Chapter 163: The Mysterious Merchant

Rufus arrived at the central market to look around for any items that would help him pass the evaluation…

"Tsk… If I didn't overdo my Poison Cloud Generator, I would have a Magic Item to pass the test…" 

The man still couldn't forget about his failures in making some of his uncommon magic weapons. 

Unfortunately, making Magic Items is not an inexpensive profession. Even though he's also from the nobility, the allowance that he's receiving from his family wouldn't completely cover all of his expenses.

Most of the time, he had to accept jobs related to repairing Arcana or Magic Weapons to earn some money or perhaps tutor some younger nobles or commoners about the cultivation of Spiritual Energy…

"Mhmm?"

Rufus glanced at a nearby weapon store and saw various designs of combat armor. He took note of them due to the designs that appear to be extremely light for the wearer. 

He wanted these kinds of light armor.

However, he saw the price reaching 500 gold coins so he has to skip that for now.

"Oh… Rufus… You're here. What item are you looking for this time?" The owner of the store noticed that he's looking inside his store so he greeted him.

"Sir Yohan… I'm just looking around, don't mind me…" Rufus replied as he smiled towards the old man. 

The silver-haired boy seemed to be quite known in this central market.

"Is that so? There's a lot of new stalls near the Blue Fish Fountain. You might find some inspiration there… Good luck!"

The man suggested to Rufus before the latter left…

"Thanks, old man… I'll look around…"

Rufus continued his way to the inner area of the market and found many familiar faces who greeted him…

"Rufus… Do you want some of these Laughing Bomb Mushrooms? I also have some Night Burst Apple here… They are all freshly harvested, come…"

"Oh... Young boy, how was the previous Raphaelis Poison you bought from us… Aren't they effective? Do you want more of them?"

"Ahh… Silver Kid, you're here again.  Are you looking for materials for your crafting lessons? We just received these amazing gemstones here… It is said that you can imprint your Magic Arrays in these stones without losing much of its effectiveness… At most, there will be a 30 percent decrease if you used our Cured Hiddenite…" 

"Hey, Rufus… We have your favorite fruits here, have some. They are still quite spicy, it will keep you warm…" 

The young man seemed to be in the market every day that the store owners or merchants were already aware of his name and the things that he'd normally purchase.

"Right, there are many new vendors around the Blue Fish Fountain. Take a look around and you might find something there…"

The people he knows suggested again as they were aware of his unique taste… 

He's always looking for unusual things and they were already used to it.

"Alright, I'll go and see…" 

Rufus answered before he headed to the fountain area where a lot of vendors just laid out their products and waited for someone to buy them. 

There were some items where their prices are listed while others just remained without a price until someone negotiated.

Just like what his friends said, there were indeed new faces and several unusual items in the place…

"Is that an Imp's skin?"  Rufus muttered after seeing someone sell such unusual material. 

Although the place was noisy due to the number of people around, the vendor still heard Rufus's question and answered.

"That's right… I'm not sure what it can do for the Arcanists but I heard that this skin can be used by making good gloves or even for a sword's grip."

"Well, there's a lot more things you can do about this but I'm looking for something else… Thanks for answering." Rufus replied as he started walking around.

'I guess I should look for a weapon I can upgrade instead…' The young man thought after being unable to find something that would catch his interest…

Since the evaluation is getting near, he had to quickly find a good weapon… A weapon where he can still do a few modifications so he can still showcase his ability in terms of upgrading Magic Items.

The evaluation in the next three days wouldn't just test their combat strength but also their creativity and knowledge about Arcana, magic items, and crafting…

Of course, even though one would pass as long as you're good in a single category, Rufus wanted to be acknowledged in all categories so he can be promoted to the higher floors as well...

***

Reiji and his Sword Slaves had explored many areas within the city and found this place very safe due to the number of guards patrolling the streets…

They heard that this place was a bit unsafe before due to corrupt management that involves several gangs in managing the city's securities. 

But because of the changes made by the Viscount running the city, the place has become the safest one within the kingdom… 

It was said that the crime rate was even lower than the capital. He can also see that the city is prosperous as the number of poor people was extremely low and even the slums have quite a good living condition.

Of course, aside from learning about this in the city, Reiji also found out that the Arcanists living inside the Tower wouldn't normally busy themselves interacting with the commoners. 

They would always focus on increasing their strength by studying or crafting within the tower. Though there were a few Arcanists that would personally come and buy materials in the trading area, most of them would still rely on the Tower's hired servants or merchants to make trades for them…

During Reiji's exploration within the city, he heard about three interesting individuals within the Tower…

They are Yui Sakura, a familiar young girl with a Mythical Wand as her Arcana. Rufus Magnolia, a crazy silver-haired boy who went crazy after his Arcana was torn to pieces, and lastly, Nika Daime, a lady with an extremely unusual Arcana… 

Based on what Reiji heard from the various Arcanists around the Tower, the Arcana seemed to be a pistol… Something that was only recently introduced to this world from other large kingdoms...

As far as they know, this was perhaps the first pistol-type Arcana that has appeared in this world. Even though it was only a Rare-Rank Arcana, Reiji also became curious about this…

'Perhaps a Gun Deity has awakened?' Reiji laughed after thinking about this. As far as he knows, the Deities are managing the Arcana coming to this world…

An appearance of a new type of Arcana may perhaps signify the appearance of a new Deity. 

Nevertheless, even without a new Deity, he still has an idea on which one may have a hand on this like the Metal Deity or perhaps a deity that manages explosives…

'Pfft…'

Reiji chuckled after realizing how his thoughts became a bit crazy. Anyway, he didn't get bored waiting for a potential candidate because of this.

Finally, after several days of waiting, he found one of the interesting Arcanists in front of their stall.

'A young man with silver hair. Pale skin and wearing the Arcanist Tower's robe… I also couldn't feel any Arcana around him… Rufus Magnolia…' 

Reiji immediately recognized the young man looking in front of Ruthren's laid-out items… 

Reiji heard many things about this young man, like how he always creates unusual Magic Items but were somehow failing or not meeting the standards of the Arcanists… 

There were times that his creations would just be in a thin line from being a forbidden Magic Item which is quite impressive. He also purchases a lot of weird things in this market to gain inspiration for another weird item that he'll make…

Reiji found all of this even more interesting than the girl with the pistol-type Arcana.

"What are you looking for, young man?" 

Ruthren asked in a deep voice. He's wearing a black cloak so no one can recognize his face.

He's also alone at his stall as the two other Sword Slaves were just looking around within two hundred meters of Reiji. 

Rufus looked at the mysterious merchant as instead of introducing his items like what the other merchants are doing, the man was asking what he was looking for as if he could give anything to him…

The young man smirked as he decided to humor the man…

"I'm looking for something that will make me stronger than a Third-Class Arcanis, perhaps even Second-Class… I'll be happy with that… Do you have something that can help me?"

Rufus asked the merchant… He wasn't expecting the latter to give him something that would truly make him stronger but he wanted to hear his answer. 

Anyway, he can see that this hooded merchant was selling various Magic Items and a couple of Common-Rank Arcana that don't appear very often in this market… 

With this alone, he realized that his friends were telling the truth that various sellers with unusual stuff have truly appeared here. However, he still doubts that there's something in this man's possession that will aid him in his upcoming evaluation…