Dark Magus Returns

In Alterian, enchanted items went by a ranking list, and from what he knew, the Alter group used the same ranking list. One of their goals was to seal away items that were too dangerous for the world of Pagna, sorting them into Mythical, Legendary, and God ranks. What Raze had managed to find was a weapon at the Rare level. Underneath that, there were Uncommon and Common level items.

"I was expecting to just find a decent sword, but I've managed to find an enchanted one," Raze said as he picked the sword up by the grip handle. It had an interesting swirling design, giving it a similar texture to when one would hold a rope.

Lifting it, the sword was lighter than he imagined in his hand, but at the same time, it was a little worn in certain areas, especially by the sword guard, which was practically nonexistent, having broken off in most places.

Then there was the curve of the blade. It wasn't straight like the swords he would use in training, but at the same time, it wasn't thick like the other curved swords he had seen.

"Those weapons are more of a decorative item," Reno said as he came over. "A lot of the items here seem to have been raided from an old manor or maybe from a long-lost dimension. You can tell by the size of the steel, though, that a few swings against a regular sword, and it would break. One would have to reinforce it with Qi for it to stand a chance. I'm afraid it looks like it's quite dull as well; if sharpened, it might break in the process."

Raze was taking note of what Reno was saying. He seemed to be quite knowledgeable in more areas than one, but would it matter to him? If he used his wind magic, couldn't he make it sharper? And using magic in the first place would give it a type of barrier.

Instead, Raze was focused on what he had seen through his dark magic when picking up the sword.

[When using skills with the Demonic Sword, the strength of the sword will ignite, making it stronger. The sword has a low chance of pulsating, creating a stronger strike and passing through the defenses of the enemy.]

"As long as demonic energy is used? So does that mean only those with demonic Qi can bring out its strength? Surely they would have tested this sword and found that out? Regardless, they wouldn't have known about the chance of bypassing others' defenses. It's hard to know what it means unless we see it in practice, but I assume that's where it gets its name, Ghost blade from," Raze thought.

"Can I get this one?" Raze asked.

Raising his eyebrow, Reno was once again confused. The items were so random to him, and if he was a martial artist, what could he do with a decorative sword? Was he possibly redesigning his house or something, or a collector of some sorts?

"Ah, that item, it is part of the collection," the auctioneer said. "Alone, they didn't seem to hold much value, which is why we placed them together. That would be five silvers altogether."

At the moment, Raze had used up nearly all of his money already. Five silvers were a little out of his choice, so with a sigh, he felt like he had no choice. He reached into the sleeve of his robe as if he was going to grab something.

Activating his magic away from the eyes of the others, he pulled out what made everyone step back just for a moment, although for Reno, it wasn't too impressive as he realized what it was.

"A level 2 power stone?" Reno exclaimed.

"Yes, I don't have the coin on me, so will this be okay for payment?"

The auctioneer had already snatched it out of his hand.

"Certainly, sir!"

Raze proceeded to go over to the swords, and with them, he decided to place two of them on his back, strapping them into his robe. As for the others, he would have to get them later, since he was unable to carry everything with him.

"Maybe I should try a low enchantment on all of the swords; they could still come in handy after all," Raze thought to himself. That was the reason for him taking two swords on him as well. Just like how one with multiple types of magic was strong, surely it should be the same for someone with multiple swords as well. If he enchanted each of them, he was already imagining the variety of strength he could use.

With that, Raze was done looking at the items. As they were leaving, he informed the auctioneer where to send the rest of the swords to and gave them the inn's address along with the other equipment.

He just hoped that when they were delivered, one of the others would have stayed. It was quite annoying to live in a time where mobile devices weren't available to everyone. There were communication devices, but not ones that people could carry with them, apart from the few devices that Alter had and had given him.

Leaving the auction house, Raze thought it was time for Reno to follow through with his part of the deal, to inform him where he got these herbs or medicinal plants from. With that, he had decided to take him somewhere.

Not too far from the auction house, there was a large warehouse-style building. It was quite weakly built on the outside, but many of those that looked like Reno were walking in and out. They had black fingers and had large bags under their eyes. Some of them looked malnourished as well, and once in a while, just standing outside of the building, Raze would hear a bang or two.

"What is this place?" Raze asked.

"It's a working place of sorts. Alchemy can be quite a dangerous thing sometimes, the mixing of ingredients or testing of pills. So they prefer it to be done in places like this. The walls are reinforced, and one can rent basic rooms that give access to what one needs to create things."

Heading into the building, it was set up quite similarly to the sleeping quarters that were at the academy. The difference was there were far fewer rooms and looked to be a lot more space between each of the doors.

Turning the key, he headed inside, and Raze was right; the room was around 5 times bigger. Immediately wafting into his nose was the smell of strong herbs. It was very pungent, not a bad smell, but a mixture of strong smells that was already giving him a slight headache.

Looking inside, Raze could see a number of equipment, including several plants that surrounded the area.

"The plants that you are looking for, they are over there," Reno stated as he pointed to the side.

Raze wasted no time as he rushed over and looked at the flowers. They were small in size and white in color. A single stem branched out into a single bud. Cupping the flower, Raze was trying to see just how much magic energy the flower had. Just like with items, he placed a trickle amount of his magic energy, using dark energy. If the plant had a significant amount of Light energy, it should dissipate the dark energy before it even touched it.

As Raze looked carefully, he could see a small amount of the energy dissipate, but the dark energy eventually touched the flower.

Before it would destroy it, Raze quickly retracted the energy back inside.

He looked at the rest of the flowers. 'It does contain some light energy, so I can see why placing them in the pill process would give healing effects, but this is just not enough to activate a magic core, I need something stronger.'

"It seems you are disappointed," Reno noticed, as Razer had rushed into the room to look at the plants, but soon his whole demeanor had changed.

"These plants, where did you find them?" Raze asked.

"Ah… well, they're actually here in the Demonic Faction. Although the territory is a little difficult to get to," Reno explained. "You see, there was a portal break at one point not too far away, and the beasts that broke out still exist close to the area. They were unable to get rid of them all. However, the beasts have also never really strayed from the area, hence why no one has really tried to deal with the problem. The portal break was mostly dealt with, so the place was left be."

"And are there stronger plants than this one? As in ones that would have a greater healing effect if used?"

"There is, but…" Reno didn't know what to say because the truth was he wanted to delve deeper into the area as well to retrieve stronger plants, but there was an issue. 'The area, it's where the Light Faction and Demonic Faction clashed recently. It seems like the fighting has stopped, and the area is clear, but it's still a dangerous place to go on my own, and Alba is too busy trying to use all our resources trying to find the Dark Magus… Maybe... he's a martial arts master right of the Demonic Faction? He should be either in the middle stage or close to the peak of the initial stage. Then with him, it might be okay.'n(.--/-e..((()I/.n

"We can head there if you would like, but I would like to come with you," Reno asked, with a smile.

'If we run into anyone from the Light Faction, then I'll just let him deal with it,' Reno thought.