Tesla was only a level-1 apprentice. The 150 crystals he carried included the fund for his team. There was no way he could find 300 crystals.
“Alright… I’ll remember this! Just you wait!”
This was the first time Tesla was humiliated so badly in his life. He always believed that money was the only thing that dominated the world, and he was confident in his wealth. Now a kid just ruined everything, including his personal image.
He cursed and turned away to leave the shop.
Prome suddenly spoke, “Is your ‘information’ about how the purification garden in Floating Mech City is about to open up?”
Both Tesla and Queena jumped a little. Then they looked away with uncertainty.
“On my way, I saw the questing hall already announced the message to everyone.”
Before anyone could comment on Prome’s words, a group of apprentices rushed into the shop.
One of the apprentices walking in front of the group was also wearing very bright clothes. Despite Tesla’s decorative clothing, this man was dressed in a real wizard robe. He swiftly went through all the shelves and bought all kinds of weapons, then asked his followers to carry them. Even Angor’s kitchen knife was among his purchase.
The man suddenly noticed the glass case and widened his eyes.
“How much for this one?” He asked eagerly while glancing at Tesla anxiously, fearing that someone might beat him to it.
“Four hundred crystals,” Angor said without a second thought.
He startled everyone else by increasing his price by another hundred crystals so soon. That was four times of Tesla’s original offer. Smelled like a scam!
Next, they carefully glanced at Tesla. If someone actually accepted the price… it would be another huge insult to Tesla.
The new customer frowned a bit.
“Okay.”
He took out his bone card right away and paid 40 thousand merit points.
He paid on the spot! Together with the other alchemy weapons he already bought, this man had spent over six hundred magic crystals in the shop!
No one was expecting that kind of money. Even Prome could not help giving the man several more curious glimpses.
Just several minutes ago, Tesla was yelling “You just don’t want to sell it to us!” into Angor’s face, and Angor’s price was 300 by then. Now that someone paid even more for the scythe…
Tesla’s cheeks were now of a pure, bright red color due to his great embarrassment.
His partner, Queena, was in no better condition. The woman just helped him by saying “Tesla’s got a ‘bigger reason’”.
Bigger reason… devil’s a*ss! Queena only wished to get away from everyone as soon as she could. She could no longer hold back a hint of hatred when she looked at Tesla again.
The wealthy customer, on the other hand, was inspecting the scythe in his hand and felt very satisfied.
“Aha! I hit a treasure vault today! With this baby, nothing’s stopping me from reaching the top floor!” The man laughed out. Most of the time, there would not be any level-3 apprentices in the Sky Tower, which meant a level-2 apprentice who owned a tiered alchemy weapon was very likely to succeed. Besides, he had great talent.
“I’ll remember this, friend. If you need help, just call my name—Ramanbell!”
Ramanbell told “I’ll remember this” to Angor for the same thing, but with a totally different intention.
Someone bought the scythe for 400 crystals and was content with it. He even thanked the seller sincerely. On the contrary, Tesla gave Angor a mouthful of curses for a lesser price… and earned himself a sarcastically different impression to others.
Tesla’s cheeks had changed from red to grayish black. He had not escaped from the shop yet because he considered it even more embarrassing when people were looking.
“Thank you kindly. I’m Angor.” Angor nodded in acknowledgment.
Without further ado, Ramanbell took his goods and left right away.
On his way out, Ramanbell saw the Tang Dao in Fosah’s hand and did not comment. When moving past Tesla and Queena though, he noticed them empty-handed, and could not help ridiculing them.-
“Lousy beggars.”
Tesla and Queena did not make a sound since Ramanbell’s group of company was still waiting nearby.
Ramanbell humphed and walked away. His men followed behind, creating quite a scene on the street with their sheer number.
The remaining people in the shop all stayed silent for a while.
A series of laughter broke the quietness.
“Beggars? Bahhaha! What a joke today!” Fosah was laughing so hard that his eyes were hidden behind all the flesh on his overgrown face.
Laffitte gave Tesla a disdainful glance. “That’s what you call rich! Angor already gave a better price, and SOMEONE didn’t know how to appreciate it. Poor bastards wanted to act big! Ha!”
Tesla’s ego was too broken to keep arguing. Ramanbell’s taunt at the end had ruined his spirit for good.
“What the f*ck are you waiting for? Just go already so you don’t invite more trouble!” Queena quickly dragged Tesla away.
At the door, she glanced back at Angor with a pair of eyes shining with cunning violence like a viper.
After those two left, Dave also laughed out loud. “You’re awesome today, Angor! Too bad it’s just Naru’s henchmen. Aw, why didn’t Naru come with them?”
“I wasn’t awesome before?” Angor raised an eyebrow.
“You were! That woman, though… Did you see her face? I think they do remember you now,” Dave looked worried.
Angor waved a hand nonchalantly. “It doesn’t matter. If they get in my way… heh.”
Fosah approached them and bowed to Angor. “Thank you, really, or we would be the ones in trouble. If we can’t get the boss’ request done, we’ll have to find another boss.”
The fatty glanced at Angor next.
Angor quickly backed away. “I didn’t do that for you. Don’t get me wrong. If your business is done, just go away.”
Fosah was planning to ask where Angor got the other two alchemy weapons. Now that Angor openly rejected his friendliness, Fosah only chuckled and took Laffitte away from the shop.
“What’s about the purification garden, Master? Why’s everyone buying weapons? I mean, four hundred crystals! This is insane,” Dave spoke.
Prome grinned. “You should ask Angor about this one. He knew about the information way earlier than us. That’s why you went to challenge the tower so early, am I right?”
Angor smiled and explained everything to them.
“Ah… That’s why you asked me to sell the weapons a month and a half later? You already knew their prices are gonna go up!” Dave commented.
Dave did not mind Angor’s decision to withhold the information. Even if Angor told him, he did not have what it took to challenge the tower.
Prome was still waiting for an answer from Angor and he could not really wait any longer.
“Angor, you… Did you find an anti-undead rune?”
“Sadly, I didn’t find a rune to repel the undead.”
Prome looked down a little.
“But I saw a magic array for that purpose called ‘Prelude to Elimination’. Have you heard of it, sir?”
Prome went through his memory and shook his head. “I’ve little knowledge about rune enchantment, let alone magic arrays. I only know several common ones. As for the one you mentioned… No, I have no clue.”
“You… learned magic array enchantment, Angor?” Dave asked in surprise.
Dave knew that something enchanted with a magic array was at least a mid-tiered alchemy item or something better. With such a technique, Angor could already be considered a better alchemist than Master Prome.
Prome also gave Angor a curious look.
“I don’t know if I can do it yet. I tried. Before I can see any result, I don’t have enough mana for it. How can I draw a magic array without mana?”
“I see. You’ll have a hard time drawing arrays even if you know how,” said Prome as he sighed. “Looks like I’ll have to check out the Wizard Fair.”
“Is there a way to address this problem?” Angor tried to ask, “I’ve been experiencing a lack of mana before when trying to draw some of the runes.”
“If you have problem with mana… this is pretty simple. One direct approach is to spend money—you can use magic crystals as a source of mana.”
Angor already knew that magic crystals could be used as a power source for alchemy items, however…
“But the crystals only provide primal mana, right? I still need to convert them into my body. That will be too slow.”