One man's trash is another man's treasure.
Word for word, such a saying depicted its truthfulness before my very eyes. Just how was this not sold? And how did Caelum get his hands on it?
That was another story that I had not explicitly added to my book. Perhaps it was in there somewhere because of the way I phrased my descriptions... I was not sure.
Anyways, it was a welcome discovery.
I picked the item up and played with it in my hands. It was a ring. It was made out of bronze with a small opal embedded within its dwarven engravings.
I put it on and adjusted its size by clicking a small button that was built into the ring with stunning precision.
Click—!
The ring could now fit snuggly on my finger. It wouldn't fall off even if I did rigorous physical activities like sprinting full speed down a mountain.
As for what it was, well, it was the answer to how I could get a slot in the entrance exams. After all, one could not simply walk in and take the Aethercaller University exam. One had to register for it first, and such a thing was done through secondary education institutes.
It was likely that Caelum, in his desire to attend one of the most famous combat schools in the big city, registered for its exam despite knowing that he had no chance.
I only remember writing that he wanted to go despite his meagre skills. The rest seemed to have blossomed from the implications of my writing.
How magical, this truly was.
I gave myself a pat on the back.
"With me around, going to Aethercaller will be as simple as stealing candy from a baby," I said to myself.
If ever the original Caelum still existed, I wonder what he would think.
Would he be grateful that I fulfilled his wishes for him? Would he curse me for taking his body?
I was tempted to ask the god of timelines if I could go meet Caelum before I took over his body.
Ridding my head of these thoughts, I decided to clean Caelum's room. I wanted to see if there was anything else I could make use of.
I first took a few more dried jerky pieces from my pack and munched on them. I needed something in my belly, and this was all Caelum originally had. If I wanted something more, then I would have to spend money.
After that short snack, I then got to work.
...
It took me two hours to go through everything and sort them out. I did not clean anything in the most literal sense of things. I simply segregated everything I could see.
I was thankful for Mana Vision once again. Without it, I wouldn't have discovered the only item in the piles of garbage that actually had an active market.
It was a mana crystal—a beautiful blue crystal that glowed ever so slightly. With how difficult it was to find it, I had a nagging feeling that Caelum had been hiding it.
A typical mana crystal could sell for at least a thousand G. It was a treasure that could prevent my homelessness for 200 nights—assuming I went to a cheap inn and did not eat at all.
It was some good stuff.
Unfortunately, this one was tiny, so I guess it was only worth 300G. Even then, it would basically be my ticket to the Mana Metropolis of Aelthrie where the Aethercaller University was situated.
Caelum's wish to be a student of Aethercaller seemed like it was greater than I thought.
I smiled.
"I'll fulfil your wish for you,"
...
With Caelum's house sorted out, I went and took the ram head and mana crystal out to the market.
I sold the head, netting me 23G after a fierce round of bargaining. The shopkeeper just wouldn't let up.
Luckily, my own experiences in buying food from wet markets worked wonders. Sprinkle in a little psychology knowledge I gained from researching for my books, then you have a godly bargainer—at least in this world where the internet has yet to be invented.
I then sold the mana crystal next. This one, I was more prudent with.
I first went to an appraiser to have the mana crystal double-checked. I watched as the old woman manning the desk picked up some kind of microscope and held it over my mana crystal. It didn't even require her a moment to reach a conclusion.
Indeed, my vision wasn't wrong. It was a decently dense crystal that could sell for at least 300G.
I just needed to find the place that offered the best price.
Thus, after paying the old lady for her expertise, I left.
It didn't take long for me to look for the place. I just had to walk a few blocks down from the appraiser and comb through each shop in that area. 'Walk' would be a lacking term to describe what I did. I had to weave my way through the dense crowd of the town's hub.
If only I knew how to pickpocket, I would be sure that I would have struck gold already with how populated this area was.
Stuck in human traffic, I had time to observe the different places that wanted my mana crystal. General stores, pawnshops, workshops, and weapon shops all required mana crystals. With the workshops practically desperate over any crystal they could find.
In the end, I sold the tiny crystal for 377G. I was able to sell it at a steam-filled workshop that was basically a sauna. Bare-chested, muscular men slick with machine oil and grease were tinkering on machines taller than them. The metallic sound of gears clicking and turning was a constant hum that rivalled the noise of the people.
It was a fruitful day.
Until I spotted movement in the shadows.