Two Magic Scrolls

"Books?" Quintina Longman shook her head. "How could such a place exist? Paper is expensive, and books are only collected by the nobility."

"I see. Never mind, then." Hades felt a bit disappointed.

As expected, no matter the world, knowledge remained firmly in the grasp of the upper class. Hearing Quintina Longman mention events from five hundred years ago, Hades realized that if he wanted to gain a deep understanding of this world, he would still need to start with its history.

But he didn't dare ask for too much detail yet. To the people of this world, these things were likely common knowledge. If someone suddenly appeared and started asking questions as if they lacked basic common sense, it would surely leave a deep impression.

Since even he had thought to come to the Magic Caster Guild to investigate, there was a chance Momonga might come here as well.

Hades anticipated that Momonga would likely ask similar questions. The previous conversation was already a done deal, but he had to ensure these two girls didn't form an even stronger impression of him moving forward.

Otherwise, it would be troublesome if these girls let something slip because they remembered him too vividly.

As for Nazarick, he didn't have any good ideas for the moment. He had already done everything he could. If he had hidden himself to this extent and Nazarick could still track him down, then he would just have to fight. At worst, if he couldn't win, he would run.

Even if they used Dimensional Lock to seal the space, his two legs weren't just for show. With his Monk speed and stats nearing level 190, if he truly let loose, it wasn't certain they could catch him.

Unless he was surrounded and intercepted by a massive force, but based on the current situation, Nazarick would have to find him first.

The most urgent task now was to accelerate his understanding of this world. Although he had just received bad news—that the power ceiling of this world was quite low—there was also good news: this world had dragons.

Dragons were a source of various high-level materials. With dragons, he had a place to replenish his supplies.

He had felt a sense of despair upon hearing that the world's magic only reached the sixth tier, and he had been planning to return to the inn to calculate how to allocate the materials in his inventory.

Yet, he had unexpectedly learned of the existence of dragons. In YGGDRASIL, dragons were high-level bosses. While humans only reached a maximum of level 42—and he didn't know the status of other races yet—Hades didn't hold high expectations.

Even if they weren't human, if the world truly possessed tenth-tier magic, why would these two girls claim it didn't exist?

Dragons were at least level 90 or above. Hades had originally thought it impossible for creatures with such a vast level gap to coexist, as it would cause a complete collapse of the natural ecosystem.

In the game, the gradual progression of monster levels wasn't just for the convenience of players leveling up; it also mimicked the form of biological ecosystems in the natural world.

But now it seemed this otherworld couldn't be judged by common logic, or perhaps his understanding of it was simply insufficient. Hades sighed again. He feared that asking questions that seemed idiotic to the locals would leave a lasting impression and expose him.

Therefore, he had intended to buy some books to learn the basic common sense of this world, but it appeared there wasn't even a place to buy books. If he wanted to know something, he would have to ask the locals.

As Hades pondered, he absentmindedly flipped through the scroll catalog. It was impossible not to feel frustrated. He stubbornly flipped through the catalog again; perhaps the magic of this otherworld was different from what he knew. After all, one couldn't judge an otherworld by conventional logic.

Catherine Longman and Quintina Longman didn't disturb him. Although his earlier words sounded like he was looking for trouble, as long as he was buying something, they wouldn't chase him away.

Perhaps because he was looking with the mindset of finding differences this time, Hades actually discovered a few spells he had never seen in YGGDRASIL.

"What spell is this?" Hades pointed to a spell in the catalog and asked Quintina Longman. He still held a decent impression of the girl who had mocked him; at least she wasn't cold-hearted.

"This one? 'Create Paper', a first-tier spell. It can create paper using magic. Are you planning to buy this scroll? It's quite cheap, but I advise against it," Quintina Longman said.

"What kind of spell is it?" Hades asked.

"Just as the name implies, it creates paper. But it's very impractical. Using this scroll only creates two sheets of paper, which is equivalent to spending 5 silver coins for two sheets. People who buy this scroll usually only do so for research purposes. If you really want to buy paper, I recommend you go to the 'Bruno Item Workshop'. They sell paper there in addition to items."

Quintina Longman explained to Hades. This scroll was one of the few items not priced in gold coins. If a magic caster cast it personally, they could control the mana consumption to increase the quantity of paper, but when made into a scroll, it could only produce two sheets.

Lord Laxil had said that the effect of a scroll would only be the minimum effect of that spell, so if a spell like this were priced too high, it would never sell.

However, even with such a low price, very few people bought this scroll. Making paper this way was worse than just buying it directly.

"Oh, thank you. Please get me two," Hades said, taking a gold coin from his pocket and handing it over. One scroll was 5 silver coins, so two would be 10, but he didn't have enough silver coins in his pocket.

"Are you really going to buy this scroll?" Quintina Longman asked, surprised. She had already made it very clear that this cost-ineffective scroll was usually only for research, yet this person still wanted to buy it.

She observed the adventurer's copper tag hanging on Hades and felt he didn't look like the type of person who researched magic.

"Yes," Hades nodded.

He didn't have much money, at least not right now. The scrolls here were mostly priced at one gold coin or more, with only a few settled in silver. If his finances were better, he would have bought all the scrolls he hadn't seen before for research.

But his wallet didn't allow it. This 'Create Paper' spell was the cheapest. Besides, in YGGDRASIL, scroll creation required paper. Of course, for low-tier magic, paper could be bought directly in the game without extra gathering.

If the paper created by this spell could be used as material for low-tier scrolls, it might actually be practical. He didn't care much for low-tier offensive magic, but some functional low-tier spells were quite useful.

After receiving the ten silver coins in change from Quintina Longman, Hades left the Magic Caster Guild. Gazing at the old two-story building, he pondered for a moment before finding an empty alleyway.

"Number One."

Hades summoned Hanzo, who was hiding within his shadow. Since returning from that village, the five Hanzos had been hiding in his shadow, ready to obey orders at any time.

"Lord Hades, what are your orders?" Number One Hanzo appeared silently before Hades.

"Help me keep an eye on this place. Record who comes here, and don't get discovered," Hades said.