyed meaning clearly and precisely, with very little room for ambiguity, making it one of the languages every mage had to learn.

To become a mage, one needed to know several languages. Besides the Common Tongue, these included the precise Ancient Elvish, the magical Draconic, the Dwarven Runic that could be cast directly as spells, specialized languages for communicating with beings of the Heavenly Realm and the Hells, and the Arcane Tongue often used among mages... Just listing the commonly used languages would probably bring the total to more than ten.

Even though Palin was only a novice mage, he had no trouble with the required Ancient Elvish. He could read the contents of the spellbook at a glance. Incidentally, Satan, who came from a southern nation renowned for its magic and had studied in a famous mage tower, knew thirty-one different languages. He was practically a walking universal translator.

Palin only had to look once before his gaze locked onto the spellbook as if welded in place. He couldn't tear his eyes away.

"This... could this really be... a dragon-slaying spell?!"

Dragon-slaying magic?!

Hearing this, Ah Xue froze and frowned as she looked toward the child who had been attracting customers. The child was also taken aback. He thought it over carefully, but still looked utterly baffled.

Palin was so absorbed in the spellbook that he didn't notice any of this. He stared at its contents and couldn't help murmuring to himself, "A dragon-slaying spell... does such a thing really exist?"

"That depends on how you define it." The child who had been attracting customers had regained his composure. He came over with a cheeky grin and said, "If you mean, 'A sleeping dragon lies in front of you, completely defenseless, while you spend half a day chanting a spell and then blast it to death with magic,' then such a spell probably exists."

As he spoke, he casually walked behind Palin and joined him in examining the spellbook.

Palin was amused by his remark. He ran his fingers over the pages of the damaged spellbook, studying the complex spell model. After a while, he finally understood its general principles.

"Judging by how this spell works, the requirements don't seem that strict. As long as it hits, it can inflict tremendous damage on a dragon," he said.

"But 'tremendous damage' is actually quite limited when it comes to dragons," the child said with a faint furrow of his brow and a smile. "A dragon's vitality is beyond that of ordinary creatures."

As he spoke, a gray shadow appeared behind him. It cut through the air with a howl, swinging down toward Palin's head.

The shadow moved with astonishing speed. If it landed, Palin's skull would be crushed and his brains scattered, red and white splattered everywhere. He'd be dead beyond any doubt. But before it could hit him, Palin's bracelet trembled. The transparent phantom of a jellyfish appeared in the air, sweeping its tentacles. A blade of condensed frost sprang into existence and intercepted the shadow just before the ring of icy light could shield Palin's head.

Bang!

A dull crash accompanied the violent impact. The blade shattered, and the shadow was knocked back. Shock flashed across the child's face, and he hurriedly retreated. In just a step or two, his hands had transformed into terrifying claws, and a thick, long tail trailed behind him.

That tail was what had just attacked Palin.

The child's familiar, smiling face was nowhere to be seen now. The strange-looking boy radiated not only murderous intent, but also a terrifying pressure that made one tremble with fear.

It was the pressure a strong creature exerted on a weak one—not, rather, the pressure a predator at the top of the food chain naturally exuded toward its prey.

If Palin had been alone, then even if he'd somehow survived the sneak attack, this pressure would have left him trembling with fear, with no choice but to flee or beg for mercy. But now, Palin wasn't the only one who was tense and uneasy. His enemy was, too.

"Just who... are you people?" the child demanded angrily, his appearance now monstrous.

Sui Xiong didn't answer his question. Instead, he brought up something else. "To be honest, the 'dragon-slaying spell' in that book isn't all that powerful. If it hit a dragon in its true form, it would probably only cause a minor injury. But if the dragon foolishly turned into a human, then one spell could wipe out the whole family. Oh, and you dared to attack my believer. Are you ready to face the consequences?"

Before he had even finished speaking, the transparent jellyfish's body burst apart, turning into countless points of light that merged with the Frost Magic permeating the air. It grew several times larger in an instant, and a thick tentacle of ice shot out with a howl, lashing viciously toward the strange-looking child.

A cold glint flashed in the child's eyes. He met the tentacles head-on with both claws. He'd always had great confidence in his strength. Even magical beasts renowned for their power couldn't get the better of him in a contest of strength.

With a thunderous crash, the tentacle and claws collided. The huge jellyfish floating in the air shuddered, while the child was knocked backward. His feet gouged two clear tracks into the sturdy floor, and he stumbled back four or five steps.

"How is that possible?!" His eyes widened in disbelief that he'd been overpowered.

"You'll find out whether it's possible when you're knocked flat!" This time, Sui Xiong swung four tentacles.

During their brief clash, he'd already gauged the strange child's strength. At most, his opponent could withstand the attack of two tentacles. With twice that many attacking now, one blow would be enough to knock him down!

But the four tentacles never reached their target. A ring of white light blocked them.

Earlier, when the usually cheerful Ah Xue had watched the child launch his sudden sneak attack, she'd been furious. She'd glared viciously at the little brat who had acted on his own while using magic to form a powerful barrier around Palin.

Gritting her teeth, she'd already started rolling up her sleeves, looking every bit like an enraged parent about to beat a troublemaking brat with a feather duster.

But before she could act, Sui Xiong and the child had already started fighting, and the battle was completely one-sided.

This left her in quite a dilemma; for a moment, she didn't know what to say or do. But once she realized who Sui Xiong was, her expression changed to one of shock and anger.

Seeing that the child was about to be seriously injured at Sui Xiong's hands, she hurried to his rescue. She first shot the child a furious glare, then focused all her attention on opposing Sui Xiong. A soft hum rang out, and an icy pressure rose from her body.

"A young god? You chose the wrong opponent to play with frost in front of me!"