Otto walked with the book open in his hands.

“A curse is a spell that affects another person against their will, this even includes positive spells that stop you from ageing and so on…”

“Simply sneak the battery onto someone and power a spell remotely…” the book explained.

Otto was reading through the previously skipped chapters in the magic book.

Along the way he learned many new applications for old spells like for example creating two batteries to power one spell, this removes the issue of slowly-charging batteries.

“Illusions allow you to project an image from your mind as a 3D image, you can use this to hide bodies or even make yourself invisible, though the mana-vacuum you create will be easy to spot by any mage…”

Otto travelled past many settlements, not stopping there for any amount of time, the headed north until he saw the sign reading “MiningTown”

Stone walls stood around the wealthy looking settlement, large homes and shops that displayed fresh-looking fruit and vegetables.

The guards at the gates asked him a few questions, if he was a magic user, if he intended to stay for longer than a day or if he was previously banished from any town.

Otto replied “No” to all of the above, for the first time in ages he removed his mana-regenerating circle, in a sense going completely incognito, producing zero magic vacuum.

They gave him a porcelain slab with an elaborate symbol etched into it.

Magic-powered lamps stood at each corner detecting the amount of light coming from outside and adjusting the brightness accordingly.

“If Agartha is the capital, the court mages must be there…” Otto thought as he continued his way through the town.

He looked around seeing stands with a load of food, he was still completely broke so looking at the food was all he could do, even so, his biggest problem was exhaustion.

“I can’t afford to stay anywhere… but at the very least I’ll be safer sleeping in some alley than in the open…” Otto thought shuffling over to a surprisingly clean alley.

Between two tall homes and behind a pile of crates, Otto laid down with his hands crossed behind his head.

He placed his black book under his head like a pillow.

The moment he closed his eyes he passed out only to be woken up a few minutes later by a sharp pain on his shoulder.

“W-what the hell?!” he jumped to his feet, he extended his hand forward ready to blow his cover and defend himself only to see a now spooked owl fluttering away.

“…I thought owls eat rodents…” he thought.

“Maybe it thought I was a dead rodent…”

“I’ve hit a new low…” he remarked looking down to his surprisingly cosy piece of the floor only to spot the two golden feathers that lay on the ground.

“Hm?” he lifted them up and saw that they were, in fact, metallic in colour and felt like metal, not that Otto personally had a chance to feel-up a lot of gold in his life.

“…”

“It might be the sleep deprivation taking its toll… but I think these might really be gold…”

Still tired, Otto pocketed the feathers and grabbed his book as he left his cover and walked into the street which was again full of shops and stalls.

After letting out a yawn Otto stumbled out and looked for anybody he could try and sell some “magic gold feathers”.

“What’s the worst thing that can happen, I’ll get laughed at and I’ll be able to go back to sleep without worrying about not cashing the feathers in…” Otto thought.

He made his way to what looked like a jeweller with several rings on display, they were all chained to the stall itself so that no thief could just swipe them and run away.

“Greetings!” the old man running the stall turned to look at Otto with a beaming smile only for his expression to sink once he saw his shabby attire.

“Oh…”

“I’m selling real jewellery here, not macaroni necklaces…” the man remarked wryly.

Otto held out the two golden feathers.

“I’m looking for a place to sell some gold…” Otto remarked, he was too tired to comment on the man’s insult.

The merchant rolled his eyes as he gestured to what looked like a clay pot.

“Drop em’ in there, we’ll see if they’re really gold…” he said smugly.

Otto shrugged and dropped the two feathers into the pot, its surface began to glow as the old man reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a mini-chandelier.

Instead of candles or lightbulbs, what hung down were little bits of pure metal tied to the metal ring, the appraisal pot would attract substances found inside.

Only the gold sample moved, not only that but the nearby rings also moved towards the pot confirming the validity of the items within.

The owner looked at the pot in stunned silence, he glanced over to the bored-looking Otto mistaking his exhaustion for lack of interest.

“S-sorry for my rude comment! I’d gladly take these off your hands!” the old man offered.

Otto nodded.

The old man grabbed the feathers from inside placing them in a small pouch in his pocket before pulling out a handful of silver coins and handing them over to Otto.

“H-here,” the man said gesturing for Otto to look at the money.

“Looks like ten coins… nice…” he thought grabbing the coins and turning to leave.

“Thanks, man…” Otto said as he desperately looked for an inn to stay at, not knowing the man ripped him off by about ten silvers.

After a few minutes of walking, Otto stumbled into a well-off looking inn.

He approached the reception desk seeing the woman sitting behind it give him the same distasteful look as the old man did minutes earlier.

“How much…?” he asked flashing his one-day pass.

She rolled her eyes.

“Two silvers,” she replied.

“What a ripoff…” he thought reaching into his pocket and placing the two silvers on the desk before stumbling up the stairs and into the first unlocked room he could find.

He propped the chair up with a chair and collapsed on the soft bed that seemed like a godsend after all this time of sleeping on rocks and piles of straw wrapped in cloth.

Moments later, Otto passed out as the gold-feathered owl watched him from outside his window.