Chapter 40

“For physical and magical defense, how about this?” Mr. Clark showed me a ring he had just taken out of a display case. It was an ornate silver ring mounted with two gemstones side by side on its crown, and it was very eye-catching. The intricate patterns decorating the silver band complemented the overall design of the ring itself.

Honestly, it felt more like a piece of jewelry than a magic item. Maybe I felt that way because I was too used to seeing magic items produced by Veynes Magic Tower that looked plain.

“This ring has the best defense against both physical and magical attacks among the middle-grade magic items,” Mr. Clark continued his explanation of the ring. “As young master probably already knows, gemstones themselves have their own magical characteristics. This ring here is mounted with Black Sapphire for physical defense and Amethyst for magical defense.”

Picking up the ring, I brought it closer to my eyes to examine it. “This looks so fancy. How good is the defense?”

“It could protect you from an intermediate-rank swordsman up to someone in the early stages of the advanced rank,” Mr. Cedric said with a smile. “It can also protect the wearer from Tier 3 and Tier 4 magic.”

“Oh, wow…” I was at a loss for words. So basically, a second-rate martial artist could attack me, and I would remain unscathed. An advanced-rank swordsman would be like a first-rate martial artist, and I could still be safe from their attacks if they were in the early stages of the advanced rank. The magical defense was also very good. Considering that most mages could only reach Tier 5, the Advanced Rank Mage level, most active mages were of intermediate rank and could only use Tier 3 and Tier 4 spells.

“How much is this ring?”

“Five gold coins.”

I was stunned when Mr. Clark told me the price. Five gold coins wasn’t an amount that someone could easily pay out of their pocket.

A normal worker would earn around 240 pennies, or one gold coin, a month at most, and their monthly expenses could range from 180 to 200 pennies. Master Elara gave me one gold coin a month as an allowance, and I only ever used it to buy food or snacks when I went outside.

I often ate at the tower for free, and my daily needs were also provided for by the Magic Tower, so I did have a lot of money saved up. But still, five gold coins was too expensive. I did have that much, but I only had around ten gold coins and fifty shillings saved up. Magic items from Veynes Magic Tower were sold for around two to three gold coins.

“That’s outside of my budget,” I said with a sigh. “Could you lower the price? How about three gold?”

“Sorry, young master, but that’s the lowest I can go,” was his answer. I did understand that the craftsmanship of the ring was very high. I was sure that if I only counted the material and enchantment costs, it would be around two to three gold coins. The design of the ring was what made it so expensive, a whopping two gold coins for the design and labor costs.

“How about the next item?”

Mr. Clark took out several items after that, but every one of them was outside my budget. Luna, who had looked bored after seeing all the items inside the display case, came over and sat down beside me while Mr. Clark was taking out a necklace and explaining its features. However, the moment he mentioned the price, Luna went pale and walked away toward her brother, who was talking with Mr. Hans.

After several rounds of Mr. Clark taking out his items and explaining them to me, I still couldn’t buy even a single one of them. They were all too expensive.

“Mr. Clark, do you have anything with a less fancy design?” I was tired and felt kinda bad for Mr. Clark, who had been spending time taking out his items and explaining them to me, even though I hadn’t bought a single one of them.

“Hmm… I do have one,” he said while holding his chin and closing his eyes after thinking for a bit. “It’s something I made on the side. I never intended to sell it, but I can take it out if you want.”

Before I even said anything, Mr. Clark told me, “Please excuse me for a bit,” and went to the back room. It was probably where his actual workshop was.

Not long after, Mr. Clark came out with a ring and a brooch. Their designs were plainer than those of the other items in the display cases, but they were still better designed than the really plain magic items from Veynes Magic Tower.

“Here they are,” he said as he put the silver ring and brooch on top of the display case we had been using as a table since earlier. The silver ring this time had a much simpler design, with a green gemstone mounted on its crown. The brooch also had a simple design. Actually, its design looked similar to that of the silver ring, but this brooch had two gemstones mounted on it.

“These are prototypes of my current personal project,” Mr. Clark said, seemingly proud of his work. “Rather than offering complete defense against attacks of a certain level like the items I showed you before, these two prototypes work by increasing your resistance and recovery level from your base level.”

Mr. Clark continued, “The ring increases the healing speed of injuries and helps with stamina recovery. The brooch increases your resistance against magical attacks, and it also increases the wearer’s resistance against mental attacks.”

“Hmm…” I thought while holding the brooch. One of the stones must be Amethyst. It was the same stone as the one on the first ring he showed me, but I didn’t know about the other one.

“Ah, that gemstone is called Aquamarine. I got it by chance. Someone I knew gave me that stone, and I found out that it was great for enchanting mental protection.”

“If it’s resistance, then I could still be damaged, right?”

Mr. Clark nodded. “That’s right, young master. But the great thing about these two items is that they enhance your natural attributes. As your resistance against certain things gets higher, the items’ effects will boost your already high resistance even further. Also, if you continuously train your body, you can increase your natural stamina and recovery speed, so the ring will boost them even further. They’re items whose effectiveness depends on their wearers.”

Looking at me, who had already started to get interested, Mr. Clark continued his explanation. “Also, because they’re items that only increase your natural attributes, they don’t require a lot of mana to produce their effects.”

“What do you mean?” I asked him, tilting my head.

He continued, “Normal magic items will break once the mana inside them is used up. Of course, normally, there’s a function that allows magic items to absorb ether and automatically convert it into mana, especially for magic items with passive effects. But that automatic mana recovery function has its limits.”

“I see. So if they were used in battle, there would always be a chance that the mana inside them would be used up before it could naturally recover, causing them to break down. Is that what you mean?”

Mr. Clark nodded, satisfied with my explanation. “That’s right. Also, it’s actually not rare for that to happen among battle mages. But these prototypes I made use so little mana that their automatic mana recovery function actually recovers more mana than they use up. Also, since these are items that grow stronger depending on their wearers, they have a long life expectancy.”

“So basically, it’s a magic item that requires its owner to train and get good, huh?” I said in a jesting tone. Mr. Clark smiled and chuckled. “Yeah, that’s right. To get the most out of these items, the wearers must get good.”

“Alright, I like them,” I said, fully intent on buying both the ring and the brooch. “How much for these two?”

“Hmh… They’re still prototypes, so there may still be something that needs to be improved, and they may have some hidden defects…” Mr. Clark held his chin between his fingers and closed his eyes, thinking for a while before suddenly opening them and grinning.

“How about this?” Mr. Clark said after taking his time to think. “I’ll give both of them to you for free, but you must help me develop them. All young master needs to do is wear them, test out their effects for six months, and give me a report on their performance every month.”

“Report like what?” I asked him, “Written report?”

“Haha, it will good if you give me a written report but just coming here and telling me directly will be enough.” Mr. Clark said while smiling but then he stops and said, “Wait, Veynes Magic Tower is half a day long from here. Will it be fine for you to come here every month?”

“It would be hard, most likely.” I still had a lot of training to do, and London was a long way from the Tower. Not only would Master Elara not like it, but I would also rather spend my time training if I could help it.

“I will send you written reports via letters, then.” I nodded to him.

Seeing that, Mr. Clark smiled widely. “Then we have a deal?”

“Yeah, we have a deal,” I said as I offered my right hand to him for a handshake. Mr. Clark took my hand and shook it excitedly. “Alright! Thank you, young master! I have been searching for someone to help me test them out, but no one was interested. Everyone was saying that these kinds of items were not effective and took too much effort and time to be useful, unlike the usual magic items!”

After that, Mr. Clark packed up the ring and brooch and put them in a bag with his shop's logo. We all went out of the shop.

“Is that fine, big bro?” Luna asked me, staring at the bag I held in my hand.

“Whether I have these or not, the fact is that I need to train. Might as well try them out,” I answered with a shrug.

“To think you got two magic items for free…” Aaron was speechless, seeing how things had turned out. Mr. Hans, Mr. Brad, and Mr. Clinton still followed closely behind us.

“Not for free. I need to test them and submit my reports every month.”

“I meant that you don’t pay anything for that.”

“I paid with my labour.”

Just like that, I got my first two personal magic items for free.