Academy Square

Dago could only let it go and wait for another chance to see Wizard Rosalyn before telling her about the technique.

Since it was still early, Dago continued wandering around Ainak Wizard Academy.

Apart from the main road leading to Ainak Castle, there were still two roads he had not explored.

From what he had learned over the past two days, one led to the apprentices' residential area;

the other led to Academy Square, a place dedicated to selling supernatural wizarding items.

Following the road forward, Dago began to see wizard stalls set up along the way.

Then the stalls grew more numerous, as did the apprentices.

By the time he reached the end, all he could see were stalls of every kind filling an entire Academy square.

Some belonged to wandering wizards who had received permission from the Academy to enter and sell magical materials and wizarding tools.

Others sold rune items or potions crafted by the Academy's instructors and apprentices themselves.

The square was packed with people, with cries of sale and bargaining never ceasing. Among the passing apprentices, some were dressed splendidly, while others wore tattered robes, some even covered in patches.

"No wonder that apprentice at the gate told me to keep my Magic Stone pouch covered."

Dago muttered to himself as he looked at the bustling square before him.

He touched the cloth pouch holding his Magic Stones and felt a little more confident.

Although it was empty except for a single Low-Grade Magic Stone, it should be enough for him to browse around.

He did not recognize most of the things displayed on the stalls, but that did not stop him from gradually blending in.

Dago had his own method of browsing.

Whenever he saw apprentices bargaining at a stall, he would quietly step over and stand nearby to eavesdrop...

Once he had more or less figured out what the item being priced was and how much it was worth, he would silently leave.

After doing this for a while, his knowledge had risen by several levels.

As he wandered, Dago suddenly stopped at a stall.

It was not a large stall. It displayed complete Potion Brewing sets: silver and brass crucibles, glass and crystal potion bottles, silver daggers, mortars and pestles, scales, and more.

The stall owner was a middle-aged man in his forties, sitting behind the stall with a dejected expression.

Dago's eyes flickered as he asked the vendor, "How much for all of these?"

"Two Low-Grade Magic Stones for the lot."

The vendor glanced at Dago and quoted the price without much interest.

"Are these all tools you used yourself?"

"Yes, all personal-use tools. Unfortunately, I don't have much talent in Potioncraft, so I can only sell them cheaply."

Dago immediately understood why the vendor looked so dejected.

He silently calculated the contents of his money pouch, thought for a moment, then said, "One Low-Grade Magic Stone. These are all ordinary tools. I'll take everything."

The vendor rolled his eyes, waved a hand, and said irritably, "That's a brutal bargain. But since you're an Academy apprentice, fine. Pack them up and take them."

Hearing that, Dago practically emptied his wallet and handed the Low-Grade Magic Stone to the vendor.

As he accepted Dago's Magic Stone, the vendor spoke with a faintly amused expression. "Are you planning to teach yourself to become a potion maker?"

Dago gave an "Mm." It was obvious.

"I used to be as naïve as you. Only after reality hit me hard did I understand how cruel this world was. I hope you can carry that naïveté to the end. I wish you success."

The vendor's expression sank into memories as he spoke nostalgically.

Dago paused, then replied, "I will. Thank you for your blessing."

He carefully placed the tools from the stall into his large cloth bag.

At the Academy gate, Dago emerged carrying large and small bags. It was already two or three in the afternoon.

He casually ate something at a small restaurant in town, paid the bill, and turned to leave.

Dago looked at his empty money pouch. All he had left were two Magic Stone fragments.

"If the plan goes smoothly, I'll have money from now on."

Dago sighed as he covered up his money pouch.

As the sun slanted westward, Dago returned to his little shelter.

After checking it over and finding no signs of theft...

Dago sorted, cleaned, and stored away the Potion Brewing tools. They were the capital for his venture.

There was not much: a silver crucible, a stone mortar, a glass pestle, a brass scale, and several thumb-sized glass potion bottles.

He planned to study the profession of a potion maker.

Although he had no potion materials at the moment, according to Wizard Rosalyn, the ingredients for Mental Potion could all be found in the Emerald Forest.

However, due to the large-scale development by the Academy and the town, the magical plants and magical beasts in the nearby forest had been dug up and slaughtered until nothing remained.

He could only head deeper into the forest, into places untouched by humans.

Of course, Dago would not foolishly run straight into the depths of the forest to explore and hunt.

He would not joke around with his own life. Everything had to be built on the premise of absolute safety.

First, he could not neglect his progress in wizardry training. Second, he needed to find Mariko, who knew quite a few people in the nearby forest region.

Dago shook his head, casting aside the distracting thoughts in his mind, and focused on what was in front of him: training wizardry and improving himself.

Thus, the endless rumble of explosions and the sound of trees falling rang out beyond the shelter once more.

At first light, thin gauzy mist curled around the forest.

"Glug glug—"

The shelter door stood open. Dago stood in the clearing, where his breakfast was boiling in a small iron pot propped over the fire.

He had crudely shaved dough into knife-cut noodles, sprinkled in a little seasoning, and stewed it all in one pot.

After eating and drinking his fill, today's first task was to head to his usual hunting grounds in the forest and hunt Swift Deer.

Until he found a new source of income, he could not abandon this daily task.

After that, he would find Mariko and ask whether he knew of any traces of Moonlight Flower near the forest.

Once he made up his mind, Dago returned to the shelter, put on his hunting clothes, gathered his equipment, and set off to hunt.

He moved skillfully through the forest and reached a hunting spot slightly farther away than before.

There was no helping it. The Swift Deer herd had moved away from its original water source to avoid his hunting.

Yet with his sharp senses, he still found traces of the herd's migration. He discovered that as his Meditation Method improved, his perception of the environment was gradually improving as well.

Following the trail, he found the Swift Deer herd that loved playing hide-and-seek. He greeted them with an Air Bullet the moment they met.

A young deer that ran too slowly was blasted away by the Air Bullet, flying more than ten meters before landing without moving.

"Swift Deer these days are really young. They just fall down and go to sleep at the slightest thing," Dago joked.

He always stopped after hunting one Swift Deer. Killing more would be pointless since he could not carry them away.

After swiftly skinning it and cutting off the meat, Dago used Ice Crystal Technique to freeze the chunks of meat.

However, he did not return to the shelter. He planned to first visit Mariko's treehouse and give him some venison, while asking where Moonlight Flower grew in the forest.

Before long, he arrived at Mariko's treehouse. He saw Mariko already sitting in the clearing below, gnawing on black bread and drinking morning liquor.

After some small talk, Dago explained why he had come.

"You're really hardworking, kid. Hunting and looking for Moonlight Flower—youth really is wonderful.

I heard that a Second-Level Wizard Apprentice living in the forest once said while drunk that if you head southwest through the forest for two hours, you'll find a lake. He saw a large patch of glowing flowers there."

Mariko accepted a frozen deer leg and spoke.

"But Dago, let me warn you. He lost a hand there and was crippled because of it, so he moved to the forest to barely scrape by. That is Shadow Leopard territory—a group of vicious, cunning magical beasts. Even I don't dare to wander around there."

Mariko offered Dago a well-meaning warning.

Dago thanked Mariko for the warning. After pondering for a while, he left and returned to the shelter.

Though he now knew where the Moonlight Flower was, it was a place even Mariko dared not enter.

With his current strength, going there would only be throwing his life away. As for asking people from the Academy to help develop it, judging by that group of vampires' ways, he probably would not even get a hair's share.

After considering it carefully, he decided to improve his strength first, then develop the place himself.

However, he still knew too few spells and had to learn more.

He still had an unread black leather wizard book. There were some specialized wizarding terms inside that he did not yet understand very well.

So he planned to hunt in the morning, sell his catch in town, and stop by the Academy to learn specialized wizarding terms. In the afternoon and evening, he would train wizardry at home and improve his strength.

With that happily decided, Dago changed into his apprentice robe and ran toward the Academy.

As he jogged along, the wind blew into his loose robe, making him feel wonderfully refreshed.

It was already ten when he arrived at the Academy. He first went to the research room to look for Instructor Rosalyn...

Unfortunately, her seat was empty. He had no idea when she would finish her task.

After asking around for quite a while, he finally found the Academy library. The enormous library was very quiet at the moment.

Only the sounds of apprentices turning pages came from the seats in the center...

He found the indispensable old gatekeeper of the library and asked where the wizarding dictionary was. The old man pointed toward a bookshelf in a corner of the library.

Dago went over and searched for quite some time before finding the book he wanted. It was clearly rarely opened.

He picked it up, found an empty seat among the central library tables, and sat down. He took out the blank black leather wizard book and placed it on the table together with the wizarding dictionary.

He opened the black leather wizard book and began reading. Whenever he encountered an unfamiliar wizarding term, he used the wizarding dictionary to understand it.

Lost in the ocean of knowledge, Dago did not realize how much time had passed until four in the afternoon.

He had already annotated all but a thin handful of pages in the entire black leather wizard book, and he planned to finish reading it in one go.

He did not even plan to eat lunch, intending to combine it with dinner instead.

The clock on the library wall ticked through another hour before Dago slowly packed up his books, returned the wizarding dictionary, and left the library.

After leaving the Academy, he had to return to the shelter before sunset and nightfall to cook dinner. With his current finances, he could not afford to eat in town.

Dragging his starving body back toward the shelter, he was fortunate that the sky had not yet gone completely dark. He quickly made a meal of boiled dough dumplings and dug in.