Dian Cecht Pharmacy.
Ronan left his umbrella by the door and pushed open the heavy wooden doors as he walked inside.
"Welcome to the Dian Cecht Pharmacy. May I ask... oh, it's Ronan!"
As a regular customer, Ronan was already quite familiar with Airmid.
Since he had always paid quickly whenever he bought potions, Airmid had a fairly good impression of him.
"Long time no see, Airmid."
Ronan nodded and got straight to the point.
"I'm here to sell a few things. You collect materials here, right?"
Airmid's eyes lit up with expectation.
"Of course we do! You know about the long-term request our Dian Cecht Familia posted at Guild Headquarters, right?"
"Then you must have collected quite a lot already?"
Ronan asked calmly, trying to get some information out of her.
Airmid did not notice what he was doing. She only shook her head, sounding a little helpless.
"Unfortunately, materials for making potions are not common. Other than the herbs we buy from the Demeter Familia, our stock of Dungeon materials has always been low. Rare-species Drop Items are especially hard to get. We usually only receive one or two every few days."
As everyone knew, running into a rare species was entirely a matter of luck. On the Upper Floors, the rare items they dropped, like Blue Papilio Wings or Infant Dragon Wings, were already considered valuable materials.
The corner of Ronan's mouth lifted. He took the Blue Papilio Wings, carefully wrapped in cloth, out of his bag and placed them on the counter.
Then he looked at Airmid with a smile and said nothing.
Airmid's hand tightened around her skirt, and her expression immediately stiffened.
The city had been in chaos lately. Besides Evilus at the center of it all, there were also many outsiders, shady groups, and drifters taking advantage of the situation. With fighting and unrest happening so often, potions were being used up much faster than they could be produced.
If it were not for healers like Heith Velvet from the Freya Familia helping out, the major pharmaceutical Familias and clinics would have been overwhelmed long ago. Even so, the potion stock was already reaching a dangerous level.
Any material used to make potions, especially one from a rare species, was desperately needed right now.
"Two hundred thousand..." Airmid started cautiously.
Ronan immediately reached out as if he were about to take the package back.
"Wait! Two hundred fifty thousand!" Airmid hurriedly changed her offer.
Ronan did not stop moving.
Airmid stared at his face, her cheeks turning red. In the end, she almost forced the next number through gritted teeth.
"Three hundred thousand!"
The moment she shouted it, her shoulders slumped. She had clearly lost this round.
Looking at Airmid standing there with a defeated expression, Ronan smiled in satisfaction.
"Airmid, congratulations on getting the materials you needed so badly."
This man...!
Airmid glared angrily at that smiling face and silently swore that she would get even with him somewhere else next time.
The deal was done.
"See you later, Airmid. Next time I find something good, I'll definitely come to you first!"
Humming softly and weighing the heavy coin bag in his hand, Ronan turned and left in a good mood, leaving Airmid staring angrily at his back.
"That horrible man! So stingy! Taking advantage of people! Ahhh, I'm so mad!"
Airmid grabbed a pillow from behind the counter and treated it like Ronan's face, punching it over and over.
"Huff, huff... just you wait, Ronan!"
...
Airmid's reaction was more or less what Ronan had expected.
As a healer, she naturally occupied one of the safest positions in Orario. After all, what adventurer could guarantee that they would never be injured?
There was a saying among adventurers in Orario: better to offend a crooked god than a healer.
As one of the city's top healing specialists, it was no wonder Airmid was furious now that the tables had been turned and she had been the one pressured instead.
Thinking about the angry look on her face, Ronan found it a little amusing.
Now that he had dealt with the loot, he felt light and relaxed, so he headed straight home.
...
At home, in the living room.
Lorie was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, biting the end of a pen with a heavy frown. Her face was scrunched up as she stared hard at the book on her lap. It was obvious that studying was not going well.
Compared to Lorie, who clearly was not the studying type, Aura beside her was much better.
Even in simple home clothes, her back remained straight. She kept the formal posture of an elf while calmly turning the pages and steadily taking in what she read.
Jeanne sat on the single sofa across from them. The way she looked at Lorie was full of sympathy. She understood that kind of pain far too well.
At that moment, the door opened. Ronan shook the raindrops from his umbrella at the entrance.
"I'm back."
The instant she saw him, Lorie's eyes lit up. She jumped off the sofa.
"Ronan, I don't want to study anymore! I can't understand any of this. It's too painful!"
"That won't do." Ronan shook his head. "Dungeon knowledge is tied to your life. You don't want to end up getting torn apart by a monster just because you didn't know enough, do you?"
"..."
Lorie's face instantly fell, and all her energy vanished. She went limp and slumped back onto the sofa.
Seeing that, Ronan remembered one of the ways people used to deal with bad students in his past life. His voice took on a tempting tone.
"How about this, Lorie? As long as you finish the basic knowledge and pass the exam, I'll reward you with a weapon worth up to 100,000 Valis. How does that sound?"
"Really!?"
Lorie's eyes widened with excitement.
Ronan was secretly impressed. This girl's expression really changed fast.
"Of course it's true. Look at Jeanne's main and sub-weapons. They're around that price. That's a generous reward, isn't it? Aura, the same goes for you."
Aura only nodded calmly, looking as though a weapon worth 100,000 Valis did not interest her much.
"Yay! You have to keep your word, Ronan!" Lorie jumped up excitedly. "Hehe, a 100,000-Valis weapon! That's already a good weapon for a beginner adventurer! I want a sword!"
Ronan and Jeanne looked at each other and could not help laughing.
"You're only thinking about the reward now. You should start thinking about how to pass Jeanne's exam first."
"It's just an exam! How could something like that stop the great Lady Lorie!"
"Yes, yes. Lorie is the smartest."
...
After temporarily fixing the study-attitude problem with a reward, Ronan went alone to the rocking chair under the eaves and began his own study.
He carefully took out the old Grimoire. His fingers brushed over the unusual texture of the cover before he slowly opened it.
Name: Grimoire: Fireball
Origin: World of Warcraft
Type: Knowledge
Effect: Ignites and gathers fire into a fireball, then launches it from a distance to strike a target and explode in roaring flames.
Description: Greatness speaks for itself!
He rubbed the textured old cover a few times, then slowly opened it with full concentration.
As Ronan focused on studying the Grimoire, Sharp Mind and his Seeker mindset naturally kicked in. The sacred letters of his Falna began to glow faintly, and his ability to absorb what he was reading increased sharply.
On the other side, the living room had become completely quiet. Only the sound of turning pages and the occasional scratch of writing remained.
...
That quiet mood lasted until dinner time.
Boom!
A sudden explosion tore through the silence of the rainy night. Bright flames burst through the curtain of rain, and the blast instantly startled the three people in the living room.
"What was that sound?"
"Did something explode?"
Aura and Lorie reacted immediately. Their expressions changed, and they quickly jumped to their feet, taking combat stances.
Jeanne's expression, however, was a little strange. She glanced out the window, then lowered her hands to calm the two of them.
"Relax. It's fine. Ronan is just testing a new spell."
"Huh? A new spell?"
The two girls had only just relaxed when curiosity immediately replaced their fear.
They were both naturally drawn to magic.
Even setting race aside, who would not care about a power strong enough to change the outcome of a battle?
After all, mastering a powerful spell could change what an adventurer was capable of.