Leon, after changing into a different robe, also took out a few herbs of different types and placed them in his subspace pouch.

He didn't intend to sell them immediately.

This was his first time engaging in transactions between mages, and being unfamiliar with the market prices, he planned to observe and perhaps attempt a trade if he found something interesting. If the transaction was satisfactory, he could avoid the hassle of exchanging for mana stones.

Upon leaving the orb, Leon adjusted his rank to 1st rank while wearing his robe. Although he couldn't completely conceal his face, it was enough to hide his status as a general disciple.

The marketplace for magical items wasn't much different from a typical market.

There were guild buildings that occupied their usual spots, tents and stalls scattered around. The tents were set up by different merchant groups taking advantage of the exchange event, while the stalls were mostly laid out by individual mages for bartering.

Leon wandered through the marketplace, comparing the shouted prices and the listed prices at the stalls, gradually getting a feel for the market.

Most items ranged from F to D grade. He did spot a few C-grade artifacts, but anything higher was hard to find. It seemed there were separate means of trading for the upper grades.

As for F-grade elixirs, they could be purchased for 50 mana stones each. The mana stones Leon would receive from the magic tower as a general disciple, once he started working and training simultaneously after a year, would amount to one per month. This meant it would take a general disciple 50 months of work to afford just one elixir.

Back when Leon was a triple-attribute mage, he had consumed over 50 F-grade elixirs to advance from 1st to 2nd rank. Although most of them were F- grade due to the initially low reward probabilities, the total cost would still have been around 2,500 mana stones. This was an expense that no ordinary apprentice mage could afford.

Moreover, the effectiveness of F-grade elixirs diminished rapidly once he reached the late 3rd rank, even with his enhanced efficiency as an all-attribute mage.

"I have... 32 F-grade elixirs."

These included 10 elixirs that he had kept as rewards and 22 that he had consistently manufactured but hadn't consumed since reaching the late 3rd rank.

Leon no longer needed these elixirs, so selling them wouldn’t be a problem—the question was how to do it.

Having gained a general understanding of the market prices, Leon stopped in front of a tent with a sign indicating it sold herbs.

Intrigued, Leon lifted the tent flap and stepped inside.

An old man with glasses noticed Leon and tilted his head in curiosity. With his heightened sensitivity to mana flow as an all-attribute mage, Leon realized that the old man was subtly gauging his rank by raising his own mana.

Expecting such a reaction, Leon pretended not to notice and began inspecting the wooden boxes in front of the old man.

Most of the herbs stored in the boxes were familiar to Leon—they were used in the production of F- and E-grade elixirs.

One of the herbs caught Leon's attention, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Little Sunflower!"

It was the only herb necessary for E-grade elixir crafting that Leon hadn’t been able to find in the herb forest.

A good idea came to Leon as he noticed the stall. He pointed to the box containing the Little Sunflower with his finger. The old man responded immediately upon seeing this.

"Ho... You seem knowledgeable about elixir crafting, considering you picked it without hesitation."

"I found what my master was looking for, so there's no reason to hesitate."

Leon subtly hinted that he was training under a master and asked, "What's the price?"

"Just 700 mana stones."

Though he spoke nonchalantly, the old man looked at Leon as if wondering whether he could afford it.

Seven hundred mana stones was roughly the price of two E-grade elixirs. The old man was asking the price of two elixirs for just one of the five herbs needed to make an E-grade elixir. Although Leon thought the price was steep, he didn't point it out.

"What about trading it for other herbs?"

"Other herbs? Sorry, but this herb is completely intact, roots and all. If you plant it in the right environment and take good care of it, it will propagate on its own."

Leon took out another herb necessary for crafting E-grade elixirs, one that wasn't available at the stall.

He had just picked it before entering the market, so it was fresh, roots and all.

"Hmm..."

The old man examined the herb in Leon's hand, his eyes gleaming.

"It's well-preserved, considering it hasn't been stored properly. If you give me two of these at the same quality, I'll trade them for one Little Sunflower."

"Two?"

"There's no point in trading just one. The Little Sunflower is a rarer herb."

It was a reasonable point. Although Leon would lose out on this trade, the rationale was sound. Of course, this "loss" was only relative—Leon had an abundance of herbs growing in the orb, so it was hardly a concern for him.

Acquiring new herbs was more important.

However, Leon hesitated, not immediately accepting the offer. The old man, sensing Leon’s hesitation, asked, "Is it because you only have one herb? I’m sorry, but my offer won’t change."

Finally, Leon sighed and produced another herb.

"It's an order from my master to trade these for what I need, so what can I do? My master’s errands come first."

The old man smiled approvingly.

"A dutiful disciple."

Leon’s words weren’t merely an attempt to haggle. He wanted to prevent the old man from getting any funny ideas about him having more herbs.

After trading two herbs for one Little Sunflower, Leon exited the tent.

"This should be enough for today..."

He had spent quite a bit of time in the marketplace in his current appearance. If he continued buying various items in the same guise, he might attract the attention of other mages.

"There's no need to rush to sell everything."

After all, the exchange event would last a week. The second day was for personal disciple duels, the third day for academy apprentice mage duels, and the fourth day for academy Mystic mage duels. After that, there would be a festival.

Leon decided that he would return another time to check the prices of elixirs and scrolls again and gradually start selling them.

As Leon was about to retrace his steps, he noticed a modest stall set up beside the tent.

A man with his arms crossed was sitting there, dozing off with his eyes closed. In front of him, there was only one item on display—a plain, light brown wooden sword.

The artifact was so unassuming that it piqued Leon's curiosity.

Leon approached the man.

Perhaps sensing Leon’s presence, the man, whose black hair was disheveled and messy, opened his eyes.

"Is this for sale?" Leon asked.

"It is," the man replied.

His tone was somewhat curt, but the fact that he didn’t immediately switch to a more casual manner of speaking after seeing Leon’s face suggested he was being polite.

"Is it an artifact?"

"I wouldn’t know."

"Excuse me?"

"I found it while doing mercenary work in the Western Beast Forest. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t break it, so I figured it must be something unusual."

"You couldn’t break it?"

The man nodded firmly.

"That’s right. No matter what I did, it wouldn’t break. I can at least guarantee its sturdiness."

"...Is that all?"

"Why else would I still be here, unable to sell it?"

The man’s indifferent attitude slightly dampened Leon's interest in buying the sword.

"How much is it?"

"Are you serious about buying it?"

"Yes, as long as the price is reasonable. I have an interest in collecting antiques."

"You’ve had a strange hobby since you were young."

The man’s mocking tone was oddly irritating.

Leon simply stared at him, not saying another word. The man glanced at Leon and then held out the wooden sword.

It was an invitation to appraise it.

Leon used appraisal magic to examine the wooden sword’s properties.

‘There doesn’t seem to be any special ability?’

If the man’s story was true, the sword’s only attribute was its sturdiness. It was odd for wood to be so durable, but...

‘Wait a minute.’

Upon closer inspection, Leon noticed something unusual. There was a faint, unusual flow of mana around the wooden sword.

‘Could it really have some hidden ability?’

Seeing Leon’s hesitation, the man abruptly stated, "Two hundred and fifty mana stones."

"I don’t have mana stones, but would you be open to a trade?"

"A trade?"

"I have some elixirs my master gave me."

"Hmm... Five F-grade elixirs."

Leon shook his head. Although he had detected something in the sword, he was the only one who had.

"Asking for five F-grade elixirs for a sturdy stick seems like you’re not really interested in selling."

"Can’t you see that there’s some hidden power in it?"

"Weren’t you unable to figure out that hidden power, which is why you’re selling it like this?"

"...You’re quite perceptive for someone so young."

The man extended two fingers toward Leon.

"Two elixirs."

"Hmm..."

"Take a gamble on the potential. After all, aren’t you buying it with some expectation? I can’t sell it for less than that, so think carefully."

The man seemed unwilling to give up on the last bit of potential he saw in the sword, which explained why he hadn’t been able to sell it so far.

After some consideration, Leon nodded.

After finishing this last transaction, Leon changed back into his original clothes and returned to his lodging. The other general disciples who shared his room were still out, leaving Leon alone in the room.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Leon took out the wooden sword and examined it closely.

He tried to lift the wooden sword with basic telekinesis, only to discover that it was resistant to the spell.

"I was thinking of using it alongside the Sword that Scatters Moonlight."

Though a sense of frustration welled up, Leon forced himself to calm down.

After all, the Sword that Scatters Moonlight was incomplete as well.

Resigned, Leon picked up the sword and tried various methods to interact with it.

Just as he had done when trying to figure out the use of the Space-Time Orb, he experimented with the sword in different ways, but nothing worked.

"Is it really related to the flow of mana?"

With the wooden sword by his side, Leon sat in a meditative posture.

As Leon began to regulate his breathing, something immediately felt off.

The flow of mana entering his body was strange.

Leon stopped practicing the mana absorption technique and immediately cast a detection spell.

As he examined the flow of magic around him, Leon quickly identified the source of the anomaly.

The wooden sword was absorbing the mana that was supposed to flow toward Leon.

The mana was being drawn into the sword.

A realization suddenly hit Leon.

"That guy had a reason for letting it go so easily. He wasn’t unaware of it."

When the sword was left alone, the flow of mana was unnoticeable. However, when training, any mage would have noticed the sword absorbing mana.

A sword that absorbed mana when left nearby.

While this confirmed that the sword had some suspicious ability, it also made it a cumbersome item to keep close.

It was obvious that storing it in his subspace wouldn’t lead to any changes, but keeping it nearby would disrupt his training.

As Leon chuckled wryly, an idea crossed his mind.

Leon quickly left the room and headed to a secluded area.

He then grasped the orb tightly.

With the wooden sword in hand, Leon entered the orb and planted the sword into the ground.

Ignoring the sound of Kito's peaceful snoring, Leon sat down in a meditative posture and prepared to practice the mana absorption technique.

But before he could even manipulate the flow of mana, the surrounding mana began rushing toward the wooden sword.

"Wow..."

The amount of mana the sword was absorbing rapidly increased, as if the sword had opened its mouth wide and was swallowing mana.

The sword continued to absorb mana at an alarming rate for quite some time.

Even Kito, who had been sleeping, sensed the shift in the flow of magic and woke up.

"Let’s see how long this goes on."

Leon knew that the mana within the orb’s space was inexhaustible.

Even as the sword absorbed mana like this, there wasn’t the slightest sign of depletion.

About half a day later...

The wooden sword began to tremble, as if it couldn’t handle the influx of mana, and then suddenly stopped vibrating.

A cracking sound echoed from the sword.

It was the sound of the surface starting to split.