Chapter Seven
Fools Are Found to Be Manipulated
Through the damp fog of the Anira family mountain, faint rays of sunlight pierced through the leaves, like blessed swords illuminating the surrounding forest. The yellowish-white light fell on Sero's face, causing him to open his eyes slowly.
"Hmm, this position is uncomfortable for my bones," Sero grumbled as he realized his body's posture. He was completely inverted and about to fall from the branch if not for his right leg stuck to a part of it.
Who knows how long he had been in this position, but based on the numbness he felt, he could roughly estimate the time to be all night.
"It seems the wind that brought the fog knocked me over. It's a good thing my leg got stuck, or I would have fallen on my head and gotten hurt, giving me another problem," Sero said with boredom, not expecting things to turn out this way.
He had planned everything. Sleeping in a forest was dangerous, even with mages nearby, so choosing a high place was an obvious choice for protection from the poisonous night insects and rats, and it also gave him a good vantage point for scouting if bigger threats arrived.
"Whatever, let's try this Little Flame Shard," Sero muttered, then directed his hand toward the branch, releasing a fierce spark from his palm as if from a flint stone, igniting the branch his leg was stuck to with a small fire.
After a few minutes, the branch broke, and Sero twisted his body, landing on his feet. He looked at his right foot, which was superficially burned, then looked up to find that the branch was directly above him, barely giving him enough time to move out of its way.
"Hehe, even the trees have absorbed mana and evolved to recognize danger and act quickly," Sero thought as he brushed off his robe and then took a deep breath.
Mana was the force of beings, and that included plants and trees. When a tree senses danger like fire at one of its branches, it won’t risk further injury and will dispose of it immediately.
Sero originally couldn’t burn the branch because of the mountain fog, but giving the illusion of fire to an entity whose greatest threat is fire was bound to elicit a reaction.
"Enough pondering about a tree's life, I need to find a food source and then return to those annoying guards," Sero thought calmly but then changed his mind after realizing a fact he had overlooked.
Shards were not easy to refine, and even if Sero had average talent, it would take a few days. Going to the guards who already disliked him, carrying a refined shard with his weak background, would be like a poor man carrying a gold bar he earned through hard work in a corrupt city.
At best, his shard would be confiscated.
"Tch, should I avoid them then? But I still need to show my talent to be recognized by the family and supported to enter the academy," Sero grumbled with a face flushed with anger.
Sero's situation was not only strange but rare. His background as the son of an illicit relationship between his mage mother from the Geist clan and his pathless father put him at the lowest possible level.
His appearance as a mage raised him from the lowest level in the clan to the lowest level among the clan’s mages, to the extent that a mage with the same talent as him would receive much better treatment.
Believing this theory was considered giving up.
He had to show some kind of talent to arouse the greed among the Anira family members. In short, he had to cause a big enough problem to make the family elders notice him and remember his name, then shock them with his work.
"After all, it's better to be hated than unknown. Maybe it’s time for revenge on that brat, but first, I need to fulfill my body’s needs," Sero muttered quietly and left the forest.
The forest was located at the base of the mountain, making it not far from the central area of the Geist village, which was about an hour's walk.
The central area was not just a simple place; it was the most important part of the village as it was the largest area. This was because most mages who had no connections with the clan elders, such as those of distant lineage or mages who had broken the families' rules, as well as traders from external clans, lived there.
As soon as Sero entered the place, his nose was hit by the smell of various delicious foods, from a trader selling a family recipe for his ancestors' special meat broth to a trader selling herbs to improve and strengthen shards, to women promoting themselves in a red district. In short, the bustle extended for distances.
However, trade required something for barter: an economic exchange system, and that system consisted of golden coins. To ensure this, the most famous sect in the central grassland continent, known as the "Spring and Jade Jars," minted square golden coins and distributed them among the clans, making them the unified currency of the continent, and the Geist clan was no exception.
"What I need now is a place to stay for one day and some mana stones," Sero thought calmly as he assessed his situation.
His need for accommodation was to cover shelter, food, and drink, and to kill three birds with one stone, choosing an inn was the best thing instead of renting a house or eating in a restaurant.
Naturally, the inn's food wouldn’t be as good as a cook's food, nor would its comfort match that of a home, but sacrifices had to be made, and to Sero who slept on a tree, it would be luxury.
As for the mana stones, they were to nourish his magic realm. He could absorb mana himself, but that would take a long time, a resource he didn’t have much of.
Without mana, his shard would not only become useless but would also dispose of his mana and absorb the world’s mana instead, adding the task of refining it again.
Sero stopped in front of a middle-aged trader with a kind face, recognizing him as a trader because his face did not look local.
The trader stared at him with an annoyed expression, thinking he was a stray child who had sneaked into the central area, but as soon as he sensed the aura emanating from Sero's magic realm, his face changed to friendly features.
"We have a little colleague here. This sight has been common lately due to the end of the awakening ceremonies. How may I help you today?" the trader spoke calmly.
"A bag of mana stones," Sero said coldly, placing four coins on the wooden counter. The trader stared silently, then sighed and brought a bear-skin bag that made a rocky friction sound.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"Each mana stone costs a gold piece, meaning you'll get four in return," the trader handed the bag to Sero, who took it silently, and then left with a cold face without causing any commotion.
"Haah, the mages of this generation are really arrogant," the trader sighed coldly.
Next, Sero headed to a nearby inn. There were many of them because of the frequent visits of foreign traders.
Sero wanted secrecy in his movements and chose a noisy inn that smelled of wine from the outside.
The moment he entered, his gaze fell on two tables: one had a group of pathless servants, while the second had two hunters, both first-path mages.
"This wine! I tell you, this wine is the tastiest! Every time I drink it, I feel my body ignite with excitement! Come on, drink up!"
"What? Do you think your dirty wheat wine is better than red grape wine? Has its bad taste made you stupid?"
"Neither of you have any taste! The best wine is the blood tree flower wine! It's juicy, bitter, and only suitable for great men like me!"
Three drunken servants shouted greedily at their tables, stomping on the ground and spilling wine on their shirts and food. Anyone looking could immediately tell they were in a state of severe intoxication.
"Alright, I've had enough, it's time to teach these ruffians a lesson!" shouted a mage from the second table as he threw a food stick at them.
"Hey? Who dares to ruin my fun—" one of the servants shouted arrogantly, only for the color to drain from his face as well as his drunk state as he realized what he had done.
"Who are you calling rude? Do you think you can boast about your dirty wine that even monkeys would scorn, on me?! Do you want me to teach you a lesson your whore mother never did?!" the mage shouted angrily, kicking the table away and sending food and drink flying everywhere.
"Show them mercy, brother!" His friend called out to his companion, laughing from his table, but secretly he had no intention of intervening. His feelings were simply dead towards the pathless.
Even if they were human like him, why should he intervene? The answer was that many mages didn't consider the pathless as humans at all. Silently, he watched the show while the inn servants cleaned up the mess with fearful expressions.
"Forgive him, great one! Our brother was just a foolish drunk speaking the nonsense in his mind!"
"Please spare him! A great person like you shouldn't soil your shoes with filth like our brother! We'll buy his life from you if you want!"
"What? Do you dare to advise me? Me! Do you think your words are worth entering my ears?! How dare you—" The mage's shouting escalated to the point of hearing the air strike the roof of his mouth.
Amidst all this, Sero stared with disgust at everyone while sitting at a table in the corner of the room. To him, the situation was just a farce, even the mage seemed weak-willed.
"Weaklings bully those weaker than themselves to feel powerful, and this mage is no exception. Not only do his words seem weak and made up of rage, but he also resorts to hitting the place, just like a dog that only barks but can't bite," Sero stared at him with boredom.
This was the general state of a discussion between mages and a pathless. Neither the servants nor the inn owners could do anything, and his companions had no intention of intervening. So, who would dare stop him? But it wasn’t as if he could hit them and get away with it.
"Hey, brother, those are servants of Anira's family. Leave them alone, or they'll send a girl to beat you up," his companions laughed, bringing him back to his senses.
"I was done anyway, and you scum don't deserve to talk about good wine since you can never afford it! The best wine is the yellow star fruit wine! Go buy it if you have even an ounce of courage!" the mage shouted arrogantly before turning towards his companion as the servants ran out of the inn.
"Let's leave, I've lost my appetite," the mage grumbled in annoyance.
"Are you afraid that a mage from the Anira family will come and beat you up?" his companion asked as he lazily got up, and they walked sluggishly out of the inn.
"Would you buy me some Yellow Star Fruit Wine?" Sero shouted in a relaxed tone, causing the mage to show a vein on his forehead as he turned, but as soon as he sensed Sero's mana, his expression turned to one of greater ease.
"Hmm? A little apprentice," his companion remarked, folding his hands behind his head.
"Ha ha! Of course, little brother! Waiter! Give him two jugs of Yellow Star Fruit Wine! And all his food is on me!" the mage said in a slimy voice.
"Thank you, great one! This young brother will remember your kindness!" Sero pretended to be happy and bowed his head while clasping his hands together, leaving a smile on the mage's face.
"No, no! The elders should take care of the younger clan members! Consider it a small support from a big brother," the mage said proudly before leaving quietly.
Was this good luck? Of course not. Sero saw his opportunity since the fight began and naturally tried to take advantage of the situation.
The weak tend to strengthen their position by secretly resenting the weaker while outwardly pretending to be kind to their peers.
Someone who understands this not only becomes wary of them but can also manipulate them whenever they want.
"They're controlled by their emotions, and I control those emotions. People like him exist only to be stepping stones for me. Now I have more resources than before. Thanks to fools like him, I’ve solved one of my problems," Sero thought silently.
"I brought the two jugs of wine, young master! What would you like to eat?" a servant asked in a flat voice while sweating.
To him, Sero seemed to be an acquaintance of the mages who caused the commotion, and he didn't want to provoke him.
"Is there a discount?" Sero asked coldly, his face remaining steady.
"Eh! Does he want a discount? Is he threatening that if we don't give him a discount, he'll ask his companion to beat us?" these thoughts raced through the servant's mind as he swallowed hard.
"Of course, there's a discount! Everything you order will be half-price!" the servant replied with a smile while nervously rubbing his hands.
"Then I want five plates of your cheapest meal," Sero replied calmly.
"Oh my! Even he doesn't want to anger his companion and asks for a cheap meal! It's good that I acted smart and gave him a discount! And the best part is that he paid the full price for the wine, which will cover the cost of his food! I'm so clever!" the servant muttered happily as he ran to the kitchen, leaving Sero alone.
The wine had an enticing aroma, much better than what the servants from the incident drank. Sero picked up a flat porcelain cup, poured a little, and took a sip, moving it across his taste buds and covering all of them, then released a relaxed expression.
"Not bad compared to the wine I drank in my past life, but it still doesn't reach the level of immortal wine. Even if I drink both jugs, I won't get drunk, but unfortunately, drunkenness is related to the body, not the soul, so I won't overdo it," Sero muttered to himself while taking a few more sips.
"Here's your food, young master!" the servant spoke with a smiling face, a hint of redness on his features as if he had wiped his face with a cloth. But Sero turned his face directly towards his food.
In front of him were five plates of sweet red peppers fried in olive oil and eggs from the wild chicken.
Unlike regular chickens, wild chickens were closer to feral creatures with sharp claws, and unlike regular chickens, they laid only one egg the size of a football.
But even so, the wild animal could not defeat the mage hunters.
The fragrant aroma of the hot food wafted to Sero's nose, and even with his strong soul, he couldn't resist. He picked up the chopsticks and started eating.
Unlike on Earth, where common people ate with spoons and various utensils, this world considered such items a waste of precious resources.
Only madmen would prefer forging a spoon out of iron over using two wooden sticks. if it's soup or stew they would sip it, if it is pickable they would use chopsticks.
The only instances where spoons were used were by exceedingly wealthy mages to eat soft desserts.
"Alright, where are the filthy scum who made my servants run like rats?!" A female shout came from the entrance, erasing the happy expression that was on the servants' faces. Sero glanced at the source and smiled—it was Doska.