10 Alchemy store.

Alexander, upon finishing his meal, he handed his plate to the gentle owner while discussing on a deal to rent the room for a week as probably getting down the basics on adventuring will take a while.

Off-course, he didn't come to this decision on his own; he talked beforehand with the still begrudged Lillian, she said that getting him up to a state where he won't kill himself will depend on his talent, but will again take time.

Before he left, he asked for directions on an alchemy shop, thanking the owner he walked on the busy streets.

The streets, like when he arrived were still bustling with valiant male and females of different species. He noticed that the ones that emit that aura unique to magicians are few.

Most of them were people like the group he saw when he first came through the gate on that park. They were young and wore robes that carried insignias which he assumed belonged to their academies.

He followed the path that the owner indicated he follows, on the way Alexander saw that the stalls on that plaza are just the tip of the iceberg, with the sight that entered his eyes now he could even call them small time.

Weaponsmiths were forging in the open, letting everyone marvel their works while their shops were full of glittering weapons from swords, spears, axes, bows and even some more modern crossbow-like weapons.

Clothing shops not unlike the ones back on earth, featuring clothes that he assumed nobles would wear, next to the clothing shops were jewellery stores as if there was an agreement between them.

Other shops looked dedicated to armours and leather-working for adventurers ranging from what seemed to more agile attires and others for the heavy-hitters.

What Alexander couldn't find no matter how much he searched were shops that sold stuff related to mages though, at first he thought that they were just rare but when they went deeper and deeper into the city without any coming to sight, he decided to ask Lillian through their connection:

'Hey, um. I can't find any shops selling magic stuff, what's up with that?'

Lillian still angry for some reason just gave him a cold snort and remained silent.

After a minute of them walking had passed, she broke her silence and started explaining:

'Materials that you use for magic aren't comparable to the normal ones, while the adventure's guild provides them-

He interrupted her speech and questioned aloud, making people around him give him odd glances:

'Adventurer's guild? You mentioned that we are going there earlier, what is it? What do you mean it provides materials?'

Lillian gave him a fiery glare that one wouldn't believe came from such a small creature. It made his spine tingle, making him shut up.

She started speaking again when she saw his expression turn meek:

'As I was saying before you interrupted me because mages are naturally arrogant, they wouldn't buy materials from any common store. They demand a mage as a seller though I guess they do that for the money runs around their little circle, as such, the one with the highest influence sells them per area, making them rare.'

She looked forwards onto the bustling streets they were treading and went on:

'We are heading towards the shop right now.

Alexander gave Lillian a weird look. He was confused. Weren't they heading towards an alchemy store? What do magic materials have to do with it?

Lillian, seeing the questioning and confused look in his eyes sighed and explained:

'Ha... I forget how ignorant you are sometimes. You don't know a thing about alchemists do you?'

Alexander just nodded his, not caring that she called him ignorant.

Lillian facepalmed her little face with her wing and started speaking:

'Listen, Being an alchemist requires a delicate control over your mana, most alchemists begin learning the art by studying the properties of monster materials and herbs, depending on how skilled their master is for the amount of information. When they are skilled enough, they start making potions.'

She gave him a stern look to make sure he's paying proper attention, and when she saw that he was focused, she went on:

'Don't confuse them with those little elven potion makers though. Potion makers make the basic stuff by mixing herbs and small amounts of mana, for example, some simple health potions for external wounds and other medicines to cure illnesses or poisoning.'

She paused for a while and continued explaining:

'As I said, alchemists study using monster parts too which are highly volatile, that's not wasted effort though as they make potions that ordinary potion makers can't imagine, some help Aura and mage users break through their bottlenecks-'

She did a small pause there:

'And others give temporary boosts and resistances which are highly useful to adventurer parties. If they can afford them that is. What we are going to get is a very special potion. It allows a beginner mage to feel his affinities through meditating.'

'All of that make alchemists generally very respected. Every force wants to hire them for obvious reasons. Even if they committed some crimes, the local authorities are willing to forgive them. It's also very rare to find an alchemist without quirks.

'Don't think they can only make potions, some of them are proficient in creating magical equipment, said magic equipment gives a big edge to a magus like how an armament does to a warrior, making them extra respected.'

She looked at him intensely and said:

'Do not, under any circumstance offend an alchemist. Because of the amount of control over mana the profession takes, the prominent ones are usually powerful. Even if they don't use their mana, they can poison you to death with pure poison.'

Alexander gulped when heard that and nodded his head slightly.

After walking around the streets for a good 5 minutes, they arrived on the store he was told, there was a simple wooden sign outside with beautiful cursive letters that read 'Granny Rose's Alchemy Store'.

Alexander looked at the shop. It had a simple external design with a natural, dark green front wall and simple brown door, on one of the displays the see-through glass featured some simple wooden staves, some having various colour gems on the top and others being plain.

On the other display, there were some robes with weird inscriptions on them alongside what looked like rings with some mysterious inscriptions of their own, the symbols on them making his mana start to gather towards his eyes to analyse them but remembering what Lillian said about alchemists, he stopped.

Overall, the whole display while it looked odd, was not what something he would expect from a fancy, seemingly wealthy alchemist.

Alexander pushed the simple door slightly, making a bell sound throughout the shop and when he entered, his eye dazzled by what he saw, making him think that his previous thoughts were frivolous.

On the first self to his left, Alexander could see various staffs emitting different presences that he recognised were similar to the fire element he used when he cast his magic.

His eyes shone with curiosity upon seeing the mysterious inscriptions on the various gems embedded on the staffs, making him want to use his uncanny eye ability and look through them. He held back barely.

He looked towards his right and saw many robes spread on mannequins, from those robes he could feel an aura similar to the staffs, but instead of attracting energy and giving it an oomph like the staves, the mysterious inscriptions on them seemed to make external power nullified to a degree.

Walking towards the counter, he saw various mysterious amulets on two glass displays alongside some rings emitting power somewhat similar to the staves in nature but also different at the same time.

Behind a simple wooden counter at the end of the shop, two selves held potions with different colours alongside various monster parts in glass jars filled with a light green liquid.

He could see eyeballs, weird ears and tails, fingers, toenails and some small creatures like spiders still alive on others.

That was when he heard an old but slightly clear and resonant female voice shout behind a half-opened door at the back:

"Coming right away, wait a moment.

Alexander waited by the counter with Lillian on his shoulder. He took every single thing in sight in, resisting the urge to use his power to analyse everything, he found it harder the more time passed, starting to tremble a bit while his head also begun to hurt.

From the moment his powers manifested, he started feeling a strange emotion; He had a powerful longing for magical knowledge, in the beginning, Alexander attributed it to his excitement from being to a new world but now he realised it was a side effect from his powers, he had an urge to analyze anything magical that fell on his sight.

Lillian saw that he was clenching his teeth alongside the sweat that started to form on his brows and when she was about to ask what's wrong with him, a shuffle sounded through the door startling them towards the direction.

An old woman walked in. The old woman wore a long rose-coloured robe and held a simple wooden staff. She looked around 70 years old and sported long silver hair. Her face had a sharp pair of eyebrows, a delicate nose and rosy pale lips; Her eyes were a pale sea-blue colour, and even though she was old, her face still had an odd elasticity to it. She must have been a beauty when she was young, Alexander thought.

The old woman walked through the door and saw the boy with the exotic red spot between his brows. The boy had a weak magical Aura like a beginner magus does, for his age that wasn't too good, his talent must be weak she thought.

That was when she noticed the delicate little bird on his shoulder; She didn't feel anything at the beginning as many mages have useless familiars, a little bird doesn't make a difference.

Though before she moved her eyes away, she focused on the white mark on the bird's forehead, the old woman looked back at the boy's forehead mark, and by intuition, she tapped her staff on the floor while walkings towards them.

What she got back as a response when the pulse touched the little red bird's body shocked her, from its body came a signature equivalent to a human Grand Magus.

She became very interested in the mysterious boy suddenly; there was a spark of curiosity on her blue eyes, she gave a small smile and said with enthusiasm that would shock those who knew her:

"Welcome to my humble alchemy store! I'm Rose, how may I help you?"

~Boom Cliff-kun strikes~