Heaven's Greatest Professor

"What can I do for you today, good sir?" an attendant greeted them as they entered the emporium. "Ma'am."

"Here to buy some specific things," Warden replied, nodding. "But before that, I intend on exchanging an item for contribution points. Now, what do you think this Ability gem would go for?"

Warden brought out the Iron-grade Fire Control Ability gem from his pocket and showed it to the attendant. Jenni had already given him a rough price to expect, mentioning that they would have to haggle somewhat to get a fair price, as the selling price and buying price were never the same.

The attendant examined the gem very carefully. Jenni had mentioned that most attendants present had great appraisal skills, which allowed them to assess the price of an item rather easily. Even so, the attendant looked to be sure.

"It is rare to find an element-based control skill at the Iron grade; most tend to be either Silver or Gold," she said, finishing her appraisal. "For this, you can get fifteen thousand contribution points."

Warden shot her a look and shook his head. He wouldn't settle for anything below twenty thousand points, which both Jenni and Agnes assessed as a fair price.

"Fifteen thousand is low for an ability of this calibre," Warden insisted.

"Moreover, it's not a single skill-based ability," Jenni chimed in. She gestured towards the screen, manipulating it to show the top products of the emporium. "Fireball is already priced at fifteen thousand points, and it's inferior compared to Fire Control, which allows a ranker to manipulate the fire elemental more intimately."

Ability Gem - Blight Touch (Iron) - 10,000 Contribution Points.

Ability Gem - Lightning Bolt (Iron) - 20,000 Contribution Points.

Ability Gem - Fireball (Iron) - 15,000 Contribution Points.

The attendant narrowed her eyes, but it seemed she was prepared for such an argument.

"The Fireball ability will let a ranker use Fireball almost instantly after absorbing the gem," she said. "But it isn't the same for a Control-based ability. A ranker needs to train and cultivate its power for months if not years to get used to it before his power can compare to an ability like Fireball."

She made a good argument, but unfortunately, Jenni wasn't born yesterday.

"Is that why most elemental control-based abilities are sold from the emporium immediately?" Jenni snorted. "On my fifteenth birthday, father bought me a Metal-based ability gem of Iron Grade. . . Do you know how much it cost him?"

The attendant didn't provide an answer, knowing the question was rhetorical.

"It cost him twenty-four thousand," Jenni replied. "But he gets a twenty percent discount with his post as the head of the Artificer department."

The attendant's expression changed, especially upon hearing the latter part of the phrase. Obviously, there were plenty of customers who came and went to the emporium every day, so it was impossible to know all of their identities just by their faces.

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"Please forgive my earlier conduct," the attendant said. "If you excuse me, I'll discuss this issue with a superior and can give you a better price for the ability gem."

"You're excused," Jenni said like a haughty young lady, blowing air from her nostrils. As the attendant exited, she turned to Warden. "Give me your badge."

Warden did so, and after scanning it in the rune formation, Jenni accessed some of the restricted emporium.

"God damn, they are so expensive," she exclaimed.

- Ability Gem - Warded Mind (Silver) - 40,000 Contribution Points.

- Ability Gem - Blessing of Amamir (Silver) - 40,000 Contribution Points.

- Ability Gem - Spear of Light (Silver) - 45,000 Contribution Points.

...

- Ability Gem - Gilded Physique (Gold) - 150,000 Contribution Points.

- Ability Gem - Healing Wave (Silver) - 130,000 Contribution Points.

- Aperture Opening Elixir - Mind Palace - 50,000 Contribution Points.

- Aperture Opening Elixir - The Gate of Spirit - 75,000 Contribution Points.

...

- Lineage Awakening Elixir - 25,000 Contribution Points.

- Diamond Reinforced Energy Vessels - 120,000 Contribution Points.

- Aura-based Ability Advancement Gem (Silver) - 50,000 Contribution Points.

- Ability Advancement Gem (Silver) - 75,000 Contribution Points.

- Ability Advancement Gem (Gold) - 250,000 Contribution Points.

Warden whistled. The prices for Silver and Gold ranked items were just staggering, too much for anyone below the rank. Perhaps even too much for the captains and sergeants.

He surfed through the items to find one of the elixirs he had his eyes on.

- Intermediate Strength Elixir - 300 Contribution Points.

- Intermediate Dexterity Elixir - 300 Contribution Points.

- Intermediate Spirit Elixir - 1,000 Contribution Points.

- Intermediate Perception Elixir - 500 Contribution Points.

- Intermediate Mind Elixir - 1,000 Contribution Points.

- Advanced Strength Elixir - 1,000 Contribution Points.

- Advanced Dexterity Elixir - 1,000 Contribution Points.

- Advanced Spirit Elixir - 5,000 Contribution Points.

- Advanced Perception Elixir - 2,000 Contribution Points.

- Advanced Mind Elixir - 10,000 Contribution Points.

After hesitating for a little, Warden left the Advanced ones for now. He found a set of six for Mind and Spirit, even though the Lesser Mind Elixir had been lacklustre. That already cost him a total of twelve thousand points. Unfortunately, his rank didn't come with any discount.

"Those are good purchases," Jenni approved. "Even if you do not drink them now, they would be useful at some point."

Warden nodded. Sadly, with this purchase, his pocket had already plummeted to half, ignoring the ability gem.

"I thought for sure you'd go for something like an aperture awakening elixir," Jenni commented. Her eyes lingered on the price tag. "Well, they are costly, but perhaps you can make it by putting together all your things."

Warden shook his head. "I'm still a little away from reaching the peak of Iron, so I have no need for them at this moment." And besides, opening an aperture wasn't difficult for him so far; perhaps it wouldn't be for the third either.

"What about you?" he asked. "Aren't you excited to advance to Silver?"

"I have already bought one a couple of weeks ago," Jenni said. "Just waiting for the right moment."

Warden didn't have much idea about what advancement was like for other people, so he couldn't really say much.

"Okay, now it is time to put your knowledge into use," Warden said, sucking in a deep breath. "Tell me what you know about Lineage Awakening Elixir."

Jenni narrowed her eyes. "It's something only Grandmaster alchemists create," she said. "But even for them, it is quite hard, probably because the ingredient for this elixir is hard to come by. If you have a bonded spirit beast as your companion, this elixir can help them awaken their inherited power. But I don't remember you having a beast companion. .

. Are you perhaps thinking of getting one?"

Warden's expression soured when she was halfway through her point. "So humans can't drink it?"

"Well, they sure can, though I don't think it will help them much. It's made specifically to awaken—" she stopped midway as realization dawned on her. She studied Warden from head to toe, a knit on her brows, excited for some unknown reason. "Don't tell me you're a spirit beast. Well, a transformed spirit beast that took human shape. .

. Yeah, that would make so much sense. . . I was right, hahaha, I was so damn right."

Warden had to tap her on the shoulder for her to make conjectures on her own. "I'm not a spirit beast, Jenni."

The adept runesmith scowled at him. "Then why do you need this?"

"Well," Warden paused, wondering how to say it. "You know how many humans possess ancient bloodline power; I thought this elixir could help with that."

"So you possess an ancient bloodline?" she asked and then frowned. "I was right, you are a noble then. . ."

Warden shook his head, wondering why she jumped to a judgment so easily. Well, technically, her reasoning sounded fine. After all, although most nobles do not possess a strong bloodline, all who have an ancient strong bloodline are nobles of some sort.

"It's complicated," he said. Celestials were humanoid, but they weren't human, so technically, he wasn't a noble. Well, he didn't have a clue about it. He was a warrior. A runesmith. A chef.

. . what else was he missing?

"I do not know the specifics, but this elixir can help you, somewhat," Jenni said, after calming down her excitement. "I mean, it helps beast-humans of Iman awaken some of their racial power, though the success rates are low."

"I'm a beast-human," Warden muttered. Well, perhaps technically, he was, if Celestial could be considered some bird people. . . But how could he compare the angelic race to some birds? They were an ancient race, prouder than even the elves.

Even if Warden wasn't a pureblood celestial. . .

"Well, there are other ways to awaken one's bloodline potential," Jenni said. "Both my parents were common-born, so I can't tell you the specific way. . . but it's likely through stimulating the dormant power. For example, if your bloodline power is related to fire.

. . Stimulating your spirit and body with some quintessence of fire might do the trick. . . Oh, the process is very dangerous, though."

That gave him some perspective. Quintessence was a purer form of essence. Though they have similar effects as essence gems, their best uses were in purifying one's elemental power.

"There are various quintessences available to buy," Jenni said, scrolling through the screen to bring out the section of elemental quintessence. "What is your dormant power related to?"

"Light," Warden muttered, his eyes reading the different kinds of quintessence available as well. He was relieved to find the price was within his limit. Unfortunately, light attributes seemed rare even among quintessence.

"Found it," Jenni mumbled. "But it's gold ranked."

- Quintessence of Light (Gold) - 250 contribution points per gram.