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As Leylin stepped into the trading area, a multitude of younglings started to swarm him, offering their services as guides. However, Leylin did not have the time or interest to do a full tour as he had in Lost Forest, so he waved them off.

This was simply because he had already developed the habit of doing business expeditiously, all whilst trying not to draw unnecessary attention. Besides, there were a lot of signs around. So under normal circumstances, Ellinel's patrons did not require guides at all.

And so, Leylin calmly went inside the market. He stepped towards the largest potioneering shop. Not meaning to waste any time, he wordlessly brought out a small chest as soon as he went through the door and reached the front counter. Despite its size, it contained several labeled test tubes which were arranged in a neat and orderly manner.

This represented his last supply of peak mid-tier strength and hemostatic potions, along with some other insignificant mixtures like that paralyzing dust he had used against those soldiers outside Messi Village. Of course, Leylin also had a secret stock of his best product stashed away outside the market's entrance.

He made sure to drink one of his 'premium' strength potions every 4 hours, which meant he always had a boost in strength and stamina. He was worried he would develop an addiction at one time, but after a few hundred attempts, he had purified the strength formula to be completely benign.

The geezer who owned the store Leylin had entered was amazed at the Farlier heir's effectiveness, as he could not believe a mere third-grade acolyte had been successful with so many brewings.

"I am sorry, but I have a tight schedule... Could we finish this transaction?" -Leylin said with a kind smile.

"Oh, naturally, young man. I am sorry to have kept you waiting as I rambled on. Here is your due payment: 140 magic crystals, paid in mid-grade crystals as you asked." -The geezer said warmly, as his wrinkled eyes formed a contrite expression.

'At least he knows to apologize to me. This should be the norm and not the exception. Alas, I am still a nobody in this world of Magi.' -Leylin thought with a tint of bitterness.

Before he bade farewell, Leylin casually asked: "Say, are there places where I may inquire about the latest news around here?"

The old geezer stared blankly for a while before answering: "If you wish to learn some secrets and the latest intelligence of our Poolfield Kingdom, Gandor's Grocery Shop would be your best choice. Although his temper is a little... well he's certainly the most informed out of us merchants in Ellinel."

Nodding, the brown-haired teen left the potioneering shop, his black pouch bulging with magic crystals.

Following the simple directions he'd been given by Aralis, who had a rough mapping of the area done, Leylin quickly arrived at Gandor's Grocery Shop.

As he entered, the numerous merchandises stacked alongside the shop were very untidy, and various items were downright lying on the wooden floor. None caught Leylin's interest.

However, one aspect of the store did manage to register in his conscious thought: no counterfeit products were in sight.

'As befits this market's information broker, he tries so hard to keep up appearances.' -Leylin mused with a hidden grin, as he reminisced of his time as a VIP inside trader in the stock market in his past life. He so enjoyed making others miserable, either directly or indirectly. Plus, the money was good.

"Who is it?" -A raspy voice sounded from behind the counter. Following this, a geezer who appeared as if he was on the brink of death, popped out from behind the back of the store. The old man had only a tattered grey robe with apparent old stains, as well as a revolting smell coming off of him.

'Look at this wretch; quite the ugly bastard. He better had something of worth for me, or I'll suffer internally for not being capable of killing him where he stands.' -Lelyin was disgusted by the man's overall lack of hygiene and personal care. His early first impression was suddenly demolished by the true nature of the shopkeeper.

"Good day, sir. The owner of the potioneering cornershop recommended this place to me. I wish to buy access to the latest news regarding the Poolfield Kingdom." -Leylin stated with his trademark gentlemanly demeanor. He was under no illusion that the intel would come without a price. After all, this world was similar to the other in more ways than one.

"Do you, now? Alright, but only after you acquire an item from my shop will I provide any information." -The half-dead geezer's lips did not move but a mysterious voice could be heard from him.

'I just told you I wanted to buy it off of you, dumb fuck. Must be a force of habit, what with having to deal with useless trashes like himself all day.' -Leylin felt his patience running thin already.

"Then what can you offer me?" -Leylin was not inclined to pick an item at random just for the sake of the information. Even if it was a forced purchase, he wanted to get the most out of his crystals' worth.

"No can do. It is I who will choose for you..." -The half-dead geezer sniggered.

'He's pushing it too far for my liking.' -Leylin ground his teeth silently. His murderous impulses bubbling with more violence than before.

Leylin rolled his eyes: "Go ahead then. Choose."

The half-dead geezer forthwith went to rummage through a giant shelf at the back of the shop. It was filled with the kind of oversized and heavy tomes the Magi used to keep their knowledge in. This particular wooden shelf also made a lot of creaking sounds; resembling as if it would collapse at any given moment. Leylin was secretly wishing it would, so that at least the geezer felt a bit of the pain he wanted to inflict him with.

"I found it!" -The half-dead geezer took a black-colored tome from the shelf.

On the manuscript were characters that Leylin was unable to read appropriately, as he only understood roughly 40% of its contents. The tome's corners were extremely dog-eared and looked like mice had chewed on it.

This realization made Leylin have mixed feelings. On one hand, he hated rodents for evident reasons. But on the other, he remembered how much he enjoyed unleashing them in his past life's cities, letting them cause disease and raze through food reserves. He had a lot of fun watching entire countries going on a panic at the kind of infestations he set up for them.

'Back when my hedonistic tendencies got the better of me... I won't allow myself to replicate my demise in this new life.' -Leylin reaffirmed. As much as he loved causing senseless chaos, he had his mind fixed on his final objective of reaching godhood. He would have to make do with the little moments of pleasure along the way.

"I may be greedy, but I am not without reason. This here is a fragment of the Great Magus Serholm's spell. I'll sell it to you for only 1,000 magic crystals. It could even be his inheritance for all I know! Perhaps you could advance to an official Magus after you meditate with it... An absolutely worthy deal! What do you think?" -The half-dead geezer eyes glittered.

Leylin was left speechless as he took it in his hands. Not because he was in awe of its implied power, but due to what Aralis' full scan had shown.

'At least five hundred years old. Hmmm, and as I suspected, it is made completely out of human skin. I should know... Moreover, it is tainted with resentment energies, and it even has a couple of beast scratches on its cover which denote the kind of circumstances this grimoire has been through over the centuries... But above it all...' -In but a second, Leylin had finished analyzing the tome.

Nonetheless, Leylin pretended to scrutinize the rugged pages for some time before looking up at the geezer with a raised brow: "With that little sales pitch, you could've fooled any common acolyte. Unfortunately for you, it just so happens that one of my main areas of expertise is the research of ancient tomes. This is a mere remnant of Sage Lowian's teachings."

"How could this be?! I was sure that it was Great Magus Serholm's!" -The half-dead geezer hurriedly lamented. A flash of shock crossed his eyes, which immediately changed into a sly expression.

"Although, even if it is part of Sage Lowian's teachings, this definitely belonged to Lord Rookmanst! He was a Rank 2 Magus known for hoarding quite a number of Lowian's works. Two years ago, a similar piece was sold for 700 magic crystals in this very market, as I recall. So, how about I sell it to you for that price?"

[Looks like he was actually surprised to find that out. Perhaps he did not want to deceive you, Doctor.] -Aralis noted with an even tone.

'This pathetic scum thinks he can hide his thoughts from me, but he is yet another wide-open book I can skim through as I please. His shock was genuine, indeed. But it was not caused by what I discovered upon your inspection, so much as for the fact that I exposed what lied underneath the tome's origin. In other words, he knew he was full of bullshit, he just did not know how much so.' -Leylin had to contain a chuckle.

Then he shook his head slowly: "First of all, you don't really have a way to prove that it did belong to Lord Rookmanst, so I'll simply pretend you never said that. Secondly, Lowian's teachings were written in a coded language lost in the ages. Only an official Magus would have the means to decipher the code. Also, their page numbers were written in the Angema language to make it even more obscure. Furthermore, the first 30 tomes of Sage Lowian's teachings were comprised of his penned insights from when he was still an acolyte."

The old man looked like he wanted to refute Leylin, but was unwittingly prevented from uttering a single word by his would-be client's discreet sleight of hand.

"This is evident by the way these pages are written. See the penmanship? It lacks the precision and grace an accomplished Magus would imprint into his personal journal. It is well-acknowledged by every scholar in South Coast how it was only after turning into an official Magus that Lowian began to display his celebrated profound wisdom." -Leylin pointed to the first sentence of the first page.

"I could go on with the list of reasons why I should not buy this door-holder, but instead, I'll make you a counter-offer. 50 magic crystals is this derelict tome's highest asking price." -Leylin concluded with a firm yet equanimous tone, making it seem as if he was taking a big hit with this purchase.

The half-dead man tried putting up an unyielding facade but finally gave in to Leylin's piercing gaze, which was seemingly filled with a thousand arguments and unending academic knowledge.

"Alright, alright, fine! I never expected to meet such an erudite today..."

Not saying anything else, Leylin held onto the black-colored tome and then placed 5 middle-grade magic crystals on the counter.

"Damn it, I require a lot of energy! Had you paid me the 1000 magic crystals I would've definitely completed my physical body's restructuring!" -The half-dead geezer's expression was resentful.

"Hmph, so? What do you want to inquire about?" -He then sprawled on the nearby chair and began to devour the magic crystals one by one in a way a neanderthal would eat a piece of charred flesh. Leylin was rather disgusted by this scene, but his mask held into place.

'If I could, I would restructure your body with a point-blank Negative Energy Fireball.' -Leylin mentally replied, before he spoke out loud.

"Tell me everything you know about the war in Abyssal Bone Forest Academy." -The Farlier heir's attitude betrayed the seriousness of the topic.

"Abyssal Bone Forest Academy? Are you an acolyte there?" -The geezer looked up from his final crystal meal to the teenager's eyes.

"It is you who has to answer me." -Leylin let out a bit of his restrained aura, causing the half-dead geezer to feel a shiver run down his spine. He instantly averted his gaze and went back to finishing his crystal in one bite. Somehow, this nerdy pretentious prick was capable of instilling some type of primal fear into him, a level 3 acolyte close to his breakthrough. This notion made him want to close the store immediately.

"In any case, Abyssal Bone Forest Academy's current situation isn't that great, as far as I know. I heard that Sage Gotham's Hut and Whitewoods Castle teamed up to go against them in this war..." -The half-dead geezer began to recite his wealth of intel endlessly.

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A few hours later, Leylin walked out of the grocery shop with an extremely joyful expression. Everything was within his predictions.

In broad strokes, this was about a feud spanning decades. The casus belli for this conflict had long since been forgotten. What mattered was that Sage Gotham's Hut and Whitewoods Castle were factions on the same level as Abyssal Bone Forest Academy. Their alliance placed Abyssal Bone Forest Academy in a naturally disadvantageous position. Right now, Leylin's academy could only rely on its defense spell formation to resist the onslaught.

'Now that the thing with the academy is out the way, tell me Aralis, how long till you decode the tome?'

[My estimated time until completion is 93 days 13 hours.] -She dutifully reported.

'Most excellent. Even if it doesn't yield anything particularly useful, it was a more than affordable cost for the most precious commodity: intel. Honestly, that imbecile sold me the book at that laughable price solely because he was too desperate to make a sell and get his grub of crystals. One more living exhibit that greed without cunning is equal to a gun with no bullets. Pathetic.'

Leylin covered the tome with his cloak as he casually strolled across Ellinel Market.