Chapter 78 – Black Market Eighth Shopping (2)

Sungjin and his three comrades strolled into the Black Market in the dark. Unlike its name, the market was bright despite the night.

Sungjin passed the center of the market and the auction house towards the west, where the spell books were piled up into a large mound in shops. There were five such shops.

Five colors ‘Blue Red Green White and Black’ schools of magic each had their own stands and vendors. The vendors were all half human half dragons, only the color of their scales was different.

Sungjin first walked up to the stall run by the blue colored dragonkin. In the previous chapter of Tahrakhan Plateau, Sungjin had earned the title of ‘Blue Mage’.

If the mana costs were the same, picking the school of magic with the most bonus was a no brainer.

[The Blue Magic Shop ‘Blue Hole’ is run by Merchant Lochness*.]

[This shop sells various kinds of Blue Magic Spellbooks.]

Once Sungjin entered the shop, the Blue Dragonkin greeted him.

“Welcome. Pray, what does thee seeketh?”

“I just want to look around for now.”

Like his color would suggest, the Blue Dragonkin had a cool and calm personality.

“Do as you please.”

Sungjin walked up to the spellbooks. Soldamyr began his explanations.

“Blue Magic focuses on illusions and transformations. But it also covers Ice and Lightning magic, so it has plenty of destructive power.”

Sungjin checked the book covers. The names of the spells were written on the front.

The “Ice Shield” he had seen before, to “Ice Bolt”, “Blizzard Storm”, “Confusion”. ‘Flight”, etc. A dozen or so spellbooks were on the table.

“Anything you’d recommend?”

“The only ones I could recommend to my master would be this… and this.”

Soldamyr picked out two volumes and handed them to Sungjin. One was ‘Teleport’, and the other was the ‘Mana Shield’. Sungjin was planning on picking them up and reading the information sheet

But even before he could, Soldamyr already began explanation for his choices.

“Teleport is a spell that moves you to the location you can see with your eyes. It is 6th class magic. Since it moves you to where you want to be moved in the distance, it would be a great asset in reducing the amount of time necessary to move about.”

“Location I can see? You mean I could go anywhere? So if it’s like that Desert or Tahrakhan Plateau where there are no major obstacles, I could potentially go anywhere on the map at will?”

“Ah… of course it uses more mana the further you are trying to go. If you do not have enough mana, you’ll stop somewhere along the way.”

“Hmm… I understand.”

Sungjin picked up the ‘Mana Shield’. He was well aware what this spell did because many mages in the late game used it. Soldamyr began his explanation anyway.

“7th class magic which substitutes damage taken with MP instead of HP”

“But I almost never get hit at all”

“I understand. However in the future… Since you have a sword that absorbs mana per hit I thought that it synergizes well with you, is all.”

‘Sword that absorbs mana’ probably referred to Moon Specter. He was right. Although he didn’t need it any time soon, keeping it in mind was probably a good idea.

Taking one more look at the books, Sungjin picked them up and asked the Dragon Kin.

“How much are these two together?”

“Teleport is 6300 Coins, and Mana Shield is 11200.”

“Oh…”

He had known that high tier spell books were expensive, but it was much more expensive than he had thought. No matter how affluent he got, he felt that he should check out his options before buying any.

Sungjin placed them back down for now.

“I’ll go check out the other shops first before I decide.”

“By all means.”

The next shop was run by a Red Dragonkin.

[The Red Magic Shop ‘Red Burn’ is run by Merchant Cahal.]

[This shop sells various kinds of Red Magic Spellbooks.]

“Hiya Human!”

The Dragonkin must have personalities matching the color of their scales, Sungjin thought.

“No need to check other shops! Red magic is the best!”

This shop owner was quite motivated. Soldamyr whispered to Sungjin

“Red Magic is the most destructive school of magic, focused on the offense. For recommendations…”

Soldamyr went and picked up “Inferno” and “Volcano”. Just reading the name gave Sungjin clues on what they did. Soldamyr gave explanations on them.

“Inferno spreads out in a straight line and deals damage over time, whereas Volcano is able to deal damage on a far larger scale.”

“Hmm… I see.”

Sungjin nodded and checked out the other books. Then a particularly fancy book caught his eye.

The entire book seemed to be shimmering in intense heat, and the title read “Meteor Strike”

“This is…?”

At his question,

“Ah… that…”

Soldamyr hesitated. But then he was interrupted.

“That’s the best spell there is!”

The Red Dragon answered on his behalf.

“That spell summons a giant meteor which is capable of destroying everything… if you have that spell, you can instantly wipe out all your foes in a split second!”

Soldamyr added onto its explanation.

“Yes, it is a very high impact spell… if you are able to utilize it properly, you could probably do significant damage to all enemies in the map from the start. But it is a 9th class spell… Master, you will not be able to use it at your current state, and the price will be unbelievably high.”

Sungjin didn’t hesitate to ask

“How much is it?”

“137540 Coins”

Sungjin tilted his head when he heard the amount.

“What?”

The Red Dragon let out steam from the nose as it answered

“I said it’s 137540 Coins. And as always, the price is non-negotiable.”

An item past 100,000 Coins in cost. It was the first he’s ever heard of it. Sungjin couldn’t help but be surprised, so Soldamyr added

“Spell Books always increase in cost as it moves up the tier list. By 9th class magic, it is a country scale spell so the price is something that can’t help but be very high.”

Price being high was fine and all, but 120,000 was too over the top. Even for Sungjin who managed to sell up to seven items in the auction house after one raid would need to save up coins for 3~4 raids to be able to afford it.

“Ok… Next shop”

“What?! you’re not buying?”

Sungjin left behind the Red Dragon and entered the next shop. It was the White Magic Shop kept by a White Dragon. The place Sungjin had originally intended to come from the start.

[The White Magic Shop ‘White Sky’ is run by Merchant Marses.]

[This shop sells various kinds of White Magic Spellbooks.]

The White Dragon looked graceful.

“What do you seek, Hunter? Take your time searching.”

His voice was low and dignified. Sungjin first headed towards the invisibility magic. He did not have to search very far. Lifting it up, he asked

“What class is this?”

After hearing that spells could go as much as hundreds of thousands of coins, he wanted to verify its price first.

“It is 5th class”

It wouldn’t be very expensive. Sungjin kept the book and checked other spell books as well.

“I do want a recovery type magic as well…”

Even though Sungjin wouldn’t need it, he wouldn’t know when it might be handy to have it around, like in the case of the previous round. And he wouldn’t be able to call forth the Seance of Hua Tuo each and every time.

Even if the effects weren’t as impressive, having few recovery magic would be for the better. Soldamyr picked one and handed it to Sungjin.

It was the most famous recovery magic of all: ‘Heal’. Sungjin accepted it as he asked

“What class?”

“3rd Class. The barrier to entry is not very high, but the effect depends on the Magic Power, so those without high Magic Power can’t use it effectively.

“Hmm, you’re right.”

Sungjin nodded and continued to check other items.

“Is there anything I can use to undo status effects?”

“Take this one as well.”

Soldamyr handed a second book to Sungjin called ‘Purify’.

“Purify is a spell used to heal status effects. It can remove curses, confusion, charm, and blind.”

“What about poisons?”

“You can get that over there”

Soldamyr pointed towards the green colored shop.

“Ok, I need all of these, how much are these three together?”

“7520 Coins, Sir Hunter”

7520 Coins, in other words, price of a cheap Legendary Item.

“Operator, checkout”

The cube moved to finalize the sale. Sungjin said to the White Dragonkin

“Please send it directly to the Cube.”

“Understood”

While the Operator’s Cube was paying and transferring items, Sungjin noticed another fancy covered spellbook. The book displayed the name “Resurrection”. Sungjin picked it up.

“Revival… is possible?”

It was an amazing ability approaching the realm of God. Sungjin intentionally called forth the information screen this time.

Spellbook – Resurrection

9th Class White Magic

Revive one deceased creature.

Only usable within 3 minutes of death.

Soldamyr spoke from the side.

“Possible…yes. But in order to make use of it, you need a much higher Magic Power. With your current level of magic power, it won’t even activate.”

‘My Magic Power?’

Whenever he used Fireball or Chain Lightning, he noticed improvements in power as his stats rose, but he never thought too deeply about the actual value of Magic Power he had aside from the ratio of how he invested his stat points.

Sungjin asked the Operator

“Operator, what’s my current level of Magic Power?”

[3119, 3587 after bonuses are applied.]

Sungjin turned his head to ask Soldamyr.

“How much more do I need?”

Soldamyr tilted his head.

“Truth be told, I do not know this numeric system of measuring Magic Power so I do not know for sure… But from my observations of your spell power, I would estimate that it should be somewhere close to 20,000.”

20,000 Magic power. His highest stat was Dex, and it was only at 9000. He would have to raise his Magic power for a long time still.

“9th class magic are originally classification of spells that rival the power of God. Your Magic Power is rising quickly…but you can’t help it that it is not immediately available. Also…”

Sungjin could guess what he wanted to say next.

“Because it’s a 9th class Magic… It would require an absurd amount of Coins.”

Sungjin held the ‘Resurrection’ and asked the White Dragon.

“How much is this?”

“141857 Coins.”

“Cough”

Sungjin let out a false cough hearing the price. It was even more expensive than Meteor Strike.

“Ah, understood.”

Sungjin headed to the Green Magic Shop next. But on the way, he had a question.

“Hey… so what’s the 9th class spell for Blue Magic?”

Soldamyr stared at Sungjin for a moment before answering.

“To tell you the truth… It’s the spell I was developing for the past few hundred years within my lamp…”

“What is it?”

At Sungjin’s insistence, he finally answered.

“It is Time Reversal Magic”

“Hmm?”

“As you might imagine, it’s magic used to go back in time. But… I mean…”

Sungjin did not listen to Soldamyr all the way before entering the shop. He immediately asked the owner

“Do you sell Time Reversal Magic here?”

The Blue Dragonkin couldn’t help but open his eyes wide at his question. And after searching through a pile of books, he took out a fancy and well-decorated book and handed it to Sungjin.

As expected, the book had ‘Time Reversal’ printed on the front. Sungjin looked behind him towards Soldamyr and asked

“Go back? In time? How far?”