Chapter 145

Chapter 146: It’s Just a Bread by the Roadside (Third Update of the Day! Begging for Subscriptions!)

“It was an unintentional remark, Miss Renova.”

Izay cast a glance at the shop owner granny and gave a slightly awkward yet polite smile.

It’s quite embarrassing when your evaluation of someone is heard by that person themselves.

“Ho ho ho… You know me…”

Seeming surprised that Izay recognized her, Renova gave him an additional once-over.

Then she remembered something, curling her lips into a big wrinkly grin.

“Are you from [Silver Star]? That junior of Riviria’s? Did she send you to me?”

What Izay himself didn’t realize was that he was already somewhat of a celebrity within Orario.

Anyone involved in the adventurer profession would have some impression of his face.

After all, the fact that he leveled up to Level 2 in just a month made a huge impact.

Renova immediately revealed Izay’s identity, and he calmly accepted it with a nod.

“You can’t fool you.”

“What brings you to my humble little shop? Not here to buy a staff, are you? I remember Riviria mentioning that you use a gun?”

This shop owner who resembled a witch chuckled again, her laughter enough to scare small children.

With her hands behind her back, she walked over to a large pot emitting red steam. She glanced at what was boiling inside, stirred it twice with a large ladle, and asked about Izay’s purpose.

“No, not that. I came to ask you to process some magical artifact materials.”

“Process magical artifact materials? What kind of materials?”

“The branch of the Great Sacred Tree.”

Prepared beforehand, Izay had brought along a backpack before leaving home. Inside was the “branch of the Great Sacred Tree” given to him by Riviria, along with a design blueprint.

Taking these two items out of his backpack, he handed them both to the old woman in front of him, who slightly raised her eyebrows as she took them.

Her gnarled hands caressed the branch of the Great Sacred Tree and then glanced at Izay’s blueprint.

“To think you’d take such fine staff material and want to make it into a decoration!? Are you mad?”

As if seeing a hero dressed in full gear going to the beginner’s village to fight slimes, Renova’s expression was utterly bizarre.

Hearing this, Izay scratched the back of his head and laughed.

“Uh… more accurately, a magical artifact.”

Upon hearing this, Renova looked at him meaningfully.

“Fine, it’s your business what you do with such precious materials. I can’t stop you. Processing them will probably take some time, but not too long. Will you come back later or wait until it’s done?”

“I’ll wait until it’s done.”

“In that case, you can browse around my shop. There are seats nearby. Feel free to look around, just don’t break anything, or you’ll have to pay for it.”

Muttering incessantly, Renova took the Great Sacred Tree branch and went through the curtain behind the counter into the inner room.

‘A cold exterior but warm-hearted person…’

Watching her thin figure disappear into the inner room, Izay learned his lesson this time and silently thought to himself.

Riviria’s evaluation of this shopkeeper was exactly like this.

Though she might seem scary and dark, in reality, she’s similar to those grandmothers who like to tease kids.

Scaring children and enjoying their frightened expressions is something most elders have done—it’s also one way they express their affection.

After she disappeared into the inner room, Izay continued to curiously scan the shop.

The store, filled with strange items (a large pot and snake lizards), was brimming with staves and wooden rods that would interest any mage, offering various types of wands aplenty.

As a store run by a magician, staves were basically its main selling point.

Since magicians are people who deal with magic-related items, the craftsmen who create staves and non-natural magical gems are precisely them.

And every single magician is proficient in magic.

To enhance ‘magic power’ and adjust the strength of ‘spells,’ the creators of mages’ staves must also be well-versed in magic.

Magic staves crafted by magicians often use sacred woods from the fairy forest or special metals and minerals to boost the abilities of mages.

Among these, the ‘branch of the Great Sacred Tree’ is considered the most precious type of sacred wood, extremely scarce and in high demand outside.

Adventurers who can obtain numerous ‘branches of the Great Sacred Tree’ are likely only Riviria.

However, Izay wasn’t particularly obsessed with staves.

Not to mention anything else, his skill ‘Celestial Favor’ could comprehensively enhance magical effects.

Using equipment to increase the power of magic? The Starshine Gauntlets would suffice.

And there was the weapon he was preparing—Evil Repellent.

Gauntlets plus weapon, double enhancement, double happiness, right?

Why would he need a staff with all these?

A staff would only slow down his attack speed!

In the Witch’s Retreat store, other than the oddities, there were plenty of strange lizard, snake scorpion materials, dolls, and whatnot.

Ignoring the pot next to it filled with eerie red liquid…it actually resembled an antique shop.

After wandering around for quite some time, Izay stopped in front of a book at the counter.

It was a thick book with intricate carvings on its cover.

“A Magic Tome?”

In the library of the Familial Groups, Izay had seen many books similar to this one, but those in the library were plain and unassuming, unlike this one, which emitted a faint but captivating magical aura.

A Magic Tome is a precious book filled with ‘miracles.’ In this world, the number of people who can create such books has dwindled, making each Magic Tome incredibly valuable.

Still explaining in mundane terms, each one is worth several small goals.

High-tier Magic Tomes not only allow one to comprehend their own ‘magic’ but also have a certain chance of increasing the number of magic slots.

The upper limit for magic slots is three, though it cannot be increased further. However, those who originally had one slot would gain two, and those with two would get three.

Increasing the innate fixed number of magic uses per person is why the trading price of Magic Tomes is higher than first-tier equipment.

But it was useless to Izay, so after glancing at it twice, he turned away.

It was just an unused Magic Tome, not even catching Izay’s eye.

He didn’t have any restrictions on magic slots and could develop magic freely, so to him, a Magic Tome was just like a bread loaf by the roadside—eat it if you want, or leave it alone, no big deal.

Renova didn’t keep Izay waiting too long. About twenty minutes passed, and she emerged from the inner room carrying a beautifully decorated box.

“Everything is here. There’s some leftover Great Sacred Tree branch, so I’ve packed it inside for you. Check if it meets your requirements.”

The box was partially open, with two layers. Inside, black protective cloth lined some small recesses, and Renova placed over ten semi-finished products she made for Izay inside.

Izay took the decorated box and carefully examined it.

After a while, he looked up.

“Perfectly meets my requirements. Thank you for your trouble.”

“Ho ho ho, if you want to thank me, just pay up. A modest fee of forty million Valis.”

“…”

So realistic.