Was it because he had walked the path of a wizard alone for too long, or was it the constant practice of ice magic over the past month?
Ronan didn’t know... Perhaps it was both.
"Enough about that, the usual routine."
The red-haired man smiled as he looked at Ronan. Ronan casually retrieved a small black cloth bag from his waist storage bag and tossed it onto the table.
The bag hit the table with a rustling sound, seemingly filled with many small, scattered gems. It looked heavy.
The red-haired man quickly opened the bag to inspect, and not long after, he picked out a thumb-sized, irregularly shaped blue crystal stone and exclaimed, "An Intermediate First Rank Demon Beast’s crystal core?! Wow, Damien, your strength has increased again!"
Ronan didn’t speak, merely watching him calmly.
The red-haired man shouted excitedly for a while, then quickly finished checking all the crystal cores in the bag. He then took out a pile of bottles and jars from his waist storage bag and placed them in front of Ronan.
"The Mental Power Enhancement Potion you wanted, pick for yourself."
Ronan’s eyes focused on the potions before him, and he quickly and systematically checked and selected them from the table.
When he stopped moving, he had only kept three bottles from the pile of potions provided by the red-haired man, returning the rest.
"Convert the rest into Magic Stone equivalents for me."
Ronan spoke, his expression calm and unchanging.
"Damien, at this rate, you’re going to become a potion expert."
While putting away the remaining potions on the table, the red-haired man muttered, "As a friend, I must remind you, relying too much on potions is not good for your path ahead. The impurities in your spiritual power will eventually become as numerous as lice on a carpet that hasn’t been cleaned in decades..."
Ronan listened to the red-haired man’s ramblings, his face expressionless.
The man in front of him, named Quidi, was someone he had met this month, barely qualifying as a friend.
Like him, he was an Early Level 1 Stage Wizard, specializing in fire magic, and hadn’t joined a magic ring.
This guy was said to have been a knight mercenary before, wandering as an adventurer for decades. He was later discovered to have potential as a wizard by chance, and with decent aptitude, embarked on the path of a wizard.
Due to his background as a knight adventurer, Quidi had no patience for studying Rune Studies, Magic Potion, or Alchemy... His income from the magic ring mainly came from hunting magic beasts in the forest outside of the magic ring, collecting and selling magic beast crystal cores, while also doing a bit of trading.
That’s why Ronan got involved with him.
This month, he had been madly practicing ice magic on various First Rank demon beasts in the forest outside the magic ring, honing his newly constructed magic attributes. The crystal cores he acquired were all sold through Quidi, providing a stable side income.
Additionally, Quidi had been mingling around the outskirts of the magic ring for many years, knowing quite a few Level 1 wizards like him, some of whom studied magic potion. The potions they refined would also be sold by him, offering a broader selection than the pharmacy store, if not necessarily cheaper.
Ronan had long exhausted the Early Level 1 Stage Wizard Mental Power Enhancement Potions from the pharmacy store, so he relied on Quidi’s channel to obtain more new formula potions that he hadn’t tried before.
However, this path seemed to be nearing its end. Last time, he could pick out two or three "new products" from the potions Quidi brought, but this time there was only one variety.
"If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving now..."
After collecting the potions and the Magic Stone differential from Quidi, Ronan stood up to leave.
The latter, however, slapped the table in exasperation and shouted at him, "For God’s sake, Damien, life as a wizard is not just meditation and combat!"
"Yes, there’s also spell research, rune research, magic potion research...."
Quidi was speechless, "Talking to you is really boring. Forget it, let me tell you something you might be interested in."
Ronan paused his departure, turning his head to look at Quidi, "Let’s hear it."
Quidi gulped down a large mouthful of ale and began to speak, "There’s an official member of the magic ring looking for an ice wizard to help adjust a rune formation.
This task has been posted within the magic ring for almost two months, and no one has taken it. Haven’t you always wanted to find someone to vouch for your application to join the magic ring?
Perhaps this is an opportunity."
Ronan turned his body around.
He knew Quidi had special channels to receive some tasks open only to internal members of the magic ring.
Usually, these tasks offered low rewards and were ones the official members of the magic ring were unwilling to take on, but still required someone to complete.
At such times, people like Quidi acted as "middlemen," handing these tasks over to those aspiring to join the magic ring’s official wizard group.
"This task is difficult?"
Ronan thought for a moment and asked.
"No, it’s not difficult."
Quidi shook his head and explained, "In fact, it’s more of a long-term task, published every month.
The issue lies with the person who posted the task, there’s a big problem with them."
"The task poster has a problem?"
"That guy has offended a lot of people within the magic ring, so no one inside will take his tasks.
The task rewards he offers are low, and he has a really foul temper..."
Quidi spread his hands and continued, "So no one outside the magic ring wants to take the task either."
"That does indeed sound like a great opportunity..."
"It’s only a chance."
Quidi flicked a thin slip of paper at Ronan, while taking a sip from his drink, smacking his lips, "Prepare yourself mentally, you’re not the first ice wizard with similar thoughts, and without exception, all have failed...