“Come in, all of you, don’t block the doorway.” Thunder held onto Tiffany’s neck, dragging the little girl inside. The uncle and Tiffany both looked uncomfortable, but Thunder didn’t care at all.

“What is this thing?” Thunder looked at an object resembling a crystal ball and asked.

Probably because the two attendants looked so shabby, the previously enthusiastic shop assistant couldn’t even be bothered to pay attention to Thunder.

He picked up the crystal ball on his own, and as soon as he touched it, the previously inert crystal ball suddenly emitted a glow.

“Oh… it even lights up?” Thunder chuckled. This thing would make a pretty good lamp if he took it home.

The shop assistant turned his head and saw this scene, and his previously indifferent expression immediately turned obsequious: “Ah, sir, so you’re actually a noble mage?”

“I don’t understand!” Thunder looked at the shop assistant in confusion.

“Respected mage, this crystal ball is actually an alchemical product. Only when a mage picks it up will it emit light. The deeper the magical power, the brighter it glows.”

“I see.” Thunder nodded. There was nothing like this in Colin’s memories—probably that wastrel had no talent for magic and never paid attention to such things.

“With this level of brightness, you should be an intermediate mage.” The shop assistant nodded and bowed, his face full of respect.

Thunder nodded and put the crystal ball back.

Intermediate mage? He hadn’t even released any magic power yet! But Thunder thought it was better not to attract too much attention.

“Sir, what would you like?” Now that he knew Thunder’s identity, the shop assistant became attentive again.

A row of neatly arranged boxes caught Thunder’s attention. Each small box contained something that looked like a scroll.

“What’s this?” Thunder curiously picked one up, and as soon as he touched it, he felt a faint magical fluctuation.

“Huh? You don’t know what this is?” The shop assistant’s eyes went wide, “Sir, don’t joke around, this is a magic scroll.”

Chapter 8: Big Business

After listening to the shop assistant’s explanation, Thunder finally understood the use of magic scrolls.

So it’s similar to talismans! Both arrange spiritual power in a certain way to achieve a damaging effect.

“Can I open it and take a look?” Thunder came from the Talisman Sect and was most interested in these things involving writing and drawing.

“You can, but please be careful. If this thing is torn, magic will be released. It’s no big deal for the shop, but it wouldn’t be good if you got hurt.” The shop assistant spoke tactfully, and Thunder found it pleasant to hear.

Carefully spreading the scroll out on his hand, he saw that it wasn’t a Daoist talisman inscription, but rather a strange combination of patterns, somewhat intricate and complex. The material used for drawing the patterns didn’t seem like ink or cinnabar, but instead… had a bloody smell?

“What was this drawn with?” Thunder pointed at the scroll and asked.

“This is a Fireball Spell scroll, drawn with the blood of a fire-type magical beast.”

No wonder—it did have a bit of a bloody smell. Magical beasts… Thunder knew they were equivalent to spiritual beasts on Earth. But on Earth, spiritual beasts were rare, while here they were quite common. Also, if spiritual beast blood was used to inscribe talismans, the power would be a bit greater than with cinnabar.

Could the Talisman Sect’s methods be used to inscribe magic scrolls? This uncontrollable thought suddenly surged in Thunder’s mind.

“How much does this thing cost?” Thunder was confident he could perfectly replicate the patterns on it. As a disciple of the Dragon Tiger Sect’s Talisman Branch, this was no big deal for Thunder.

“Five gold coins!” The shop assistant held up a hand.

“So expensive?”

“We’re just a small shop, that’s already cheap. Although this is only a level-one spell scroll, even a blank scroll costs one gold coin wholesale. Add in the chance of a mage failing to inscribe it, and five gold coins is a fair price. If you go to a big shop, if they don’t charge you ten gold coins, I’ll take your surname.”

Thunder carefully scanned the pattern on the Fireball Spell scroll, then rolled it up and handed it back to the shop assistant. “Let me see the others.”

Level-one Water Arrow, Ice Spike, Earth Thorn, Lightning Strike, Wind Blade—everything was available, but the highest was only a level-two spell.

Thunder looked through all the scrolls one by one and asked in confusion, “Why aren’t there any higher-level ones?”

“You must be joking, sir. Ordinary mages are highly respected—who would waste time inscribing scrolls for no reason? If they have free time, they’d rather meditate. Plus, there’s a chance of failure when inscribing scrolls. These scrolls are made by students at the Magic Academy to earn some pocket money.”

That explained it. In the world of magic, you start as a magic apprentice, then move up to junior mage (can cast level-one and level-two spells), intermediate mage (qualified to cast level-three and level-four spells), senior mage (level-five and level-six spells), grand mage (level-seven and level-eight), magister (level-nine and level-ten), and archmage (forbidden spell mage)!

To inscribe a level-one or level-two magic scroll, you must at least be a junior mage.

But mages are highly valued. Once you become an intermediate mage, major families will reach out to recruit you into their service.