Chapter 240 – Time to get to work.

‘Should I take more?’

“Are you finished Mr. Wayland?”

“Ah, give me a minute…”

Roland had been going around the auction house storage facility. It reminded him of the last tier 2 class change quest that he had been through not so long ago. There was a lot of useless clutter but some of the items would hasten his research.

At this very moment, he was looking at a simple orb that looked like a giant pearl. When injecting it with his mana the orb started giving out a radiant glow. For the uneducated eye, this item would look like a low-quality magical lamp but he could recognize what it truly was.

‘An empyrean crystal must be inside of this thing, this isn’t just a yellow light, the mana pattern is similar to a healing spell.’

There was a certain warmth to this spell that was different from a regular heating spell. It was a phenomenon that was difficult to discern but thanks to his various mana-sensing skills, Roland was able to see through it.

‘So it had two different runes on in, the craftsmanship isn’t too great… the Runesmith was unable to combine both of the structures into one to lower the mana expenditure. These people really like to stick to their old schematics…’

On multiple occasions, he had seen magical items be inscribed in this way. He was always reminded of how most magical craftsmen stuck to the old trusted methods. It was quite rare to see something unique being made. The usual reason was either fear of failure or the astronomical costs of doing proper research to improve on an older design.

Then there was also the problem of limited mana reserves. Most craftsmen still had to make a living by creating various artifacts. After a full day of work, it was normal for them to be tired. Thus if they reached a point where they could sustain their lifestyle they would choose to take it easy.

At least that was Roland’s point of view, there also existed idiots like him that would risk their health just to make a tiny improvement on an existing rune. Even in this case, if a person combined the two runes into a Lesser Mending Light Rune, the improvement would be more than five percent. In the case of a tiny rune like this, the mana expenditure wouldn’t matter that much. Only when the runes became grander and grander, did that five percent become a serious advantage and a worthwhile endeavor.

“I’ll be taking this one if that’s alright with you?”

“I’ll note it down in the book Mr. Wayland.”

Mary nodded while writing something into the large ledger that was on the side. Everything that he took out of here would be written down, if he would be later charged for the items if they were destroyed he wasn’t sure.

‘The mending spell is the lowest healing spell that even a tier 1 cleric can perform, will this be enough to cause an adverse reaction from a parasite? It’s best if I get more runic variants for research…’

There wasn’t really much to work with here, they were still in a developing town. After going through the whole place he ended up with two other items besides the mending orb. This together with some separate empyrean crystals would have to be enough to create his new contraption.

‘There really aren’t that many divine artifacts with actual runes, most of them are just regular enchantments…’

Luckily he had a skill that could see through other spell languages. With it, he would be able to get the runic versions out of enchanted weapons. Yet considering that it had a massive drawback, he still decided to go with the few runic variants that were here.

‘I should get home and test these out…”

“This will be enough.”

“Are you sure Mr. Wayland? If you require anything else, please look for me at the mansion and I will gladly grant you access to the storage facility.”

Mary just smiled at him while continuing to note down the items that he took. Roland still wasn’t sure what he thought about this woman. Each time that he turned his back to her, it was as if something bad could happen. She gave him the vibe of some thieves guild members that he bumped into at the black market.

‘She is being awfully nice but that might be just an act…’

It was clear that the woman was dangerous and not to be underestimated. He felt that he would have a better chance of taking out the two armored knights that protected Arthur than this one maid. There were rumors of butlers and maids being trained fighters or retired adventurers. They acted as both servants and bodyguards for nobles, sometimes sticking with them from a young age.

“Sorry for making you wait, let’s go back…”

“…”

On the outside, he encountered a rather floppy ruby wolf. Agni was forced to remain chained to a post like a dog waiting for its owner at a supermarket. He was visibly unamused for being forced to remain in one spot for this long.

“I’ll see you in a week then Mr. Wayland, please contact me through the usual means if any problems arise.”

Mary covered her mouth while looking at the large tamed monster being overdramatic. Luckily for Roland, the moment he took the doggy leash into his hands Agni was more than willing to move from the spot he was previously in.

“Stop acting like a little kid Agni, after we’ll out of the city I’ll remove that muzzle.”

“Awoo!”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

After he mentioned the device that was making his muzzle itch being removed, Agni started pulling him towards the exit. Night had already fallen on the city and some guards started patrolling. Armand, Lobelia, and Elodia were both safe from the cult influence and spent the night at the orphanage. Yet, one person from the city had already been infected. Being that it had happened to a person from the thieves guild, it could have happened anywhere.

‘Is this a coincidence or part of their protocol?’

Jasper was part of the guild and this made him think of the one in Reeka. There he witnessed a secret passage that probably went to the cult’s secret lair. There was a chance that the same thing was happening here, the cult might already be here. If the cult possessed a strategy of creating underground lairs, infecting thieves that created a foothold in developing cities would be part of the course.

Albrook’s dungeon could have been enough reason to invest in the takeover. Many adventurers wandered through this place and would be perfect hosts for their monsters. Roland was unsure what the cult’s true purpose was or what was the deciding feature of the city they took over.