Leaving Aunt Elisa's home, Lucian didn't head straight for the Market District. Instead, he went home to grab his wooden staff and continued training in the open area, practicing basic swordsmanship. Until his spiritual power was sufficient to cast more than ten spells in succession, having a reasonable degree of melee and evasion ability was still very important.
Moreover, the better his physical conditioning, the easier it would be to activate his bloodline power when the time came to prepare and brew the "Crying Soul" magical potion.
After an hour of training, Lucian went home to wipe off his sweat, then set off toward the Market District.
Having not visited the Market District for a full five days, Lucian found it just as bustling as ever. All kinds of accents, all manner of appearances, various species of humanoid creatures mixed together, filling the air with vigorous and boisterous pulses of life.
Worried about possible retaliation from the Allen Gang, Lucian was very cautious as he moved about. Combined with his faint spiritual perception, he made sure he couldn't be easily followed—even if any gang thugs got within five meters of him, they would be discovered.
In reality, however, by the time Lucian had purchased his spellcasting materials and left the Market District, the Allen Gang hadn't come looking for any trouble. On the contrary, Lucian noticed that when the Allen Gang showed up to collect fees, they had far fewer people than before. They used to operate in groups of two or three, but now they were all working solo. This made Lucian quite puzzled: "Could last time's incident have made the Allen Gang decide to keep a lower profile?"
Even Lucian himself didn't quite believe that guess. But regardless, the Allen Gang's unusual behavior still convinced him it was best to play it safe and learn most of the apprentice-level informal spells as quickly as possible. While their destructive and defensive power wasn't particularly impressive, their peculiar ingenuity meant that if used appropriately, Lucian figured that even facing ten gang thugs—provided they had no bows, crossbows, or other ranged weapons—he could handle them with ease.
In the Market District, Lucian spent a full three hours before purchasing three types of spellcasting materials. This was because, having been discovered by the Allen Gang last time, he was even more cautious and careful. Even for some very common materials that he didn't currently need in his daily life, he decided not to buy them for the time being. Many of these materials could be gathered in the wild—Bendvine fruit, red-veined rock powder, and the like—so Lucian decided to find some time to collect them outside the city.
The three spellcasting materials Lucian bought were: sulfur, frequently used in "Month of Blazing Fire" for repelling insects and mosquitoes; Nightstar Grass, which calmed the spirit and aided sleep—perfectly normal for a musician's student to purchase; and Frost Dissolution
For these three materials, Lucian bought enough of each for a hundred castings. The most expensive was Nightstar Grass, followed by Frost Dissolution Stone, with sulfur being the cheapest. In total, it cost Lucian one silver Thaler and twenty Copper Fels—close to half of his entire fortune.
This could only make Lucian sigh: "Magic is really expensive!"
……
Since "Acid Splash" and "Frost Ray" weren't as subtle as "Ring of Uncontrollable Force"—they would leave traces that were hard to deal with—and because the Adrang District was bustling with people during the day with a complex environment, Lucian didn't dare practice them in his own little cottage. Instead, he planned to wait until nighttime and, like the Witch, find a sewer entrance and descend deep into the tunnels to practice.
At two in the afternoon, Lucian arrived at Victor's house on time to continue yesterday's interrupted lessons.
"Lucian, do you currently have a job?" After the hour of study ended and Renie, Colin,
At this point, only Lot, Phyllis,
Lucian shook his head. "
Having experienced how quickly learning magic consumed money, Lucian had already decided to go to the Copper Crown Tavern that evening to ask about work. If nothing came up, he'd check the Administrative District tomorrow. And now, Victor bringing this up without warning gave Lucian a faint glimmer of hope.
"Given your family's circumstances, even though I've waived your tuition, studying every afternoon from two to six will likely still affect your livelihood." Victor chose his words carefully. He had previously asked Colin and Renie and knew that for someone of Lucian's humble background to survive, he needed to maintain at least ten hours of labor each day. Although he didn't know where Lucian's previous tuition money had come from, judging by his clothes, his life certainly hadn't improved much. "I happen to know of a relatively easy job. It only requires working four hours every morning, and the monthly income is ten silver Thalers. Would you be willing, Lucian?"
He had actually found an easy job for him. Victor had not only taken him on as a true student and waived his tuition, but was also looking out for his day-to-day life. Facing this kindness, Lucian felt moved once more. Since arriving, although he had encountered villains and scum like Jackson, he had also met good people like Uncle Joel, Aunt Elisa, John, and Mr. Victor. "I'm willing, Mr. Victor."
"You're agreeing without even hearing what the job is?" Victor said with a touch of humor. "The Association's music library originally had one person managing it in the morning and one in the afternoon, but I felt that having only one person made errors too likely, so I suggested the Association add two more positions. To my surprise, they actually agreed. When you manage the library, you can try reading the introductory music books. That way, when I teach you, you'll be able to understand more quickly. After a week of introductory study, you can start trying to learn a musical instrument."
In Victor's thinking, since he didn't know what Lucian's aptitude was like, he wanted him to start learning an instrument as early as possible and become a musician quickly. Once he had become a musician with a stable source of income, if he proved to have talent, it wouldn't be too late to delve into more advanced material.
Lucian was stunned for a moment, not expecting to have such a fateful connection with libraries. He had crossed over in a library, carried a library within his soul, and now he was going to become a library's custodian. But soon enough, Lucian said gratefully, "Thank you, Mr. Victor."