I Refuse To Be A Mage - Chapter 6

When the two of them walked out of the tavern with their stomachs full of food, it was approximately two o’clock in the afternoon.

The Western fantasy world didn’t have the habit of taking afternoon naps, and this was precisely the busiest moment on Central Street.

Evan was very familiar with Central Street. Although his hometown was a small town on the edge of Saint Trilley Royal City, every year on January 1st during the Pilgrimage Assembly, the town’s priest would bring him to Saint Trilley Royal City to listen to the Pope’s chanting.

The Pilgrimage Assembly would last for seven days within the royal city. During his free time, Evan would run to Central Street to purchase materials and sell the Light Amulets he had crafted.

These were also the days with the highest sales for Light Amulets. Evan’s Light Amulets had particularly abundant energy, making him somewhat famous as an amulet seller on Central Street. During these seven days each year, many familiar believers would come to purchase from him.

Most of Evan’s income was earned this way.

“Look, starting from that black signpost, that area sells various magic scrolls and sword technique manuals. Many mages and great swordsmen come here to hunt for treasures. I heard that recently a customer actually found an epic-level magic scroll here,” Evan exclaimed in amazement.

Ji Chi glanced in the direction Evan pointed. Oh, that’s where they sell skill books. He could come look for suitable skill books another day…

“The green area is where potions are sold.” Evan was afraid Ji Chi might impulsively try to sell his ancestral potions, so he didn’t introduce it in detail, just mentioned it briefly before looking away.

But Ji Chi still looked in that direction for a long time, feeling restless.

“And there, there! The red area!” Evan pulled on Ji Chi’s arm excitedly. “That’s where all professional equipment is sold. We need to go there to find our wands, and that’s also where I sell my Light Amulets.”

The planning of Central Street in reality was indeed much more detailed. In the game, Central Street only had one scene open, with various things all crammed together for buying and selling, completely lacking the grandeur that the empire’s largest trading area should have.

Ji Chi looked at this bustling street with satisfaction, pointing to the last green area. “That’s where materials are sold?”

“Yes, yes, that’s right. We also need to go there later. I don’t have enough crystals,” Evan nodded, desperately moving his short legs. “But let’s go to the wand shop first! I’ve been looking forward to this day for ten years!”

Ji Chi laughed and jogged along with him. “That’s quite an exaggeration?”

Evan replied, “Of course! Commoners don’t have the right to purchase wands themselves. Only after becoming a magic apprentice, or receiving a gift from nobility, do they have the chance to obtain a wand. However, even if they could purchase one, most people couldn’t afford it.”

He looked at Ji Chi strangely. “Speaking of which, haven’t you ever longed to have your own wand?”

Ji Chi was indifferent, “I only know Fireball. It can be cast without a wand.”

Evan understood and consoled him softly, “Well, with a wand, you’ll definitely become much more powerful! Ah! We’re here! This is the one!”

He hurriedly pushed open the door of a shop with a wand symbol painted on it, causing the small bell hanging on the door frame to ring loudly.

The shop owner was an elderly dwarf. He wore a convenient and practical tank top, with thick-lensed monocle hanging on his small nose bridge, currently holding a dark wand and carving it.

There were only two or three customers in the shop, all wearing Magic Academy robes, but their bodies were clean without any decorations. The bags they carried and shoes they wore were made of very ordinary linen.

Obviously commoner attire.

Of course, only commoners would come to buy wands during these few days of school opening. Noble children had already been prepared with complete mage equipment sets by their families the moment their magic talents were confirmed.

“Good afternoon, Grandpa Bard,” Evan naturally greeted as he entered the shop.

Bard lifted his head from the wand in his hands, glanced at Evan, and smiled with deep crow’s feet. “I was wondering when you’d walk over from the academy. I was planning to wait until evening before closing.”

Ji Chi nodded in deep agreement. You guessed right, this guy really did think about doing exactly that at first.

Evan laughed embarrassedly. “Because I was too impatient! Did you keep it for me?”

Bard slowly stood up, bent down and pulled out a dark brown black walnut box from the small case under the counter. “Of course, I’ve kept it for you for ten years. What’s another day or two?”

He gently caressed the box with his wrinkled hands and slowly opened it. “Here, the Dawn wand. It’s yours now.”

“Wow——” Evan softly exclaimed, his sky-blue eyes sparkling with the ultimate joy of a dream coming true.

His hands trembled slightly as he touched the silver-white wand.

This wand was made from Dawn Wood unique to the Angel Kingdom. Those precious trees were said to only grow in places closest to the God of Light, and after multiple processes of polishing and carving, they finally formed wands beloved by Light mages.

Evan fondled it lovingly for quite a while before suddenly awakening and pulling out a heavy money pouch to hand to Bard. “Thank you so, so much, Grandpa Bard.”

For a moment, he didn’t know how to express his gratitude. He had sensed Light elements at age five and came to this shop with the priest at age six.

For the following ten years, every time he passed by here, he would linger in front of this wand for a long time.

He held the Dawn wand in his hands, held back for a while, and said, “I will definitely come here to buy excellent, even epic-level wands in the future!”

Bard stroked his graying beard and smiled without speaking.

Ji Chi glanced at Bard, then his gaze circled around the Dawn wand.

“Yuanyuan.”

[I’m here~ Is there anything I can help you with?]

“Is that really just a green equipment wand? With so many additional attributes?” Ji Chi wondered.

In the game Demon Sword Continent, equipment that hadn’t been obtained before couldn’t have its attributes viewed. Conversely, as long as one had obtained a type of equipment before, even if it was later lost or sold, the attributes could still be viewed when encountered again.

Ji Chi had fought monsters large and small all over the world, with countless pieces of equipment dropped. He was now equivalent to a walking equipment encyclopedia.

Just like now, although the “Dawn wand” icon was green, the attributes described below were frighteningly numerous.

Adding magic power, damage, and defense was one thing, but there were also passive effects like “Blessing of Light Spirits” and “Radiance of Lucky Stars.”

Yuanyuan, visible only to Ji Chi, flew to Evan’s side and carefully scanned the Dawn wand, startled: [Which ***** is cheating? What’s the point of displaying purple equipment as green equipment?]

Ji Chi looked at it with almost pitying eyes. “Are you developers this ruthless? Even cursing at the NPCs you created?”

Yuanyuan, who hadn’t yet realized they had transmigrated, was unwilling to admit this was an official error and spun around to return to Ji Chi: [Thank you for the player feedback. Yuanyuan has reported the bug to the development team.]

Ji Chi: “Wake up, what development team? Right now, we two are the bugs.”

After the initial confusion, he also figured it out. This Bard was definitely not an ordinary weaponsmith, and he had extremely high favorability toward Evan, which was why he packaged purple equipment as green equipment and sold it to him for a mere fifty gold coins.

Ji Chi was somewhat envious of this kid. The purple equipment he first obtained required three hours of slowly grinding down a Boss’s health, consuming healing potions worth millions of gold coins in the process.

But at this moment, he didn’t yet know that purple equipment corresponding to epic quality was already the pinnacle of this world. As for orange equipment corresponding to legendary quality, just from the name, you could tell that was something that only existed in legends.

So the current Ji Chi was not only a walking equipment encyclopedia, he was also a walking myth.

“Oh, right, right.” After the extreme joy passed, Evan didn’t forget about his roommate and introduced to Bard. “This is my roommate Ji Chi. He also wants to buy a wand. Do you have any fire-type wands to recommend?”

Bard’s profound gaze looked Ji Chi up and down, his eyes lingering for a long time on the corner of an amulet visible at his collar, then led them to the back of the shop, next to a display case made of transparent crystal. “Here, these are all fire-type wands.”

Seeing those excellent wands worth thousands or tens of thousands of gold coins, Evan broke out in cold sweat and quickly waved his hands. “No, no, no, my roommate is also a commoner. He doesn’t have that many gold coins.”

Bard said nothing, only looking at Ji Chi.

Ji Chi’s gaze swept over those wands in a circle, showing neither desire nor disdain, calm like a pool of pitch-black deep water. “Mm, I want to buy a wand of excellent quality.”

“As you wish.” Bard nodded and led them to the display case near the shop’s entrance. In the tall display case, a row of dark red wands was neatly arranged on white velvet cloth.

Bard watched Ji Chi lower his eyes to select a wand and smiled somewhat sarcastically. “Pick whatever you want. There’s no difference for you, is there?”

Ji Chi glanced at Bard, not understanding where his sudden mockery came from, and refocused his attention on the wands. “No, I have quite good taste.”

He pointed to an inconspicuous wand in the corner. “I want that one, thank you.”

Wands of the same quality wouldn’t differ much in price, but their attribute values would have certain fluctuations.

These subtle differences would normally require the most skilled weaponsmiths to carefully sense, but in Ji Chi’s eyes, they had long been digitized and marked out. Picking out a wand with optimal values was effortless.

As the creator, Bard was also very familiar with these wands. Seeing Ji Chi unhesitatingly select the best one among them, his expression changed, uncertain whether it was a blind guess or intentional.

But he had a premonition that Ji Chi had judged it through his own abilities. If that were really the case… Bard’s wrinkled face showed some complexity.

Ji Chi picked up that fire wand and pretended to count out fifty gold coins from his pocket to hand to Bard.

Bard stood in front of the display case without taking them, suddenly reciting a verse softly, “Thorns grow thick, the River Styx flows in shadows.”

Evan only heard a few obscure syllables and tilted his head in confusion. “What?”

But after hearing it, Ji Chi subconsciously glanced at his chest, where he wore a legendary quality amulet called [Thorn Amulet by the Shadow River].

Because the name and background were too pretentious, Ji Chi remembered it very clearly.

The subconscious reaction couldn’t be controlled. Ji Chi only realized he had fallen into a trap after glancing at the amulet. He raised his eyes and looked directly at Bard’s pale face.

After a long moment, Ji Chi slowly placed that pile of gold coins on the white velvet cloth in the display case. The coins clinked crisply against each other as he smiled slightly and said softly, “A mysteriously legendary verse, isn’t it?”

Bard looked at him in shock.