Ascension of the Primalist [A Tamer Class, LitRPG]

Chapter 34: Shopping


Seth entered the locker room nearly a dozen minutes after everyone else, hoping to avoid running into Lucius. No instructor meant no protection, and he wouldn't be surprised if that silver-spooned bastard would use the occasion to jump him.

'Watching you lose was more annoying than I expected,' Nightmare said as Seth peeled off his sweat-soaked training suit.

'Try getting squashed by a giant hand of dirt,' Seth retorted. 'Bet you'd find that worse.'

'That's your fault, not mine. With my help, you wouldn't have been humiliated like that.'

'Yeah, yeah, I know,' Seth replied, though deep down, he still believed he had made the right choice.

As Seth slipped into his gray uniform, one of the few remaining students in the room approached him—someone from the Guardian's group, if he recalled correctly.

"Hey," the brown-haired student began. "That lightning spell of yours is quite powerful. Who gave it to you?"

Seth frowned, taken aback. "No one. I bought it in a shop."

The youngster's eyes widened then a smile curled his lips. "You bought it? Sure. Your sponsor did."

Seth's scowl deepened. Clearly a noble. "I don't have a sponsor."

"Yeah, right," the young man scoffed. "Even if you sold your sister and mother for a dozen coppers each, you still wouldn't have been able to afford that."

Anger flared in Seth's chest while his blood started boiling. Was that jerk deliberately provoking him? He'd gladly smash the student's face against the wooden bench until all his teeth fell off—but that would also mean getting expelled.

Clenching his jaws, Seth grabbed his damp training suit and headed for the exit. "Great talk."

"If I were you, I'd leave the academy before I get hurt," the noble jeered from behind him.

Seth paused in the doorway and turned to glare at the Guardian, who bore a massive grin on his face. "And why do you think that would happen?"

The noble shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Guess I'll find out, then," Seth shot back before striding out of the locker room and slamming the door behind him.

It was obvious now: Lucius and his boot-licking friends weren't going to let him go anytime soon, which was far from ideal. It would have been better to get stronger and climb further in Rank a bit more before making enemies—but the noble had other plans for him.

As Seth crossed the academy's corridors, he mulled over what the Guardian had said. Is Shocking Strike really worth more than two dozen copper coins? If so, why did that creepy shopkeeper sell it to me at such a low price? Maybe Primalist's spells are just cheaper than others and that noble simply doesn't know it? he wondered. Well, let's find out.

Reaching the main hall, Seth entered the academy shop next to the three large ranking boards. A middle-aged man wearing a professor's uniform greeted him with a simple nod from behind the counter. Seth's golden eyes were immediately drawn by the countless weapons, pieces of armor, artifacts and scrolls displayed on the wooden shelves, each meticulously labeled with a scrap of parchment.

Almost instantly, he filled Identify's grooves with aether.

Haste (Standard)

Spell-scroll

Tier: Copper

Grade: Uncommon

Affinity: -

Restrictions:

- 25 Agility

The information on the parchment beneath was far more specific and precise than what had been at the old shop in Arthuri.

Spell description

- Increases Agility by 8 and running speed by 6% for 5 minutes.

- Consumes 20 uniums.

Price

- Regular: 10 copper coins

- Top 10%: 8 copper coins

- Top 1%: 7 copper coins

- Top 5: 6 copper coins

- 1st: 5 copper coins

Ten coppers! Seth exclaimed inwardly. The evolution-path from Quick Step to Haste had barely cost a copper and a half, which meant he had saved more than eight copper by carving the new spell himself instead of buying it.

As he glanced at the shelf above, he spotted a nearly identical scroll.

Haste (Refined)

Spell-scroll

Tier: Copper

Grade: Uncommon

Affinity: -

Restrictions:

- 25 Agility

Quickly, he read the description below.

Spell description

- Increases Agility by 10 and running speed by 8% for 5 minutes.

- Consumes 18 uniums.

The two additional Agility points and two percent runn—Seth's thought abruptly stopped when his eyes fell on the price. Thirty coppers for regular students. Triple the price for a single-quality bump.

'No way you're buying that,' Nightmare grunted inside the necklace.

'I know, I know.'

Seth sighed and continued examining the shop's spell-scrolls, weighting their potential against their prices. Soon enough, he noticed two patterns. First, one increment in quality above Standard, basically doubled or sometimes even tripled the price, despite only boosting the spells' effects by roughly twenty percent and reducing the aether consumption by ten. Secondly, the most expensive scrolls, ignoring quality and grade, were those with the highest demand: the ones with no class restriction, followed by the Warriors', Guardians', Elementalists', Rogues', and finally Priests'.

As for Primalists' scrolls, he hadn't found any yet despite having searched through more than half of the shelves.

Seth turned to the shop owner behind the counter. "Excuse me, sir. Do you have any spell-scrolls for Primalist?"

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The man shook his head. "No. I stopped buying them a few years ago since there were barely any Primalists around, and they couldn't afford any of those."

Seth grimaced. He should have guessed it. "Any idea where I might find some of those?"

"Your best bet is the Adventurers Guild's shop," the man answered. "Other shops probably won't have any, for the same reason as me."

"I see. Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome."

As Seth was about to leave through the door, a scroll with a gleaming, brown-and-gray seal on a nearby shelf caught his eye.

Ground-Splitting Strike (Standard)

Spell-scroll

Tier: Iron | Silver

Grade: Rare

Affinity: -

Restrictions:

- Barbarian or Weaponmaster

- 140 Strength

A Double-Tiered spell, like Lucius', though that one starts at Iron and goes up to Silver, Seth thought. Even if it was useless to him, his curiosity still made him check its label.

Spell description

- Increases Strength by 100 / 220 for a single strike, according to the Tier.

- Strike range increases from 10 to 25 yards, according to weapon and Tier.

- Consumes 200 / 500 uniums.

- Cooldown: 10 minutes.

* No evolution-path included

Price (limited to top 5)

- Top 5: 8 gold coins

- 1st: 6 gold and 40 silver coins

Bloody hell!

The two-hundred-twenty-Strength buff was almost as ridiculous as the eight gold coins. Sure, that spell could probably turn any fight around, but was it really worth it? That kind of money could change thousands and thousands of lives.

'One day,' Nightmare began with a confident snort, 'we'll have so many of those coins you're obsessed with, our pockets won't be able to hold them all.'

'You don't even have pockets,' Seth replied, raising an eyebrow.

'Ahhh, you know what I mean,' the direwolf huffed.

Seth smiled and exited the shop, heading for his room. The top priority on his buying list was still the Silver healing prism for Renwal, but after that, every single coin he earned would go into his growth through spells and gear—until he could crush Lucius and the Faertis House and never look back.

The moment Seth reached his dorm room and stepped inside, he found Devus lying in bed, staring at the ceiling with empty eyes.

"How was your day?" Seth asked as he closed the door behind.

"Fine," Devus muttered, barely glancing over.

Obviously not, Seth thought, settling at his desk. Though if the Guardian didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't push—it was none of his business anyway.

After pulling out an empty notebook, Seth quickly jotted down every Copper spell he had seen in class or at the shop, detailing their effects with his enchanted quill. Keeping track of such information would undoubtedly be handy in the future.

Once finished, he tucked the notebook away and retrieved the hefty 'Aether Sensing and Manipulation' manual from his bag. Flipping to the first chapter, 'Effects of Aether on the Human Body,' he picked up where he had left off earlier that morning. Through the pages, the author explained how aether gradually enhanced each part of a Wielder's body: skin, muscles, bones, heart, liver, lung, kidney, brain, eyes—nothing remained the same. Every scrap of flesh evolved under the constant exposure to the mystical energy.

To allow Wielders to easily gauge their progress and compare themselves to both their previous selves and each other, a Scholar from the west continent had created Attributes, a spell to quantify how aether had improved their body—Toughness for the hardness of their skin and bones, Strength for the power of their muscles, Agility for the speed of their reflexes and nerve conduction, Well Capacity for the total aether they could store, Arcane Power for the thickness and efficiency of their aether channels, and Regeneration for the rate at which their Well replenished. Decades later, another Scholar had modified the spell so it could also assess arcane beasts, resources, enchanted weapons, and artifacts, and had then started mass selling it with the help of Scribes under the new name Identify.

However, the book's author still noted a major flaw in the spell: it didn't appraise anything outside of those specific body parts. Identify's defenders argued that the six attributes were all that mattered in a fight, yet Seth couldn't help but agree with the author. After all, sight, hearing, and mental capabilities weren't measured by the spell, and it was hard to imagine himself facing someone who could think three times faster or see with four times more acuity.

Nearly two hours and three chapters later, Seth finally shut the book with sigh. Behind him Devus was still in the same position, eyes locked on the ceiling.

"Wanna go grab something to eat?" Seth asked, standing up.

"No, I'm good," the Guardian answered, turning away.

Seth grimaced, hesitating for a moment… then finally headed to the cafeteria alone.

The academy food looking about as bad as Mael's cooking was the first, but certainly not the last, unpleasant surprise for Seth. Compared to other commune areas, the cafeteria was quite deserted; he had a feeling the arrogant nobles likely preferred dining elsewhere outside the academy or had gourmet meals brought to their room.

With a sigh, Seth filled his plate with a healthy helping of beef stew, roasted vegetables, and two bread loaves, then sat down at the only long wooden table without any people. Despite the meal not being particularly appealing, it would at least keep him full for the night.

'We should go hunt tonight instead of sleeping,' Nightmare said from within the necklace as Seth took a mouthful of stew. 'I can't stay in here until the weekend. I need to sink my teeth into something.'

'Nope,' Seth replied. 'I'm not sneaking out on my first day, even if it's allowed. Plus, I haven't yet read about the Rocky Plains' beasts yet.'

'Why do you always have to be so prepared?' Nightmare grumbled. 'You'd probably gain more attributes if you went in blind.'

'Maybe,' Seth admitted. 'But I'd also have a higher chance of dying.'

'You're getting lost in the details again.'

Yeah, 'details,' Seth thought to himself.

At the far end of his table, someone took a seat—a girl with shoulder-length dark hair, hazel eyes, and a pointy chin with a face exuding confidence. Jenna, the twin-blade Warrior who'd beaten him a few hours ago.

Seth glanced at her. Maybe I could ask her how she got so strong—

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as another young woman sat in front of Jenna. Her crimson hair cascaded down in waves, framing the perfect features of her stunning face as she moved with poise and elegance: the Surani goddess.

Yeah… let's cancel that plan, he thought with a sigh.

Before he could look away, Jenna caught his gaze and waved. "Oh, it's the golden-eyed Primalist! Seth, right?"

Seth's lips tightened together. "Yes."

The Warrior turned to the Surani, a grin spreading across her face. "I fought him in class. He was pretty good!"

"I know, I watched your fights," the noble said before taking a sip of her soup.

Jenna's dark hair swished as she spun back toward Seth. "Do all Primalists fight like beasts?"

'I guarantee she's never seen a beast fight,' Nightmare mumbled.

Ignoring the direwolf, Seth gave her an awkward smile. "You're exaggerating. I just do what I can to win."

"Exaggerating? You punched and kicked more than everyone in our group combined," Jenna said with a laugh. "Just a tiny more bestial and you'd be biting people."

"Jenna," the crimson-haired noble said, her eyes barely leaving her bowl, "you're making him uncomfortable."

"Come on, Elena, you should've seen his other fights!" Jenna protested, throwing her hands up. "He smashed his knee into Steven Yelis' face. Twice."

Their way of talking to each other took Seth back. Jenna, whom he had Identified during their fight, had no last name, and yet she was speaking freely to a noble, as if they were from the same social status. Sure, her personality obviously played a big part, but still—they acted like friends.

The smile on Jenna's face vanished when she looked back at him. "I'm sorry for what Lucius did to you. I saw the end of your fight."

"That's fine," Seth replied, the feeling of being slowly crushed by Mud Hand still fresh in his mind. "I'll make him pay sooner or later."

Jenna's eyes widened. "You shouldn't say—"

"Keep comments like that to yourself," Elena interjected, her gaze locking with Seth's for the first time.

"Why?" Seth snapped. "He basically tortured me in front of everyone."

"You're a commoner," the young woman retorted flatly. "I shouldn't have to remind you that you can't speak like that about a noble. You could be thrown in prison."

"Oh, right. I must've forgotten my manners while he tried suffocating me to death," Seth answered with a fake smile. Standing up, he grabbed his plate and turned to Jenna. "See you around."

The young Warrior's lips pressed together as she nodded. "Yeah, see you around."

Seth strode away, knuckles whitening as he clenched his plate. He knew he couldn't speak out against nobles—he'd learned that much from every damn interaction with the tax collectors back in Sunatown. Keep your mouth shut. Don't stir trouble. Especially when they have a bad day. But this was different. That bastard had basically strangled him in front of their whole class. And now he was supposed to just smile and pretend nothing happened?

No wonder Marcus avoids cities, Seth fumed inwardly. That crap would make anyone with a bit of common sense feel sick.

'Insulting three nobles in a single day? Weren't you supposed to show some restraint?' Nightmare mocked Seth from inside the teardrop. 'Got emotional because your lover isn't perfect?'

'Oh, stop it,' Seth grumbled, dropping his plate into a large basket. 'You were against the idea of laying low and unnoticed anyway.'

As he left the cafeteria, Seth noticed one of Lucius' apes staring at him a few tables away—the noble was definitely not admiring his eyes.

'You think they'll try to ambush you at some point?' Nightmare asked as Seth climbed the stairs back toward the dorms.

'Not inside the academy's wall, but outside? It wouldn't surprise me.'

The direwolf immediately licked his chops. 'I hope they do. I'd love to make them regret being born.'

Seth stepped into his room, briefly glancing at Devus, who was still lying on his bed, before heading to his desk and yanking out his father's encyclopedia from a drawer. There was only one way to make Lucius, or anyone else, think twice before pushing him around: he had to become stronger. And that began with preparing for the Rocky Plains.

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