Chapter 13

Over the next three days, Gaodeng's life was very peaceful. During the day, he stayed at home, making rings or reading books. At night, he fulfilled his duties as a gravekeeper.

Of the six green gemstone rings he had bought, Gaodeng had successfully enchanted three silver rings, turning them into Heroic Wind Rings. He estimated that during these three days, Duro had thoroughly tested the rings and fully understood their benefits. Therefore, he decided to visit the Ogre Scalp again to exchange his labor for shiny, hard currency.

After three days, the small, unremarkable shop, which had only its name to stand out, had undergone significant changes. After renovation and expansion, the shop had merged with the adjacent potion store, forming a single building. The shop entrance had doubled in size, and the green brick exterior was painted white, making it very noticeable.

The unique signboard that once stood out had been removed and replaced with a larger one that read "Duro's Treasure Chest" in large letters. The font was the most popular ancient Nesser script among the empire's upper class, and it was painted with special pigments that could change colors depending on the viewing angle.

The shop's interior business area had more than tripled in size, and the new shelves emitted a fresh tung oil scent, displaying various goods for customers.

Duro still sat behind the counter, enjoying delicious tea and snacks. The only difference was that the old, broken chair he used to sit on had been replaced with a luxurious and comfortable single sofa.

"The shop is very nice," Gaodeng complimented.

"To expand this small shop, my savings were almost depleted! Oh, may the goddess Wogin punish those greedy craftsmen. Do you know, Mr. Gaodeng, that the sofa I'm sitting on now cost me two gold coins, two whole gold coins! It's extortion!"

Gaodeng did not look at Duro's fat face, which was filled with exaggerated complaints. Duro was more likely boasting about his wealth indirectly rather than complaining.

Gaodeng placed the three rings on the counter.

"Oh, new works by the enchanter Gaodeng Freeman!" Duro hurriedly took out a monocle.

Gaodeng touched his nose, not taking the title Duro gave him seriously.

Being able to create a first-level magical item, he was indeed an enchanter. However, in the "Ancient Era," he had created high-level magical items such as the Belt of Giant Strength, the Amulet of Protection, and the Purple Aine Stone, with countless players offering gold coins to seek his help every day.

Now, he had merely created a small novelty item, which was not something to be proud of.

However, after receiving 150 gold coins from Duro and feeling the weight of the deer leather money bag, the sound of the metal coins clinking together was pleasing to the ear, and Gaodeng finally smiled genuinely.

Although he was still far from the 3000 gold coins, a good start was half the battle.

The three rings Gaodeng made this time were not only better in appearance than his first attempt but also more powerful. Using higher-quality green gemstones, the second batch of three rings could use the "Enlargement" spell once every two days, with the spell lasting for an hour. Therefore, the price of the rings was doubled to 50 gold coins.

"Wait, Mr. Gaodeng." In addition to the bag of gold coins, Duro took out a shiny object from his pocket and handed it to Gaodeng.

It was a silver brooch, teardrop-shaped, with a smooth surface and nothing particularly remarkable about it.

Duro explained, "This brooch can be used to cast a 'Message' spell once a day. My shop has hired a few new assistants. If you want to buy anything in the future, you can just use the 'Message' spell to notify me, and I'll deliver it to your door. By the way, as long as you continue to sell the magical items you make to me, all materials in the shop will be offered to you at a 30% discount."

"That's a great offer, I accept it." Gaodeng smiled and put the brooch away.

As Gaodeng walked out of Duro's new shop, a green light suddenly flashed in his pupils, and his eyes, sharp as lightning, focused on the corner of the long street.

There, a few dark figures flashed by.

"Sure enough, someone is following me," Gaodeng thought.

A few days ago, Gaodeng had noticed that whenever he walked around the city, whether going to work at the cemetery or visiting Duro's shop, he always felt as if he was being watched. He suspected that someone was deliberately gathering information about his routine.

So today, when he went out, Gaodeng cast the "Eagle Eye" spell on himself.

This first-level spell gave the caster the sharp vision of an eagle. Rangers and rogues, who often served as scouts in adventuring parties, always kept a few vials of Eagle Eye potion in their bags.

Thanks to this spell, Gaodeng immediately spotted the few rats that had been following him.

"Even if the tree wants to be still, the wind will not stop. It seems I need to prepare for the 'accidents' that might happen." Gaodeng had a good idea about the identity of the followers. As a fallen noble, the only things he now possessed that were worth coveting were his noble title and his beautiful sister. And there was someone who wanted to take both of these things from him: Denvel Ritter.

Denvel was very wealthy, and it was entirely possible that he would hire some mercenaries to deal with Gaodeng. After all, Gaodeng's refusal of Denvel's proposal to Sienna had greatly hurt his pride, and the two had completely fallen out.

Upon being discovered, the followers seemed to retreat wisely.

Having reached level three and being able to learn second-level spells for some time, Gaodeng had not learned any new spells due to time and financial constraints. However, in the face of the approaching danger, he needed to master more powerful spells to protect himself.

Thus, the bag of gold coins did not stay with Gaodeng for long. It made a round trip and ended up in the hands of other merchants.

Gaodeng first went to a shield dwarf's blacksmith shop in the city and bought a delicate hand crossbow and a quiver of twelve armor-piercing bolts.

As a wizard, while diligently studying arcane knowledge, he also needed to receive appropriate weapons training. Staves, daggers, and crossbows were all standard weapons for wizards.

Especially at low levels, when the power and number of spells were limited, various weapons could significantly compensate for the wizard's weak combat ability.

Next, Gaodeng visited a store specializing in magical books and scrolls. He bought four second-level spell scrolls: Summon Monster II, Mithral Light, Web, and Invisibility.

For Gaodeng, there were two ways to learn spells. One was through reading books or learning from others, gradually understanding the basic theory, formation principles, spell structure, energy operation, and spell effects of a spell, step by step.

The other way was to learn spells quickly by reading magic scrolls.

Since magic scrolls were created by the scribe directly encapsulating the spell into the scroll, the user could clearly and intuitively understand the fundamental principles and operation process of the spell at the mental level when reading the scroll.

However, learning spells through magic scrolls, while convenient and fast, was not without a cost. First, magic scrolls were expensive. A second-level spell scroll worth 30 gold coins could teach Gaodeng one spell, while a book worth 50 gold coins, "Common Second-Level Transmutation Spells," could teach him five second-level spells! Moreover, learning spells from scrolls also consumed experience points from the experience pool.

Gaodeng returned home, rested for a while to reach his best physical and mental state, and then unfolded the first magic scroll.

On the high-quality parchment, treated with special magical potions, were written wondrous words. These were Draconic, a language every wizard must master. The words were full of vitality, as if they could leap off the page and transform into profound magical energy at any moment.

Gaodeng focused his mind, concentrated his mental energy, and began to read the scroll word by word.

The words on the scroll, driven by the magical syllables, began to bloom and glow.

"Do you want to learn the second-level spell 'Mithral Light'? It will cost 100 experience points."

Gaodeng took a deep breath. "Yes."

The light emitted by the scroll grew larger. All the information and knowledge contained in the light were quickly interpreted and memorized by Gaodeng.

In the blink of an eye, the parchment scroll turned to dust and dissipated in Gaodeng's hand.

"Learning complete. You have mastered the second-level spell 'Mithral Light.'"

This evocation spell could create the golden light of the second layer of Mount Celestia, Mithral, to attack enemies and cause additional damage to undead creatures. It was a very suitable spell for Gaodeng, who worked at the cemetery at night.

After a brief rest, Gaodeng learned the remaining three spells one by one.

The 400 experience points he gained from reading "Principles of the Weave and Energy" the previous day were completely exhausted.

Over the next three days, Gaodeng stayed at home except for his work at the cemetery. Although buying the hand crossbow and four magic scrolls had almost depleted his newly acquired 150 gold coins, he did not make any more Heroic Wind Rings but instead focused on practicing the four new spells he had learned.

This day was the last day of September, the darkest night of the silver moon in the autumn sky, and also the Day of Remembrance—similar to Earth's Qingming, a day when the living mourn and remember the dead.

Gaodeng checked the items he was carrying and went out in the evening.

Bishui City was enveloped in thick fog. Even standing on the shore, the sailboats in the river center could only be seen as vague outlines, often heard but not seen. To avoid collisions, the captains ordered the far lights to be turned on.

Gaodeng walked quickly down the street. The thick fog around him made it feel like he was in another hazy world. The dim moonlight in the sky further reduced visibility, and even with streetlights providing illumination, people were almost invisible beyond five meters.

"What a hellish weather!" Gaodeng cursed.

Gaodeng's figure gradually disappeared into the thick fog, and a few masked men emerged from a small alley.

"Donyen, he's gone out."

"Excellent. The thick fog and the dim moon tonight are a perfect opportunity."

"By Musk!"

"May the shadows protect us."

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