Chapter 53

“What were you doing?”

“I was gathering some bread.”

“Hmm. Bread...”

“Yes. Bread is used like coins here. About five pieces of bread can be exchanged for a pen, and ten pieces for a small box of sugar cubes.”

“......”

The students of the Blue Dragon Tower, with their special abilities, could eat well and live comfortably, but students from other towers didn’t have someone like Li Han.

They were struggling fiercely for survival.

The hard bread served at meal times was now being used as a substitute currency.

A currency to purchase various supplies!

“Wow... Can I take a look?”

“Feel free to look.”

Yoner scanned the black market items with an excited expression, apparently looking to buy anything useful.

Li Han, unable to contain his curiosity, also leaned in.

And he was surprised.

‘No. There are actually quite a few useful things here?’

He had thought that the Black Turtle Tower students wouldn’t have gathered much, but there were all sorts of items.

Of course, food wasn’t abundant.

Apart from various canned goods (which seemed to have been released when the priests arrived), the place was filled with all kinds of fake foods.

Fake cheese, fake milk, fake eggs, fake smoked meat, fake pickled fish, fake coffee, fake tea leaves—so much so that he wondered if making these fakes was more difficult.

But apart from food, there were surprisingly many useful items.

Bags, pens, blankets, lanterns, fishing rods, shovels and picks, tents and sleeping bags, ropes and chalk, bows and arrows...

And what was even more surprising was...

‘Why are there so many artifacts?’

Ordinary-looking cloth capes, leather belts, stone bracelets, and necklaces.

They seemed like common trinkets, but Li Han could feel the magic emanating from them.

He was certain. They were artifacts.

‘Even if this school makes it easy to obtain artifacts, this is still quite surprising.’

Outside, even a simple artifact was extremely rare. Not only were they expensive, but there were so few that adventurers and mercenaries couldn’t get them.

Having one artifact was almost a prerequisite for claiming to be an experienced adventurer!

Just having an artifact with the Dark Vision spell could serve as a guide in dark dungeons, and an artifact with a healing spell could be a second life in emergencies.

But this school was a bit different.

Firstly, it was a place where people who knew how to make artifacts and those who wanted to make them gathered.

Of course, since they were amateurs, the quality varied and was unreliable, but the sheer number of artifacts was overwhelming.

Still, it was impressive that freshmen could find and bring back these discarded artifacts.

Li Han was amazed by the practicality and skills of the Black Turtle Tower students.

‘If I had entered the Black Turtle Tower, things would have been much smoother.’

If Li Han had been in the Black Turtle Tower, he would have worked with the students to gather all the school’s supplies.

“Do you want to buy one? I checked, but there’s not much that’s useful.”

Ratford whispered from the side, thinking Li Han was interested.

A Black Turtle Tower student glared at Ratford, annoyed at the interference in his business.

‘This guy is ruining someone’s business...!’

But Ratford ignored it and said,

“This cape is supposed to block blades, but in actual tests, it only worked half the time.”

“Wait, if it works half the time, isn’t it still quite useful?”

“Indeed... You’re excellent. Thinking the glass is half full rather than half empty.”

“Throwing out random comments doesn’t count as praise, Ratford.”

Li Han carefully examined the artifacts.

Ratford was right; there was a reason he said there wasn’t much that was useful.

Most of them had unknown or unverifiable effects, and some were losing their magic power.

The spells cast on them were not permanent and were fading away.

Among these, the protective cape mentioned earlier, while not something to get too excited about, was still quite useful.

The problem was...

“Do you accept credit?”

“Even if a knife is at my throat, I won’t accept credit, Mr. Wodanaz.”

‘Why the formal tone...’

Li Han was taken aback.

He could have just said no casually!

But to the Black Turtle Tower students, the issue of credit was very important.

Other tower students had already tried to make credit deals.

Li Han was prepared to go to the family of a student who skipped out on payment, but the Black Turtle Tower students couldn’t do that with imperial families.

Therefore, they absolutely couldn’t allow credit deals!

After hearing the explanation, Li Han nodded. It made perfect sense.

“In that case, there’s nothing I can do. Hmm... I brought a few things for bartering.”

Li Han lifted his basket.

He had brought a few things for bartering, but the current atmosphere made him lose confidence.

Should he go back and bring more canned goods?

‘I want to buy artifacts before they’re sold.’

“What did you bring?”

“I brought some freshly harvested fruits, vegetables, and eggs...”

“!”

“!!!”

The sound of the Black Turtle Tower students rising to their feet echoed around.

* * *

Surprisingly, the Black Turtle Tower students were crazy about fruits, vegetables, and eggs.

Not just the student selling artifacts, but others selling different items also rushed to Li Han, trying to barter.

“This pick and shovel! It might be made by a dwarf craftsman, and having one will come in handy...”

“I’ll trade you this fake pickled fish, fake coffee, and fake tea leaves for one of those eggs!”

“If I get an onion, I’ll give you this staff.”

Everyone lined up, trying to force a trade, while the student who sold the protective cape for two potatoes roasted them and mocked his friends.

“You’re so stupid. You should sell the good stuff to make a profit, not beg to sell the bad stuff.”

“Shut up! You just got lucky with the cape!”

“Hey. How many pieces of bread for one bite of this potato?”

“I’m not selling. You eat that bread.”

“I heard potatoes don’t taste as good these days. Bread might be better.”

Despite the taunts from his friends, the student who got the potatoes roasted them carefully.

When the skin was peeled off, the steaming white flesh was revealed. The Black Turtle Tower student blew on it and then put it in his mouth.

“...!!”

Even without words, it was clear the potato was melting in his mouth.

Li Han, watching, was a bit taken aback.

‘How hungry are they?’

A plain roasted potato without salt or butter shouldn’t go down so easily.

Yet, their reaction was like that.

“...Everyone, gather for a moment. I’ll treat you to a meal. Yoner, can you help?”

Yoner nodded. They exchanged a look.

‘Let’s not charge this time.’

‘Sure!’

Li Han, who usually insisted on payment, didn’t want to add silver coins to his ledger after seeing their hungry state.

He also had another motive.

‘If I treat them to a meal before entering the mountains, maybe I can win the favor of the Black Turtle Tower students.’

He was already in a permanent adversarial relationship with the White Tiger Tower students, but he might still be able to get along with the Black Turtle Tower students.

Li Han cut the freshly harvested vegetables and seasoned them simply.

He sprinkled salt and pepper and mixed them, and the Black Turtle Tower students looked shocked.

But the shock was just beginning.

Li Han sautéed the vegetables until they were golden brown, and the mouthwatering smell spread around.

Black Turtle Tower students gathered around the pot like zombies.

Li Han opened a can of tomatoes, scraped the bottom of the can with a spoon, and poured it into the pot, layering the vegetables and simmering them.

The thick, tomato-vegetable stew, which looked delicious, was completed in a way that seemed impossible to have been made hastily.

Li Han immediately served a generous portion to each of the waiting Black Turtle Tower students.

The area fell silent. All that could be heard was the sound of spoons scraping the bowls.

The faces of the students who finished eating were filled with gratitude and emotion.

Ah, this is what a meal is!

We’ve been living without something for a while!

“Everyone, let’s give Mr. Wodanaz a round of applause...”

“Please be quiet.”

Li Han stuffed a potato into Ratford’s mouth, who was trying to ruin the good mood.

* * *

Li Han refused, but the Black Turtle Tower students insisted on giving him something, stuffing various trinkets into his pockets.

As a result, Li Han had two backpacks on his back, a lantern and a fishing rod on one side, and a shovel and a pick on the other.

“You... look so cool?”

Yoner was amazed by the avant-garde fashion. Ratford agreed.

“You look like an experienced adventurer.”

While Ratford was being sincere, it was unclear whether Yoner was teasing or had a blind eye.

Li Han sighed and put down one of the backpacks. The chess set, card set, and dice set inside rattled.

Besides the favor and trust of the Black Turtle Tower students, he had gained something else.

He had acquired a few useful artifacts besides the protective cape.

Low-level Boots of Stealth (which strangely reduced noise when worn), Chalk of Smoke (which broke and scattered smoke when thrown), and a Bracelet of Vision Detection (which turned red with a certain probability when someone was looking at you)...

‘But why did they make these? They’re clearly made by upperclassmen...’

Li Han, looking at the artifacts made by the seniors who attended the artifact-making lectures, suspected their intentions.

No matter how he thought about it, it seemed like they were all trying to escape the professor’s scrutiny...?

Rattle, rattle—

“?”

Li Han, checking the artifacts, turned his head at the sound from the backpack.

Surprisingly, a bony hand was moving and crawling out of the backpack.

“...?!”

Li Han initially thought the Black Turtle Tower students were repaying his kindness with enmity.

But upon reflection, none of them could sell such a complex magical trap.

Rattle!

The bony hand flew over and merged with the unidentified bone he had received from Professor Mordum.

The bone, now the size of a hand and forearm, floated in the air and waited obediently in front of Li Han, like a dog waiting for food.

“No. No. No.”

Li Han tried to deny it, but the bone approached and gently bit his fingertip, taking a drop of blood.

He felt a mental connection with this incomplete bone summon.

“Sit.” “Stand.” “Walk in a circle.” “Go and catch it.”

“......”

“......”

Yoner and Ratford looked at Li Han with complicated expressions.

Seeing their friend suddenly summon a bone creature and give it commands, they couldn’t help but feel mixed emotions.

‘The professor really gave something strange. Well, he wouldn’t give something normal anyway.’

“Shouldn’t you just get rid of it?”

Pitter-patter!

At Yoner’s words, the bone summon trembled and clung tightly to Li Han.

Despite being just a hand and forearm, it somehow felt pitiful.

“...Ah, no. Cancel. Cancel. I’m sorry...”

Yoner had no choice but to retract his words.