Svaria turned around and heard Chrysos mutter something.
"So, what happened there?" Svaria approached him closer and checked his mental status. From this distance, Chrysos could smell her fragrant perfume that made him visualize a forest filled with large flowers of differing colors. It seemed like Svaria doesn't have any issues being in close proximity to the opposite gender.
"Oh nothing, I was just new to the sensation." Chrysos waved his hand to get her away from him. In his mind, he was really starting to question why she was still single if she was this careless around men.
Svaria took a sip from the tea in her other hand and said. "Well, congratulations… You've managed to eliminate the invasive thoughts in your mind." Svaria clapped her hands three times.
"Why do I feel that you're being sarcastic?" Chrysos turned to Svaria with a doubtful look.
Svaria almost spat out her tea. "What makes you say that?" She grabbed a handkerchief from her chest pocket and wiped some stains off her lips.
"It's.... nothing. Don't mind what I said." Chrysos quickly got the chair. And brushed up his coat using his hands.
"Alright, see you soon." Chrysos waved his hand at Svaria as she left.
The moment the door closed Svaria shook her head in silence. "It's not everyday you find a mixed race..." She looked at her cup and thought. "What an interesting fellow…"
In her mind, she believes that Chrysos isn't human but a mixed race from a human or any other humanoid race. How did she even get this idea in the first place?
Well, there were a few key details that she couldn't easily ignore as a psychic.
Those details didn't include the fact that Chrysos was always hiding his face, as it was a normal thing for alchemists to wear.
The key details she noticed was that Chrysos' mind works faster than normal humans, and she even saw glimpses of things that she couldn't understand.
Of course as a psychic with a mind reading unique ability, she could read a client's mind, but because of the law and magic sensors around the center to detect if such unique ability was ever used, she can't read a person's mind unless they allow it.
During the mind invasion session with Chrysos, she also saw things that clearly didn't belong in Ironmountain or any place she could think of. She didn't activate her mind reading ability at all, it was just her ability working passively despite being deactivated.
The most notable scene that Svara saw was a large black device hanging on a wall that could show moving images of people, animals and other things that she couldn't make sense of. The device was shiny and it had a thick black string behind it that was connected to the wall.
"What in the world is a TV?" Svaria asked herself, trying to figure out what that object she saw from Chrysos' mind was.
At this moment, Chrysos walked out of the center and decided to go buy some ingredients and food before going home.
Chrysos felt better after getting rid of the foreign thoughts in his mind.
"Now that that's done, I think I should just buy some meat, eggs and some vegetables. The alchemy ingredients are sufficient for two days, so I don't have to worry about that for now." Chrysos stretched his arms as he thought of the things he should buy.
Entering the market where he regularly buys his food, he went past all the other vendors to go to Nadt's stall.
Nadt, who had just sent his customer away after buying from him, saw the familiar man with a gas mask. He then stood up and said with eyes of happiness, "Chrysos? Haha, what do you want to buy this time?"
"Nothing much, just a few orange thorn vegetables, a few layered herbs, a leaf ball vegetable, and a curved purple vegetable." Chrysos picked pointed at the vegetables that we call a carrot, an onion, a cabbage, and an eggplant.
"You got it." Nadt picked up the fresh vegetables and put it in separate brown Revanian paper bags. This paper is both cheap and durable. They're the ones serving as plastic bags here in the Divine Lands.
"I appreciate it." Chrysos took ten gold coins and paid Nadt.
"Aye, wait a minute? You're really giving these away?." Nadt didn't accept the coins easily. His usual monthly income was around 1 gold coin and 89 silver coins. That was enough to feed him, his children and his wife, so receiving this large of a payment was a bit too much for him to register quickly.
"Just treat it as a thanks for warning me about the... secret." Chrysos laughed. "Also, for safety reasons because of the corrupted ones, try to call me Gerald from now on, alright?"
With a shrug. "Okay then, my good friend Gerald." Nadt emphasized Gerald's name as he spoke. "I'll gladly accept them. I appreciate your generosity." Nadt made a hand gesture that had his fist clenched but his index finger was raised and was pointing to his glabella. It meant, thanks or a sign of approval in Aliqierta.
Chrysos soon left the market and went home.
Chrysos took his house key and inserted it into the keyhole. He twisted it and the door was unlocked. He turned the doorknob and entered.
"Meiros, I'm home. What do you want for dinner?" Chrysos said as he closed the door behind him.
"Master you're back! Oh and honestly, I would like anything that I could eat." Meiros ran to the front door. He was covered in soot and from this, Chrysos knew that his student was studying alchemy. Although the results might not be that great because of what Chrysos was currently seeing.
"Then get ready to eat a masterpiece." Chrysos dropped the ingredients on a table, took off his coat and mask and his belt filled with potions.
He then went to the kitchen and washed his hands before cooking.
"..."
Ironmountain City Hall…
In the large and grand city hall that exuded the might and toughness of mountains filled with iron…
Hulor received a peculiar letter that came from Iqualius City. A servant passed it to him, it was a fine letter with silver triangles at the corners and the eye-catching crest of the Nelton family.
"A letter from Viscount Nelton? I have to report this..." Hulor quickly stood up and went to Orius' office. He knew that nobles with high positions like Agarius Nelton definitely had important matters with the Arlangier if they personally sent a letter.
Moving through the hallways like a flickering image, Hulor used a spell to speed his movement speed by a lot. And a detail that could be noticed was that his movements weren't kicking up wind and were almost soundless.
Despite not being an assassin, Hulor might as well be one.
Arriving at the Arlangier's office, Hulor canceled the spell and stood outside.
"Arlangier Orius, I have a letter for you." Hulor knocked on the door three times. He knew that he couldn't enter without Arlangier Orius' order, so he had to follow the rules accordingly.
He waited for a second becfore Orius' voice could be heard saying, "It's open, you can enter now."
Hulor entered the room and Arlangier Orius was working on Ironmountain's matters. Orius looked at Hulor and asked. "So, who sent the letter?"
"Arlangier Orius, it came from Viscount Nelton of Iqualius city." Hulor bowed respectfully.
This caught Orius' attention and then he nodded. "Very well, give me the letter." He reached out his hand to take it.
Hulor walked forward and gave the letter to Orius.
Orius opened the letter and began reading it.
It didn't contain too much information except a request to find someone named "Gerald Greenwood."
Agarius promised to pay 2000 gold coins for the information and he also stated that he'll be arriving tomorrow.
Orius' eyes glowed after seeing this. "Hulor, can you get the information of an Ironmountain citizen named Gerald Greenwood?"
"I respectfully ask, Arlangier Orius, how is it written? Forgive me, but I am not familiar with such a foreign sounding name." Hulor had some difficulty trying to visualize the letters into the Aliqiertan alphabet.
Orius, who realized that the name was indeed a bit complex, gave the letter to Hulor.
Taking the letter and reading it, Hulor didn't question Orius' order. He put the letter back on Orius' desk and bowed slightly as he said, "I will finish the task, Arlianger Orius."
"Mhm, you may go now." Orius waved his hand and continued with his work.
Hulor left the office to get the necessary information.
Chrysos was naturally oblivious of all of this happening. And at the same time this moment occurred, Chrysos just finished eating with Meiros and was on his way to Alzoria Academy.
He went back to Alzoria Academy to buy more spells to increase his fighting versatility and spells that could help during a survival situation since he would like to get more spells that could help him in the future.
The reason why no one buys too many spells in one go, especially if they are lone adventurers or awakened ones, is because they take time and effort to learn. If you bought an expensive spell but you can't learn it because of its difficulty, then what's the use?
That would be the case, but Chrysos is different.
Since many adventurers are forced to become adventurers because of lack of money to sustain themselves, they also didn't receive education that easily despite the education system being somewhat changed by the genius brothers Albert and Nikola.
And even if there were some lucky ones who managed to get an education, they are still limited by their own imagination that was still inexperienced.
Their imaginations aren't as flexible and wide as Chrysos. It was common for many awakened ones to be those who hadn't seen many things that would be detrimental to their growth, but Gerald, who watched fantasy movies and other related media, had some ideas and tropes to work with.
Chrysos also bought spells for Meiros to learn. And he also decided to buy more blank books on his way back to write his knowledge about chemistry and some other things that he thought would be necessary for Meiros to learn.
He was quite shocked that Meiros grasped multiplication that easily.
He wouldn't be surprised if Meiros masters algebra as well.
"I swear, if Meiros learns all of that, he might as well be a living quantum computer." Chrysos imagined Meiros working for a programming company doing logistical work.
He wore a white lab coat while scolding the people working with him. It was especially comical to Chrysos given Meiros' height.
Focusing back on the real world, Chrysos coughed, ignored that scene from his head, and was back in the marketplace and is currently browsing for spells.
"Hmm, what's a good spell that I can use?" Chrysos was looking for the quickest fire spell so that he could ignite Inferno Mist even faster when he's in battle.
While he was looking, he found a rare tier spell called "Water" that costs 8 gold coins. He saw the display of holograms and thought that it was good enough to meet his requirements.
He bought it and found out that it was made by Anknoris Frallius. The same person who made the Farsight spell.
"Strange name for a prodigious magic caster..." Chrysos had no idea why this person always named himself as a failure even though his spells were effective, easy to learn, straight to the point and concise.
He didn't dwell on that matter for a long time, so he moved on and browsed for more spells.
Chrysos found a rare tier spell called Lightning of Orobas made by a magic caster named Kail Orobas.
"With lightning, I can ignite Inferno Mist easier and faster." Chrysos nodded his head. "Thankfully, this spell is a bolt of lightning and not some ball that has a slower attack speed." He added.
He bought the spell for 15 gold coins and looked for more spells.
There were strength enhancing spells that he could buy, but the reason why he doesn't is because he already has "Steel Rage."
Using another strength enhancement ability will conflict with Steel Rage, and instead of combining the effects, it could possibly damage him instead.
Well, what about body hardening enhancement type spells?
It was the same thing.
Chrysos has the rhino's steel skin hardening because it was the rhino's natural ability and was pre-programmed into their system, and since the 'steel' in the rhino's flesh is different from normal steel, it has a tougher defense and higher tolerance to damage when activated.
And because of the rhino's natural attunement to earth Divinious, being combined with the durability enhancement of earth Divinious charges in the rhino's skin, the hardening ability can make an organism tough enough to endure exertion of large forces. It was evident when Chrysos punched a wide tree and broke it in one hit.
Chrysos would've wanted a flight spell, but since it's a unique ability, it is very difficult to research and master.
That's why unique abilities are called unique.
Those who are born with unique abilities are the only ones who will understand the ability better than anyone.
To turn such a complicated ability into something that anyone could learn would be like teaching a rock a language that only you understand.
Humans have tried reverse engineering unique spells by copying the symbols and markings, but until now, it was still considered to be impossible.
Chrysos scanned the shelves and he saw an ability called Caziwair Blade Storm made by Alsan Caziwair. In the hologram, he could see a person holding a sword demonstrating the ability.
The Blade Storm will speed up the user's arms and control of the blade. This sorcerer named Alsan Caziwair has an entire series of the blade storm ranging from Rare tier to Strange tier.
From the feeling that Chrysos gets from the sword series, it seems that Alsan is an avid sword fan.
The strange tier spells cost around 60 gold coins to 160 gold coins depending on how good it is.
And some people might have some questions. What would happen if someone just buys a spell and they share it with others? wouldn't the mages who researched the spells make a loss?
Well of course they do. However, illegal distribution is punishable by law. But by sharing the scroll itself to others without copying it and redrawing it, is a hundred percent legal.
The magical awakened ones that are qualified to sell their abilities are all Provectis awakened ones that are fifth year students in Alzoria. They made these abilities as a project in order to graduate to fifth year. They can choose to sell it so that they could earn a little money and at the same time, contribute to the adventurer's guild if they ever need it.
It's basically giving away your thesis project and selling it so that someone else benefits from it.
Of course, it's also their decision if they don't want to sell it, and once they are at the Provectis rank, they can choose to keep selling their spells if they need to.
Some geniuses make spells every month or so and they can even be paid to make a spell for them.
Back to Chrysos…
Chrysos bought all the blade storm spells from Rare to Strange tier. He spent a total of 294 gold coins and after getting what he wanted, he was very satisfied.
He also bought a spell called Earth Fist that allows the user to have his or her fist covered with rocks. This increases the damage and it deals heavy blows that the user can throw out.
When the other adventurers and students saw Chrysos buying so many spells at once, they had strange looks directed at him.
They first looked at his clothing and armor, which indicates that it was likely that he wasn't from a noble background or related to one in any way because of the lack of gemstones or runes. It was because again, it wasn't common for people to buy many spells at once. So it was natural for Chrysos to attract some curious gazes.
Once he left the marketplace, Chrysos went to Frinton's Training Hall to study all of the spells he bought.
He entered the large gate and went past the trainees like last time. Sadly, it seemed that Solorg wasn't present at the moment.
Despite that man's appearance that resembled a delinquent, he was actually a warm and amicable person with a nice accent.
Chrysos approached a staff member to rent a room. The staff member was wearing the uniform that Solorg wore. He was an inch shorter than Chrysos, he had glossy black hair and a scholarly look. He wore dark brown glasses with a wooden frame that complemented his eyes that were as red as roses.
"Hey, I would like to rent room 29 please." Chrysos spoke in a normal tone as the young staff member turned around to talk to him.
Mectil Hvreklin, the man with a scholarly appearance shook his head and spoke in a foreign accent, as he pronounced his R's with a roll. He says words like 'Room', as 'Rroom.' He pronounces other words normally except the 'A' sound, which means he says words like 'apple' as 'epple.'
Mectil immediately responded like a machine servant with proper etiquette and organized speech, "My apologies, but room 29 is currently occupied. The rooms similar to room 29 that are still available are rooms 48, 41, 39, 31, 39, 26, 21, 10, and 3. However, if you would prefer a training ground with complicated terrain to test your movement, I suggest going to th-"
"I'll take room 41, thank you." Chrysos immediately cut him off. Afraid that this man would continue to speak on and on if he didn't say anything.
Mectil nodded and said, "How long would you rent the room for?" Mectil opened his mouth to state the prices, but Chrysos, again spoke up before he did so.
He grabbed three gold coins from his pocket and gave it to Mectil. "Here, take this and keep the change." Chrysos immediately left to begin his training.
As Chrysos left, Mectil, who watched him from afar lifted his hair from his forehead and flipped a coin in his hand as he grabbed the rest in his fist, "My technique of blabbering worked again… My, my, my, talking to people is quite exhausting." Mectil spoke in a rather deep and mature tone unlike his appearance and without the accent. It was as if he turned into another person. In fact, when his aura changed altogether, he was quite seductive for the opposite gender.
Meanwhile, in room 41…
Shaking his bag, making a pile of scrolls fall on the floor, Chrysos began rummaging through to see what he should learn first.
"Now, let's start with..." Chrysos squinted his eyes. "Water..." Chrysos didn't like how simple it was named. He decided to call it Hydro Conjuration for style because, c'mon… why would you settle with 'Water' if you could change it?
He opened the scroll and saw that as usual, it was so simple that he could already figure out how to do it after reading a few lines or so.
He closed his eyes to envision the deep blue ocean and released water type Divinious through his palm. He then used the magic power to slowly create the magic circle. And after successfully creating the magic circle, water gushed out of it like a water hose.
Chrysos opened his eyes and amazement. "I just saved so much cash on water! Hahaha! Wait, water isn't that expensive anyway… But on the plus side, it does cut some costs." Chrysos shrugged and he was still happy since he now has a portable water supply.
He increased the magic circle's power and the water that was shot out was even stronger than before. "Huh, something like a power hose." Chrysos retracted the magic circle into his Divinious Heart and it disappeared from his hand.
"Now let's try this Lightning of Orobas." Chrysos rubbed his hands together and opened the scroll.
The introduction was surprisingly professional and it was even classy.
The handwritten scroll had no mistakes, the grammar is considered great in Aliqiertan standards, and the spell is also explained step by step. The thoughts of the creator and his theories were also in the scroll and it's written in detail.
Chrysos liked the spell already.
He spent two hours fully grasping the spell and sure enough, he was able to cast lightning bolts with a flick of his hand.
Zap!
Chrysos struck the wall with a lightning bolt and it created a bright blue spark.
"Now that's awesome." Chrysos smiled. He casted the magic circle for Wind Slash, opened a bottle of Inferno Mist that made a large orange gas spread out in front of his face, and used his hand to make a downward slicing motion that sent an Inferno Mist wind blade that shot out from his hand.
When the wind blade hit the wall and the orange fog began to spread out, he struck the fog with lightning using his other hand and a bright explosion broke out.
Boom!
Chrysos covered his face with his arms to protect his face. When the dust settled, he looked at the explosion area and the wall was scorched black, but it wasn't broken.
"As expected of the Frinton Training hall..." Chrysos really admired the durability and quality of their training rooms.
After familiarizing himself with the lightning spell for a bit by zapping the wall a few times, Chrysos took out the Earth Fist scroll and began scanning its contents.
"... The formation of the stone around your fist is done by attraction power of the energies in Divinious, using symbol type VZ-2 the earth energies mix and mend like wet mud due to symbol type GV, they connect as if they are one object and will not come off."
The VZ-2 symbol was shaped like a diamond with a square in the inside. It has two dots in the center and another four dots on the corners. The GV symbol was a 'U' shaped symbol with smaller "U's" inside of it, intersected with two diagonal lines.
Chrysos continued reading, "As you all know, objects when cut will not stay together no matter how much you try to stick them together. But the rock fist spell allows that to happen only when the spell is active. Deactivation of the spell will cause the fist to crumble apart. Furthermore ..."
Chrysos spent some time reading through the entire scroll and patiently understood the principles behind it.
And after reading all of it, he couldn't help but feel amazed.
"Why was this more entertaining than school?" Chrysos thought to himself.