Second World

The magic scroll shop was rather large compared to the other shops he had gone to, and the appearance of its façade showed that it was rather high class. Jack did not admire its façade for long, he stepped into the shop and found himself in a spacious hall filled with many shelves. Each shelf had many scrolls displayed on them. He approached one of the shelves and looked at the scrolls on display.

Fireball I scroll

Cast a level 1 fireball spell

Lightning Strike III scroll

Cast a level 3 Lightning Strike spell

Magic Bind I scroll

Cast a level 1 Magic Bind spell

Group Haste I Scroll

Cast a level 1 Group Haste spell

'Why is there no explanation on the spell? How do I know how useful the spells in the scrolls are?' Jack asked Peniel in his mind. She had gone back to her hidden dimension ever since they came out of the Hunters Association building.

"The spells in the scrolls are mostly common spells from the Advanced and Elite classes, people who buy these scrolls are expected to understand the spells. People can also brush up on their knowledge in the library if they want to know each spell's function."

'Luckily I have you then,' Jack said with a grin.

"You are indeed lucky," Peniel replied with pride. "You better not forget about it."

'I see the scrolls had different colors, some had blue color and the others are red.'

"Yes, the blue color is for one containing advanced spell, while red indicates elite spell."

'So what do you propose me to buy first?' He asked.

"I propose you get some fundamental spells that can help you in various situations. First of all, ask for some Town Return scrolls."

'What does it do?'

"It teleports you back to the nearest town when you are in the wilderness."

'Really? Why didn't you ask me to get such useful items before? It would save me time on traveling.'

"Because you were not so loaded before."

'Are they expensive?' Jack looked at the price tag on the scrolls after Peniel's comment.

"Shit! Why are they so expensive?" Jack exclaimed out loud after seeing the prices. The Fireball I scroll cost 50 silver coins, the Lightning Strike III scroll cost 52 silver coins, the Magic Bind I scroll cost 40 silver coins. Just buying two of them would have needed him to spend 1 gold coin, it was very extravagant.

'We have an artisan job of Scroll-making right? If I focus on this job instead of blacksmithing or cooking, won't I get rich by selling the scrolls I make?'

"Are you seriously so naïve?" Peniel said, "the materials you need in order to make a scroll are also expensive, and they are also very time-consuming with a higher chance of failure compare to blacksmithing job. This shop should have the basic materials, you can buy them and try the job if you want."

'I think not… I prefer fighting monsters and increasing my class level compared to these side jobs.'

Jack walked to a large counter where there was a storekeeper.

"Anything I can help you with, good Sir?" The storekeeper asked politely.

"I'm looking for Town Return scrolls," Jack said.

"Certainly, sir. How many would you like?"

"How much does it cost?"

"10 silver each, sir."

That was rather cheap, if comparing it with the other scrolls, of course, Jack thought.

"Of course they are, they are the most basic of magic scrolls," Peniel told him when he read his thought.

"I would like ten then," Jack answered the storekeeper.

When the storekeeper was away to take the Town Return scrolls, Jack inspected the merchandise on the large counter. There were empty scrolls, inks of different grades, and magic stones of different grades.

'These are the materials for creating magic scrolls?' Jack asked Peniel.

"Yep," she answered.

'How do you make a magic scroll?'

"Similar to the other artisan jobs, you need a base device. In the case of Scroll-making, you need a Writing Apparatus. Then you can use these materials to make a scroll. However, different from the other jobs, scroll-making was special as it had two methods to make a scroll."

'Two methods?'

"Yes. The first is the most commonly applied, which is copying. You use the material to copy another existing scroll, meaning you need to have at least one scroll of a particular spell you want to copy. The second method is by employing the help of a magic-user class who had learned the particular spell you want to imbue into the scroll. Meaning you have to find such a magic-user who is willing to cooperate with you."

'My second class is a magic-user class, can I imbue my own spell into a scroll if I choose to do the scroll-making?'

"You can," Peniel answered. "However, the difficulty will be slightly higher as you need to do the casting while imbuing the magic effect into the scroll at the same time. The probability of failure will also become higher."

The storekeeper came back at this time and handed the ten scrolls to Jack. Jack paid him one gold coin. When this gold coin left his hand, he no longer considered the Town Return scroll as cheap.

"That Magic Bind scroll you saw just now was also a useful spell," Peniel said. "It can bind a target and prevent it from moving for a short period of time. It was actually a spell that you will learn when you reach level 25 of the Mage class. But you are obviously still a long way from it, so I suggest you buy some first in case you need the spell."

'Any other spells you recommend? Their prices are high, so I will consider buying that Magic Bind scroll after you listed out the other spells.'

"Apart from that Magic Bind scroll, I suggest you also get scroll with movement spell, healing, defensive spell, and offensive spell. At least one of each."

Jack asked the storekeeper which shelves he could find such scrolls on. The storekeeper happily brought him around the shop so he could browse through the said scrolls. When he was touring, he noticed a stair that went up to the second floor. He then remembered the shop did have a second floor looking from the façade outside.

He asked the storekeeper, "Are there more magic scrolls that are on sale upstairs?"

"There are," the storekeeper answered. "However, the second floor is only reserved for nobles or those that had reached a VIP status in our store."

"Oh? What kind of scroll was on sale up there?"

"Scrolls which mostly contains high-level spells from Elite magical classes. There are also scrolls containing exclusive spells that are not common to public classes."

"That's interesting, and how do I get the VIP status?"

"Once you have spent sufficient enough coins in this shop, you will automatically be granted the status."

"How much is the amount to be considered have spent sufficient enough coins?"

"one hundred gold coins."

"… okay, let's just browse the scrolls on this floor."

After doing one round of browsing, Jack brought some scrolls to the counter. He had taken two Magic Bind I scrolls, one Fireball I scroll which Peniel explained was a single target high damage spell with fire element. One Chain lightning I scroll which was an offensive group target spell, two Magic Wall I scrolls which were a defensive spell, two Wind Jet I scrolls which held movement spell, and two Heal I scrolls.

The total of those scrolls costed him 4 gold coins and 80 silver coins. He would be lying if he said he did not feel any heartache when he paid those coins. These magic scrolls were simply too expensive! Especially the Chain lightning scroll, it alone had already cost 1 gold coin. He stored those scrolls inside his inventory bag.

"Only use them in an emergency," Peniel advised him.

'That is something that need not be told, considering the number of coins I spent on them,' Jack replied.

"What else do you want to do now?" Peniel asked. "Do you want to apply for Mage advanced class now?"

'No, I'm tired. Let's call it a day. I want to go back and combine the equipment I just bought today. We will deal with the Mage class tomorrow morning.'

"That is wise, you will need sheer concentration on the Mage class trial tomorrow," Peniel said.

'Concentration? Is the trial of Mage class different from the Warrior class?'

"Of course they are different! What do you expect, one is a physical class while the other is a magical class."

'What will the test be?'

"You will find out tomorrow."

'Wait, no hint at all?'

"No cheating," Peniel said.