Chapter 24 – An Exchange Between Mages
The dawn of the next day. The flying-ship finally arrived at the County City’s Dragon Mountain Manor.
“I’ll be returning to the Eternal Wind Academy today. Due to the explosion from before, I have gained some insights regarding my frost armour. Thus, when I return, I’ll be spending a long time trying to further my understanding, and will not have the chance to come to the Azure River County for the time being.” Jing Qiu had just sat onto a fiery-red bird before she unknowingly suddenly said those words.
“Eternal Wind Academy? I’ve never actually set foot on that place before. I’ll definitely visit it when I’ve the time.” Xue Ying freely commented.
“En.”
Jing Qiu did not say anything else. The fiery-red bird began flying off with the green-robed mage on it, her hair fluttering about as she flew towards the distant skies.
She turned behind, giving one last look at the miniature-looking Dragon Mountain Manor from a distance, before resuming her journey southwards.
……
Xue Ying set off on his Snowstrider Horse out of the Dragon Mountain Manor, before coming to a shop in another part within the county. This shop specialised in mage equipment. Due to the rarity of mages in the world, customers were few and far in between.
“Neigh~~~”Xue Ying came down from his horse, passing its reins to a caretaker.
“Young master, this way please.” Immediately, a female attendant came, inviting him in.
“Introduce me to all your frost-related heaven’s grade mage equipment.” Xue Ying said candidly. Though it appeared that the female attendant was looking at him strangely after hearing that … Introduce everything? This customer sure was rude… Was it a ruse or was this man really someone with power? Regardless, that female attendant still brought Xue Ying around, briefly describing all the equipment within the shop one by one.
“Frost Wristband, Heaven’s grade! It has a small-scale frost domain matrix built within, and a strong attacking power comparable to a third of a Meteor mage’s frost domain’s power!” The female attendant was extremely familiar with the item. “With it, any ordinary mage will have the capability to display a ‘small-scale frost domain’.”
“Continue.” Xue Ying immediately decided that this item was something he wanted as well.
“This wristband is a middle heaven’s grade equipment. There’s an array formation within that allows its wielder to have power rivalling the Turbulent Arrow spell cast by any mage within the heaven’s rank.”
Xue Ying was choosing as he mentally made a list of the items he wanted to buy.
There were spell matrices inscripted within the mage equipment. These matrices are fixed and stable. Any mage could simply instill their magic power into the matrix to activate it. This was extremely convenient for any mage! Of course, there exists a downside to this as the matrix inscripted could not be strengthened. In order to become a powerful mage, it would still be better for one to discover and understand more via research for the sake of coming up with even more powerful spell matrices.
As for battling a Legend ranker, with his control over the forces of nature, a Silver Moon mage would still be unable to display the spell within even with the activation of the matrices inscripted within the equipment.
Thus, to become strong independently without the aid of equipment was still crucial!
Of course…
The chances of meeting a Legend ranker was quite negligible. Furthermore, his brother was currently still an ordinary mage, thus the only spell matrix he could activate would be that of the heaven’s grade mage equipment. As for Meteor rank mage equipment, he certainly won’t be able to display its prowess.
“En. Not bad.” After some careful screening, Xue Ying has decided. “This, this, this and that. That too, and this too. Please give me all of these.”
The female attendant widened her eyes and opened her mouth widely.
What Xue Ying chose was actually all Heaven’s grade mage equipment! And what was its significance? Usually, such equipment would rival about 30-40 percent of a Meteor mage’s power, or that the equipment was considered to be of a more extraordinary kind.
“Please calculate how much do all these cost.” Xue Ying instructed the attendant.
“Oh yes, please give me that staff as well, and this mage’s robe.” Xue Ying was buying a staff and robe for You Yue as well. The cost of the staff was much cheaper than everything else – it costs 2000 gold. After all, the sole purpose of a mage’s staff was to allow them to cast their spells. In the hands of a novice mage, even the best staff in the world would be under-utilised.
As for the mage’s robe, it was actually a Heaven grade mage equipment and thus, was much more expensive – at 18,000 gold.
Xue Ying’s relation with You Yue was quite good, thus giving her these items would suffice. After all, she was not as close to him as compared to Xue Ying’s brother.
“This young master.” At this moment, even the owner of the shop was being called over. He said, “These five Heaven grade equipments are more expensive. Rounding up, they cost a total of 200,000 gold! As for the staff and robe, that will add up to another 20,000 gold! Haha, I’ll round up further to a total of 200,000 gold! How about that? I hope for this young master to come visit us more regularly in the future. I’ll definitely give you even more discount. Within this Azure River County, I dare not say that my shop is the cheapest, but it is certainly one of the cheapest out there selling mage equipment!”
Within this entire county, how many people dared to freely spend 200,000 gold in one go!? It was just like that Bent Blade Gai Bin who pillaged for so many years in his life, before earning so much gold…
Only those with a rich background will dare to splurge so much in a single purchase. This kind of customer must definitely be treated well in order to maintain a good relationship with him.
“En.” Xue Ying nodded.
“May I know who this young master is?” The shopkeeper asked softly.
“Dong Bo. You may call me Dong Bo.” Xue Ying said.
“Young master Dong Bo, our Red-Moon Manor has many branches within the entire Tranquil Sun Province. This is a VIP token of our shop. With it, you can purchase any item from any of our branches with a 10% discount.” The shopkeeper immediately took out a violet-gold plate that was crafted by a mage and gave it to Xue Ying.
The shopkeeper decided that the moment he got back home, he would definitely investigate carefully who exactly was this person within the entire Azure River County that could splurge 200,000 gold so freely.
……
After the purchase, Xue Ying once again went off in search of some refiner equipment, some clothes befitting a Silver Moon Knight for himself , and of course, some items for his two uncles. It was only after buying all these did Xue Ying finally set off to his homeland – Water Rites Town.
After two days of journey, he finally reached Snowrock Castle in the evening.
“Finally, I’m home.”Xue Ying looked from a distance, the towering Snowrock Mountain and the castle situated right on top of its peak. He felt joy. He was finally home.
Clatter…
The horse ran at top speed, and within moments, he finally reached the castle grounds.
“Our Lord has returned!”
“Our Lord has returned! Quick, go and inform young master Qin Shi!”
The entire castle began buzzing with excitement. The drop-bridge started dropping down alongside the opening of the gates.
Zong Ling and Tong San came to the city gate entrance excitedly to welcome their Lord.
“Uncle Zong, Uncle Tong.” Xue Ying said with a smile as he disembarked from his horse.
“Your journey back home must have been tiring. Qing Shi was currently still with his teacher. The servants have already gone to inform him about your return. I believe that Qing Shi and You Yue will be very excited.” Zong Ling said happily.
Xue Ying nodded and started preparing his presents for them.
“Oh right, I’ve some news for you. Just before, a famous mage from the Si Clan, ‘Si Chen’ came to our castle.” Zong Ling stated.
“Si Clan?” Xue Ying frowned. Was it because of the death of Si Bai Rong? But judging from reasoning, the Si Clan would not know who actually participated in the mission. The Dragon Mountain Manor would not tell them. Jing Qiu, too, said she would keep it a secret. Furthermore, she had long gone back to her academy.
“Just two days ago, this mage Si Chen came here in search of Great Mage Bai Yuan Zhi. Both of them are Meteor-rank mage. According to what I heard, both of them have some discoveries which required an exchange of information.” Zong Ling said, “Xue Ying, you should know the status of the Si Clan within our Azure River County. I do not dare to slight them. Though it’s good that you have returned. He has been studying at the Great Mage’s building all this while. It’s better that you visit him.”
“En.” Xue Ying nodded.
What a coincidence?
During the mission, he met the Si Clan’s Si Bai Rong. Now, there was mage Si Chen in his castle. However, it was highly probable that these two matters were unrelated because he came here 2 days ago.
‘It seems like I am fated to meet with the Si Clan…’ Xue Ying silently thought to himself.
“Uncle Zong, please send someone to invite this young master of the Si Clan to dinner tomorrow.” Xue Ying instructed.
