The map's enchantment shimmered under Kael's fingertips, revealing Yanhua Academy's true scale - not some provincial school, but a celestial citadel straddling the Abyssal Sea. Its spires pierced cloudbanks, their reflections warping across the mercury-like waters surrounding the island. The "City of Scholars" sprawled beneath this ivory fortress, its cobbled streets teeming with mercenaries bearing tribal markings and hooded figures whose shadows moved independently.
At high sun, the bazaar erupted in a cacophony of haggling. A gnomish vendor demonstrated clockwork homunculi devouring each other, while across the alley, an orcish merchant roared about "authentic Stormlord blades" - though Kael noted the telltale shimmer of cheap illusion magic on the steel. His Codex-enhanced vision dissected every charlatan's trick, revealing the pathetic mana threads binding counterfeit artifacts.
The Violet Horizon's obsidian doors recognized true magic. As Kael crossed the threshold, ambient noise vanished like a slashed throat. Levitating chandeliers cast prismatic light over artifacts that made Ethan's collection seem provincial - a phoenix-feather quill writing apocalyptic prophecies in midair, a suit of armor containing what appeared to be a miniature supernova.
"Your patronage honors us, Magus." The attendant's smile didn't reach her diamond-pupiled eyes - some hybrid species, Kael realized. Her six-fingered hands caressed a display case containing what looked like solidified moonlight. "Our latest acquisition from the Elemental Plane of Radiance..."
Kael's new senses tingled. The "Starborn Raiment" she presented wasn't mere enchanted cloth, but a symbiotic organism. Microscopic star fragments woven into the fabric pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat, its silver filigree actually frozen lightning harvested during planar convergences. The 2,000 gold price tag suddenly felt criminal - this belonged in an archmage's vault, not a storefront.
Her pupils dilated fractionally when he agreed without haggling. As payment crystals changed hands, Kael's Codex flared warnings - the transaction sigils contained subtle tracking spells. Standard procedure for high-value sales, perhaps, but he mentally rewrote the enchantment's core matrix, leaving false resonance trails.
The Earthflame Staff proved more problematic. Its triune core - magma diamonds from Mount Pyre's heart, glacial pearls fished from Leviathan's Trench, and soil from the First Garden - should have created catastrophic elemental interference. Yet the unknown artificer had stabilized it through runic patterns mirroring atomic bonds. Kael's fingers itched to dismantle the masterpiece, to study the quantum-locked sigils binding opposing forces.
"An... unconventional choice," the attendant ventured, eyeing the staff's warping reality field. Most mages develop elemental affinity by your level."
Kael's smile held winter's edge. "I find specialization limiting."
Emerging onto sun-drenched streets, the Starborn Raiment's passive defenses activated. Crowds parted unconsciously as spatial distortion fields guided foot traffic around him. The staff's terra-cotta glow attracted hungry glances from alley predators, but their survival instincts overruled greed - even street rats recognized apex magic when it walked among them.
The Challenger's Guild loomed ahead, its obsidian archway carved with shifting battle scenes. As Kael approached, the depicted warriors paused mid-combat to assess him. A spearman's marble eyes narrowed in recognition of worthy prey.
His Codex purred approval, forbidden knowledge of blood rites and arena secrets spilling across his consciousness. The true trial wasn't surviving the guild's challenges, Kael realized with dawning delight, but restraining himself from breaking the game entirely.
Somewhere in the Violet Horizon's vaults, an alarm crystal shattered. The tri-element staff's containment seals had spontaneously dissolved, its true form emerging - a primordial artifact last seen during the Godswar. On the sales ledger, inked letters rearranged themselves to spell "Kael" in Old Draconic, before the parchment burst into cleansing flames.