“How is it that you are gathering even more food than yesterday?” Rael asked halfway through the day.

“I gave away all the food I got yesterday, so I need more today.” Louis said, continuing to gather as fast and carefully as he could.

“Gave away? That was least two weeks’ worth of food.” Rael said, shocked. “To whom?”

“Some kids that I passed by who looked hungry.” Louis said.

“And you are planning to do that again today, aren’t you?” Rael asked, looking at the bag.

“Are you against me feeding children?” Louis said, an edge leaking through his voice.

Rael held up his hands, palms towards him. “I mean no offense. Just thinking that a meal or two wouldn’t save them, if that’s what you are thinking. And if you mean to do it every day, wouldn’t they just depend on you? What good will that do in the long run?”

“It will help fill their stomachs for a short while.” Louis said, packing the last bit of Avati tea leaves, a herbal herb used for quite a few painkillers. “Is that not a worthwhile result, all on its own?”

“Wouldn’t it be more effective to simply gather more costly items, then give them coins that way?” Rael asked.

Not entirely a bad idea, but it would mean he would have to contribute a bigger portion of his goods each day. After a few moments of weighing pros and cons, Louis said, “this sounds awfully like a longwinded pitch for me to increase your pockets.”

“That’s uncalled for.” Rael says, smiling and inching closer. “I’m just thinking of everyone’s interests in mind.”

“Are you threatening me?” Louis grabbed Rael’s fist, tightening his grip as Rael struggled to free himself. Strong as Rael may be a fighter with fire affinity, but Louis had the initiative, covering his hands with mana just barely soft enough not to puncture into Rael’s skin. Covering his feet with mana to plant him to the ground. “I find that a bit unwise, given all I do for you and how little maintenance I cost.”

“You’re absolutely right,” the elderly man said, walking behind Louis. “Why don’t you let Rael go – he’s young, impulsive and ignorant – and we won’t ask for any contribution this week?”

Louis stood up and put Rael between him and the elderly man before he released Rael. “Fine by me.”

For the rest of the trip, Louis expanded his mana cloak, especially during lunch when he was the most defenseless. Thankfully, it was not needed and Louis did end up cooking all the meat he had, putting them into clay containers he made with ‘Vyt: En Xandra x En Myr’. Having not having to contribute any of his goods today, he made a point to collect more goods for normal – not purely out of spite but because he wanted some money for protection.

Perhaps it was time for him to just get an adventurer card and be done with it. Louis would not need to hide his abilities while in this form and the guild did prevent casual killing. Unfortunately, like other big organizations, while it disincentivized casual killing, actual investigations and repercussions only occurred if he was an important member. And that would require dying, something Louis had no intention of doing.

҉҉҉

With fifteen platinum coins into his pocket and no one tailing him, Louis explored a couple mage shops in the northern district but hardly passed their front doors before being rejected. Lovely. All he wanted was some ink and gems.

Tiring. Irritating. At least check to see if he had the money to buy anything before rejecting him. But the children were getting out of class, so he delivered his bag. Then Louis teleported back to the northern district. He hated casting an illusion for his clothes and looks, but maintaining a mana cloak was even worse.

First, some new green robes, with enough inscriptions around the cuffs and helms to pass off as enchanted. No need to announce his archmage status. It would not be believable anyways. Change his looks since his current one has already been seen, and may as well be a little older as well to sell his third-circle status a little bit better.

Louis returned to one of the stores earlier. His inscriptions were worthless without any material to actualize them, hence the need for ink, but they were genuine runes, albeit a bit simple. It would take someone to touch them to catch the scam and Louis was not planning on letting anyone. Of course, the store could have any number of detection devices, but most of their clients would have some magic coursing through their clothes, rendering any typical device worthless. Much easier and cheaper to post a sentry to reject sketchy individuals.

The same boy from earlier was guarding the door. “Welcome to Ariel’s Trading Company.” The boy said, giving a curt bow before opening the door for him.

The store inside was austere. A few glass shelves presenting different types of inks, tomes, brushes. Even cauldrons and a few weapons. Further back, where an old man in a stiff suit attended a glass display of various gems, ranging from a few millimeters in size to about a decimeter. The cuts were not the most ideal. But the prices were fairly cheap, given the mines were out west – a majority them affordable even with a few platinum.

“Here, here. We have some of the finest selection of gems in all of Riveta.” The old man said. “There are emeralds, sapphires, jadeites and even blood-red garnets for the most savvy.”

Emeralds, rubies and sapphires were still unaffordable, while any claims of jadeites and blood-red garnets were most likely fake. Louis shook his head. “Nothing so fancy. My niece just needs a few defensive spells. Anything too fancy will get into his head.” Louis glanced over the displayed goods. “How about a set of amethyst, two sets of the orange topaz. Just three centimeters for each.”

“Not a bad choice for the young ones, most definitely. Would you like ink and bracelet as well? Or fancy a necklace?” the old man said, grabbing the six stones.

“Any metal bracelet would do. Third-order ink.” Louis said, uncertain just how he felt about parting with three-quarters of his earnings today.

The questionable quality amethyst and murky orange topaz were not the most conducive for spells, but a simple third circle spell should be no problem. Besides, with a little ‘Zet Xandra’ the quality could be improved quite a bit.

Night had yet to fully come down and Louis was sorely tempted to teleport straight home. It would save him a lot of effort and time, but how would he explain it easily? Not to mention, it was one of the greatest trump cards if no one knew about it.

Instead, Louis camped in a nearby park, dropped the sets of amethyst and murky orange topaz onto the picnic table. Ideally, his ‘Zet Xandra’ would produce two sets of beautiful gems, with its insides all mapped out to the correct inscription. Once upon a time, Louis could confidently do it, with his eyes closed. Now…well he had yet to practice the skill in centuries outside of maintenance.

Holding the first set of murky orange topaz in his hands, Louis began. “Praise be Movita, here goes nothing.” With a ‘Zet Xandra’, a displeasing amount of mana disappeared from Louis’ body, coalescing within the orange topaz as it gradually became brighter until it flirted bursting. Louis stopped his mana flow, as the topaz cooled and deemed. The end result was something a few sheens brighter, but ultimately mediocre quality.

Another ‘Zet Xandra’ was required to reshape the topaz, but the stone remained obstinate in its shape. Wasting the first few initial salves of mana. When it finally decided to bend, Louis’ mana stopped just short of completion of the rune and the stone shattered.

No biggie. This spell was notoriously a money and time sink. Only one of the sets had to enhance in quality, so he could resell it for more gems, or incorporate his inscriptions.

Then the second set of orange topaz shattered as well during inscription stage. Unfortunate, since the stone had improved just shy of worthy of being resold. Perhaps trying three different times was inferior to buying a bigger gem in the first place. Would have been easier to inscribe, not to mention sacrificing a bit of the gem for gem quality meant a reduced skill cost. Or if he could at least use his lifeblood.

As for the amethyst, Louis did not bother trying to improve the quality, going straight for inscription. ‘Zet Xandra’ was unlike going to work, but a simpler third circle inscription could be simply carved in with no chance of shattering. Only, its contents were similarly grinded out, unlike in ‘Zet Xandra’, which would simply shift everything around.

Night had rolled around by the time Louis finished the inscription. About half of the gems were grinded away, but there was a half-decent third circle barrier within. Once he paired the two stones, he felt his mana dip once more. Casting ‘Zet Gabrielle’ on the gems to prevent any lingering spells that may be on it, Louis teleported just outside of his house. A simple ‘En Uta’ hid the bracelet.

Dinner was mostly done by this point, but luckily his meal was saved, with a strange absence of Amelia and Hefra. So Louis quickly ate before asking where they were.

“The two are now first circle mages and need more time to practice. So dessert time will be open for them to practice.” Mother said.

“Sounds fair. I’ll go join them.” Louis said, standing up.

“You are neither a mage nor a child. Stay at the table.” Dave said.

Louis shrugged. “I don’t necessarily need to know either to help out.”

“Help out? Like in the same way you help pay the bills of the family?” Dave scoffed.

Louis shrugged once more, reaching his hand into his pocket, taking out his remaining four platinum coins before slamming them onto the table. “Precisely so.” Then he sauntered upstairs.

҉҉҉

“How many coins did you bring home today?” Amelia asked, jumping onto Louis as he entered the room.

He twirled as he fell to the ground, a hand over his forward and cried, “what has this world come to? My dearest little sister treats me like a coin bag.”

“So you don’t have any coins.” Amelia sighed, as Hefra soon joined her.

“Gave my last four away at dinner.” Louis said, undoing ‘En Uta’, revealing his amethyst bracelet.

“Jewelry?” Amelia asked, reaching for it but Hefra grabbed it first.

“Magical equipment.” Hefra said, inspecting the bracelet. “What does it do?”

“Activates ‘Cal Imaru’, a defensive barrier against magical spells from a different mana source within a meter of it, at an inflated price.” Louis said. “Want to try it?”

Hefra nodded. Louis said ‘En Imaru’. A ball of water appeared above his hand only to be captured and crushed by Hefra’s mana within a moment.

“It took all my mana.” Hefra said, frowning as she returned the bracelet.

Amelia tried the thing once as well, only this time with fire.

“Back to meditation?” Louis asked. “Remember, try to absorb some of the mana from it. Does not have to be a lot – just get used to neutral mana.”

“It’s uncomfortable.” Amelia whined. “It feels like something is missing.”

“Well it is only four elements.” Louis said. “How about we try six elements this time? We each and cover two. Your balances has basically good enough for this to work.” Roughly anyway. Louis could always fix the edges a bit before starting the higher elements.

A bit was an understatement. Although Amelia and Hefra had gotten better at absorbing the mana, Louis now had to maintain the balance more forcefully at the beginning, since they had yet to master balancing and absorbing simultaneously. However, Louis was also a bit happy despite this decrease in mana. This meant that the two were finally able to absorb it, even if they could hardly retain any of it.

“Is there a faster way?” Hefra asked. Her mana core was only half-full after a few hours.

“You could try staying up all night doing this meditation. It will help your mana core grow, but you will be tired tomorrow and there is no immediate payoff.” Louis said. Either way was fine with him. He needed the mana.

“Let’s do it.” Amelia said, grimacing.