Gathering The Required Materials

Now the next step was to gather the materials listed in the book.

On this particular day, Landria moved across Clearksy town after selling the corpse of the creature he hunted today.

Unlike before where he'd arrive close to nightfall, it was currently noon. Landria decided to skip refining his mana core for today because he wanted to source for materials needed to create the mana reactor tool.

Old man Croan was surprised to see him this early. He inquired from old man Croan if there were places around here where he could get the twelve items required to create the mana reactor tool.

Old man Croan only knew of a few places where he could get around seven of the items listed. He had no idea where the others could be found.

Creating the mana reactor tool not only required these items but also a magic spell that could only be cast by an intermediate-level mage. Landria already knew the spell and learned it but without the materials required the spell was useless.

Old man Croan wasn't a mage so it was normal that he didn't know a lot about these things.

Landria proceeded to move from place to place across town trying to acquire the materials.

After two hours, Landria had managed to acquire five of the items needed. It was quite difficult as he moved from stall to stall only to discover that most of these items happened to be quite scarce.

"Next is... A scoop of Fosser feces..." Landria stared at the list in his hand.

"Skipping this, next is a gram of Phirhiar purple moss," Landria muttered while holding onto his chin with his left hand.

This was another item Landria knew nothing about so he had to look for it here.

The Fosser feces was something he could get himself since the Fosser was a mild eight-foot-tall lizard-like creature that did not like to harm people unless it got provoked.

He only needed to find one of their nests and get its feces.

Landria moved to another stall in the town where plants in wooden and ceramic-looking vases could be seen. There were varieties of both weird and familiar-looking plants displayed in front of the stall.

He proceeded to explain to the stall owner what he was looking for.

"Phirhiar purple moss? Sorry mister I have not set my eyes on those in at least a year. Even if I did have them, I would sell them at a price that you might be unable to afford," The stall owner voiced while shaking her head.

"Hmm? Why would you sell for an astronomical price if they were to be available?" Landria asked.

"Because they're rare. Too rare it's not certain you can find it even in Barbaois City," The plant stall owner responded.

"Where can I find it then?" Landria asked.

"Far far west from here... beyond the Asaruis Kingdom," She stated.

'That's too far,' Landria thought with a baffled expression.

"The forests around these parts are incapable of growing Phirhiar purple moss... If it was the pink type which is used for making women's perfume then, of course, you'd get it easily but the purple tsk tsk," She shook her head as she spoke wondering how Landria didn't know that this material was very rare.

"The purple has a variety of uses," She added.

Landria nodded in understanding before turning around to leave, "Thank you for your time," He voiced out in appreciation.

Landria decided to keep this at the back of the list for now as he moved to acquire the rest of the items on the list.

It took the rest of the day before Landria finally decided to head back to Riverbeak town.

At this point, he had managed to acquire eight of the items required for crafting the mana reactor tool.

A stall owner even had to head into Barbaois City to get one of the items he needed. It was a great task to gather these materials and they were not even complete yet.

Landria was starting to understand why the teenage boy he met at the town's magic library said the book was collecting dust up there.

It turns out nobody ever asked for the book because gathering materials used to craft magic tools was no minuscule task.

Right now Landria still had to find the other three items and think of a means to acquire the fourth one said to be very rare.

Arriving back at home, he kept the materials in the room he had been sleeping in since he arrived here.

Viktor and Orion were outside playing with other kids in the neighborhood while Laura hadn't returned yet with the two other girls.

He had decided he would check within Barbaois City tomorrow for the other items. He would have checked there today but it was already late and getting into Barbaois city cost two silver pieces which were why a lot of people avoided the city gates except for merchants.

It was something Landria could easily afford now but he wanted to be sure all the materials couldn't be gotten from town so he wouldn't have to spend money unnecessarily.

Minutes later a fire was started in front of the home to roast the game Landria had bought back for the day.

Laura had returned with Mara, Mira, and another family. This particular family had a daughter who Landria would have found familiar if he was in the vicinity.

The neighbors also came out of their houses to gather around the fire as nightfall arrived to eat and make merry.

The neighbors in this part of town shared things a lot so this wasn't an odd sight.

While they were eating, drinking, and chatting, Landria who was responsible for catching the game was nowhere to be found in the vicinity.

He was currently thousands of feet away on a slightly high ground where he sat in front of a tree and rested his back against its trunk. He could see the fire in the distance that the neighbors gathered around with Laura and the kids.

It looked quite small from this point of view since this land area extended upwards but at the same time, it burnt brightly illuminating the surroundings down there.

An air of depression and sadness surrounded Landria as he looked upwards at the crescent-shaped moon in the sky.

His eyes darted from star to star as he recalled his family.

-"When a great person passes on from the mortal plane, they live on as stars in the sky... I know it all sounds like a fairytale but when I'm gone, look into the sky because I will be watching you from up there,"

-"One day you'll become a great mage son. Greater than your father I know it and even if you don't, your mother will never leave your side,"

-"Big brother, hehehe, how did you find me again? Your magic is even now stronger than before,"

Memories clouded his mind of the time he spent with his family never expecting that a day like this would come where he could no longer see their faces.

Landria was sad, angry, and depressed all at the same time. He longed each day to find the person responsible for tearing his family apart.

However, even with all these, he had to bottle up the rage he felt inside because he had no idea who he was supposed to direct all this negative energy at.

There was no face he could picture in his mind that was responsible for this, neither did he have any idea about who to suspect. It was the worst feeling in the world, wanting to avenge your family but not knowing who to kill.

'Destroy the entire kingdom!'

Landria's mind suddenly jerked back to environmental awareness as he heard the strange voice in his mind once more.

"What?" He voiced out.

Shrrhh~ Shrrhh~

The sound of grass parting ways was heard as a figure walked out from behind a tree, a few feet towards the left.

This figure began strolling towards Landria's position.