A few hours later, seeing that his mana bar still had nine-tenths remaining, Victor finally gave up the idea of draining it all the way to zero.
Now, he truly believed that Vega was a god.
Vega nodded in satisfaction, perhaps Victor's display had completely satisfied its curiosity.
"Truly interesting. Maybe I should let you keep going for a few more hours, so I can study the secrets of how you cast spells."
Victor gave Vega a silent look of protest.
Seeing Victor's expressionless face, Vega decided to let it go.
"Alright, that's enough. What are you planning to do next? Don't tell me you're going to stay in this backyard all day?"
Its deep eyes fixed on Victor, as if trying to see through him, searching for some other hidden secret.
"Go to the market to buy some things," Victor replied casually.
The raven still refused to leave his shoulder.
"I'll follow you. I want to see what you're going to buy."
Victor exhaled softly, then called a servant to prepare the carriage.
———
Victor entered a shop, his eyes sweeping over rows of dazzling materials, and headed straight for a counter.
"What would you like to buy?"
Seeing a customer, the shopkeeper hurried out with a welcoming smile.
Victor tapped the table lightly and said in a calm tone, "Lizardman tails, harpy feathers, beetle shells… these thirty kinds of materials, give me a bag of each."
"Of course! What a generous guest!"
The shopkeeper quickly began gathering and counting all the items Victor had ordered.
"All together, that's thirty bags of materials. Would you like me to have someone deliver them to your home?"
Victor waved his hand, rubbing the ring on his finger. Instantly, all the materials disappeared.
The shopkeeper's grin grew even wider.
"Haha, sir, you must possess quite the treasure."
"Do come again next time!"
After Victor left, one of the clerks leaned close and whispered, "Boss, who was that man?"
The shopkeeper gave him a sharp knock on the head. "Don't ask questions! Anyone carrying a storage ring that high-grade isn't someone you want to pry into!"
Only Victor knew, he didn't have any kind of storage ring. The ring on his hand was just decorative. He had simply stored the materials directly into the player's inventory, something even Vega couldn't make sense of.
Flapping its wings, Vega croaked in its hoarse, crow-like voice next to Victor's ear.
Victor just listened silently, his attention fully fixed on the glowing interface in front of him, filled with craftable items.
He had bought all these materials for one reason, to make the basic items needed early in the game.
According to the game's original design, every player, regardless of class, had access to a rich and specialized crafting book. As a player, Victor could, of course, summon that interface at will.
Satisfied with his haul, Victor returned to his mansion, went straight down to the basement, and dug up a bunch of glass bottles from the corners.
"What are you planning to do?"
Vega, perched on his shoulder, felt uneasy. Its divine intuition was telling it Victor was about to do something strange.
And that intuition was never wrong, because Victor's hands were already busy mixing the materials together, light glowing in his palms, crackling sounds growing louder and louder.
"What are you doing? Stop that immediately!"
Vega was practically losing its mind. 'What's he doing in a basement? Making gunpowder?!'
Victor didn't hear a word of it. In fact, he worked even harder.
A flash of bright light later, all the empty bottles on the table were filled with red liquid. Vega looked at the countless healing potions before it and couldn't help grumbling,
"You really aren't normal. Why does making healing potions look as dangerous as making bombs?"
Victor chuckled softly, nodded in satisfaction, and examined the bright red liquids.
[Healing Potion (Small): Restores 300 HP per use.]
Sure enough, seeing the item's numeric description appear made him feel secure, it was the kind of feedback only a player could trust.
Vega's single blue eye gleamed faintly as it examined the potions.
The red liquid had a slight black tint, the darker and thicker the color, the stronger the healing effect.
Jumping from Victor's shoulder, Vega landed on the table, uncorked one of the bottles, and gulped it down.
A wave of dizziness hit it. Smacking its beak, Vega looked back at Victor.
"You actually made this yourself?"
Victor admitted it, and Vega fell into deep thought.
'What's with this kid? The potency and richness of this potion are on par with the Goddess of Healing's low-tier divine magic. Don't tell me he's hiding some kind of divine power?'
But then it thought again, if Victor had such an ability, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. After all, they were bound by contract now, and having a powerful artisan by its side was definitely an advantage.
"Have you thought about selling some of these? With this quality, you could make a fortune," Vega suggested suddenly.
Victor shook his head. These potions were for personal use. He wasn't short on money, so there was no need.
Then, blue light flared from his hands again, he started crafting another batch, this time mana potions.
Every time Victor finished crafting an item, Vega felt a small jolt of amazement.
To craft gear and potions by hand, something even master-level artificers couldn't do, was unbelievable.
'Could it be... this kid has awakened one of those one-in-a-million creation-type divine spells?'
It had been drawn to this human's soul on instinct, but now Vega was finding him more and more incomprehensible.
As a mage, mana potions were far more valuable to Victor than healing ones.
Even though Vega had his "infinite mana cheat," its help wasn't free. Victor still didn't know what price he might end up paying for that power.
Better to rely on himself.
A while later, a system chime echoed in his mind...
[Skill 'Crafting' leveled up! Current Level: LV2]
With the level-up, Victor stopped crafting potions and glanced at the new items that appeared in his crafting list.
Then he looked up silently at Vega, who was still standing on the table.
The raven grew uneasy under his gaze, until Victor finally spoke.
"You're technically a raven, right?"
Vega blinked. "Huh?"
Victor calmly reached out and plucked a single black feather from its body.
[Magic Creature Feather + One Magic Stone]
"Needs a magic stone, huh…"
He remembered clearly that magic stones were rare materials, capable of recording images and sound, and even storing spells.
However, their stored magic energy slowly leaked over time. Some people had tried using them as magic bombs, but all had failed.
Magic stones were incredibly expensive. With that kind of money, one might as well make actual bombs.
Once he gathered all the necessary components, Victor began the synthesis.
The materials melted into a shimmering liquid, solidifying rapidly before his eyes. A glove began taking shape, inlaid with several clear magic stones.
Soon, a single fingerless glove appeared before him.
Vega twitched its wings. "You can even craft equipment by hand?"
Victor ignored it, focused on the glove.
Embedded within it were a few flawless, transparent magic stones.
[Mage's Hand: Tier 2 Crafted Item. Can store multiple spells of different elements and release them instantly without casting delay.]
This was an essential early-game item, perfect for mages to handle emergencies.
Victor channeled mana, slowly infusing spells of various attributes into each magic stone.
With each infusion, the transparent stones changed color.
When all were charged with different magics, he finally stopped.
By now, Vega wasn't even shocked anymore.
"It can store spells of different elements? And cast them instantly, no chanting? Care to explain how you pulled that off?"
Its single eye burned with a crazed blue flame, but Victor only shook his head.
"Classified."
"You're really stingy."
Vega grumbled, thinking bitterly, how humiliating for an evil god to have to ask a human for knowledge. If the other gods found out, it'd be laughed at for centuries.
Victor ignored it, not because he was arrogant, but because his player identity was a secret he could never reveal.
If anyone learned he could craft equipment with his bare hands, he'd attract dangerous attention from people with bad intentions.
For his own safety, he had to stay cautious.
At that moment, a servant's voice came from outside, "Lord Victor, Miss Gwen is here."
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