Receiving the aid of the grey crystal, I now understood why crystals were worth so much.

With the help the grey crystal, I was advancing at a remarkable pace, the main contributor being that it had mana density many, many times that of what I could absorb from the environment. Not only that, the crystal's mana was the same type of unique mana I had, omitting the time needed to further refine the mana I absorbed. I wondered if my mana type had somehow been influenced by excessive influence of the crystal before I became a mage.

If that was the case, the value of this crystal might reach hundreds of Glods! Having the ability to utilise any spell was very powerful, despite the double casting cost. I nearly drooled thinking of how much it would be worth.

After three days of cultivation, I had ranked up to a Rank 1 mage, condensing a small core the size of a grain of rice within my heart! Such speed was comparable to the speed of a A grade talent without the help of crystals! Despite that, I felt jealous thinking about how easy talented folks had things, able to rank up with such ease even without crystals!

I visited the library again to search for more spells I could use in battle. What was unfortunate was that many of the more offensive ones required huge amounts of mana. Not unexpected. After an hour or so of vigorous searching, I found a subset of spells that I liked.

They were Enchantment Spells, focused on what their name suggested, enchanting things. The enchantments were all temporary, but gave various interesting effects. Some could enchant your body to improve properties such as strength or defence, but another type caught my attention more. Weapon enchantment spells! They could enchant the weapon with offensive spells, such as lighting the weapon on fire or making it freezing cold.

This type of spell was a match made in heaven to me! They were powerful additions to my melee style and did not require huge amounts of mana. I grabbed three different spellbooks that caught my attention, Strength Up, Flaming Weapon and Paralysing Weapon.

I returned to my humble abode to practice the spells. In around a day, I managed to get the hang of Strength Up. Strength Up was a simple spell that only involved sending a small surge of active mana into one's muscles, making the muscles of the body a lot stronger for a short period of time. It didn't take a lot of mana either, and could be done with any type of mana, meaning that I did not need to spend double the cost to cast the spell!

Truly a godsend.

Flaming Weapon was a lot more problematic as I had to have a weapon that could resist the burn of the spell.

I asked around for directions and headed to the smithing shop.

The smith was a muscular middle aged man with greyish hair. He was working on a fancy looking longsword with his hammer.

Looking at the array of weapons lining the store, I felt inspired. Wouldn't it be awesome if I could run around swinging a sword into combat or something? I tried to envision myself swinging a huge sword, facing hordes of enemies like in the novels I read.

"Sir, may I test out the weapons?"

The man beamed at me.

"Sure, go right ahead. But not right here, open that backdoor to the testing area!"

I grabbed a longsword and headed to the place he mentioned.

It was a spacious room, with many dummies all over the place. I tried to stab and swing the sword, but honestly, it felt wrong in my hands. The sword was too heavy and hard to balance. After minutes of testing it out, I decided to try out other weapons.

In the end, I didn't like any of them. The spear was actually fine but I still preferred to swing rather than to stab. I decided perhaps the hoe was the best suited weapon for me after all. It might have seemed short sighted, but I decided that in the spur of the moment.

"Sir, could I request for custom forged weapons?"

"Oh? Do none of my works catch your eye?"

"It's not that. I just prefer hoes as my choice of weapon."

He looked at me, amused. The edges of his mouth seemed to twitch and he bit his lips. Then he laughed.

"Ahahaha! I've heard of anyone using a hoe as a weapon before! You're an amusing one kid."

I tried my best not to look irritated. Couldn't he be more polite to his customers?

"I'm serious here, how much would it cost?"

"It honestly depends on the materials you choose. I have a stock of materials ready here, but if you can find some yourself, the cost of forging will drop. The difficulty of forging the weapon also increases the price."

After conversing with the smith for a while, I decided that I was still too poor currently. The cheapest of the pre-made weapons costed around 50 CP, not to mention I was requesting for custom weapons, requiring extra cost. Looks like I wasn't going to be a customer after all.

I returned home and begun training the Paralysing Weapon spell for the rest of the day. It worked well for me as the wooden part of my hoe did not conduct electricity well.

I should have continued ranking up with the aid of the crystal after learning the spell, but I itched for action. I wanted to fight something with the new spells I have learnt!

I headed to the task office, eager to accept a new task and found a interesting one after a brief period of searching.

Collect Scathil

Requirements: Bring back at least 1 kg of Scathil metal

Rewards: 50 CP per kilogram for Scathil

Time Limit: 1 week

Note From The Task Giver:

A recent mine rich in Scathil has been uncovered from the east of the capital, already full of natural tunnels. However, mining facilities could not be properly built due to a large infestation of varying Golems in the tunnels. There are plans to hire professional miners in around a week so do gather as much Scathil as you can within the week.

Golems were powerful monsters with cores but were lacking in intellect and slow from what I had read in the school library. I did not think any of them could take me down with the agility I had. The request was also fresh, having been out for less than a day, meaning I would have less competition should I hurry. I could also gather some of the metals I find in the mine for my hoe upgrades.

"You think you can fight golems?"

Edward asked in interest.

"From what I read, they are a bunch of slow and dumb buggers. I honestly don't think they would pose much of a threat."

"Alright, just make sure not to be cornered by them, or you'll be doomed."

He grinned another ominous grin like the previous time handed me another of those storage bags provided. I didn't like that in the slightest.

"Speaking of which, where can I buy one of those bags and how much would it cost?"

I really wanted one of these to lug my own stuff around, just think of how useful it would be!

"The cheapest one is a storage bag that can hold around a cubic meter of stuff. You can buy one of those for five thousand contribution points."

"What the fuck!"

Why the fuck did it cost so much? I wanted to shout in fustration. Edward looked amused at my reaction. I then realised that I had unconsciously held on to all five of the library books in one of my hands yet again. It was almost as if I subconsciously did not want to part with them.

I decide to stuff them in my new magic bag again, it wasn't like ores were going to hurt the books were they? I then headed towards the mines, ready for action!