Shopping

By the end of the day, Char got 8 mana crystals, which means that he sold eight magic tattoos within a day.

The advertisement was an enormous success. He did not expect that the moment he left the arena; the news spread like wildfire.

"I'm so tired. There were too many people that tried to bargain with me. Those cheap people actually asked me to make them two tattoos for one mana crystal! Do they think magic comes for free?" he complained.

"Yeah! They actually want to rip you off. They should be ashamed by their word!" Anne chimed in.

Char nodded, but the girl's next word threw him off. "Now that you are rich, why don't you give me your part of the tournament reward and give my imp a free tattoo?"

"Damn it! You are just the same with them! You cheap people!" he retorted in his mind, but he decided to keep it to himself.

"You can keep the prize, but if you want the tattoo, then you will need to pay! I will give you a discount so you will only need to pay with one mana crystal." He replied.

She looked at the mana crystal in her hand before she hid it from him, "No, I will use this to get my Imp to evolve," she declined.

"Up to you then, you can ask me for one when you have the money but remember that this deal is a limited-time deal. Next time you ask me for a magic tattoo, then you will need to pay the full price!" he told her.

"Fine, once my imp gets stronger I will win first place and get more money! Just you wait!" she jeered at him before leaving him behind.

"Well, I had offered." He shrugged and went toward the school's west gate.

"Halt! Where are you going, kid? It's already late. If you want to go home, then you should have done so yesterday. Tomorrow the academy is starting already," a gate guard stopped him.

"I only need to visit a nearby market to buy something for my training, Sir. I will be back in an hour or so," he explained politely.

"You still can't do that, roaming the city at night is not safe for you and that's against the rule," The guard insisted.

Char tried his best to explain but the guard would not agree, "unless there is an emergency, you're not allowed to leave the academy."

"If I don't go today, then I will need to wait for a week before I can leave the academy. If that happens, then my progress will be stalled by a week!" he lamented.

He was about to continue with his argument, but a hand fell on his shoulder. "If you want to go to a nearby store, then I can accompany you, I also want to buy a bottle of sake since my last bottle ran out."

He turned back to find a red-nosed old man behind him, "Who is this?" he did not recognize the man but knowing the man would help him out, Char would not complain about it.

"Alright, I want to visit a Loot shop. It is near the brewery," he readily agreed with the man.

With the man's presence, the guard turned quiet. He let Char and the old man pass by the gate without a word.

"Who is this old man? I have never seen him before, he is not the principal or the teacher, could he possibly be a hidden master of our academy?" his mind went wild in thought that he met a hidden master.

"Now that you are out, you can go on your own, right? We partway here then," the old man said before going toward the city's outskirt.

"Sir! The brewery is not that way!" Char tried to stop the old man. Outside the city was filled with wild creatures, they were not too strong but their numbers were terrifying.

"I suddenly have an urgent business, you can take care of yourself. With a summoned creature, as long as you don't offend someone important, then you will be fine in the city," The old man said.

The majority of the city's citizens did not have summoned creatures, so as long as he did not fight a summoner, he would be fine.

After the old man went away, Char went toward the Loot shop. It sells all kinds of creatures' carcasses, weapons, and ores.

"I need a good sword for Skelly and me. I don't have enough money for a magic item so I will just buy with good enough endurance," he thought.

"Welcome, do you need anything?" the shop clerk asked him the moment he got into the shop.

"Do you have any good sword? I prefer a one-handed sword, which has a hard and sharp edge," he replied.

"We only sell weapons dropped by creatures, do you still want to use them?" The shop clerk asked as the creature's weapons were considered trash compared to human weapons.

Although some monster weapons were stronger than a human's weapon, people's bias still makes them think a human's craftsmanship is better than a monster's.

"What kind of sword is this?" he asked as he pulled out a white sword from a weapon barrel. Its sheath was white and when he pulled the blade out, it was white too.

Rather than metallic white, the sword actually did not reflect light like a metal, it was a bit lighter than a normal sword as well.

"Oh, that sword was the weapon of a goblin chieftain. They said that it was made from a holy creature's bone!" the man tried to market his product.

"This is good. Do you have any other sword like this?" he asked after trying a few swings of the blade toward the prepared target.

It was light enough for him to swing it quickly, but its sharpness was so great that it did not need that much weight to cut through a solid object.

"Wow, this sword is great! The only downside is it a bit brittle because it is made of bones, but with my magic ability this will not be a problem!" he grinned.