Ryan turned around and saw a middle-aged man with a level 5 mage badge on his chest. The man's face was dark, and he glanced at the unconscious pretty boy on the ground. His mouth twitched before he turned and prepared to explode in anger.
"Good! It's like this: we saw two ordinary people here and went up to ask them something. We didn't expect..." One of the people nearby hurriedly explained to Good. The level 5 mage, Good, shot a glance at Quillin, who met his gaze with an indifferent expression. The anger on Good's face grew as he noticed Alice and Delis. He swaggered up to Ryan.
"When has it been allowed for non-mages to enter the Mage Guild? You two! Who allowed you to enter? If you don't explain yourselves, don't think you'll be able to leave today," Good immediately scolded Alice and Delis. He chose to ignore the faint magical aura from Alice, dismissing it as insignificant.
Ryan looked at the man, still engaged in his conversation with Delis when Good interrupted. He glanced at the man sideways and sarcastically replied, "Who's the idiot here, whose robe isn't tied properly, and now he's making a fuss?"
It took a moment for everyone to process Ryan's words, and then Quillin burst out laughing. "Ha ha! Ryan, you've got style!" The others struggled to keep their faces from turning red with suppressed laughter.
"You little bastard, you're asking for death!" Good finally realized that Ryan was mocking him. He thought Ryan was just tagging along with Quillin, coming in to observe, but since Ryan's magical aura was only at level 1, Good believed he could easily handle him. He prepared to cast his level 3 Earth Spike spell, a tier-3 earth magic that summoned a cone-shaped spike of earth. This was a far cry from Earthquake, an 8th-level area-of-effect magic.
Ryan felt the magical fluctuations of the earth magic, but the badges didn't indicate their respective types. This was because mages could sense each other's magic types, so the badges did not display this information. Ryan initially thought Good was just talking big, but when the man started to cast his spell, Ryan realized this wasn't just talk—Good clearly intended to kill him.
"You're asking for it!" A cold glint flashed in Ryan's eyes. He extended his hand toward the man, and a series of wind blades shot toward Good, interrupting his incantation. To put it simply, Ryan had already cast his spell while Good was still gathering energy for his magic.
"Stop…" Quillin sensed Good's magical fluctuations and immediately shouted, but it was too late. Before Quillin could even complete his sentence, Ryan's wind blades were already tearing toward Good.
Good had been in the Mage Guild for over 20 years, and recently he had just advanced to level 5. As most level 6 and higher mages were engaged in research or experiments, only lower-level mages like Good handled the daily tasks in the guild. Despite being a mid-tier mage, Good often had to put up with bullying because of his lower rank. He saw Ryan, a mere level 1 mage, challenge him and felt a fire ignite in his chest. However, Good had no intention of killing Ryan—he only wanted to cripple him. According to the guild's rules, a high-level mage could "teach a lesson" to a lower-level mage who provoked them, as long as it didn't result in death.
"Instant…" As Good finished his incantation, he suddenly found himself on the ground. He let out a word before his voice trailed off, his body twitching slightly before falling silent. Ryan glanced at Good's lifeless body, his blood spilling onto the ground, and frowned slightly.
"Ugh..."
"Ugh, ugh..." The onlookers were stunned by the scene before them. A level 5 mage—someone who would normally be pursued by nobles outside the guild—was dead in an instant. The surrounding low-level mages could only react with loud vomiting. Even the two who had been harassing Alice and Delis were shocked into silence. Quillin vomited the most violently; Ryan noticed that he kept retching even after he had emptied his stomach. Alice and Delis were also pale, and Ryan quickly pulled them aside.
"What happened here?" At this moment, a person wearing a silver mage badge entered the scene. On his chest were two golden words: Deacon. He was the deacon on duty today. Seeing the situation before him, he frowned and asked loudly. However, he didn't release his aura, considering that these were all low-level mages, and an oppressive presence could negatively affect their future cultivation. Nevertheless, the authority in his voice was naturally apparent.
"Honorable sir, here's what happened." A bystander eager to watch the commotion recounted the events. After hearing the story, the silver mage frowned bitterly and looked at Ryan. This guy had already become an open secret among the higher-ups. The elders were fighting fiercely over who would have the right to mentor him, nearly coming to blows. It was said that initially, only a dozen elders were involved, but somehow, word got out, and soon all the elders in the Mage Guild rushed in, turning the internal hall into utter chaos.
"Hm, let this be a lesson for all of you. Mages must ensure their own safety before casting any magic. A Level Five mage dying at the hands of a Level One mage is utterly embarrassing for our Mage Guild. Alright, disperse. He brought this upon himself, acting first and paying the price." The silver mage pondered for a moment before addressing the crowd. In the end, Ryan only had to pay 100 gold coins for cleanup expenses, which were deducted from his benefits. The surrounding onlookers were left stunned.
"Wow, we'd better not mess with this guy anymore. Even the silver mage doesn't dare intervene. That Good guy deserved it."
"Hmph, he can cast instant spells. Anyone who messes with him must have a death wish."
"Exactly. Killing someone in the Mage Guild and getting away with just a 100-coin fine? That background must be terrifying."
"Could he be some elder's illegitimate child?"
"Who knows? But just based on his ability to cast instant spells, Good wasn't in the same league."
"We should warn our subordinates not to provoke this guy. Instant casting! I can't even cast silently yet."
"Agreed."
"Brother, you're untouchable in the Mage Guild now. Killing a Level Five mage for just 100 gold coins—I'm impressed. Truly impressed." Quillin walked alongside Ryan down the streets of Alliance City. The streets were paved entirely with stone, bustling with warriors, knights, archers with bows slung over their shoulders, and even beastmen. Alice and Delis's expressions had finally eased. Close to the Mage Guild were shops selling magical materials of every kind imaginable.
Ryan's gaze fell on a towering beastman nearly 3 meters tall. The beastman wore leather armor and carried a massive axe, easily weighing close to a thousand pounds, though its quality seemed subpar. Ryan asked, "Brother, why are beastmen here? Aren't we on bad terms with them?"
Quillin glanced at Ryan and replied, "These are mercenaries. These beastmen live in human territories, making a living here. As long as they don't break the law, the Alliance Empire allows their presence. In fact, many beastmen join the empire each year."
"That makes sense. Beastmen don't have food or money, right? Instead of spending resources fighting them, we could hire them for manual labor—mining, hunting magical beasts, building roads. The work humans don't want to do can be given to beastmen. War costs lives and drains our treasury. Soldiers need pensions if they die, and bonuses if they win. I heard that our Alliance Empire has food rotting away in storage. Why not trade it for beastmen's pelts and minerals?" Ryan explained as he strolled.
Quillin's jaw dropped, stunned. After a while, he finally asked, "Selling food to beastmen? Wouldn't that make them stronger and more capable of attacking us?"
"Let me ask you this: why do beastmen attack us?" Ryan countered.
"Because… they're starving…" Quillin answered instinctively.
"Exactly. So, if they're well-fed, would they still willingly march to their deaths? That'd be madness." Ryan chuckled.
"But…" Quillin struggled to wrap his head around the concept.
Ryan, noticing Quillin's confusion, elaborated, "If the beastmen are starving, we can trade food for pelts and minerals from their highlands. Here's the trick: if a tribe has a bad harvest and their trade goods aren't enough to get through winter, we let them take food back, but they must write an IOU and repay us next spring. This has two advantages: it cuts military expenses and lets us trade otherwise wasted food for minerals, pelts, and magic cores, which are valuable. Plus, the beastman empire has unique products, like this fruit here, which comes from their lands. We could trade food for it—or even buy it outright with gold coins." Ryan pointed to a fruit priced at one gold coin each to illustrate his point.
"Gold coins too?" Quillin shouted loudly.
"Long hair, short sight. What's wrong with gold coins? Can the beastmen fill their stomachs with gold coins, or do you think fruits alone will suffice? Forget it, I won't explain it to you." Ryan glanced ahead at a large store with a sign indicating it sold magical beasts, so he quickly pulled Alice and Delis into the store. Quillin, left behind and pondering, finally slapped his thigh and rushed to follow them.
Upon entering the magical beast shop, Ryan saw that there were magical beast eggs, young beasts, and even magical pets. The store had thousands of low-level magical beast eggs, with many counters, and it seemed like there were dozens of clerks working there. Alice and Delis were thoroughly fascinated by the magical pets. These pets looked very cute and were quite intelligent. Delis was particularly drawn to a large-nosed Level One magical beast, the Earth Magic Rat. This rat was clearly a mutated beast, which had led to its inability to be sold. Mages didn't like it, and noblewomen thought it was too expensive. The Earth Magic Rat had light brown fur, a big red nose, and a tail that was almost nonexistent. Its eyes were small and narrow, unlike other Earth Magic Rats, which had long tails and short noses. This particular one had a long nose and a short tail, and it looked underfed in the shop, priced at 1,000 gold coins.
"Idiot, buy that rat! It's worth at least a million gold coins." Ryan glanced at the rat and was about to leave when he suddenly heard a voice near his ear—Niu Niu's voice. Startled, Ryan turned to see Niu Niu perched on his shoulder. Speechless, he listened to her claim that the rat was worth much more than 1 million gold coins. This sparked a gleam in Ryan's eyes, but he still intended to haggle.
Ryan approached Delis, softly asking, "Do you like this little guy? If you do, we can buy him." Ryan knew that the higher-tier magical beasts were more intelligent, and sure enough, when he said this, the Earth Magic Rat immediately stood up, clasped its front paws, and began pleading toward Delis. Clearly, this rat was willing to follow her.
"It's too expensive," Delis said, glancing at the price tag—1,000 gold coins was a huge sum. Reluctantly, she gazed at the Earth Magic Rat and started to walk away.
"Boss, would you sell me this Earth Magic Rat for 800 gold coins? If yes, I'll take it. If not, I'll leave." Ryan shouted to the shopkeeper. At this point, other customers buying magical beasts looked at Ryan as though he were a fool. Actually, even without Niu Niu's advice, Ryan still intended to buy it. As long as Delis liked it, that was enough. Gold coins didn't matter; for his woman, Ryan had never been stingy, but he could still try to save a little when possible.
"Alright, I'll sell it to you for 800 gold coins." The shopkeeper also had his own concerns. This Earth Magic Rat had been in the shop for over a year. Despite being a mutated magical beast, its level was still low.
"Sign a fair contract." Niu Niu started giving advice again. At this point, some of the people around, having noticed Niu Niu perched on Ryan's shoulder and seeing Ryan buying the rat, started to understand what was going on. It seemed that Ryan was a novice in magic, unaware of the nuances.
As Delis played with the Earth Magic Rat and gave it a name, Ryan handed over 900 gold coins. Afterward, he wandered around the store again.
"Sir, if you're interested in higher-level magical beasts, we have them on the second floor," the shopkeeper, who was a magic apprentice, said with a smile when he saw Ryan shaking his head.
Ryan was currently making an important discovery, so he had no interest in going to the second floor. He shook his head and continued examining the low-level magical beast eggs. Ryan realized that as long as he was close enough to a magical beast egg, he could feel its attributes. Most magical beast eggs didn't have their attributes disclosed, and only Level Four and above magical beast eggs would emit faint magical fluctuations. Below Level Four, it was all a matter of luck. But Ryan could feel the slight attributes of these eggs. Now, he intended to confirm this. The highest-value magical beast eggs were worth no more than 200 gold coins, while the lowest could be priced at just a few dozen gold coins.
"Boss, give me that one." Ryan pointed to the smallest and most inconspicuous magical beast egg in the display. It was priced at 10 gold coins, clearly the lowest level egg available.