"So this is what Wizard's Magical Tools are."
Ronan stared endlessly at the short sword that spat flames, its coolness made by the flowing firelight on the blade unable to take his eyes off of it.
This is the legendary exclusive equipment of wizards—Magic Tools, for short.
Different categories of Magic Tools have varying degrees of amplification effects on wizards. Some can easily double a wizard's combat power. Wizards with Magic Tools are entirely different from those empty-handed.
It's just that any Magic Tool is so valuable, it's simply not something Ronan can afford at this stage.
"If the plan goes smoothly..."
Ronan silently made up his mind, "I must buy one later."
Reluctantly leaving the stall that sold Magic Tools, Ronan continued to wander around.
Ronan has his own way of browsing—
When he sees people haggling in front of a stall, he would stealthily approach and stand by to listen. Once he roughly understood what the item being discussed is and its corresponding value, he would silently walk away.
After half a day of wandering like this, his exposure has indeed stepped up several notches.
He was gradually transforming from a complete novice in the Wizard World to a semi-novice.
"Um?!"
While walking, Ronan suddenly paused his gaze at a stall.
Not many people were in front of this stall; most wizards would take a glance and walk away.
The stall owner was a black-haired middle-aged man in his forties, who didn't seem to take the initiative to attract customers; he was mostly lazily seated on a chair.
The stall mainly sold stones about the size of pigeon eggs, each with different patterns engraved on them, occasionally flashing light, exuding a hint of mystery.
Ronan's eyes flickered slightly, he approached without showing any reaction, and casually picked up a stone with a pattern engraved on it, asking the stall owner, "How much for this?"
The stall owner lazily gave Ronan a glance, and lazily quoted a price.
Ronan put down the stone, picked up another, and inquired again.
After several times, the stall owner finally showed impatience.
"Are you going to buy or not?"
"Yes."
Ronan sullenly placed the stone he was holding down, and changed the topic, "Give me some Universal Powder first."
"Two Magic Stone Shards per bag, take as much as you want," the owner said, pointing lazily to the side, where there were several fist-sized cloth bags piled up.
Ronan went over to pick up a bag to check it, confirmed it was correct, placed down four Magic Stone Shards, and took two bags for himself.
After securing them, he asked the stall owner again, "Do you have any blank rune stones?"
The owner, who was half lying down, propped himself up a bit and looked at Ronan with a smile that was not quite a smile, "Yes, five Magic Stone grains per piece. If you buy in bulk, I might give you a slight discount."
Ronan silently calculated the balance in his Money bag and tentatively said, "Three per piece, I want twenty-two pieces."
"Divine Gold!"
The stall owner rolled his eyes and said without any good temper, "A deal that's not even worth one Magic Stone, and you're haggling like this?
Just take it or leave it at the price of five."
Ronan tried to bargain a couple more times, but the other party showed no sign of relenting. In the end, they even turned their face away, not bothering to look at him anymore.
Ronan considered looking elsewhere, but on his way here, this was the only place he stumbled upon selling Rune Stones openly, so he let it be.
"Then give me thirteen pieces."
Ronan sighed lightly, almost emptying his wallet.
The stall owner accepted Ronan's Magic Stone Shards, and his attitude improved slightly. He stood up, went behind the stall to take out a bag, and as he handed it to Ronan, he said with a hint of amusement, "Little brother, you want to learn Rune Engraving to become a Rune Master?"
Ronan hummed in agreement; there was nothing to hide, as only Rune Engraving would require Universal Powder and blank rune stones.
The stall owner in front of him was clearly a real Rune Master, who naturally understood all too well.
"Self-study?"
"Self-study."
"Just started?"
"Just started."
The stall owner glanced at the stuff in Ronan's hands, his expression a mix of strangeness and astonishment as he spoke, "You don't really think you can teach yourself and succeed with just these materials, do you?"
"Is it impossible?"
Ronan blinked.
"Ha."
The stall owner laughed, pulling over a wizard beside his stall and pointed at Ronan, saying to that man, "Mafuli, listen to what this kid is saying!
He told me he's planning to become a Rune Master with just thirteen blank rune stones!..."
The stall owner's tone was exaggerated and affected, while the wizard being dragged into this watched Ronan with a gaze one might give an idiot.
Ronan felt his self-esteem hurt and was just about to strike back...
when suddenly the stall owner laughed heartily and slapped two blank rune stones onto his chest with a smack.
"Kid, I'll give you two more to make it a round number.
Go back and practice hard, if you succeed, come find me, and I'll give you another bag...
Oh no, ten bags of blank rune stones!"
"Really?!"
Ronan was stunned for a moment, instinctively asking for confirmation.
But the stall owner just stopped talking and kept laughing loudly.
...
"Laughing my ass off. Ever heard 'don't despise the young for being poor'?"
At the town gates, Ronan walked out carrying large and small bundles, his expression resentful.
But thinking that he'd gained two blank rune stones and earned ten Magic Stone Shards just from being mocked, his mood didn't seem all that bad after all.
"Clang—"
Ronan tossed the last Magic Stone Shard he had into the air like flipping a coin, caught it, looked at it for a moment, then tossed it into his empty Money bag.
"The seed of wealth.
I hope it will grow more and more from now on..."
He sighed and tucked away his Money bag.
He had also planned to look for a Knight Cultivation Method in the market of the common world, but after a round, he found that these things were, apparently, not cheap, so he had to give up.
The journey back home was much slower than on the way there, mainly because he had so much to carry.
As the sun was setting in the west, Ronan finally returned to his treehouse.
After checking the "marks" he left to ensure no one had entered his home while he was away, Ronan brought the stuff inside.
He hastily dealt with dinner, then caught a few dozen fireflies to make a new lamp sack.
In the tranquil treehouse, glowing softly like water, Ronan sat at a small oak table and carefully reviewed the Wizard Inheritance Book that introduced Rune Studies.
Runes are an extremely important part of the wizard's power system.
The creation of runes dates back to ancient times, and the first creator was a Legendary Wizard with knowledge deep as the sea and talent that dazzled.
The emergence of runes greatly solved the problems of lengthy spell casting times and complicated preparations for wizards, reduced the threshold for casting many spells, and directly led to the incomparably glorious age of Wizard's Magical Tools!
"Each rune is the condensation of countless wisdom and effort from the creating wizard."
"Every sunrise and sunset, in some corner of the world, at least one type of rune is being created, and at least one type of rune is silently forgotten, buried..."
"The rank of a rune decides the rank of the Enchanted Magical Tools; a high-ranked Rare rune can lay the foundation for a school of legacy, a supreme opportunity that countless wizards would go mad and compete for..."
Ronan skimmed through pages of introductions about the origins of Rune Studies, and at a third way into the book, he finally caught the key points he wanted to read.