Iz laughed heartily. "Haha, then I’ll look forward to you becoming a Level 6 Enchanter."

"If you reach Level 6, you’ll probably be the only Level 6 Enchanter on the Ruelun Continent."

Ai Jin’s face was full of pride. "That’s true. And it’s all thanks to you for your patronage."

"From now on, you and your disciple can come to my shop to have your Magic Wands maintained for free, for life."

Iz smiled and replied, "Then I’ll come by whenever I’m free."

"Haha, you’re welcome anytime."

They exchanged some pleasantries and departed.

Just like that, Lu Cang had obtained the privilege of free lifetime maintenance.

As they were about to leave, Lu Cang picked out two pieces of Enchanted Equipment.

Iz had told him not to be polite, so Lu Cang didn’t hold back and chose the two most expensive items.

One was the Absolute Barrier Protection, valued at 80,000 Gold Coins.

Once activated, it was equivalent to a Level 5 Defender using their full strength to defend you for one minute. It was a single-use item.

The other item was the Ring of Instant Purity, valued at 150,000 Gold Coins.

Once a day, it could instantly remove all toxins, Curses, spiritual disturbances, and other such effects of Tier Five or lower...

It also had a delaying effect on toxins and Curses above Tier Five.

However, it could only dispel one effect at a time.

’He really picked two outrageously expensive items.’

The two Magic Tools together cost more than all the savings he had on him.

He could also see the obvious pain on the shop owner’s face after he announced his choices.

But compared to the materials Iz had given him, this amount seemed rather insignificant.

These materials from a Tier Seven Demon weren’t something money could just buy.

After all, there were only a handful of Adventurers on the continent capable of killing a Tier Seven Demon.

Before leaving, Lu Cang also casually gifted a few jars of Slime specimens he had prepared himself.

It seemed Ai Jin quite liked them.

...

’The strongest Magic Wand on the continent?’

’Thinking about it, I’m really looking forward to it.’

When it came to becoming the strongest, Lu Cang had something of an obsession.

If he had transmigrated into an unremarkable and ordinary person, he would have just let it go.

But as a Transmigrator who possessed such a powerful Talent, to say he had no obsession with becoming the strongest would be a real disservice to his gifts.

As the two walked down the street, Iz suddenly spoke up, "Lu Cang, I’m going to visit a friend."

"You know the way back to the hotel, right?"

Lu Cang nodded. "Yes, I do."

His extremely high Spirituality granted him a powerful memory; he could basically remember most of what he saw now.

While it wasn’t quite a photographic memory, remembering a path was no problem.

"Then I’ll be off. You can wander around on your own."

"As long as I’m in this city, you won’t be in any danger."

"If you run into any serious trouble, just call for me."

Iz was quite confident in Lu Cang’s ability to take care of himself.

The entire city was within his Perception, so even if danger arose, he could arrive to provide support in an instant.

SWISH!

In what seemed like a single flicker, Iz vanished from Lu Cang’s side.

The surrounding crowd surged with people.

The big city was indeed much more bustling than Raine Town.

For a moment, Lu Cang didn’t know where to go.

"Hey, kid, interested in the arena?"

"The genius Mage, Monsier, is comprehending Root Magic through combat! Why don’t you bring your mom and dad to come and watch?"

Lu Cang took the flyer.

[17-Year-Old Genius Mage—Monsier]

[Comprehending the Root Source Through Battle]

’Using battle to practice his path to the Root Source?’

’What an unconventional method.’

Over the past ten-odd days, Lu Cang had come to understand a lot about the Root Source.

From what he’d experienced, it felt a bit like the "path-seeking" of Cultivators from the novels he read in his previous life.

You had to find a path you believed was viable and then walk it.

Whether it was right or wrong didn’t matter. What mattered was... whether it was your own.

’But... isn’t finding your own path something a Cultivator only attempts in the final stages? Why do I, a Mage, have to start looking for it at Level 2?’

Lu Cang glanced at the flyer in his hand.

’It seems I’m not the only Mage trying to comprehend the Root Source at Level 2...’

’Oh well.’

’Might as well go take a look.’

Lu Cang looked toward a huge, circular building nearby.

The two most famous landmarks in the City in the Circle—the [War God Tower] and the [Battle Arena].

’The strongest Level 2 Mage in the City in the Circle, he’s called?’

Besides Izparut, Lu Cang hadn’t met any other geniuses of his Level.

’Now that I’m in the big city, I should broaden my horizons a bit.’

[Battle Arena]

A Miracle left behind by the War God.

Iz had told him that there were many types of Miracles in this world: a viewing platform that could see into the Star Realm, a boundless city wall of absolute length with no end... and even a grand staircase that led to the Celestial Realm.

Many were the handiwork of the Level 9 architect, [Emperor Fu].

The gods bestowed the blueprints for the Miracles, and he was responsible for their magnificent construction.

But another story claimed... that he used his architecture to steal the Authority of the gods.

There were too many versions of the legend, making the full truth impossible to know.

Level 9 Professionals and gods were too far removed from ordinary people, so everyone treated these legends as mere stories from a Minstrel’s mouth—idle chatter for after-dinner amusement.

...

The outer wall of the huge arena was plastered with many giant posters.

There was even a scrolling leaderboard on the outer wall.

It was divided into five brackets by Level: Level 1 to Level 5.

Under each bracket were people’s names, ranked by their win-loss records.

’It’s like a ranked-match system.’

[City in the Circle Arena Rankings]

[Strongest Level 3 Warrior: Tian Di—Current undefeated streak: 60 wins. Match record: 1406 wins, 55 losses.]

[Strongest Level 4 Archer: Lu Luwei—Current undefeated streak: 5000 wins. Match record: 5000 wins, 0 losses.]

’A 5,000-win streak?’

’Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?’

Compared to the previous record of 1406 wins and 55 losses, this 5000 wins and 0 losses seemed a little too invincible.

As for how this leaderboard was made... since it was said to be a Miracle from a god, Lu Cang didn’t bother trying to understand it with common sense.

Besides, it seemed that the Architect and Mechanician Professions could create similar functions on their own.

"Strongest Level 2 in Lorren... first place."

"It’s not Monsier."

The strongest Level 2 was not the genius Mage from the flyer.

It was a Warrior named Atelindo.

Record—4245 wins, 16 losses.

’Over four thousand matches?’

’He’s fought quite a lot. Is it that addictive?’

But then he recalled how he used to make time to play Honor of Kings in his previous life, and how he had played tens of thousands of ranked matches during his university days... and suddenly, Lu Cang could understand this record of over four thousand matches.

He looked for Monsier from the flyer and found his name in 10th place... He was the only Mage in the top ten.

’He’s trying to comprehend Root Magic even with a ranking that low?’

’No, I can’t jump to conclusions. Maybe I’m just inexperienced.’

’After all, I’ve never really met a Level 2 genius. Raine Town didn’t have a single so-called genius. Perhaps the top ten in the City in the Circle are far stronger than I can imagine?’

’I should stay humble.’