Chapter 71: Chapter 71
"Are you sure we are at the right place, Master?" Celeste asked as she climbed on her horse beside him.
The way she had to address him is still bothering her.
She was sure that Harry didn't really care how she addressed him, but he found it amusing to force her to use such a title.
"The first Magus Market in the Poolfield Kingdom is indeed here." Harry nodded as he observed the rundown village in front of them. "You are quite lucky that your talent isn't too bad with Grade 3 and have already reached the level of a Rank 1 acolyte during our journey. Or I would have ordered you to stay here."
"Why?" She asked, confused.
While he had taught her his efficiently improved version of the elementary mediation technique, she still lacked a lot of knowledge.
For now, she would have a much slower learning pace than an acolyte in an academy, simply because of the lack of resources, lessons, and a proper library.
"Look at that village. See how rundown it is. The people here are dying very early." Harry explained, as they walked around it towards a hut made of bricks, "This is caused by the radiation an magus gives off naturally. Even acolytes give off that radiation. While a handful of acolytes in one place don't cause much damage, Hundreds of people permanently stay in a place. Only with enough resistance to that natural radiation can you remain safe. You got it since you advanced to the level of a Rank 1 acolyte."
"The market is in the village? Just in public?" Celeste asked, bewildered; even as a noble on the South Coast, she had rarely seen any magus.
"No, it's right below."
They knocked lightly on the corroded door of the hut.
"Who are you?" A cold voice asked from behind.
"Two wandering Acolytes wishing to trade some resources!" Harry replied calmly.
With a theatrical creak, the door opened, revealing a black robed figure behind it.
The man behind the door reminded him of Mad Eye Moody. He gave off a similar intense feeling. Clearly, this was an experienced fighter, although only on a Rank 3 acolyte.
Sure, he stood no chance against Harry or the real Mad-Eye Moody, but he was intimidating enough for the majority of wandering Magi, who were mostly Acolytes in these parts.
According to his own estimates, the real Mad-Eye Moody was around the level of a Rank 2 magus, though direct comparisons were difficult due to differences in power systems and innate spells.
However, it was clear that Moody was well above the level of an average Rank 1 magus.
He was intimidating enough for Celeste.
"It doesn't matter if this is your first time here; you will listen to the rules. Any fight in the market is a direct provocation to the Redbud Family." The Acolyte warned them.
This was a market backed by one of the major families backing the academy. Harry wasn't scared of them; after all, he had already stolen the first level of their Advanced Meditation
Technique, but he wasn't planning to cause trouble.
Markets were a good way to get resources.
"Of course." Harry nodded, followed by Celeste.
"Alright, the entrance fee is 1 magic crystal per person."
After receiving the payment for both of them from Harry, the guard tapped lightly onto the fireplace, and a machine began to rumble. The fireplace swung to the right, revealing a flight of stairs heading into the depths.
It reminded him of the architectural style of the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy.
At the bottom of the stairs, a massive cavern revealed itself. The market was huge, at least the size of several football fields.
It seemed as if it had been built into a huge natural cavern.
In the center of the market were buildings made out of gray rocks, which were surrounded by several circles of wooden huts. Even a few street stalls littered the paths in between.
Several people in different colored robes were stepping in and out of the shop. Their robes were either gray, white, or black, and many followed the Common Rules of the Magus Society on the South Coast, although not all of them.
Generally, gray robes were worn by Acolytes. White and Black by Magi: while the white ones were more research and healing-oriented, the black ones were more focused on combat.
The sheer number of people here made Harry feel greedy. He was certain that if he was careful, he could rob this whole place clean.
In the whole market, the strongest presences he could sense were Rank 1 Magi and Rank 2 Magi in his range of sense, which encompassed the whole market and the surrounding landscape.
But this wasn't what he was here for. If he started such a major event now, this would piss off several major factors, not only the Redbud Family or the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy.
These Magi had all kinds of backgrounds.
Still, he could rob the Acolytes of their knowledge for now. Their minds were like a free buffet.
A small girl approached Celeste and asked, "Miss, do you need a guide? It's only 1 magic crystal!"
It was Harry who answered, "No need."
These guides, while looking innocent, were quite crafty. Approaching first-time customers to earn some magic crystals, even having agreements with some shops.
In truth, there were freely available guides provided by the patrons of these markets.
But Harry had an even easier time by picking the minds of these small guides and learning the ins and outs of the markets, including the most useful spots.
"What are we here for, Master?" Celeste asked while watching the bustling place out of curiosity, staying close to him. She knew she was a very small fry in this place.
"Raising some funds Browsing for useful stuff and, most importantly, recruiting." Harry replied.
"Recruiting?"
"You will see." Harry said as they strolled straight to the potion shop, which usually has the best prices.
As soon as he stated what he was there for and the amount of Potions he was selling, they received the VIP treatment in the shop.
Harry didn't care what kind of attention he was gaining; even though he was on the surface, he was only a Rank 2 acolyte.
There was no way they would see through his concealment spells after nobody in the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy managed to.
In the end, he had completed a deal worth 12,450 magic crystals. An enormous amount of wealth for an acolyte.
But it was no surprise; with his inventory, he never had to destroy any Potions to hide his true talents. After a few weeks of studying, with the help of the AI chip, his success rate was already higher than that of Krofts, a magus who had dedicated his life to potioneering.
In fact, the amount of Potion he had sold her was not everything. He had already sold a medium batch himself and through Bicky, Bessita, and Neela. They also carried about 2000 magic crystals worth of potion each with them.
One of the things he focused on were high-value Value Potions, the ones that were normally hard to brew. Since they were so hard to brew, he didn't really sell a lot of them in the academy but stockpiled them in his inventory.
The Potion Store, which actually belonged directly to the Redbud Family, even tried to recruit him. But Harry obviously declined.
While gaining some funds by selling some of his produce had been part of his goal for coming here, he was actually interested in something else.
As it was common for the main character in such a story, Leylin had stumbled upon something valuable in one of the stores.
Harry visited the very same store under the same pretense as Leylin did, because he wanted news about the war at the academy.
At this point, not only Sage Gotham's Hut was fighting against the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, but Whitewoods Castle had joined in too.
If he remembered it right, the head of Whitewoods Castle was a woman who held a deep grudge against their own chairman, Siley. Probably some love bullshit, but that whole plot had become irrelevant in the story.
Harry already knew this news. His true goal had been the item that he had been required to buy first in order to get the news, a collection of notes from Lowian's teachings.
Lowian was a Rank 2 magus, famous for his research. These particular notes were from his research and experiments while he was still an acolyte.
Strength-wise, the contents didn't matter much to Harry. But application-wise, it was very appealing, especially if he could improve and mass-produce the results.
Beyond many experiments, these pages contained the blueprints for a magical artifact, which was basically nothing but personal shield technology with a rechargeable battery.
These pages were coded on a level that was normally only possible to be deciphered by an official-level magus, thanks to their enhanced minds.
With the AI chip, even Leylin had managed it in over 93 days; at his current level, it took Harry less than a minute.
The so-called Fallen Star Pendant, after improvements from Leylin, had been able to block spells on the level of a Rank 1 magus.
It's internal energy storage could be recharged, like its name suggests, with a star light.
Imagine being able to mass produce it and equip an army of soldiers with such artifacts.
Even if this wasn't possible to mass produce, it was still useful to equip some acolytes with. And more important, it was knowledge that he could add to his database—knowledge about magus technology, even if magical in nature.
Who could say if it wasn't possible to use the same principles, just with another more common power source, to replicate its effects in the future? Or it could contain the secrets to generating actual electricity from starlight!
That was the part about the Magus World that bothered Harry, their limited perspective solely on their personal power. How are they unable to see the potential their whole civilization has? The heights they could reach?
Maybe his perspective was different because he knew of other universes? Or the fact that he hadn't to worry about his life span at the moment; as long as he was a dragon rider, he could live for thousands of years.
If he was actually immortal beyond being killed, he wasn't actually sure yet. None of the elves lived as long as the oldest of the Magi did. Some of the Magus, still hidden away since the Great War amongst the World, were over 10,000 years old.
The Oldest Elf from Alagaësia he knew off was Rhunön-elda. She was the legendary Elven Blacksmith who had created all the blades of the Dragon Riders and has been alive for over 2,500 years before the Pact between Dragon and Elves that gave birth to the Dragon Riders in the first place.
Sure, she was old, but nothing compared yet to the 10,000 years he knew any of the hidden magi had lived for. He also knew these Magi would live as long as the universe existed, or they would be destroyed, which was hard to accomplish.
The same couldn't be said of the elves. While they remained youthful for a very long time, they still experienced traces of aging.
"Where are we off next?" Celeste asked as they stepped out of the door.
"I have enough common ingredients for now. Until I have a specific need, we don't have to purchase any. But I need more exclusive ones, and we still need to recruit people." Harry replied as he looked towards an empty alley, "Come follow me."
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