Furan pushed open the doors of the Emerald Heart Tavern with a sword hanging from her waist.
She had just bought this sword from a street stall. Furan had examined it closely and realized it looked very similar to the one she had seen her future self using through Star Gazing Technique.
Glancing at the stall owner again, she realized he was actually that same down-and-out noble youth who had sold her the Breathing Technique; he was so poor he had resorted to selling his sword.
Since she had just come into some money, these three factors coincided, and she bought the sword for three silver coins.
The reason she had the sudden whim to buy this sword was also because the Emerald Heart Tavern was very famous among apprentices, with many rumors surrounding it.
It was said that this tavern had existed for a hundred years, ever since the Apprentice Market was first established.
No one had ever seen the tavern's owner, but the waiters and security staff were constantly changing, all recruited from apprentices who had failed their Assessments or graduated from the academy.
The tavern also moonlighted in selling precious items, including Spells and Combat Skills, though without the right connections, asking directly would yield no results.
Furthermore, conflicts often broke out inside. It was said that apprentices had died there several times, yet the tavern remained open, which spoke volumes about the power behind it.
Furan wore a robe that was somewhat inconvenient for movement, thinking she might be able to avoid some attacks by relying on her status as an apprentice.
Unfortunately, she had miscalculated. No one actually looked at her when she opened the door, until a drunkard roared at her.
"From Cuilan Academy?"
She turned her head to look. Judging by the drunkard's attire, she could tell he was an apprentice from the neighboring Vilos Academy.
She looked around and finally understood why no one cared if apprentices died here—half the people present were wearing apprentice robes, and of the rest, few were likely anything else.
Naturally, conflicts between apprentices would not affect the tavern.
The academy would likely investigate and find that it had nothing to do with the tavern's staff but was simply a conflict between apprentices; why would they move against the tavern then?
Before she could even open her mouth to explain, the drunkard started shouting, making her realize there was no way to settle this without a fight.
"What I hate most are people from Cuilan Academy. That guy named Richter killed my brother..."
Furan was certain this was absolutely that Richter guy. Dammit, I'm his enemy too, so why are you coming after me?
The people around them stopped talking and drinking, seemingly wanting to watch a good show.
Seeing the drunkard's state, she knew communication was impossible. Fortunately, this tavern explicitly stated at the door that Spells were forbidden; relying on her Breathing Technique, she was confident she could handle him easily.
The drunkard threw a wooden ale mug directly at her. Facing such an attack, she dodged it with a simple sidestep.
The mug hit the ground with a loud clatter, drawing cheers from the surrounding spectators, as if they were saying, "Fight! Fight!"
Seeing that he hadn't hit her, the drunkard charged directly at her, relying on his physical advantage. Furan thought it was time to end this farce.
She activated her Breathing Technique and sidestepped with flying speed, planting a kick into the side of the charging man. The powerful force sent the drunkard flying until he crashed into a pillar, leaving a small dent.
She slowly ceased the Breathing Technique. The reason she used this as a basic attack was because her Breathing Technique had reached a new stage.
[Swift Wind Breathing Technique (Mastery) (Proficiency: 12/1000): You have a thorough understanding of this Breathing Technique and can utilize it well.]
Her Constitution had also risen to 1.4 due to the increased level of the Breathing Technique, a direct increase of 0.4, reaching her initial Spiritual Power value.
[You used the Swift Wind Breathing Technique with ease during combat, Proficiency +10.]
She discovered that after reaching Mastery, she could freely control whether to activate the Breathing Technique during combat, without having to complete a full breathing cycle as before, which used to leave her feeling very uncomfortable and breathless at the end.
Through her experiments, she could now maintain the buff effect for about five minutes during combat.
This was only because her Breathing Technique was incomplete; if it were complete, she estimated she could maintain it for ten minutes, and its intensity would also increase.
After knocking the drunkard down, she drew her sword directly and pointed it at his throat.
The scene suddenly fell silent; no one made a sound at that moment.
Furan held the sword there for a moment, then used it to tilt the drunkard's chin up, only to realize he had already passed out from the impact. She withdrew her sword somewhat unskillfully, leaving a bloody scratch on the drunkard's face.
Furan sheathed her longsword and looked into the crowd, searching for her target.
Seeing Furan withdraw her sword, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief, and the sounds of drinking and conversation resumed.
The Emerald Heart Tavern was very large, divided into several areas inside. Furan finally managed to spot a hat decorated with feathers in a corner.
It belonged to a meticulously dressed man whose clothes were spotless and whose hair and cuffs were perfectly neat. He sat there alone with only a glass of liquid—whether it was wine or not—in front of him.
"Hello, are you Elan?"
"Yes. Please, have a seat first. We can talk slowly about whatever business you have..."
Furan sat down quite casually and got straight to the point:
"I heard you have Spells for sale here. I've come to buy a Spell."
"I see. Would you like a glass of fruit wine? The kind that won't get you drunk."
"No."
Setting aside Furan's inherent caution and her refusal to drink anything given by others, even in her past life, she hadn't been fond of drinking, so she refused directly.
Elan took a piece of paper from under the table and handed it to Furan.
"A pity. I was going to treat you to that glass of fruit wine, but you didn't want it..."
Furan ignored him and instead carefully examined the Spells listed. After a thorough look, she saw there were indeed quite a few Spells here, and she wanted many of them.
The problem was the price; they were quite expensive. If she bought one, she wouldn't even have enough money left to buy ingredients for refining medicine.
"Wind Blade Spell, Mage Shield, Hand of Telekinesis, Mire Spell..."
Furan thought for a moment and decided on the Wind Blade Spell. Firstly, it was an offensive skill, and secondly, her traits included Wind Element Affinity; she wanted to see if there would be any chemical reaction between the two.
Furan turned the paper and pointed to the Wind Blade Spell.
"Fifty silver coins." Elan raised an eyebrow. "Why would a potential recruit for the Sword Chant School want a Spell like this? Shouldn't it be Mage Shield or something like the Breath-Stopping Spell..."
Furan silenced Elan with a single sentence: "What is the Sword Chant School?"
She truly didn't know what this Sword Chant School was. Judging by the name, did they use swords as staves?
She then handed the money to Elan, who in turn gave it to a waiter. A few minutes later, the waiter returned with a book.
Elan opened the book, pointed to a certain page, and said, "This Spell is on this page."
As Furan took the book and prepared to leave, Elan called out to her.
"Hey, friend, don't be in such a hurry to leave. I have a piece of business—would you like to talk about it?"