Leo put away the Magic Stone as Chris and Molly voiced their admiration beside him.
"Leo, you're incredible. That was a Wizard, yet he actually compensated you with Magic Stones."
"I was so scared just now that I didn't dare say a word."
Leo shrugged. "I don't think you need to dwell too much on the fact that he's a Wizard. We may become Wizards ourselves someday."
Chris said, "You Prossians are just fearless. Even if he gave me compensation, I wouldn't have dared take it. He only lightly touched the wall beside him, and a handprint appeared. If he pressed that onto me, I'm afraid I'd die on the spot."
Hearing Chris say that, Leo nodded slightly as well.
Power whose principles were unknown truly inspired fear.
Back then, because Lane had easily killed Prossians, Leo had kept his attitude extremely humble when facing Lane.
But after learning clearly about Lane's methods,
Leo felt that if he encountered Lane now, then unless Lane displayed some other unknown means, Leo would no longer be as wary of him as he had been at first.
Just as Sally had said, knowledge was very important to Wizards.
"Let's get going."
Molly nervously looked around and urged them, "What if those Wizards come back later to cause us trouble? We won't be able to handle them."
Molly held a map in her hands.
Sally had given them this map so they could find the shop she had recommended.
Following the map, Leo and the others arrived before a shop bearing the sign of the Woodpecker Hut.
Molly checked the map, confirmed it was correct, and said, "This is the place."
"Welcome."
Behind the counter inside the shop stood a girl with pointed ears.
She was exceptionally beautiful, easily among the most beautiful girls Leo had ever seen.
I had been wondering where I might encounter other demi-humans. I never expected to find an elf here. Leo carefully examined the elf and discovered that her spiritual energy was extremely high, two or three times greater than his own. She might even have been on the same level as a Wizard who had condensed a Spiritual Seed.
However, Leo did not sense the distinctive aura of a Wizard from the elf.
"Sh-shop owner, h-hello," Chris stammered.
Leo looked at Chris, somewhat speechless. Seeing a beautiful woman had apparently made his legs go weak.
The elf smiled. "I'm not the shop owner, merely an ordinary sales clerk. What do the Wizard lords require?"
"I-I-I..." Chris stared blankly at the elf, unable to speak properly.
Molly, meanwhile, frantically flipped open the little notebook she had prepared.
She tended to forget things whenever she got nervous, so she had made herself a cheat sheet.
But in her panic, the cheat sheet fell straight to the floor.
The elf maintained her smile.
Leo helplessly took over. "Miss, we'd like to buy Fish-Fragrant Herb and Black-Tailed Crane Feather."
"Of course."
When the elf's gaze fell upon the Silver Badge Leo wore, her professional smile gained a touch of deference. "Three Wizard lords, the Fish-Fragrant Herb you wish to purchase is for introductory Potionology, while the Black-Tailed Crane Feather is for introductory Prophecy Studies, correct?"
Leo nodded. "That's right."
"Every year, the Wizard Seedlings arriving on the Wizard ships purchase the items required for introductory subjects. To make purchasing more convenient for you, we have specially optimized the process."
The elf pointed at a nearby shelf. "We have placed the items on that shelf, so you may look for them yourselves. This service is only provided for people like you who are just beginning these subjects."
Leo frowned and asked, "Look for them ourselves? You mean we have to find the right items?"
"Yes. This is also an introductory test your mentors have set for you." The elf smiled. "Of course, luck is sometimes important as well."
Leo immediately grabbed Chris and headed toward the shelf.
Chris kept turning back to look at the elf.
Noticing this, the elf smiled and raised her hand to wave at Chris.
Seeing that, Chris immediately said in a daze, "Leo, she smiled at me. She smiled at me!"
"I know. Stop acting lovesick and hurry up so we can buy our things and leave."
After picking up the cheat sheet from the floor, Molly hurriedly followed Leo to the shelf.
The shelves displayed all kinds of beginner materials for Wizard subjects.
Leo and Chris focused their attention on the shelf for introductory Potionology, while Molly looked toward the shelf for the Divination School.
As Leo stood before the shelf, codex notifications sounded one after another in his mind.
[Fish-Fragrant Herb] Quality: Inferior Effect: Used to brew potions that restore spiritual energy. It possesses a faint ability to restore spiritual energy on its own. Cost: 10 Refinement Points Superior Codex: Basic Potionology
"Cost: 10 Refinement Points."
[Fish-Fragrant Herb] Quality: Ordinary Effect: Used to brew potions that restore spiritual energy. It possesses a faint ability to restore spiritual energy on its own. Cost: 50 Refinement Points Superior Codex: Basic Potionology [Fish-Tail Herb] Quality: Inferior Effect: Similar in appearance to Fish-Fragrant Herb. A material used to brew vitality potions. Cost: 10 Refinement Points Superior Codex: Basic Potionology
On the shelf for introductory Potionology herbs, Fish-Tail Herb had been mixed in to confuse customers.
Using the codex's notifications, Leo distinguished it from the real thing.
Leo glanced over the other materials on the shelves, and further cataloguing notifications appeared.
[Black-Tailed Crane Feather] Quality: Inferior Effect: A divination tool capable of touching revelations of unknown fate. Cost: 10 Refinement Points Superior Codex: Basic Prophecy Studies [White-Tailed Crane Feather] Quality: Inferior Effect: Similar to Black-Tailed Crane Feather, but brings misfortune. Cost: 10 Refinement Points Superior Codex: Basic Prophecy Studies
Leo catalogued various inferior-quality items, and these codices each pointed toward beginner materials for different Wizard schools.
What was remarkable was that aside from differences in quality, the shelves also contained some highly similar counterfeit materials.
However, there were very few of these counterfeits. Unless one was exceptionally unlucky and unable to distinguish them, the chances of taking a fake were greatly reduced.
Two rules were also written on the shelves.
"Every type of beginner material is divided by quality."
"Based on quality, materials are divided into four grades: inferior, ordinary, high-quality, and perfect."
"Customers who select high-quality materials will receive them at half price."
"Customers who select perfect materials will receive them for free."
Chris stood before the shelf, glancing at the elf from time to time.
He said, "Leo, I didn't expect there to be this much difficulty in choosing. Still, I think finding perfect-quality herbs can only depend on luck. We should just pick one that looks good."
As Chris spoke, he eagerly reached out and took a bundled portion of Fish-Fragrant Herb.
"I'll choose this one."
Before you continue