After exchanging a few pleasantries, Kei stated his purpose.
Upon hearing it, Mu Zhuo smiled and said, "I wouldn't dare neglect the task given by the lord. I've gathered quite a few items. Let me take you to have a look."
He then loudly called to the middle of the tavern, "Ota, stop drinking and get over here!"
The Beastman named Ota had just drank his opponent under the table and was enjoying the cheers and flattery of those around.
Hearing Mu Zhuo's voice, he wiped his mouth and strode over with long steps.
Arriving close, Ota's gaze lingered on Sunan for a moment, his pupils seemed to contract, then he looked at Mu Zhuo and grinned, "Boss, what's up?"
"Time to work," Mu Zhuo pointed towards the back courtyard, then smiled at Kei and Sunan, "Please follow me, you two."
The carriages and cargo of the Fire Fox Merchant Guild were situated in the back courtyard, guarded by more than ten fully armed men.
From their uniform dress and weapons, they didn't seem like mercenaries but rather private soldiers cultivated by the Fire Fox Merchant Guild.
Sunan's eyes flickered slightly.
In these times, any guild capable of cultivating private soldiers was a large guild.
It seemed that the Fire Fox Merchant Guild had significant resources.
At Mu Zhuo's instruction, Ota carried out a heavy wooden box from one of the carriages and placed it on the ground with a thud.
Opening it revealed more than ten thick books and five small boxes.
"These are all the things the lord wanted," Mu Zhuo smiled.
What surprised him was that Kei just nodded without any further action.
Instead, it was Sunan who squatted in front of the box to inspect the items inside.
There were fourteen books in total, four of which were duplicates of those Sunan already possessed.
This was unavoidable.
Ordinary people couldn't understand the words in Wizard books, so they couldn't be expected to select carefully when collecting, and duplicates were inevitable.
The remaining eight books were also types that couldn't trigger skills.
Nevertheless, Sunan was not disappointed.
Even if they couldn't trigger skills, the more knowledge, the better for a Wizard.
After all, for Wizards, knowledge equates to power.
Furthermore, since he was a player, as long as the reading progress of a book reached 100%, he could fully grasp the knowledge within.
This alone gave him a huge advantage over other Wizard Apprentices.
There was one book that did catch Sunan's interest.
"Extraction and Modification of Green Chameleon Abilities"!
Judging from the foreword, the book discusses how to extract the bloodline containing the color-changing ability from a lizard known as the Green Chameleon, and then integrate it into a human body to give them a chameleon-like 'invisibility ability' to adapt to their environment.
"An interesting experiment,"
Sunan set the book aside for thorough reading later, then opened the five small wooden boxes one by one.
Three of the boxes contained scrolls made of parchment.
The moment the boxes were opened, Sunan felt the energy particle fluctuations emanating from the scrolls.
Clearly, all three scrolls were Spell Scrolls.
Moreover, they recorded Tier One Magic, specifically [Freezing Beam], [Hidden Mist Skill], and [Tier One Monster Summoning Skill].
"Great stuff!"
A trace of joy flashed in Sunan's eyes.
Although his current Spiritual Power wasn't enough to learn Tier One Magic, using a Tier One Spell Scroll was no problem.
Spell Scrolls only require a small amount of Spiritual Power to activate, making them usable by any Wizard Apprentice.
Of course, if one's strength is insufficient, using a scroll of too high a rank can easily result in harm from the energy fluctuations it unleashes.
However, with Tier One Spell Scrolls, this isn't an issue.
These three Spell Scrolls could be quite effective in battle!
After a moment of happiness, Sunan turned his attention to the remaining two wooden boxes.
These boxes also contained parchment scrolls, but they recorded things other than spells.
To Sunan's surprise, the first scroll contained a recipe for an Active Potion.
"Mingxin Tree Sap Essence, Ghost Python Bone Powder, Thousand Soul Grass, Demon Sound Flower... all rare and precious materials."
Sunan secretly pursed his lips.
In the current Starlight Continent, gathering these materials would not be easy.
The cost in manpower and resources was unknown.
Even using alchemy to synthesize suitable substitutes would require multiple experiments.
In comparison, combining inferior Active Potions to make a standard one seemed easier.
The second scroll recorded a technique called Energy Rune.
This technique was something Sunan had impressions of.
Energy Runes are a branch of Enchantment, the process involves manipulating energy particles to condense a rune with elemental properties, attaching it to oneself or another object to add the corresponding elemental effect.
For instance, attaching a lightning rune to a weapon can give the weapon temporary lightning damage and paralyze effect.
Adding a gale rune to oneself can make the body lighter, greatly enhancing agility and flexibility.
In short, Energy Runes are essentially a skill that can temporarily turn ordinary items into magic items, or temporarily provide oneself with beneficial states.
Given that energy runes have very low spiritual power consumption, once mastered, they can significantly enhance combat power in conjunction with close combat tactics, offering high practicality in battle.
"Simply put, it's an advanced technique for manipulating energy particles, demanding high proficiency in particle control from the practitioner, hence usually requiring a Level 3 Wizard Apprentice to utilize."
However, Sunan clearly remembered that in his previous life, some players had discovered a special method allowing Tier One and Tier Two Wizard Apprentices to use Energy Runes.
If he applied this method, perhaps he could master Energy Runes ahead of time.
"I'll give it a try when I get back!"
Sunan had made up his mind, closed the wooden boxes, put them back in the crate, and slowly got up.
At that moment, Mu Zhuo also realized that it was Sunan who truly wanted to collect these items, so he smiled and asked, "Do these items meet Sunan's expectations?"
"Not bad,"
Sunan nodded slightly, his expression showing nothing, though he was actually very pleased.
Without even mentioning the books and Spell Scrolls, just the Energy Runes alone gave him a sense of substantial gain.
Kei noticed his brother's satisfaction with the items and signaled to two soldiers to carry the items back to the inner fortress, then he and Sunan bid farewell to Mu Zhuo and left.
As he watched Kei and Sunan walk away, Mu Zhuo displayed a contemplative expression.
Books and items related to Wizards are excellent collectible items.
Many nobles have a hobby of collecting such items.
Yet, as far as he knew, the Kei brothers were not in a good situation, logically they wouldn't have the mindset to collect right now.
After all, those items were quite valuable, costing dozens of Gold Coins, which would be enough to buy multiple sets of armor.
But if not for collecting, why would Sunan want to gather these things?
He pondered for a long time without understanding the reason, so Mu Zhuo shook his head, dismissing the thought. Then he noticed Ota staring intently in the direction Sunan and Kei left, and asked curiously: "What's wrong?"
Ota hesitated for a moment before speaking, "That noble called Sunan gives me a very dangerous feeling!"
Dangerous?
Mu Zhuo's expression shifted.
Due to his Beastman bloodline, Ota had an animal-like intuition, capable of vaguely sensing whether someone posed a threat to him.
Yet, Ota, as the head of his guards, possessed the strength of a Middle Knight Level!
To make him feel very dangerous, one would have to be at the level of a Peak Knight at the very least.
Though Sunan didn't seem weak, he didn't appear to be a Peak Knight either!
Mu Zhuo grew increasingly puzzled.