Eventually, I made my way back into the city and I also killed 3 NORMAL wild boars which were much easier to kill and should satisfy my quest condition if they didn't accept the magical beast boar. With my pack brimming and body tired I walked into the guild and went straight to the reception.

I found out that the magical beast wouldn't be accepted if I handed just that in which means I was lucky that I caught the other one's. For the quest, I managed to score 50 copper which is a pretty good payout as with 50 coppers one could feed themselves for 2 or 3 days or pay for a night in a cheap inn. What surprised me was that the magical boar was worth 50 silver! It was considered a low-rank E-rank beast which is well above my F-rank despite the seemingly small difference. The difference between an F-rank and E-rank could be crudely described as the difference between a slingshot and a bow, obviously there much more factors that go into it but that's just a simplification of it.

After I sold it I got asked if I wanted to rank up to an E-rank adventurer but I decided to decline as it might make me a bit too high profile and I'm technically supposed to be dead due to the hit placed on me by Cassie's clan, the Stormcloaks. I shouldn't be in too much trouble because they have much bigger threats to consider instead of lil old me but you can never be too careful. I still think about what might've happened to Cassie as I knew she wouldn't leave without telling me nevermind send thugs on me, but she probably had a good reason.

With my coin purse being fuller than ever I decided to wander around town a bit to see anything catches my fancy. The first thing u set out to do is by myself some more clothes as with adventuring you can never know when you might need a spare. Afterwards, I go to some weapon stores to see if there is anything worth getting.

Turns out 50 silvers is nowhere near enough to get any fresh equipment as anything that's not trash starts from at least 80 silvers to a gold. I then remembered that I don't need new equipment, I just need some good equipment that's broken and I could fix it up myself. Sam you genius. I quickly made way to a back alleyway weapon shop that looks like it sells scrap metal. Walking in front of me were neat enough shelves with various weapons and armour on the wall, there were some people in the shop. Probably blacksmiths as even though the weapons are useless, they could get some inspiration from some of the designs.

I quickly join in with the milling and look at the various shelves to see if anything suits me. Near the front of the shop, were damaged gear that could still be used and just needs some maintenance, but as you go back the gear becomes more and more decrepit. The pricing around the front was about 10 to 30 silvers depending on the damaged but near the back, it goes down into coppers which is the area that I'm going to hit. Honestly, some of the stuff you can't even recognise so I looked around to see if anyone could see me but luckily the shelves back here go up to 6 feet high.

Confident that no one could see me I sneakily bind myself to some weapons to see if there is anything decent and unbind myself from them when I'm done inspecting them. Man, I am dastardly. However, my hopes were dashed as most of this gear is similar in quality to the cheap guardsman dagger that I have.

I resolved myself to get a light breastplate which could go for about 2 gold if it were new but now it was 12 copper. I also got some decent greaves and gloves. I also got a thickly armoured gauntlet for my left hand as I could use it to deflect blows when using the scythe were using the buckler would just get in the way.

So far my trolley was about 60 coppers as the gear was truly totalled before I bound them to me. I was happy with the armour that I’m purchasing so I purchased along with some travelling cloaks and boots that would be good quality once I bind them to myself.

On the way back I look through some windows into some of the more arcane establishments. There are always materials available but never the ones you need which seem to curse every production class mage once in their careers. What interested me instead were the circle spell scrolls. When you form a circle you can engrave a spell into it which will improve the spell slightly and decrease the cost, a common example would be fireball as when engraved it would massively decrease the cost which would help people send out much more fireballs for the fraction of the mana.

Also, some higher strength spells can need more than one circle, for instance, Lightning Strike is a two circle spell and you can even get spells that take all 10 circles but people rarely do that as it’s not worth it. Also, spells have to be in your element, so for me, it’ll need to be a null element spell. The spell I’ve been looking at was Boost as it can boost my attributes in exchange mana, the number of attribute increase with the level scroll. A low level would probably only increase strength with high mana cost whereas a high-level scroll could increase multiple attributes with a more affordable mana cost which makes Boost a popular choice amongst all adventurers.

Unfortunately, scrolls are fucking expensive. The lowest level spell Flash, where it's the only purpose is to lights up a room, is worth 11 gold and the decent ones start from 20 gold. I walk back to the inn in a bit depressed, unfortunately, it got worse as soon as I stepped through the door a ladle immediately hit me in the face.

“What the hell were you thinking, fighting an E-rank beast at your level. Why didn’t you run away? Do you think you're some hotshot since you got some new weapons, huh?” The Landlady’s ruthless berating continued for a further 10 minutes meanwhile Mathias and Annabell were laughing at my misfortune whilst peaking around the door. Afterwards, she sent me to my room without any dinner. As I went to my room I felt warm in my heart despite her harsh words, I could feel the care in her voice. It feels warm.

I get to my room and I throw myself onto my bed and rest my tired body. After a brief moment of respite, I sit up, cross-legged. I better get some meditation in. However as it was going as normal I suddenly felt some resistance, furrowing my brows, I scan myself to see what the obstruction could be. However my jaw dropped when I inspected myself, I’m right on the threshold for my first circle. Before I could even think about what caused this I shoved all thoughts to the back of my mind and focus on forming my circle, this is a vital step where I couldn’t afford to lose a single iota of concentration.

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I sit in the lotus position with my two fists meeting in front of me. and concentrate on making sure mana is circulating throughout my entire body. This is so my body gets tempered to be able to handle the stress of forming a circle. This is the main difference between mages and warriors. Warriors actively temper their bodies to become faster and stronger which in turn passively increases their mana capacity whereas mages actively increase their mana capacity which passively tempers their bodies. However, despite both the spirit and body getting cultivated by either class, a warrior can never have the same mana capacity as similarly levelled mage and vice versa for the physical constitution.

This is where people who are both mage and warrior, like Cassie, are completely dominant as they cultivate both their spirit and body to the same degree as a focused mage or warrior. However, I heard that people who have dual classes have to spend twice as long cultivating which makes it a bit more level for other single classed people.

A focus with utmost concentration to make sure there is no stuttering in my mana circulation As I form my circle the runes on my arm that represent my weapons light up as well and something unexplainable occurs. There was my first circle which is a pale blue due to my null magic nature but there was something else, behind my circle there was another circle with an electric blue and it was about twice the size as my first circle and as I inspected the runes more I realised they’re the same ones that were on my arm. What the hell does this mean?

After my circles have finished forming what remained was my first circle and this second circle. I have no idea what this means, I mean I never heard of a case where someone has an extra circle, does that mean I make two circles instead of one every time I level up or would I just have 11 circles in the end. Questions flitted about my mind for a couple of more moments but I decided to shove them all to the back of my mind. I began meditating again with my new circles. As I said before mana is stored in us, for mages they are stored in the soul so the stronger the soul the more mana you can store and the better control you have, that's why we meditate as it slowly strengthens the soul. Circles act as a seal for the soul, it absorbs mana into the soul and prevents it from leaking out.

As I circles began to spin mana began to be sucked into my soul at a rapid pace, the marks on my arm lit up bright blue as well. After a short 20 minutes, I fill my capacity from zero to full. This speed outstood me as normal first circle magicians need at least 30 minutes to refill their mana. My speed is slightly slower than a 2nd circle magician. However, that’s not the most exciting aspect when I stopped meditating my circle stopped spinning and the blue glow from arm faded but the second circle still kept spinning albeit at half the pace.

Shit me does this mean what I think it does, to test out my theory I summon all of my weapons and unsummoned and watched how my passive regeneration has increased by an enormous amount. This is insane, one of the major problems with mages is mana regeneration as spells constantly take mana and mana regeneration always take time which leads to them relying on expensive mana potions. I could probably replenish my mana in about 40 minutes passively whereas before it would take about 2 hours.

As I was taking in my newfound blessings I heard a knock on the door,

“Come in” After I said that I saw that the landlady came in with a bowl in her hand.

“I see that you’ve finished forming your circle, you’ve been glowing like a flashlamp for the last hour” I’ve been forming my circle for an hour? But it felt like minutes, time must fly when your gaining cosmic powers also whats that with me glowing. Was it the runes on my arms?

“Well I don’t have any windows in this room so I had to make my own light” I grinned as I provoked landlady Maria, in which I was successful as she immediately hit me over the head.

“Don’t get cocky with me.” She smiled as she said that,

“Anyway now that you’ve become a first circle magician, albeit a bit faster than the norm, you need to consolidate your magic, I would suggest starting the mana mastery exercises, tomorrow I’ll also train you in some of your other weapons alright.”

I nod my head before remembering my 2nd circle,

“I have something to ask when I formed my circle I made two circles instead of just one and I was wondering if you ever heard of that happening before” As I finished I saw the shock in her expression and spoke in a slightly frantic voice,

“You mustn’t tell anyone about your second circle understand! If word gets out not even I would able to protect and you would be slaughtered on the spot.” I only nodded at her demands, my back was coated in a cold sweat. Who did this second relate to and how strong were they that they could even scare the landlady.

Afterwards, she calmed down and told me that I’ll have to figure out my second circle myself as she had no idea about it and she left me to eat my food. While slurping on my stew I felt the rotations in my circles, the pulses that it sent out every cycle, the slight rumbling sensation in my soul as it rotates. I mull over the landlady’s warning, I look at my hands and felt the mana circulate above my palms. Why should I have to fear others who I haven’t offended, why should live in fear of a possibility. I strengthen the resolve in my heart to gain enough strength so I can at least live without fearing an unknown boogeyman.