There was a golden shimmer and revealed was a massive coin of gold.
Tiagon's eyes sparkled and he walked to the coin to feel it.
"Just like real gold and the markings, they are accurate." He said feeling the piece of shiny metal.
He then turned back with his grimoire and took a seat beneath a tree's canopy, the sun was rising in all of its golden radiance.
The grimoire wasn't interesting any longer and Tiagon chose to take a break instead. He stared into the white clouds with a blank face.
"Redifex, are you alive? Are the others still out there?" He said and sighed.
Thirty minutes passed and the large gold coin shrank and dimmed in beauty till it reverted to an uninteresting boulder.
He looked at his chest, the existence of a glowing hole in it had gone over his head, he had been with it since he was born but he was even more surprised that no one had bothered questioning the light beneath his tunic, no strange looks.
'Or it was maybe I who didn't notice. That Elf seemed to have hated my guts from the start.'
However, he had learnt shapeshifting magic significantly, it was time for him to discard such telling features. It wouldn't be long before he gets into trouble and he wasn't going to make it easy for his future pursuers.
He stood back up to initiate shapeshifting on himself. His eyes closed and his mind focused on the features he wanted.
He thought of the hero in Minastoma and the white-haired adventurer that awoke him and then his humanoid angelic form.
It was very hard, but he strained to create an image that was a mix of the three faces and he reached an outcome.
His face became lean and his skull reduced slightly in shape as his body size and height. He was just some inches above six feet now and he was less than half as burly as his previous form.
His eyes were blue like the ocean and short black hair adorned his head, he was uniquely handsome. Flesh had grown over the gaping hole in his chest and overall, he looked like a handsome human. His magical clothes had changed size to accommodate his new body. He thought of the young elf that created it and smiled as he did.
He teleported back to where he had with the magic knight he had killed earlier.
He went to the city square to gaze upon the one that had moved him with some much compassion and strength. There, he knew that the writing on the concrete book wasn't his doing but that of the rulers to give importance to a human hero which in turn gave more importance to humans themselves and thus him as he was practically one.
He left the square to attend the library when he saw an attractive-looking restaurant.
Its sign was a picture of a cute busty goblin with the restaurant's name. The aroma that came from the restaurant stimulated his nose, he must have what they had.
'Food must have improved greatly from the past, I wonder what new tastes I'll experience.'
He opened the little door and was met with rowdy adventurer-looking runts, a few gave some mean glances but most minded their business.
It was noisy and hot, not what he had expected from seeing the sign, but the aroma, It was much too sweet smelling to ignore, otherwise he would have turned away.
He walked to the counter where he an average-looking female goblin stood.
'Not the one from the stand.'
"Whatever produces that sweet scent, I'd like to have it."
"You got it." a deep masculine voice came from her which Tiagon had expected, he had shared a fair amount of time with a bunch of goblins back.
"That will be seven copper coins." She announced and stretched forth her hands.
"Do you have change for one gold?"
Her eyes widened, who wouldn't bring money lesser than just gold to a low-grade restaurant like their, unless one was trying to throw a feast, it was absolutely unnecessary to bring one.
Tiagon handed over the gold and for two minutes she scouted for change which she gave.
She passed the plate that held the meal, it was a whitish bun made from wheat flour and milk and a dressing of cheap vegetables by the side. She then handed him a spoon which he took and he headed for a seat.
Almost all the tables were taken, he would have to sit with the sweaty barbarians.
He approached a table with some spare seats. He smiled with his eyes closed and spoke.
"Do you mind if I join you?"
All three simply looked at him and then bursted into laughter. One stopped and affirmed that he could and so he sat.
Adventurers usually with the common average Mana reserves didn't have the best Mana detection ability as full-fledged mages do, if they did, they would have not dared mock him.
He sat and placed his plate eager to consume all the content in it.
He scooped a piece of the bun with vegetables and swallowed.
"Hmmph! That's really good! So much better than roasted livestock." He said out loud with his eyes closed relishing the delicacy.
He opened his blue eyes and then he saw, the adventurers all had their dirty hands on the plate taking large bits of his food.
Rage built up in Tiagon, and his human mimic almost came undone.
The mages laughed as they licked their hands.
"Ah! Maybe next time." One commented.
BAMM
A blunt blow to the face sent the adventurer flying and breaking through the wooden wall.
"Oh you punk!"
One drew out a knife to stab his face, but a magic shield came up preventing the assailer from coming any closer.
The last stood at the side to deliver a punch to the side of Tiagon's head and a little shield materialized and blocked the blow
He immediately stood up, undid the shield magic and grabbed the faces of the adventurers with his hands and he lifted them up and strongly struck them on the wooden floor.
The floor broke and the adventurers went unconscious.
"Pathetic, you two couldn't even reinforce yourselves with your measly magic power"