Close Combat Mage

Chapter 89 – Replicated Equipment Pt. 1

Without even asking for the price, just by simply knowing the fact that it was considered the store’s treasure, one could conclude that it would definitely be priced higher than if it were at an auction. Otherwise, wouldn’t it have been bought by someone by now? This was why it was known as a guarded treasure; the price would definitely be higher than what it’s worth.

Suo Jia wasn’t even a wind mage, yet the price was not cheap. Because of these reasons, Suo Jia didn’t have the slightest interest and helplessly sighed as he said in disappointment, “You guys own such a huge Commerce Union, don’t tell me this is the only good item you have? The number one thief family, to only own this wand, isn’t that a bit too shabby?”

Hearing Suo Jia’s words, although the store owner became furious, he did not dare express any of it. With a smiling face, he said, “Esteemed customer, it’s not that we don’t have any good items, but rather that all the good items are stored in our collection. Even if we put them on display, we would not sell them here. Although there are many people coming and going, the people who really have money don’t come here. They would rather choose to participate in auctions.”

Nodding his head in understanding, Suo Jia pondered over this matter for a while before asking the store owner for a writing utensil and a sheet of paper. He then quickly wrote some words on the paper, folded the paper, and gave it to the store owner while saying, “Give this letter to the Lin Sen thief family’s head. Other than the family head, no one is to be allowed to look at the contents of the letter.”

Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the store owner hurriedly accepted the letter. Actually, it wasn’t necessary for Suo Jia to instruct him not to look at it; he wouldn’t dare to anyways. Any letter meant for a family head was not something that people like him could casually read unless he wanted to lose his head.

Of course, if it were an ordinary person, perhaps the store boss wouldn’t have bothered to deliver the letter at all. However, Suo Jia was a different case; he was beyond well-known within Holy Light City. Plus, he had the status of an eighth-ranked lord, which meant he already counted as a minor aristocrat. Although secretly opening the letter was not enough to destroy entire families, anyone who looked at it would definitely die.

Once Suo Jia had passed the letter over, he turned around and walked out of the Lin Sen Commerce Union. With Emma accompanying him, he began to walk towards the second Commerce Union. With the brat Emma with him, Suo Jia would be able to see all of the commerce unions’ treasures. Maybe he’d even find what he was looking for.

As the store owner watched Suo Jia’s group of three slowly walk away, he wiped away the sweat off his forehead. He told his colleagues to look after the shop, and….the store boss held Suo Jia’s letter as he quickly ran towards the commerce union’s stairs.

Lin Sen Commerce Union had 2 floors. Currently, a figure covered with a grey cloak was casually leaning on a couch, completely still. The next moment….a soft knock came from outside.

With the grey cloak’s consent, the great doors opened. The store boss respectfully walked in, handed the letter over to the grey cloak, and whispered some words into the grey cloak’s ears. Then, under the grey cloak’s commands, the store boss quickly left the room.

Without paying any mind to the letter in his hand, the grey cloak casually threw the letter on the nearby table. It was obvious that he didn’t care about a letter a mere child had written, even if Suo Jia was a lord.

After a long while, the grey cloak picked up the letter out of boredom and gently opened it. After closely reading its contents…..

“Hu!” With a whoosh, the grey cloak suddenly sat up straight, his whole body trembling as he stared at the letter he was holding. He couldn’t believe what was currently in front of him; increasing accuracy, stealth, and power……did such a formidable dagger really exist in this world? If it did, then this was the ideal dagger of a thief’s dreams!

There was only half a year left until the grand competition between the thief families that was held every decade. Earlier, the grey cloak had actually been worrying about this; in the last decade, the outstanding stars in the thief world had appeared. If he wanted to maintain his throne of being the top family, it would be unfathomably difficult. However….as long as he got this dagger, the Lin Sen family would undoubtedly continue sitting in the number one spot. As long as this dagger was with them, nobody could possibly pose a challenge to them!

Leaving aside what the grey cloaked man’s decision was, meanwhile accompanied by Emma, Suo Jia ended up going to the other top ten thief families’ commerce unions. What was disappointing, however, was that although all of those other guarded treasures were indeed rare… none of them were compatible with water arts. Generally, fire was the most common followed by wind; water types were simply too rare.

Suo Jia, along with Emma, entered the sixth commerce union. From the outside, this commerce union didn’t seem to be any worse than the Lin Sen’s Commerce Union. In reality, the top ten thief family’s commerce unions were all pretty much the same. Even the treasures were similar.

After casually strolling around the shop….the two of them directly found the store boss and requested to see the shop’s treasures. Even if Suo Jia didn’t reveal his identity, the store boss couldn’t refuse Emma. No matter whether or not he was willing, he had to bring out the treasures for Emma to see.

Emma and Suo Jia awaited for the treasure to be brought out. Soon afterwards, an interesting and appealing wooden box was carried out. Gently opening it, the store boss smiled and said, “This is a water elemental Legendary-ranked ring — Frost’s Sigh. It can increase the effects from training in the Ice and Snow Pact, as well as reduce the magic power consumption used by ice magics. At the same time, it can also increase the formidability of the ice magics.”

“Wa!” Seeing the ring inside the box, Suo Jia immediately grew excited. This ring was exactly what Suo Jia was looking for. No matter whether it was its ability to increase the effects of the Ice and Snow Pact, or its ability to reduce magic power consumption, Suo Jia wanted both of them. As for the increase in ice magics’ formidability, although most magic rings did this, this ring was Legendary-ranked after all. It had to be more effective than normal rings by much more.

Suo Jia raised his head in excitement and eagerly asked, “How much are the effects increased by?”

In response to Suo Jia’s question, the store boss said sincerely, “This Frost Spirit can increase the Ice and Snow Pact’s effects by 100%, as well as decrease magic consumption of ice magics by 50%! It can also increase the strength of ice magic by 10”

“Huh?” Knitting his brows in confusion, Suo Jia asked, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. What does increase the strength of ice magic by 10 mean?”

Most likely because of Emma’s presence, the store boss replied very patiently, “Young customer, perhaps you don’t really understand. Only weapon-type equipment can raise a magic’s formidability based on a percentage. Small items like this ring have very small volumes; there is no way upper grade gems can be embedded onto them. Therefore, they cannot increase formidability proportionally. They can only boost the strength of the magic based on some exact amount”

Speaking thus far, the store owner momentarily paused, organized his thoughts and patiently said, “Increasing the magic power of ice spells by 10 basically means that it can help you decrease the temperature of your ice magic by 10.”

Hearing the store owner’s words, Suo Jia immediately lit up. Although this ring could not increase the power of magic percentage-wise, for Suo Jia right now, its ability to increase magic by a set amount was actually more suitable for him. If his Ice Sphere could decrease by ten degrees, then it would basically no longer shatter.

One should not underestimate these ten degrees, ten degree water does not freeze. Although ten degrees isn’t too cold, if one dropped that by another ten degrees, then it would reach the freezing point; the gap between the two was still rather significant.

This was ice’s specialty: the lower the temperature, the higher the increase in toughness and strength. Although the ring could only improve by ten degrees, the difference in toughness and strength in regards to the current Suo Jia was like comparing mud to stone.

The truth was, after a few months of cultivation, Suo Jia’s Ice Sphere was already similar to stone. When the Ice Spheres hit the stone pillars, the stone pillars would shatter, and at times the Ice Sphere would still remain intact. This signified that the Ice Sphere and stone were quite similar to each other in hardness, and the Ice Sphere possessing just a bit more sturdiness.

If the temperature was dropped by another 10 degrees, then Suo Jia’s Ice Sphere would definitely be much harder than the stone pillar. After collision, the Ice Sphere would most likely not shatter, and its power should increase as well.

Although its might wasn’t increased proportionally, from a certain standpoint, this ring’s abilities were not any worse than an item that did boost effects based on a percentage. In this world, once one trained to a specific point where it was really hard to breakthrough the bottleneck, this ring could decrease the temperature by another 10 degrees from the base setpoint. At that point, the results shown would definitely create a major difference.

Lifting his head in excitement, Suo Jia firmly said, “Alright, Boss, how much is this ring? Name your price!”