Chapter 4 A Way To Live

Arvell noticed a mouthwatering aroma filling the air as he trudged through the bustling roads.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw an old lady running a food stall. His stomach let out a large growl informing him of its displeasure.

Arvell practically sprinted to the stall because he had eaten nothing since yesterday afternoon.

He then proceeded to order a dish of freshly roasted skewered meat.

After the lady graciously accepted the 1 copper coin he used to pay for his breakfast, she heard Arvell's stomach growl, chiding him to hurry and devour the meat skewer.

The old lady flashed Arvell a kind and sincere smile and handed him an extra skewer.

"Excuse me, ma'am, I think there is a mistake. I believe I only ordered one?".

As Arvell did not have the funds to live as lavishly as before, he had to cut expenditures wherever possible.

He only handed the orphan a coin because he felt guilt for his father's complete lack of consideration for the poor and needy.

Saving money by cutting down on food costs would be a reliable way to preserve whatever money he had left.

Furthermore, ordering the equivalent of two kebabs, every meal would burn through his wallet twice as fast.

Although each skewer did not cost that much per se until he found a stable source of income, being careful with his spending was the only way he could survive.

Arvell might also need this money to use as funds to make more money.

Saving money would allow him to survive longer.

Thus spending more money than the bare minimum was the equivalent of throwing his life away.

"Growing boys like yourself need to eat more. When my son was your age, he used to eat four of these in one meal! After eating my special meat skewers, he became as big and strong as he is now." she replied with a gentle smile.

"I don't have enough money to buy it, " Arvell replied, but his stomach suggested otherwise.

While Arvell wanted to save money, his stomach was happy to have that second meat skewer.

"It's alright. This one's on the house".

Arvell was briefly stunned by her act of kindness.

However, he didn't have the willpower to deny her act of charity.

"Thank you very much. I will surely repay this kindness!" Arvell earnestly promised.

"It's one meat skewer, nothing to be worked up about."

Arvell waved goodbye to her and proceeded to wolf down the meat sticks.

Arvell was always someone to properly return the goodwill given to him due to his pride as a prince growing up. He wouldn't let the old lady's kindness go unrepaid.

With a full stomach, Arvell was finally at ease for the moment. He started brainstorming ways to earn money, at least enough to keep himself alive.

The first thing that came to mind was heading to the adventurer's association and taking some jobs there.

However, with his complete lack of mana, he highly doubted that he could last even a minute in the forests surrounding the capital.

The only thing he had to show was his royal swordsmanship.

Being highly praised as a genius swordsman from a young age, Arvell even won tournaments for children his age.

Being personally taught by the head of the royal guard has its perks.

However, no matter how hard he trains with a sword, it won't be enough to overcome the barrier of having no mana.

Mana served as fuel for magic, meaning that if someone had more mana, their spells would last longer, and they could cast more spells than someone with less mana.

Mana naturally regenerates over time; humans can use their Mana Heart in their Magic Cores to absorb the amplitude mana from the world around them.

Thus, upgrading one's Mana Heart would significantly increase their available mana and their reserve of spells.

However, having more mana isn't all needed to make one stronger.

After all, the Mana Heart does not directly impact the strength of the Magic Core.

Increasing one's Magic Core level from the first to the second would make their magic abilities more potent.

This is why second circle magicians almost always could effortlessly beat first circle magicians.

Using magic was the equivalent of having superpowers, making those who couldn't use it powerless before those who could.

The strongest mages would become kings, while those who were weak fell into poverty.

Furthermore, those already at the top can pay exorbitant costs to use various supplements to become stronger.

At the same time, poor mages can barely find the money to buy food and shelter.

The strong grew stronger, while the weak became weaker.

This led to a tremendous magic-based divide in the world, with the strong dominating the weak.

Since Arvell didn't have any mana, he naturally couldn't drain his mana to use magic, making him even worse than the lowliest of peasants.

Hence, his father ousted him from the castle and disowned him on his birthday.

Simply not having any mana meant Arvell didn't have a Mana Heart in the first place.

Even if he somehow used all of the kingdom's most precious treasures and became a 9th circle magician, he would be no stronger than the average man.

After all, he would have no fuel to activate his powers.

Swordsmen and other weapons users could incorporate magic into their fighting style, allowing them to hit harder and faster.

Those who reach this level are known as Arcane Warriors.

Those who opted to specialize in utilizing magic through a wand, staff, or grimoire were considered Arcane Mages.

Since he didn't have any mana, he could not become a mage; Arvell's natural strength and speed are simply no match compared to those who have become Arcane Warriors.

Some things can't simply be overcome through hard work in this world.

Although this was the case, Arvell still needed to try. There was no way he would keel over and die just because he was told to.

His best bet would be trying to find an enchanted weapon, but that would be far harder to acquire than clearing an adventurer quest.

Especially considering his remaining funds...

Either way, securing a weapon to defend himself was one of his top priorities.

Purchasing such a weapon from a blacksmithing shop would be pretty pricey.

Thus, it's better to find one from a merchant stall, even if the quality of the weapons is far from satisfactory.

Deciding to test his luck, Arvell trudged towards the nearest merchant stall offering second-hand swords.

The overall quality of these items left much to be desired. Some were covered in cracks and scratches, while others were rusted beyond repair.

Deciding to put his newfound skill to use, Arvell concentrated on a somewhat decent-looking sword and muttered "status" under his breath.

[Status Information]

Item name: Iron sword (degraded)

ATK + 5

Durability: 10/100

[This sword appears to be somewhat usable; however, the blade has heavy internal damage. It is predicted to break after just a couple of swings]

Arvell stared at the status screen in disbelief.

It can even tell me this? I won't ever get swindled by defective goods!

He then looked at another less decent-looking sword and its status.

[Status Information]

Item name: Rusted Hasty Iron sword (degraded)

ATK +3

Durability: 80/100

Skills: Haste (E+)

Haste: Allows the wielder to increase their movement and attack speed by 15% for 2 minutes. Cooldown time: 4h

[This sword is a magical artifact created by the novice blacksmith Grid. However, due to a mix-up, the sword was mistaken as a failure and left to rust]

...

Arvell gawked at the status screen with wide eyes.

Wait… is this sword a magical artifact? But it's completely rusted???

Arvell felt like fate was finally giving him some repayment after cruelly subjecting him to yesterday's trials.

Filled with renewed vigour, Arvell raced over to the merchant.

"I would like to buy that sword," Arvell proclaimed while pointing his finger at the rusty sword on display.

"You want that old thing, kid? I have much better swords for sale than that rusted stick. I only put that out on display due to a favour I owed to my friend.

However, I didn't think anyone would want to buy it."

The merchant began to eye Arvell with suspicion.

There was no way Arvell would tell the merchant that he was selling an enchanted artifact.

This would only cause the merchant to severely increase the price, making it virtually inaccessible for Arvell to purchase with his pitiful savings.

"It's fine. The other swords look well out of my budget," Arvell replied.

Due to his shabby cloak, this reasoning was all too believable for the merchant.

"Alright, kid, that 'sword' is worth 1 silver and 5 copper coins. Do you have the funds for that?" The merchant asked while observing Arvell's facial expressions.

The merchant thought I wonder if this kid even has enough money to buy this sword.

Arvell dug into his pockets, produced 1 silver and 5 copper coins, and hurriedly gave them to the merchant for the rusted sword.

Although Arvell miraculously acquired an enchanted weapon, his sword looked so rusty that Arvell felt it would be troublesome to make clean cuts.

Arvell took his sword towards the nearest smithy and paid an extra 5 copper to have it restored.

After spending close to an hour waiting in the smithy, Arvell finally got his sword back.

The glistening silver sword looked completely different from the sword he'd bought from the street vendor.

He would have doubted that this was even the same sword if it wasn't for the engravings on the sword hilt.

​ Arvell took back the sword from the blacksmith and checked its properties with his status skill.

[Status Information]

Item name: Hasty Iron Sword

ATK +7

Durability: 80/100

Skills: Haste (E+)

Haste: Allows the wielder to increase their movement and attack speed by 15% for 2 minutes. Cooldown time: 4h

[This sword is a magical artifact created by the novice blacksmith Grid. After rusting, this sword was restored to its former glory.]

Arvell looked at the incredible ATK value that almost doubled.

Arvell felt that Grid, the blacksmith, would be fuming if he ever found out that Arvell was able to purchase his restored enchanted sword for only 1 silver and 10 copper total.

This was basically highway robbery!

Filled with elation, Arvell spent the rest of the day pawning off his royal attire to collect funds for his new life.

He was able to make almost 20 gold from this. Although this was nowhere near the actual cost of the items he sold, this was the most he could make from selling them at a pawn shop.

While he sold his attire, he decided to keep his engagement ring.

He could probably find a place that would be able to buy it for a higher price tomorrow.

Pawning off such a luxurious ring was just asking to get ripped off.

Using his newfound wealth, he could afford to stay at a slightly better inn than the one he had visited last night.

At least this one wasn't filled with unruly drunks and unreasonable innkeepers.

In fact, one night at this inn only cost him 7 copper.

Three copper less than the previous inn.

Arvell slowly walked to his room and put his sword by the bedside.

Taking out his amulet, he eyed it suspiciously.

Arvell felt that whatever he forgot had something to do with this amulet.

But he wasn't able to justify why exactly he felt this.

Slowly lying down on the considerably softer bed, Arvell drifted off to sleep.

***

After an unknown time, he felt someone shaking his body violently and urgently calling out to him.

"YOUNG PRINCE, YOU NEED TO WAKE UP! YOUR LIFE IS IN DANGER!"