Chapter 36: Special Magical Power
“Then, Gauss, what brings you to me today?”
“Could it be that you want to buy a wand?”
Andeni noticed that soon after he entered, his gaze fixated on her wands with desire in his expression.
“Senior, may I ask the price?” Gauss asked cautiously.
He addressed her as “senior” because he believed that Andeni, a halfling with a room full of collector’s items, was not an ordinary person—most likely a professional.
“The second wand from the left—shortest one—cheapest is twenty gold coins.”
“Hiss... that’s so expensive.”
So expensive.
Andeni’s casual quote made Gauss suck in a breath at the sticker price.
Twenty gold coins meant completing at least two hundred eighty typical quests like the one he just finished to afford it, and that didn’t even include everyday expenses.
Mages really were noble.
Even their weapons were shockingly priced.
“Pricey? That’s just cost. Honestly, even if you handed me twenty gold, I wouldn’t sell it—it’s for my personal use, not for sale.”
Andeni smiled brightly and revealed the truth.
“Is there anything else you’d like to buy? Or perhaps something you want to sell—you could let me appraise it.”
Gauss hesitated briefly.
He pulled a Life Magic Stone from under his clothes.
“Senior, can you tell me how much this Life Magic Stone is worth?”
“Come closer, I can’t see clearly.” Andeni sat up from the rattan chair and beckoned Gauss over.
Gauss held the stone and stepped forward.
Andeni leaned in and gently tapped it with a fair fingertip.
Gauss felt an unusual fluctuation in the air.
Before he could fully sense it, the fluctuation came and went just as quickly, vanishing in an instant.
“A Life Magic Stone of ordinary quality, with slightly depleted energy—my buy-back price is two gold and forty silver coins.”
Andeni gave the buy-back price promptly.
Two gold and forty silver coins—about the same as Daphne had told him.
“Senior, if I want a custom wand and use this Life Magic Stone as an inlay, how much more do I need to prepare?”
“Do you have a prepared wand base already?”
“No.”
“With testing and customization fees, to inlay this Life Magic Stone, you’d need at least one gold coin more.”
“I say at least—the exact amount depends on the type and price of the wand base that suits you.”
One gold coin...
Compared to the shocking twenty gold, it suddenly seemed acceptable.
About the price of a house.
His current savings were around nineteen silver.
Assuming each quest earned him seven silver, and daily living drained about two silver per quest cycle, he’d save around five silver per cycle.
That comes to about sixteen quest cycles.
But that assumes no unexpected loot—actual adventure sometimes yields higher returns.
‘Sigh’
Still feels so long.
Money is hard to earn.
Andeni lay on the chair, propping her chin, watching Gauss count on his fingers and eventually reveal a bitter expression. Her smile grew wider.
Perhaps Gauss’s embarrassed look reminded her of herself years ago, when she first became an adventurer and was just as poor looking.
Most new adventurers were like this.
Adventure sounded fun, but when it became a job, it gradually turned into a headache.
Weapon and armor purchases and upgrades, repair fees, daily meals, healing potions, essential survival tools…
There are countless places where adventurers need to spend money, making many of them wish they could split every silver and copper coin in half.
Sometimes, after painstakingly completing a mission and returning, they would find that the reward wasn't even enough to cover the repair costs of their armor and weapons.
That bitter feeling—she didn’t want to experience it a second time, even now.
Fortunately, she had saved enough to retire.
After calculating everything, Gauss looked at Andeni again.
“Senior, I want to sell this Life Magic Stone and buy a wand base that suits my magical flow.”
After some thought, he realized the Life Magic Stone would just gather dust if left unused, so he might as well exchange it for money and buy a wand base.
First, it would allow him to start syncing with the wand base early; when he saved enough to upgrade it into a real wand, it would save time.
Second, syncing with the wand base could still improve casting efficiency—though not as well as a real wand, it was still much better than casting barehanded.
Having the wand base in advance would help him quickly boost his current combat ability and speed up practicing Magic Missile.
“Of course you can,” Andeni nodded in agreement.
“Come with me.”
She jumped down from the rattan chair and walked barefoot toward another room.
Gauss followed closely behind.
She pushed open a wooden door.
The room Andeni led him into resembled a storeroom.
Shelves around them were filled with various material items.
She rummaged around inside.
Then pulled out several pieces of wood of varying lengths and held them in her arms.
“These are the most common wand bases.”
“See which one suits you best.”
Andeni led Gauss out of the storeroom and back into the main hall.
She then laid the wooden staves one by one on the table.
“How should I test them?”
“It’s simple. Just pick one and try circulating your magic inside it. If you feel any blockage, it’s not suitable.”
“If it flows smoothly, it means the wand base matches you—the smoother, the better.”
Gauss nodded at her words—this test didn’t seem complicated.
He crouched down, reached out, and grabbed the nearest dark brown wand base.
The wand was slightly curved and about half a meter long.
After weighing it briefly, he closed his eyes and focused.
He meditated for a moment, then began channeling the magic from within his body, slowly guiding it into the wooden wand.
The moment his magic left his body and touched the wand—
A repelling force immediately surged from the wand.
He tried to “push harder,” and this time managed to overcome the resistance, letting his magic seep inside.
But the flow wasn’t smooth—it felt like countless little beings inside the wand were resisting his magic.
Gauss withdrew his magic and placed the wand back on the table.
“How was it?”
“Not quite right,” Gauss shook his head.
“Then try the next one.”
Andeni wasn’t surprised—finding a perfectly compatible wand base on the first try was unlikely.
Still, the ones she selected were all the most popular materials.
From her experience, most mages could find a match among them.
Gauss nodded and picked up the next one.
After a while, he shook his head again and set it down.
“Try the next.”
They repeated the process five or six times.
By the time he put down the last wand base, Gauss looked visibly disappointed.
“None of them work?” Andeni stroked her chin and fell into thought.
“That’s pretty rare. It seems, Gauss, your magic is very unique.”
“What should we do now?”
“Let me think...” Andeni closed her eyes and contemplated.
After a long while, she opened her eyes.
“I just remembered—I still have a few very special treasures!”
“Are they expensive?” Gauss asked cautiously, worried that even after selling the Life Magic Stone, he wouldn’t be able to afford them.
“Not expensive—they’re even cheaper than these. But these are unconventional wand bases, not usually needed, so I just stored them away.” Andeni strode off. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”