It All Started With Lightning

Capital

William reached the capital, passing through three cities and three towns in six days. The academy was not in the capital, but he still had a week to go. That's why he wanted to visit this city where his family was a vassal.

Even though he was the son of the baron and had the baron's seal, he still had to pay money to enter the city. The fee was ten silver. If the baron did not come himself, he would have to pay a fee to enter the city.

He didn't care about the entrance fee because he had five hundred gold.

It was just evening when he arrived in the capital. The city was certainly unlike any other. The streets were paved with beautiful gray stones. There were various shops everywhere. Each shop sign used handwritten names decorated with gold as if they were selling something divine.

Since William was very hungry, he entered a place that said 'Phoenix Restaurant' on its sign.

At the entrance, he was immediately greeted by a well-dressed woman with a beautiful body. She led him to a table on the first floor. The table was by the window, so he could easily see the street and the people walking by.

"What have you got?" he asked.

The woman found him strange at first but immediately realized that he had not been to this city before, and pointed to a piece of paper lying on the table.

"Ah! Is there a menu?" William was taken aback. It was the first time he had ever come across a place with a menu.

He was even more surprised when he opened the menu and looked at it. There were food names written with more than one way to make various creatures.

He was even more surprised when he looked at the prices. The cheapest meal on the menu cost five gold. He could afford a good meal, but he wanted to save it for later.

He chose Firebird Stew from the menu, which cost thirty gold. Next to it, he chose Cold Winter Wine, which cost ten gold.

After taking the order, the waiter left with a smile. Half an hour later, the food arrived. William liked the taste of it. He also felt that there was some fire element in the food. The wine felt cold, though less so. The two together turned out to be an excellent meal.

William left the restaurant after having his fill. He wanted to stay here for a few days, so he quickly found an inn and took a room. He thought he could explore the capital later.

Once in his room, he locked the door and sat down on his bed. From his dimensional bag, he took out the materials of the mage he had killed a week ago. He wanted to examine the dagger first and look at it carefully. It was a simple, classic dagger. It looked like it could be found anywhere, but when William hit it with all his might, it didn't leave a scratch. If the other person was strong, he could definitely cut his own sword with this dagger.

Unable to understand the appearance of the dagger, he decided to cut off his finger. First, he cut without using the iron body. The dagger had cut through his hard skin like butter. William was surprised. Even without the iron body, he was absolutely sure that the damage he would receive from normal swords would be minimal.

Then he tried to cut it with the iron body. The dagger was now able to cut through his skin, albeit with some difficulty.

Then a thought crossed William's mind. Could this dagger be what they call a 'magic weapon'?

After a few seconds of this thought, he realized that it was indeed a magic weapon. His head started to dizzy. The dagger had a poison or paralyzing effect. After a few minutes, the dizziness and drowsiness he felt disappeared because his body was strong enough. However, he was sure that if he was cut by this dagger in battle, he would surely die quickly because his mobility was reduced by almost half.

After he finished examining the dagger, he put it back into his dimensional bag. Then he began to examine the potions. He took them one by one and smelled them. But he couldn't remember ever seeing anything like this before.

Anyway, the only potion he used was a spiritual energy potion that allowed him to open a meridian.

He could sense that there was no qi in these potions.

Then he picked them all up and began to look at the scrolls. Despite his dizziness, he continued to read. When he was halfway through, the headache started. He had to stop reading before he could finish the scroll. He was afraid that his brain would explode. But he understood little of what the scroll contained.

The scroll's appearance was old and worn, but the words inside were unaffected. The title read "One Thousand Souls, One Body". Its content, like the mage's story, was about self-sacrifice, increasing vitality, and gaining life. Since he was young, he ignored the spell written on the scroll.

Besides, he didn't even know that he could be a mage. What's worse, it was a very evil spell. He was also afraid of getting into trouble if he tried to sell it.

He didn't even try to read the other scroll because he was sure that he would get a headache again.

After resting, he decided to read and went to bed. A few hours later, he woke up, read the spell on the scroll, and found that there was a spell called Shield of Darkness, which was not beneficial to him. After that, he completely forgot about those two spells.

...

In the morning, he awoke fresh and refreshed. After some stretching, he had breakfast at the inn's restaurant. Still, inns were cheaper. He paid three gold coins and left.

He understood how expensive the capital could be these days. A normal person couldn't live a normal life here.

After walking the streets for a while, he stopped in front of a weapons shop. Rows of fine-looking weapons were displayed in the showcase. His sword was very old. Since he didn't buy a new sword on his way out, he thought he could take a look inside.

Just like the display case, the shop was full of shelves and various weapons on them. There was everything from heavy axes to inch-throwing knives.

Since it was morning, the shop was empty. A girl came out from behind the counter inside and greeted him. The girl looked very young, no more than 10-12 years old. 'She must be the shopkeeper's daughter or something,' he thought.

"Welcome sir, what kind of weapon are you looking for?" she said.

"I want to look at swords."

"Our swords are this way, sir." She said and came to a shelf ten meters away.

Various swords were lined up on the shelf. Some were decorated with jewels and ostentatious, while others were simple as they were.

A beautiful sword, similar to his, but thinner, caught his eye. "May I touch it?" he asked.

"Of course, sir. You may try it," the girl said.

When William took the sword from the shelf, he felt that it was extremely heavy. It was at least two or three times heavier than his sword. 'That should make up for my weakness,' he thought.

After swinging it for a while, he thought it was very suitable for him. "How much?"

"Sir, this sword was forged by Master Mo. Its value is eight hundred gold pieces. If you want, you can also pay with five low-level soul stones."

William was taken aback. He didn't know what a soul stone was, but the fact that even a low-level soul stone was worth more than one hundred gold meant that it was valuable. But right now, it was eight hundred gold that he had to think about before the soul stone. He couldn't bear to ask.

"Why is it so expensive?"

The woman looked at him as if she were looking at an idiot. Then she thought that she had met someone who was useless and ignorant, and she was depressed. A little bored.

"Sir, this is a magic weapon. Eight hundred gold is normal. If you want, you can try by sending qi into it," she said.

William could tell from the girl's expression that she wanted him to go away, but he didn't care. He sent his qi into the sword. The sword seemed to become sharper and heavier.

'So that's how magic weapons work,' he said to himself.

Then he turned to the girl. "Do you buy magic weapons?"

The girl's eyes immediately lit up. "Yes, sir, what kind of weapon do you have?"

"Dagger."

"Sure sir, I'll be right back." She said and left the door behind the counter.

'Isn't she afraid I'm going to steal?' he thought. Although he thought so, he did not dare to do such a thing because the man who could create these weapons would surely be strong.

After a while, a man who seemed to be in his fifties arrived. He had a strong body and a long beard. He seemed tough.

When the man arrived, William had already drawn the dagger.

He handed the unsheathed dagger to the man in front of him.

After examining the dagger for a moment, the man nodded. "This is an advanced apprentice-level dagger with two attributes. The price I can give you is three hundred gold." He said.

William thought the dagger was worth the price, but he certainly wouldn't be able to buy it if he sold it for three hundred gold. That's why he wanted to bargain.

He pointed to the sword on the shelf and said, "Sir, I want to buy this sword, I know there are five hundred gold coins left, but I have four hundred and fifty gold coins. Can you do something for me?"

The man frowned and looked into William's eyes for a moment. William held his strong gaze.

Finally, the man couldn't stand his strong stare and agreed. William happily took out four hundred and fifty more and gave them away. Then he took the sword from the shelf.

"Is this a first-level sword?" he asked the man.

"No, advanced apprentice level."

"What? Advanced Apprentice? Did you fob me off?" he said, frowning.

"Fob? Son, our business is based on honesty. The sword in your hand has three attributes. (Strengthenings- Don't forget this word.) It was also forged with half a kilo of black iron ore." He said. It was clear that he was angry.

"Then why did I feel two attributes when I sent the qi?" he asked.

"Because the weight attribute is embroidered twice. You have to use twice the qi to activate it." He said.

William did not suspect the man's words. First, he sent out the qi normally and felt the two attributes activate. Then, when he sent out twice as much qi, he realized that there was indeed one more attribute.

The already heavy sword in his hand had become twice as heavy!

He immediately felt very happy. He might have spent a little too much qi, but it was valuable enough to be his trump card.

A few thoughts immediately came to his mind. 'If I use it in the middle of battle, the enemy will surely be surprised and unable to defend themselves,' he thought.

Maybe it would work. Even if it was a small chance, it was something useful and nice for him.

He thanked the shopkeeper and left. The shopkeeper had given it to him in a nice-looking leather sheath.

Not wanting to use his dimensional bag here, he hung the sword around his waist. Now, with his guitar case, he looked like a bard and a warrior at the same time.

After buying the weapon, he didn't have much money left. He decided to go to a potion shop as his next stop.

He sneaked the elixirs out of his dimensional bag and put them in his pocket. The potion bottles were the size of a finger. So it was not very obvious.

He had seen the potion shop across from the restaurant where he had eaten yesterday. He quickly walked back two blocks and entered the potion shop.

This time, no one came out to greet him. Just like the weapon shop, the shelves were lined with potions.

Not wanting to buy anything, he went straight to the counter. Behind the counter was a girl who looked to be in her twenties. She had a perfect face with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was reading a book.

William approached her and said, "I want to sell potions. He said.

The girl looked up from the book and looked at William, "Put the potion on the table. Said.

He had received three potions from the mage he had killed. He took all three and put them on the table.

The beautiful girl first checked the colors, then opened the lid and smelled it.

Without changing her expression. "Twenty gold for an apprentice-level health potion, thirty gold for an apprentice-level fire endurance potion, and ten gold for an advanced apprentice-level 'vitality' potion. Do you accept?"

"Yes, I agree, but I want to know. I know what the fire endurance and health potions are for, but what does this 'vitality' potion do?" He asked, pointing to the vitality potion.

The girl coughed slightly and her face turned a little red. "Oh, it gives vitality. You know..." she said, winking.

William's eyes widened. He wondered,

'That must be why it is so cheap, even though it is an advanced apprentice level.'

"Alright." With that, the girl took sixty gold coins out of a small dimensional bag she had taken from a drawer and handed it to William.

William put the money into a normal purse. Then he counted all his money and saw that he had one hundred and four gold coins and a few silver coins left.

This money was not enough for him to enjoy spending a few more days in the capital. So he decided to leave since it was still early in the morning.

He took his horse from the stable next to the inn and started riding east.

His barony was southwest of the capital. In fact, since the day he left, he had been riding straight northeast without any turns.

The academy was a two-day ride from the capital. It was on the borders of the Black Forest in the east of the kingdom.

William knew from what he had heard that the so-called Academy in this world was like a sect.

Probably everything was solved with a contribution. So he prepared himself mentally. He'd have to go on a lot of missions to get new techniques, items, and to become stronger.

It suited him as well. The contribution system was something that made him happy because he didn't want to be in debt anywhere and it was 'boring' to get attached to a place.

'I hope it turns out as I expected,' he thought and continued to ride.

Note: Please leave a review.

"Sigh..." Looking back now, I see how many stupid mistakes I made. Like using words with their second meanings and making calculation mistakes.