When night fell, a cool breeze drifted in through the window.
Saelran, who had been asleep on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up.
Haa...
"Did I have a nightmare?"
Saelran lifted his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, exhaled, and muttered to himself.
He had dreamed of the Demon King standing right in front of him, its cold red eyes staring straight at him.
"Damn it."
Saelran grimaced under his breath.
The Demon King was a living being, and so was Saelran. The Demon King was an Outer God, and so was Saelran.
"So why should I be afraid of you?" Saelran took a deep breath, patted his cheeks to clear his mind, then got off the bed and looked outside the window.
It was already dark.
Saelran walked to the window and opened it. The cool air rushed into the room, washing away most of his restlessness.
He hadn't expected to sleep all the way until nightfall.
This small inn was a two-story European-style building. His room was on the second floor and through the window he could see the narrow alley below and the nearby street.
There were a few wooden rails protruding from the window, but they looked old and clearly unstable.
Even a moderately skilled thief could climb up to the second floor using the walls on either side of the alley.
Saelran glanced around, shook his head lightly, and closed the window again.
A small inn like this couldn't really keep thieves out.
Saelran washed his face to refresh himself before leaving his room.
On the street, the flow of people was thinner compared to daytime, with only a few adventurers dressed like soldiers walking around with their weapons.
Saelran had already asked the innkeeper about the shops that sold various items nearby.
He headed first to a clothing store.
The clothes he was wearing had been worn for more than ten days and had begun to smell foul. He needed to carry more clothing for his trip to the Arkenwald Forest.
When he came out of the shop...
Saelran carried a large bundle, his body wrapped in a black robe.
The total cost was three silver coins.
The most expensive item was the black robe, which cost one full silver coin and seven copper coins. The rest were cheap coarse linen clothes similar to what he had been wearing.
He bought a higher-quality robe because he was planning to visit the Magic Caster Guild, and it would be improper to show up in shabby clothing.
Within the kingdom, major cities had branches of the Adventurer Guild and the Magic Caster Guild.
However, unlike the Magic Caster Guild headquarters in the capital, the branches in other cities played little role in training magic-based spellcasters.
Typically, those with talent for magic were sent by the city branches to the headquarters in the capital for training.
This was, of course, due to a lack of funds.
The traditional customs of the Avendele Kingdom made the upper nobles place little value on the Magic Caster Guild, making it difficult for the guild to obtain financial support.
Because of this, the Mage Guild branches in various cities had become places primarily for making and selling magical items and scrolls.
This particular Magic Caster Guild branch was a plain three-story building. If Saelran had not asked a passerby specifically, he might never have guessed that this was a Magic Caster Guild branch.
Completely different from the bustling Adventurer Guild, the place was rather quiet.
There was almost no guard at the entrance.
But thinking about it, it made sense. Perhaps no one would dare break into the Magic Caster Guild.
Saelran arrived at the old dark brown wooden door and was about to push it open when a soft bell rang above it.
when a soft bell rang above the door.
Looking up, Saelran saw a bell the size of a fist hanging above the dark brown door.
A faint red light flickered from the bell from time to time.
A magical item?
The thought passed through Saelran's mind.
Click.
The old wooden door opened automatically.
"I see."
A look of understanding flashed across Saelran's eyes. It was convenient. However, that magic bell likely had more functions than just this.
With that thought...
Saelran walked into the Magic Caster Guild. Soft light flowed through the cracks between the doors, illuminating the interior brightly.
Compared to the sturdy and simple Adventurer Guild, the interior of the Magic Caster Guild stood in stark contrast to its plain exterior.
The entire hall was dominated by red and black. The walls were completely lined with red wooden boards, while the area from floor to ceiling was painted black.
The hall did not look large, perhaps less than one hundred square meters.
Judging by the exterior, the building was likely much larger, with transparent partitions dividing the interior.
Six wall lamps decorated the left and right walls, and the cylindrical chandelier overhead emitted a soft white glow that lit up the entire hall.
At the moment, perhaps because it was already late, the Magic Caster Guild was almost empty.
Only two robed men sat at the counter. One of them, a middle-aged man, was asleep with his chin resting on his hand, completely unaware of Saelran's arrival.
The other was younger, and he had already looked at Saelran when he entered the hall.
"I want to buy some magic scrolls," Saelran said softly as he stepped forward.
Unlike expensive magical items that cost around one thousand gold coins, scrolls were consumables with relatively simple craftsmanship, so their price was not too high.
However, because they were consumables, even slightly wealthy adventurers rarely purchased them casually.
"Welcome, customer. What type of scroll do you need?"
The young magic caster at the counter looked Saelran up and down, his tone somewhat lazy.
His unusually neat black hair caught Saelran's eye.
"Do you have anything specific? I want to choose one," Saelran said while bowing slightly, his expression a bit embarrassed.
Bang.
As if expecting this, the young man casually pulled a thin book from below and placed it on the table, then seemed to drift off in thought.
Saelran did not mind the attitude.
Instead, he shyly picked up the book on the table and began flipping through it. He had forgotten that he did not actually understand the writing system of this world.
The first thing he saw was an introduction to zero-tier scrolls.
Saelran's initial embarrassment quickly faded. The scrolls were illustrated and even without reading the words, their functions were clear from the pictures.
Zero-tier scrolls were far more numerous than he expected.
Scrolls for tasks such as ignition, lighting, and cleaning were purely for daily convenience and had no offensive capability. These zero-tier spells were essentially useless for adventurers.
He had heard someone from the Guard team mention that some caravans or nobles carried zero-tier scrolls to enhance their travel comfort.
Saelran quickly found the zero-tier spell "Paper Creation."
However, he did not buy it immediately and continued flipping through the book. Next were first-tier scrolls.
There were far fewer of them, but their practicality and effectiveness were much higher.
"Repair (Tier 1)": Repairs damaged items.
"Odorless (Tier 1)": Removes one's body odor.
"Floating Board (Tier 1)": Creates a semi-transparent floating board to carry items.
...
"Magic Arrow (Tier 1)": Fires three magic arrows to attack.
Saelran read the information. Offensive scrolls were very few, only three. Most of the other scrolls were for support.
Hmm?
Saelran opened the final page and found nothing more.
There were no Second-tier scrolls?
Saelran froze for a moment. He recalled information from Oblivion Gate. With the scroll-making technology possessed by humans in that game world, they should have been able to create Third-tier scrolls.
And the Sacred Kingdom even had extremely valuable technology for crafting Fourth-tier scrolls.
Third-tier scrolls should have been moderately valuable even for the Magic Caster Guild, but Second-tier scrolls should not have been considered rare.
So...
It was not that the scrolls did not exist, but that they were not for sale?
Or perhaps ordinary buyers lacked the qualification to purchase them?
Heh...
Things really were different from the game.