Life in Silverymoon
‘Even the ordinary soldiers feel the looming shadow of war?’ Leylin nodded expressionlessly as he reflected on the issue in his mind. He didn’t remain in the barracks upon their return, instead returning to the property he’d bought.
‘I’m done with yet another mission. The contribution points I earned should be enough for me to buy that information, right?’
The database for wizards in Silverymoon could not be accessed purely with money. There were specific requirements to get things, and high-grade information on spells required contribution points to access. This was part of why Leylin had entered the city guard.
At this thought, he couldn’t help but glance at his stats.
[Leylin Faulen. Age: 20. Race: Human, Rank 12 wizard. Strength: 10. Agility: 10. Vitality: 10. Spiritual force: 12. Status: Healthy. Feats: Sturdy, Erudite, Elementary Perfect Body. Spell Slots: Rank 5(3), Rank 4(5), Rank 3(7), Rank 2(???), Rank 1(???), Rank 0(???)]
Silverymoon City was truly the birthplace of wizards in the northern lands. With ample resources and research material, Leylin was able to move up a rank just by diligently working towards it. With more information, the progress on analysis of the Weave had also advanced at lightning speed.
‘Analysis of level 3 of the Weave has already progressed to 99.99%. There’s just a little left...’ Leylin sighed as he entered the workroom.
“Good- Good morning, Mister Leylin!” Three wizard apprentices jumped up just like startled rabbits. Bessany looked a little flushed, and the sisters behind her were obviously trying to clean up the messy lab table.
“Welcome home, sir!” Bessany spoke in the end, having gathered her courage. A year of study had taught them how difficult it was to cross rank 10, which meant that this young noble in front of them had a lot of talent and status in the wizarding world.
“Mm,” Leylin nodded sternly, “I hired you at the price of ten gold kronas per month; you also have permission to use my workroom. You don’t have to feel embarrassed...”
While helping with Leylin’s work, these girls had also been attempting to train their alchemy. It was a pity that without guidance from their mentor, it was difficult for them to improve by a large extent even if they had an alchemy lab.
“Oh!” Just as Leylin’s voice sounded, Isadora cheered, “I knew Mister Leylin wasn’t a stingy person...”
“So... that’s how you thought of me in the past?” Leylin rubbed his nose, scaring Ena into dragging her sister to apologise with her. There were countless apprentices in Silverymoon City, and their chances of finding such a good job were meagre. If not for their coincidental meeting with Leylin, the three of them wouldn’t even have been able to get this position. Hence, Ena treasured her current job.
“Forget it... I was just joking!” Even if it was what he had said only in passing, the beautiful apprentices in front of him were already cowering in fear. Such was the power of a high status. This power originated from Leylin himself, and nobody could snatch it away from him.
Leylin waved his hand with waning interest, approaching the sales counter on one side and opening its magic lock.
“How have the sales of magic items been lately?” Leylin took out a black boxing glove from the locked counter. The dark hide on the surface had a chilly glint to it, and looked to conceal some sort of strength. Under the guard was an incomplete magic formation. A few parts of the circuit were obviously broken off.
“The two items we asked Hawke’s Bazaar to sell have already gone on the market. We have received a total of 8000 gold coins. Based on the contract, they will receive 10% of the profits and the funds have been remitted to your account at the Goddess of Wealth’s church, able to be withdrawn at any time... Also, a few other magic item shops and auctions have contacted me, saying they wish to obtain your masterpieces...” Bessany reported normally.
Leylin was a Grandmaster Alchemist in his previous life. Once he made sense of the rules of alchemy in this world and got a hold of Permanency, his magic items were rather good. Bessany was definitely envious of Leylin given that the items he made randomly sold for thousands of gold coins.
It was a pity that she was only qualified to take care of the sales records and statistics. Whether it was delivering magic items or transferring money, this was something Leylin personally took care of with the clients. There was no way for her to interfere.
Tempted by greed, humans could abruptly gain terrifying strength and not even twitch in the face of death. Knowing this well, Leylin obviously would not give her the chance to betray him.
‘It looks like Bessany is rather skilled at this type of work. There’s some value in nurturing her...’ Leylin thought to himself, placing the boxing glove on the table while putting on a device over his eyes which was similar to a magnifying glass.
A fine powder mixed with mithril floated down softly from Leylin’s fingertips. It emitting a shiny silver luster in the ink bottle it landed in, after which Leylin used a fountain pen and dabbed at the ink before beginning to draw on the magic formation.
Bessany and the sisters immediately held their breaths, watching his actions closely. Alchemy masters all had their unique techniques. Even in Silverymoon, it was rare for people to let others watch without reservations. The other alchemy apprentices would go crazy over this if they found out!
His movements as fluid as water, Leylin quickly finished drawing the last magic formation. A radiance then appeared on his hands. With the incantation done and energy provided, the magic formation began to radiate energy that enveloped the glove.
“Now!” Leylin’s eyes shone, and he unhesitatingly cast a rank 5 spell. The gorgeous, powerful lustre of Permanency caused the girls to look intoxicated. With it, the rays from the magic formation grew in strength, and then began to be hidden within the guard.
[Beep! Glove of Strength successfully created!] A prompt sounded from the A.I. Chip, followed by the item’s stats.
[Item Name: Glove of Strength. Weight: 525g. Materials Used: Giant Skin, Limestone, Mithril. Effects: Able to increase user’s strength by 1 point (limited to those under 10 points). Description: This is a glove filled with strength, the love of all warriors and knights. The maker used a unique technique in creating it, giving this guard even more power!]
“Hm, not bad.” An item of this rank was something Bessany and the rest could not even hope for. For Leylin, however, it is was merely something to practice his skills on.
After soaking the fist guard in a solution from a glass bottle, he proceeded with the last adaptability procedures. Leylin then spoke to Ena, “Tell the people in the shop to come over and get the goods.”
“Understood, Mister!” Ena bowed respectfully and left the room.
“How is it? Did you understand?” Leylin glanced at Bessany, a teasing look in his eyes. As for Isadora, he completely ignored her.
“No! Sire’s techniques are even more profound than those of the elven masters...” Bessany unknowingly used honorifics. She obviously wanted to become Leylin’s official student, but it seemed like he had no intentions of taking her on whatsoever.
“Alchemy needs to be learnt systematically. It’s natural you can’t understand it for now...” Leylin looked at Bessany, seeing her thirst and determination towards magic. Out of the three, perhaps only she would be able to succeed.
“In that case... Are you willing to give up your pay every month and work for three hourglasses more everyday? This will be in exchange for half an hourglass’ worth of time every week being mentored on alchemy,” Leylin asked. Passing on knowledge in exchange for manual labour was common amongst high-grade wizards. There were even cases of female wizards giving up their bodies in exchange for tutoring.
“I am! Of course I am” Bessany immediately grew so ecstatic that she kept repeating her words. With her background, truly studying alchemy was but a dream. Besides Leylin, no master would be willing to take her in as a apprentice.
“Good! Come to my room after you get off work.” Leylin nodded and headed out of the shop.
He could not keep staying here to create more magic items. Since Bessany had interest and talent in this area, there was nothing bad about teaching her.
“Congratulations, Bessany!” Behind him, Isadora’s congratulations and Bessany’s tearful delight sounded out. A ruminating smile was left on Leylin’s lips.
Things that belonged to a devil were not so easily obtained!
......
At the heart of Silverymoon, in the Wizards’ Guild next to the palace. After passing through a series of stringent tests, Leylin came outside the wizards’ vault.
The tower genie’s robotic voice sounded, “Welcome, Lord Leylin Faulen. As a middle-ranked wizard with the army, you can view the content at the first three levels. Level four and above can be accessed through contribution points.”
The wizards’ vault was a small library, and inside a few old wizards were reading. Leylin did not bother them as he found a book he was in the middle of. He began to read ‘Exploring The Sixth Level Of The Weave.’
The A.I. Chip continued to work, recording everything he saw.