Warlock Apprentice

Flourishing streets, colorful banners, traveling crowds…

Minerals and magic plants, easy cantrips and advanced spells, weapons and armor, apothecaries and research institutes… This area had every single aspect the wizarding world had to offer.

And of course, one could never see the whole picture of the market—there was bound to be more secrets hidden beneath its bright mask, both good and evil ones.

Angor walked around the market while noting down the prices of different merchandise as well as their quality before he carefully placed his orders.

An hour went by quickly, during which Angor found himself denied by many of the shops.

Some of the shops had very strict rules about who could enter, such as “wizards only”. Most of them were bookstores selling spell books or materials that were only useful to wizards.

Naturally, Angor had to stay away from them despite his curiosity. Besides, the shopkeepers did not need to chase him out—there were protective magic arrays placed at their entrances that would simply wound or kill any intruders who did not meet the requirements, while the severity of the punishment solely depended on whether the shopkeeper was in a good mood.

Again, Angor smiled without saying anything.

“Some of them are valuable stock… I would reject any random apprentice who asks for them because they’ll only put them to waste. But you… perhaps yes. Mithra has been giving you apothecary lessons, no? It explains why you need those magical plants.”

Angor just realized that the old woman already recognized him.

He could also tell that Mithra was Granny Fingernail’s friend or at least a colleague since even Sunders had no idea about his apothecary lectures.

He wondered who Granny Fingernail truly was.

Granny Fingernail went to the other side of the counter and took out two one-use space capsules. “Here, one for tooling, and one for potions.”

Angor nodded and checked the capsules using his spirit feelers.

“That’ll be 13,590 magic crystals…” the old shopkeeper said as she waited for Angor to complete his examination. “I’ll make it 13,500.”

The onlooking apprentices widened their eyes in surprise. Even though they could earn quick money with their alchemy skills, such a huge sum was still something that they couldn’t gather easily. The money was enough to buy one or two advanced alchemy tools.

Angor considered and accepted the price. Previously, he planned to spread his orders among several shops so that he wouldn’t draw attention by spending so much money in one go. Still, he couldn’t reject the great offer since Granny Fingernail’s merchandise was of superior quality.

Upon seeing him making such a big purchase, the apprentices who had doubts about Angor’s identity all became sure of their conclusion.

Angor already heard someone mentioning his name, in a polite way. This told him that, at the very least, his fame wasn’t so terrible among alchemists.

“Anything else you need? I also have the copied notes of several famous alchemists, or if you want to study certain exclusive or unique skills… I have them too.”

Alchemy notes? They sell the most precious experience of alchemists here?

When Angor asked, Granny Fingernail explained that the notes weren’t for sale. Angor would have to use his own knowledge as an exchange for the notes.

He did need the written experience, which was something not recorded in his tablet. But then, he learned that he needed to pay really high-end expertise of certain alchemy subjects, and it did not look like a good offer.

He believed he could always gain experience by getting down to practical alchemy works. Without someone’s guidance, he might take some unnecessary detours, yet it was nothing too serious.

With that in mind, he decided to disregard the offer.

He did need to buy something else from the shop. It was neither material nor knowledge, but a tailoring tool for making alchemy garments.