Spellbook

Zheng Qing lowered his head dejectedly, but quickly raised it again, his eyes flickering. "Can I exchange money from outside for money here?"

"Of course." Thomas's face reddened slightly. "Currency exchange has its own section in the admissions guide; you can look into it later. But using Muggle money to buy wizarding things has always been a terrible deal, like that crow bat."

He pointed at a black lump hanging from the top of the display window. "That crow bat has no special abilities and isn't some high-grade pet, but paying for it with outside currency would cost around a hundred thousand, plus a ten-percent handling fee."

Zheng Qing immediately turned his head away and abandoned the idea he had just had.

"Don't you have a pet?" Thomas looked at him in confusion. "One pet is enough. They're all very spiritual. If you keep several different pets, conflicts can easily arise between them."

"I have a pet?" Zheng Qing was greatly surprised.

There really were two little animals at home.

A hamster and a puppy.

The hamster had somehow come to his home, then built itself a little nest on the balcony out of sawdust and cotton fluff. The little creature was quite clever. It cleaned up droppings, scraps, and other filth on its own, then tossed the trash out whenever the balcony window was open. Professor Zheng had been quite surprised upon discovering this. Old people always had one concern or another; under his strict orders, the hamster had openly settled down on the balcony and occasionally even enjoyed food from the Zheng family's ancestral offerings.

The puppy was born to a pregnant stray dog Zheng Qing had picked up by the roadside one night some time ago. The mother dog vanished without a trace after giving birth. Zheng Qing worried that someone had caught her and stewed her into dog meat, but after searching for days, he found nothing.

Though there were two little creatures at home, Zheng Qing had not thought of them when Thomas mentioned pets.

Just as some people liked starting businesses, they did not truly enjoy being run ragged or crushed under layer upon layer of pressure. They simply liked the financial freedom that came with entrepreneurial success.

His teacher had once said, "Eat to fill the belly, not to please the eyes."

The pets Zheng Qing had in mind were wizard pets.

As a strange world he had only truly encountered after becoming an adult, the Wizarding World, Thomas, and Four Seasons Market all left Zheng Qing with a faint sense of distance.

Even as he strolled among Daoist robes and cloaks, he was still that high school graduate who had only just left school.

It was not that he needed a pet. He needed the sense of reality that a pet could bring him—the tangible reality of the Wizarding World.

"That little fox of yours." Thomas spoke absentmindedly as he surveyed the shops around them, occasionally lowering his head to look at the phone in hand. "It isn't some powerful spirit beast, but as a member of the Demon Fox clan, it's still quite a good pet... Here we are. Shangyuan Bookstore, an officially licensed dealer designated by the Wizard Alliance."

"You mean Poseidon? Isn't it a puppy?"

"Poseidon? A very powerful name. Of course, I'm quite certain it's a Demon Fox. Though I don't know how you got it, it's obvious that it has already become your pet." Thomas pointed at the ancient, solemn shop before them and told Zheng Qing, "Now go buy your own spellbook. As a wizard's most important casting tool, you need to decide for yourself which one to buy. The only advice I can give you is two words: intuition."

"Do all spells need spellbooks?" Zheng Qing looked up at the wooden carving of an open hardcover book on the sign above the entrance, feeling somewhat nervous.

"Yes, yes." A trace of impatience suddenly appeared on Thomas's face, lending even greater pressure to his already stern temperament. "I should have known you'd ask that. Yes, you always trust the power of your own hand seals, just like those Japanese Ninja who only ever trust the speed of their own seals. Can't you imagine a way of casting that has both power and speed? Why do you always doubt authority?"

"I was just curious." Zheng Qing found Thomas's agitation rather baffling.

"Go in. I'll wait outside." Thomas's voice was somewhat low.

Spellbooks were the wizard books listed on the checklist.

According to Thomas's explanation, spellbooks were the primary means by which wizards cast spells.

During their daily studies and experiments, wizards analyzed spells and copied them into spellbooks. Only after being activated through chanting or other methods could the spells truly display their power.

Put simply, a wizard without a spellbook was like a tiger without teeth.

Shangyuan Bookstore's entrance was decorated in an ancient, dignified style. Intricate Runes were carved into the dark bluish-black steps and floorboards, while the heavy dark-red wooden doors were unusually simple, bearing only a plaque above the lintel with the words "Shangyuan."

Behind the counter upon entering stood a broad display cabinet filled with all kinds of certificates.

"Wizard Alliance Special License for Spellbook Production and Sales"

"Under the Moon Council—Designated Distributor of Bologna Spellbooks"

"Luofu—Designated Distributor of Song Dynasty Spellbooks"

"Partner of the First University Spellbook Research Institute"

Rows upon rows of honors and licenses hung there, displaying the shop's confidence.

"Good afternoon!" The bookstore clerk was tall and skinny, dressed in a green robe and wearing small round glasses. He greeted Zheng Qing with a beaming smile. "I'm Xiao Yuan, business manager of Shangyuan Bookstore. Are you a new student enrolling this autumn? What kind of spellbook do you need?"

Zheng Qing did not answer immediately.

Many wooden display cabinets stood around the bookstore, covered by thick transparent glass. Through the glass, he could see spellbooks arranged neatly on the shelves.

"I'd like to look around first and get an idea of things," Zheng Qing said vaguely.

Thomas had repeatedly emphasized that spellbooks were extremely important to wizards, and that choosing one required a wizard's intuition.

What was intuition?

Zheng Qing found it rather baffling.

He circled several display cabinets twice, staring at the lavishly designed books for quite a while, but felt neither a sudden inspiration nor any sense of spiritual resonance.

"These are Western-style hardbound editions." Seeing Zheng Qing stop before the display case, Xiao Yuan, the business manager, hurried over to introduce them. "If you'd like a closer look, we can take one out for you."

Zheng Qing hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Xiao Yuan took out a pair of spotless soft leather gloves, removed the heavy spellbook from the cabinet, and carefully turned its pages.

"This is a seventeenth-century Venice binding. Its style carries on Venice's usual splendor. Calfskin from Baden-Württemberg, with inlaid silver Runes; gilt edges, with a fore-edge painting of the Calm Mind and Focus Spell. Of course, if you need one, the shop also has Venice bindings with a fore-edge painting of Kiss of the Bridge of Sighs—young people all like that sort of style. Look, the corners of this spellbook are bound in silver, and the frontispiece bears a master's illustration of the Five Aggregates Exorcism Spell. Even if you never record a spell in it, you could still use this book alone to smash apart several vicious spirits."

"How much?"

"Eighteen jade coins, please." The clerk nodded with a pleasant smile and handed Zheng Qing a pair of gloves.

"It's a bit heavy." Zheng Qing put on the gloves, weighed the book in his hands, and shook his head.