I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 441: Coincidence

Within the Origin Pantheon.

Whoosh!

Appearing where those visiting the place usually appeared, Aurus looked around for a bit before finding the person he wanted to talk to. With a smile, he came closer to the person standing near the stairway, gazing out into the horizon. “Cardis!”

“Hmm?” Hearing his name being called, Cardis could not help but turn around to see who it was. Seeing that it was Aurus, he could not help but let out a chuckle as he embraced him. “Aurus! Glad to see you again, my friend!”

“Though, I thought you told me you’d look drastically different the next time you came back here?” he asked soon after.

“Well, that was supposed to be the case at first, but I’m here for an urgent reason,” said Aurus in response as he slowly extricated himself from the embrace.

In response to those words, the joyous attitude Cardis showed was quickly replaced with a serious expression. “An urgent reason, eh? Do you need to find Torvas again or something?”

“Of course, it would be great if I could get his help.” Aurus shook his head. “However, I don’t want to bother him too much.”

“Instead, I need your help,” he added, prompting Cardis to slightly scratch his head. “Does your reason have anything to do with money? If yes, I can’t help you there. I’ve spent it on a couple key items for advancement.”

“No, not at all,” said Aurus, shaking his head once more. “I was just going to ask you if you know where to get Mana Tenacity Cores.”

“Mana Tenacity Cores?” Hearing that, Cardis went silent for a bit as he rubbed his chin while pondering. After a while, he asked Aurus, “Where are you located at in Maerr-viki?”

“Why do you ask?” asked Aurus in response.

“Well, depending on your answer, I’d have to talk to a couple of my friends here,” replied Cardis. “So, where are you located?”

“The closest kingdom to where I’m located would be the Seraph Kingdom,” Aurus replied, understanding that his reasoning made sense. However, rather than give him good news at that instant, a slight frown appeared on Cardis’ face instead.

“Well then. It seems I’ll have to call a friend of mine that’s based near the Seraph Kingdom.” Cardis wryly smiled in response. “If you were situated near the Valiharsus Kingdom, I would’ve probably recommended a couple places to ask already.”

“Is that so?” Aurus could only sigh. Though, recalling that he was currently at the Everdark Mountains, he followed it up with another question. “Ah, before you contact your friend, could you tell me where the Valiharsus Kingdom is located?”

“If my memory serves me correctly, the kingdom is situated near the south of the continent,” replied Cardis after a bit of recalling. “Why do you ask?”

Making sure that the Valiharsus Kingdom was indeed near the south with the system’s map, Aurus inwardly let out a sigh of relief as he lightly smiled. “Oh, that’s because I’m at the Everdark Mountains with a couple other people at the moment. Quite coincidental, don’t you think?”

“It definitely is.” Cardis could only laugh at that. “I guess the world wants you to get those Mana Tenacity Cores as fast as possible.”

Hearing that, Aurus could not help but laugh as well. “I guess so.”

“So, where in the Valiharsus Kingdom could I get Mana Tenacity Cores?”

“The Valiharsus Arc Treasure Pavilion,” said Cardis in response, his demeanor more relaxed than before. “As long as you fork out a lot of money, they’ll bend over backwards to get whatever you want as soon as possible. Of course, extremely rare items such as dragon blood and the like are only sold in their yearly auction. However, Mana Tenacity Cores don’t really warrant such levels of renown… unless if you’re planning to buy the ones at the higher grades.”

“Speaking of which, what grade of Mana Tenacity Cores do you need anyway?” he asked, to which Aurus replied, “Grade 2 at the minimum. Of course, the higher it is, the better.”

As he said this, Aurus thought about what Lucius told him regarding the requirements of the cores back then. Although the man lowered the requirements down to Grade 2 Mana Tenacity Cores, there was a small part of him that was curious as to what would happen if they gave Lucius Grade 4 Mana Tenacity Cores. Would he modify the Existence Transition technique to unbelievable lengths? Would he gain a Spirit Contract?

Of course, they would only know the answer to that if they did give him those kind of Mana Tenacity Cores.

“Well, you’re in luck.” As Aurus heard this come out of Cardis’ mouth, it made him think that things were finally seeming like they were looking up for the better. “The pavilion always has Mana Tenacity Cores at Grade 5 and below in stock. If you needed Mana Tenacity Cores at Grade 6 and above, I would’ve told you that you were out of luck since you’d have to wait about half a year before the auction starts.”

“I see, I see.” Nodding, Aurus then asked him, “Do you know how much Grade 5 Mana Tenacity Cores cost perchance?”

“Even though they’re only Grade 5 Mana Tenacity Cores, each of them costs like one Rank 9 Mana Stone,” said Cardis in response as Aurus could not help but widen his eyes after hearing that.

After all, Torvas had given him a Rank 9 Mana Stone and that one stone was already equivalent to 1.5 billion gold coins. ‘And you’re telling me that one Grade 5 Mana Tenacity Core costs as much as that?! What the hell happened in the past for the prices of those cores to skyrocket?’

Although he wanted to know the answer to that question, he had a feeling that Cardis did not know the answer to it. ‘Well, I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask…’

“Oh, the reason behind that?” Hearing Aurus’ question regarding the high price of the Mana Tenacity Cores, Cardis surprisingly had an answer to that. “Well, that’s because around 500 years ago, a certain person was born in the continent with possibly the greatest aptitude and talent for magic. Because of that, the continent experienced a golden era of magic due to that person’s actions since he contributed great developments in every field.”

“With that, almost everything that could help out in the advancement of magic was swooped up by everyone like vultures, leading to a massive shortage in every magic item. And as you know, high demand and low supply means a skyrocket in price,” he concluded. “Even though that era of magic has already ended, people still feel the effects of it at the higher tiers.”

“Got it.” Now that his curiosity was satisfied, Aurus returned their topic back to the prices of Mana Tenacity Cores. “Well, since Grade 5 Mana Tenacity Cores cost that much, how much do Grade 4 Mana Tenacity Cores cost?”

“The most expensive price you could get at that grade would be a couple Rank 8 Mana Stones,” said Cardis in response. “Though, as long as you wait for a while, you could probably snag one for just one Rank 8 Mana Stone.”

“And how much is a Rank 8 Mana Stone in terms of gold coins?” Aurus asked soon after.

“Around a hundred million gold coins, give or take,” replied Cardis. “With that, the most expensive price you could get for a Grade 4 Mana Tenacity Core would be around 200 to 300 million gold coins.”

“Got it.” Aurus nodded after that, thinking about how much of the money he currently had would be left after he had bought 5 of those cores. ‘Well, let’s just hope I could snag all of them for a hundred million gold coins each.’

After talking about a few more things for a while longer, Aurus eventually prepared to say goodbye to Cardis.

“You’re not even gonna go and say hello to Torvas?” the latter could not help but ask.

“There’s no need to,” Aurus replied. “I just needed information on where to get Mana Tenacity Cores and you answered that.”

“Plus, I’m pretty sure he knows I visited for a bit.” With that, Aurus bade farewell and left the Origin Pantheon soon after, leaving Cardis alone on his own again.

As he looked at the spot Aurus disappeared from, Cardis could not help but scratch his head in confusion before letting out a light sigh.

“What does he mean by Torvas knowing he visited for a bit? Why so mysterious?”

“Ah, whatever. It doesn’t have anything to do with me anyway.”

…

Returning back to the Everdark Mountains, Aurus was instantly greeted by the sight of Horell and Melzarin lying down on the ground for a bit as they idly chatted away. Seeing this, he could not help but try and hide his presence as he wanted to see them interact like that for a bit longer.

Unfortunately for him, the two had noticed his return as both of them stood up to look at him.

“Welcome back,” Horell said the very moment he stood up. “So what did you find out in the Origin Pantheon?”

“Good news.” Aurus smiled after hearing that.

“You know where to get Mana Tenacity Cores?” Melzarin asked, to which Aurus nodded.

Seeing him nod, Melzarin and Horell looked at him with smiles on their faces as it meant that they wouldn’t have to wait any longer.

“Alright then. I’m guessing the location’s a bit far away from here, so I’ll give all of us a lift,” said Melzarin as he manipulated his energy to make a levitating platform for the three of them. As all three of them hopped on the platform, he then looked at Aurus and asked, “Where to?”

“The Valiharsus Kingdom,” Aurus replied with a smile.

“Got it.” Melzarin nodded, infusing a great portion of his energy on the platform as they then shot forward from the original position soon after.

Whoosh!

“Off to the Valiharsus Arc Treasure Pavilion we go!”