Chapter 27

Lukas observed the longsword Ria had picked out, its blade gleaming under the dim light of the market. Despite the merchant's shady demeanor, the sword appeared to be of reasonable quality, at least for beginners like them.

"It looks sturdy," Lukas said, inspecting the weapon's craftsmanship.

The merchant nodded eagerly, his fake smile widening. "Ah, yes! A fine choice indeed. Perfect for budding warriors like yourselves."

Lukas glanced at the price tag attached to the sword. It was priced at 200 credit points.

Lukas frowned seeing this, as he wasn't sure how much credit points were worth. He realized he should have checked the marketplace first before coming here with her.

The only thing he bought was some sigils, as he was not experienced in such matters.

Ria hesitated, thinking about what to say. It was pricier than she expected, but she could finally wield a real sword, and she liked it a lot. It wasn't too big or too small, perfect for her. She couldn't pass up this chance. She had seen it yesterday here, and it was fortunate that it was still available. Who knows if she came at a later time it would disappear!

"I will buy it!" she spoke out, taking out her credit point badge.

"Are you sure?" Lukas asked, wanting to ensure that Ria was making the right choice.

She nodded her head and immediately scanned the badge on the credit slot the merchant gave her. The guy was quick; the moment he heard her words, he handed her the slot.

Lukas couldn't even warn her about negotiating.

Lukas sighed inwardly, realizing that they had likely paid more than they should have for the sword.

As Ria held the sword in her hands, a sense of satisfaction washed over her.

"Well, at least she's happy," Lukas thought, noticing the merchant's gaze on him.

"Do you need anything too?" the merchant asked.

Lukas glanced at the merchant and smiled before saying, "No."

The merchant's gaze lingered for a moment longer before he nodded in understanding. With a final fake smile, he turned his attention back to attending to other potential customers milling around the shop.

As Lukas and Ria made their way out of the shop, Lukas remarked, "Looks like you're happy with your choice," trying to lighten the mood.

Ria nodded enthusiastically, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Definitely! I can't wait to start training with it."

"If I had this, I would have killed all of the goblins," Rita muttered in frustration.

Her death was quite funny on the tower. Her sword was too small to reach them. As a result, she was pierced right at the waist with their daggers. Of course, it did not hurt as much as it would in real life. However, it was enough to cause her to lose focus for a split second, which was sufficient for the three goblins.

" How about you, You don't need a wand?" Rita asked, placing the sword on her left waist.

" Not really," Lukas muttered. Well, he does need one, but wands and staffs are expensive. The range is approximately 800 to a few thousand.

He spends the majority of his credit points on the library, approximately 700 of them out of the initial 1,000 credit points. Of course, he won some, around 120 or so.

Which was insufficient. Well, he would rather go buy more sigils than spend here. He was tempted to buy a sword, but after considering how wasteful it would be, he declined.

" I see, I want to buy some recovery potions. Let's visit that section. I think you need them too. So let's go."

Lukas wasn't sure if he needed them or not. But having them wasn't that bad of an idea, if they are cheap, that is.

2nd floor entry fees were one hundred credit points. Kinda cheap, but for them it's a lot. Thus, they explored the whole first floor of the market.

Lukas was kinda disappointed. He didn't mind anything eye-catching except for some useful potions which he bought for 50 credit points. Two of them, used for mana recovery.

He wanted to see some golems he can buy or anything. But he found none as people said they are available on the 3rd floor.

And as first-year like them, they should just forget about it. Lukas sighed, but he wasn't disappointed and didn't give up on getting one. He has mana now, unlike his past life. He can use golems now or might be able to create some too when he reaches higher levels.

Rita was the one who did the shopping here today. A sword, five mana potions along.

With that done, they came out of the market.

Lukas gazed at the sky. It was already getting late. The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon.

Luke strode ahead, knowing it was a big day.

As they headed towards the dormitories, they passed the sigil library. Lukas had a realization and his eyes sparkled briefly.

"Hey, I have to go buy some things from the library. Do you want to come?" he asked Ria.

Ria looked at him and nodded, "Sure, let's go."

They entered the library once again. Ria had also entered yesterday.

Lukas quickly located the auxiliary section. Without hesitation, he grabbed the sigil books he wanted. Fortunately, the reception area was less crowded today. It only took half an hour for him to purchase the books and have them delivered to his dormitory.

They walked out of the library and started heading back. The sun had already set, and the place was growing dark. However, the entire academy was well-lit thanks to street lights and dimly glowing pillars.

As they talked and walked, they ended up in front of their dorms. They said goodbye and exchanged room numbers for future contact.

They each entered their respective buildings.

Lukas entered his familiar room and took a refreshing shower before enjoying freshly baked bread with jelly and butter.

He realized he needed to upgrade his food. In the academy, that's all you get for free. For more substantial meals, one needs to subscribe to the credit center.

The higher the food quality, the higher the subscription cost. This also includes monster meat enriched with mana.

Just thinking about them, he gulped down a mouthful of saliva. He couldn't eat monster meat because he hadn't awakened his elements. But now that he had, he could eat that delicious meat.

Wiping his face, he shook his head, pushing those thoughts aside for now.

After finishing his meal, Lukas decided to spend the rest of the evening reviewing the sigils he had purchased earlier. Sitting at his desk, he carefully examined each one, trying to memorize their effects and activation methods. As he studied, he couldn't help but feel excited about the possibilities these sigils could offer in his future battles and adventures.

Today's battle with the org gave him some insights into how he could use his soul gear along with magic simultaneously.

The spiraling earthen volt was powerful, but he noticed a problem - he couldn't cast them fast enough, and despite being able to cast while moving, he couldn't do both at the same time.

The reason was simple: he had to shape the volt as mind sigils would nullify his spell the moment he moved. Shaping the essence was all he could do. But now, there wouldn't be a problem anymore.

The sigil books he had bought were none other than shaping sigils. They formed the shape on their own just by staying there, without him doing anything.

Of course, these types of sigils are for newbies, as even if the essence shape is formed, one has to draw other sigils while standing still. And if one has already unlocked the aura zone at the 3rd circle, these sigils become useless, as within the aura zone, just a single thought is enough to shape the essence along with the sigils.

But he's an exception! With his soul gear, despite not having an aura zone currently, he can simultaneously draw multiple sigils, and now with these shaping sigils, which are usually used for blacksmiths and crafting things, he can almost instantly cast the spiraling Earth volt just by exhausting his essence from his hand.

The scripts of sigils written on his soul gear will work automatically, making his casting time much faster.

He started learning the sigils and practicing them. Two hours passed in the blink of an eye, and he could finally say that he was somewhat finished.

He summoned his soul gear right away, grabbing the pen. The pages turned over on their own.

As he was about to add a circular-shaped sigil, he noticed something on the title names. There was a red dot on the title.

His eyes narrowed as he wondered what that was, and he tapped on it using the pen.

In the next second, like an actual interactive screen, a small blue box overlapped on the black page above the sigil.

The contents:

[][]Spiraling shot [Lv-2]

Details: Changes the essence into a spiraling form with added sharpness, sturdiness, and high accuracy.

"Wow, when did this feature get unlocked?" he muttered, changing the page and stopping on the mana circulation sigil. But this one didn't have one. He then checked the spiraling shot again to see if it disappeared or not, but it didn't.

He thought for a moment and could only come up with one explanation, "It has many sigils and it's level two, that should be the reason."

Yes, he clearly remembers the red dot not being present there. Thus, it means the condition was to have any sigils and to level up to two.

"That's that then, but is that even useful?" he muttered. Then he thought, "better than nothing, I guess," and focused on drawing the shaping sigil.

As expected, the moment he drew something new on the page, the level got reset back to zero and the red dot on the title also disappeared.

Soon, in a minute, he drew it completely, seeing that there was no problem with it. His preparation was done. Now it was time to test this out. He also didn't forget to reply to Ria and Ama on the communication crystal.

They were basically asking what to do next, but he clearly declined, saying, "You guys can go there. I want to focus on what main course to choose."

Ama wanted to suggest a change of plan and wanted to come together, but Ria reminded her of her courses. Thus, finally, with that being said, he would be alone. Ria herself would also be busy tomorrow.

And so, with that, he stood up from the table, grabbing the two mana recovery potions he brought, and headed towards the training section.

It was time for him to train until he was drained of mana.

[TO BE CONTINUED...]