Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang reached the market after a bit of walking. Sure enough, there were plenty of stalls here. Some of the stall owners were trying to attract customers by shouting out what great prices they had, but some didn't shout anything.

Shang walked around the market for a bit under the constant barrage of offers. He didn't really listen to all the shouts since no one was shouting about knives.

But then, Shang suddenly halted and turned in a different direction. He had just heard something interesting.

Shang had thought that he was immune to the devious powers of marketing. Sadly, he had been mistaken.

"You said you have Rank Two ore?" Shang asked the smiling merchant.

"Of course! Only the finest ores at Willie's Five Finger Emporium!" the merchant said with a wide grin.

"I'm interested," Shang asked. "Could you show me what you have to offer?"

"Sure thing!" the merchant said as he took out eight different pieces of ore. Obviously, these pieces weren't everything he had to offer, and they only were for display purposes.

Shang looked at the eight pieces of ore.

"We have more to offer, but I only brought out the best for you!" the merchant said with a wide smile. "These are our finest Rank Two ores, seven for all the different Affinities and one for warriors that decided to take on a purer path."

Shang nodded as he looked at the eight stones. "Can I touch them?"

"Sure thing!" the merchant shouted as he pushed the stones forward.

Shang took each stone into his hand one by one and acted like he was inspecting their quality.

In truth, he had no idea about ore.

He was actually just feeling the reaction of his sword.

vibrate, and Shang could feel

sword's reaction to the stones was the same for all of them. Apparently, there wasn't anything special about them. They were all equally interesting to

a specific Affinity, but

the Earth Affinity

much do you need? Our prices depend on how much you

sword," Shang said, slightly rotating so that the merchant could see the sword on Shang's back. Pulling out the weapon was forbidden, so Shang had to show

the sword and nodded with a wide grin. "You're in luck! That should be just enough to qualify for our

"How much?" Shang asked.

your entire sword, you need around seven units of ore, which would come to

nodded. "What about

than Earth Affinity, so it's slightly more expensive. The same amount of the Ice Affinity one comes to 200 gold naturally, but 190 gold

"What about the one without

are in higher demand, we

to purchase any of your wares. I'm very interested in them, but, just for the moment, I have to decline. When I have the necessary funds, I

he didn't lose his smile or professionalism. "That's okay! You can find me here Monday to Wednesday. I

nodded and

that's the tradeoff, huh?' Shang thought as he continued looking for a knife. 'The selection of wares here is more than broad. From what I can tell,

the towns on the way to Warrior's Paradise offered me ore of similar quality for only

If I were them, I also wouldn't sell it locally but in a vast and rich city like Warrior's Paradise. Most students come from

upgrade my sword, I need to get some gold. Additionally, I should ask one of the teachers where the ore is sourced. Maybe I can get it cheaper by

around the marketplace for a while, Shang found a stall that sold

was a hunting store, and the knives they sold were for skinning beasts. Oftentimes, hunters didn't go into the Wild Forest just to hunt one single beast. Most of the time, they

and weight was far lower than things like teeth, fur, and claws. Not many people had Space Rings, which meant that they

to return to Warrior's Paradise immediately since they simply couldn't carry more. Because of that, most of these kinds of hunters simply removed the most valuable things

also had the positive side-effect of increasing the beast population again.

all beasts in the First Realm for two gold. There were no shaving knives on the market since every warrior in the academy simply used their weapons to shave. Of course, a

to the Exchange Hall, the place where students could exchange their