Inside the dim wooden hut, Luo Nan squatted in a corner of the wall, fumbling around in a crack for a moment before pulling out a palm-sized black cloth pouch.
He walked to the table and poured out all the contents of the pouch onto it.
They were tiny, irregularly colored crystals, about the size of mung beans.
“One, two, three…”
Luo Nan carefully counted the small crystals on the table; there were seventy-six in total.
Seventy-six fragmented magic stones.
This was all the money he had on him right now.
He still had plenty of secular gold coins and gems, but in Hordam Wizard Land, these things were useless.
His pocket watch showed it was 9:50 AM, still very early.
Today, Luo Nan planned to go to the residential area of the Town in Hordam Wizard Land to buy some materials needed for his upcoming cultivation and daily necessities.
Luo Nan changed into a light and agile hunting outfit, then put on his Wizard robe over it for disguise.
The dagger he usually used for cutting meat was carefully tucked into his waist.
The dagger was left by his predecessor; it was very sharp, and although he didn’t know any close-quarters combat techniques, it might come in handy.
A water skin, dry rations… and finally, the cloth pouch containing seventy-six fragmented magic stones, kept close to his body.
Before leaving, he also brought a large bag of dried and cured beast meat that he hadn’t finished eating from his recent hunts.
With everything ready, Luo Nan locked the door of the hut, slid down the long vine to the bottom, then chose a direction he had never taken before and quickly disappeared into the jungle.
The entire Hordam Wizard Land was situated within a huge basin, surrounded by dense, vast primeval forests.
Luo Nan stood on a high slope, looking out at Hordam Wizard Academy, only to see a expanse of white Mist, surrounded by prosperous Towns, which from a distance appeared as a ring of gray-black encircling the white Mist.
Luo Nan opened his water skin and took a sip; a fine layer of sweat had appeared on his forehead.
To minimize contact with others, his predecessor had chosen a treehouse far from the Town, so it still took some time to walk there.
After walking for nearly two hours, Luo Nan finally approached the Town.
The rugged mountain path under his feet became wide and flat, and more and more people came into view, mostly Wizard Apprentices like him, with wide robes being the standard attire.
“Sir, do you need a follower? For just ten low-grade magic stones, you can have my loyalty for ten years!”
“Sir! I will be your most reliable guard!...”
As he passed a small square in front of the Town, a group of people surged towards Luo Nan, most of them strong and robust, with greatswords strapped to their backs.
These were adventurers who practiced the path of the knight.
Luo Nan was inclined to interact with them, to see if he could get a legitimate knight’s breathing technique to practice and alleviate the problem of his body being eroded by energy particles.
But then he remembered how little money he had, and that there were many things he still needed to buy for this trip; these guys in front of him dared to wander in Hordam Wizard Land as mortals, and each of them was probably an expert, so who knew how many magic stones they would demand when they opened their mouths.
So he politely declined them all.
Beyond the square was a dilapidated earthen wall made of gray stones, and inside was the residential area of the Town.
It was said that these earthen walls were left from many years ago, when the Hoddadam settlement had just formed, and there weren’t as many Wizards as there are now.
At that time, many magical beasts lived in the forest, and beast tides would often break out.
It was only after the magical beasts in the forests around the settlement were driven out and the beast tides disappeared that Hoddadam gradually developed to its current scale.
Luo Nan entered the Town, and before him were three paths.
The middle path led directly to Hordam Wizard Academy, the left led to the Dwarf Market, and the right was a comprehensive Market spontaneously formed by Wandering Wizards.
The left path was clearly better maintained, and most Wizards entering the Town, like Luo Nan, would turn right.
Luo Nan was curious to see what the legendary Dwarfs looked like, but from a distance, it seemed there were guards at the entrance of the Dwarf Market, and ordinary Wizards were not allowed to enter.
While Luo Nan stood observing, a group of people happened to walk by, chatting and laughing, coming from the middle path and heading directly towards the Dwarf Market.
These people were all wearing brand-new, beautiful Wizard robes, and their hands, which were inadvertently exposed, wore gleaming rings with obvious energy particle fluctuations, looking distinguished and like favored children of heaven.
Luo Nan cast an envious glance at this group of “academics” and turned to go to the Wizard Market.
The Wizard Market was quite different from Luo Nan’s imagination; it was just a very ordinary street, not many people, but the hygiene was concerning, and he could even see animal carcasses and feces in the gutters by the roadside.
On both sides of the street were various low-rise buildings, most without signs; to know what a shop sold, one mainly relied on experience and observation.
Luo Nan walked and stopped along the way; with his total of seventy-six fragmented magic stones as “loose change,” he didn’t dare to enter any slightly grander shops, only daring to stand at the entrance and peer inside.
“Damn it, five fragmented magic stones for a few pounds of flour? Why don’t they just rob me?!”
Luo Nan grumbled as he walked out of a bakery; having grown tired of coarse grains, he had wanted to try something different, but he hadn’t expected that what he was currently eating was already the cheapest food in the entire settlement.
“Forget it, I’ll just make meat my staple food from now on. Anyway, vegetables are readily available in the forest.”
Luo Nan somewhat dejectedly tucked the cloth bag of flour onto his waist.
In Hordam Wizard Land, with its soaring prices, he truly felt like he couldn’t afford to live.
The main reason was that Wizards didn’t engage in production; the food sold in Hordam Wizard Land was basically transported from secular kingdoms.
The food itself wasn’t very valuable, but the cost of transportation was very expensive.
He spent another fragmented magic stone, and that was just for some essential cooking seasonings; Luo Nan’s heart ached.
So far, he had no means of earning magic stones.
These dozens of fragmented magic stones on him were truly a case of one less for each one spent.
He had originally thought that since prices were high in Hordam Wizard Land, the dried beast meat he brought should be worth something.
But he had no idea that no one would even look at it.
Hordam Wizard Land didn’t lack ordinary meat; what it lacked was magical beast meat, either with exquisite taste or peculiar effects.
Luo Nan hadn’t even seen what a magical beast looked like; he would have to go deep into the forest to have a chance to encounter one.
Continuing along the merchant street, Luo Nan began to see Wizard stalls set up directly on the ground.
Then there were more and more, and the crowd grew denser.
Eventually, almost everything in sight was various stalls, with no sign of shops.
“Fresh fire lizard blood! Excellent for forging and enchanting, now only five low-grade magic stones a bottle!”
“Pseudo-Level Zero, intermediate offensive magical artifact! Double runes, 90% new, huge sale!”
“Ghost face flower seeds, blue song grass flower hearts! All the magic potion materials you want are here!”
The street was bustling with people, and the sounds of hawking and bargaining were incessant; among the Wizards coming and going, some were well-dressed, while others wore tattered robes, even patched ones, looking worse than Luo Nan.
Amidst this lively atmosphere, Luo Nan also began to relax, unlike his tension and restraint when he was on the merchant street.
Although he didn’t recognize most of the items displayed on the stalls in front of him, and he didn’t understand most of the continuous calls and shouts around him, this didn’t prevent him from gradually blending in.