“Let’s see now…” Astra took out his map.

Astra didn’t know what he needed for an expedition. But now would be a good time to use his 2600 merit points to prepare for it. Astra headed to the merit shop.

The clerk recognized Astra and said, “Welcome back, here to shop or sell?”

“Uhm...Shop.” Astra replied.

“What are you looking for?” The clerk asked.

Astra didn’t need a weapon since he had the Sword of Gale, so he said, “Do you have any good armor that’s very light and durable?”

Astra didn’t like to wear clunky armor that slowed him down. He preferred to be free and light weighted to make use of his trained agility fully.

The clerk thought for a moment, “We do have the Zephyr armor set. Are you interested in taking a look?”

“Please show me,” said Astra.

The clerk led Astra to an armor stand and presented to him the Zephyr armor set.

“The Zephyr armor set was found in a cavern belonging to a wind-attributed beast. We couldn’t exactly see what kind of creature would keep this armor, but from all the wind elemental mana surrounding the cavern, we deduced that the beast in nature must have relations to wind.

This armor set has a thin chainmail, arm guards, shin guards, thin-open gauntlets, and a lightweight sabaton. All the pieces have been enchanted with a 2nd-grade inscription and have the ability to synchronize with each other. With the whole set working together, the enchantments can increase their effects to a 3rd-grade enchantment.”

Astra butted in, “What enchantments does this armor set have?”

The clerk continued, “Their inscriptions will allow the user to increase their speed and agility. By allowing the inscriptions to drain your mana, you will be able to synchronize all the inscriptions which will double your speed for a short period.”

Double the user’s speed? With his base speed, Astra was already extremely quick, if he used Zephyr, would anyone even be able to touch him?

“How much for Zephyr?” Astra asked enthusiastically.

“30,000 merit points,” The clerk replied.

Astra’s mouth was wide open. He only had 2600 points right now. How was he supposed to come up with the remaining 27,400 points?

“How...How can I earn some points?” Astra asked the clerk for advice.

The clerk chuckled. This was a usual occurrence. The clerk would regularly present pricey equipment to the incoming freshman and see their astonished expressions when they found out how much it cost.

“A lot of ways. The riskiest ones would be taking on kill-quests like exterminating monsters and beasts. The easiest but most difficult ones would include selling enchanted equipment and concocting potions or pills.”

Wait a minute, enchanted equipment? Astra crossed his arms. Astra only had the knowledge of one basic inscription from enchantment class. Would he still be able to earn some points…?

“Thank you, I will be back soon,” Astra left the shop.

The clerk had seen a look of determination in the eyes of the young boy. It would be interesting to see how he would come up with over 20,000 points.

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Astra stared at his map. The only thing he knew how to inscribe was the basic weapon inscription that increased its durability and sharpness. Wasn’t there someplace he could learn better inscriptions? Asking the enchantment teacher was out of the question after what the commotion he had caused. Astra looked closely at the map.

The library! Wouldn’t a library have all the inscriptions that he needed?

A moment later, Astra arrived at the library.

The librarian who was sitting behind the desk saw someone come in, “How may I help you?”

Even though the Grand Library of Ascelyn Academy held a lot of books, there would only be a couple of regular visitors a day. The library didn’t have any spell books or any rare recipes. It was mostly just information, theories, and hypotheses about all sorts of things.

Astra asked the librarian, “Where can I find books on inscriptions?”

The librarian took out a map of a library and pointed at a section. Astra thanked the librarian and went to look for inscription books.

Astra combed through the entire section of inscription books. Not a single one had taught him more inscriptions. Even the basic inscription he had learned from class wasn’t in any of these books. All he read about were theories of mana control, efficiency of the inscriptions based on the configuration of the inscription, and more mumbo jumbo.

Astra went back to the librarian, “Where is the section for actual books on inscriptions?”

The librarian smiled meekly, “Sorry, this is all we have. If you would like to read more advanced materials, you would need to go to the 2nd floor which costs 5,000 merit points a day.”

Astra’s eyes went wide. He barely had 3,000 points and now to access the actual inscription books, he needed 5,000? Astra had to make do with his basic weapon inscription.

“Is there any place where I can get weapons for free?” Astra asked. Even if he did know better inscriptions, he still needed weapons to inscribe them on.

The librarian chuckled and thought for a moment, “There might be some at the Training Grounds. There are usually some dull wooden swords lying around. If you ask nicely, they might just give it to you for free.”

Astra busted out his map and headed to the Training Grounds.

A stone archway appeared in front of him. The Training Grounds were surrounded by tall walls of stone. Astra walked through the arched entrance.

Inside the grounds were tons of straw dummies that were about five meters apart from each other.

Off in the distance, Astra could see a small cottage. He walked through the lines of straw dummies and arrived at the cottage.

A decrepit, old man wearing a brown robe was rocking back and forth on a wooden chair with his eyes closed.

“Sir?” Astra walked up to the old man.

The old man stayed asleep.

Astra shook him a bit.

“Wh-What the…” The old man looked around him. His elderly gaze landed on Astra. “Yes?”

“Do you have any wooden swords that I can buy?” Astra asked.

“Wooden swords…? There are a couple of barrels full of dull wooden swords near that wall over there. Go ahead, take them all,” The old man pointed at a stone wall a couple of meters away from them.

Astra thanked the old man and ran towards the barrels. He opened up all the barrels and saw that there were at least a thousand wooden swords. He took one of them out and inspected it. No wonder the old man gave it to him for free. These wooden swords were dull and chipped. One was chipped so bad that half of the sword was practically dangling.

Astra sighed. At least he had a supply of swords now. Astra pulled the swords out and got to work.

He recalled the enchanting dream experience, but the memory was still hazy. Even though he couldn’t recall any inscriptions, Astra retained the essence of inscription and enchanting.

Astra inscribed the basic sword inscription on the sword in front of him. He stroked the blade of the sword and compared it to a regular wooden sword. The enchanted one was nearly twice as sharp! From the books he had read in the library, that meant that his enchanted wooden sword was at least at the peak of 1st grade.

Weapon grade was based on the material that it was made from and its enchantment. Each grade would be split into three tiers: low, middle, and high. A regular wooden sword would be considered a low 1st-grade weapon while copper swords would be considered low 2nd grade weapons.

He would be able to sell his enchanted wooden swords for the price of a copper sword.

Astra worked on the swords one by one.

…

..

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Nightbend Family Manor.

A fat, chubby man sat on a throne.

“Is he coming?” The plump man spoke in a growl.

A girl in a blue dress was kneeling in front of the man, “Yes, my lord.”

“Isabella, do not disappoint me or your family will suffer the consequences.” The lord of the Nightbend family grunted.

Isabella said in a somewhat reluctant voice, “I...will do my best.”

Isabella Phoenixvale stood up and walked away.

“Sorry, Astra,” muttered Isabella.