The moment I stepped into the ring, a dragon hopped out to confront me.

ROOOOAAAAR!

The dragon roared as it reared, facing me, sending gusts of hot air blowing across my face and naked chest as my hair fluttered. It was a good thing the dragon was inorganic, or globs of stinking saliva would spatter me; the breath would be horrific as well. I stood right at the edge of the ring, ready to opt at any moment

We stood face to face, waiting for the first move. But none of us did even after a minute. Well, this is awkward. I looked to the ground and found a large stone, throwing it at full force toward's the dragon's eye.

BANG!

The rock smashed hard onto the dragon's forehead causing no damage, but the dragon was aggroed, widening it's mouth in a threatening manner as a ball of fire blazed. I quickly hopped aside out of the ring as the flames shot towards me. Watching me escape, the dragon snorted in contempt at my 'cowardice'.

Meanwhile, I was sampling the mana around me, delighted to find huge amounts of mana; the total was even more than when I was around Rocky! I repeated the process over and over, the dragon seemingly confused at the antics of the annoying human.

"Hey Alan!"

A familiar voice interrupted me, and I turned to see Griaugh waving as he ran toward me from the distance. I stood waiting for him to reach me before speaking.

"Griaugh, what brings you here?"

"Oh, I was returning back to cultivate after the healing. Great fight back there!" He gave me a thumbs up and a grin.

"You healed up so quickly?" I was somewhat surprised how quickly he healed up.

"Yeah, the healers do good work."

tap tap tap tap

I heard more footsteps as a few unfamiliar people trudged through the greenery. They were three thuggish looking guys wearing black outfits, arrogance seemingly rooted into their bones from their actions. The one walking up front (who I assumed to be the leader) scrutinised me and Griaugh.

"Oh? You newbies sure are quick to find the best spot in the forest!" He bent over, rudely shoving his face into mine. This idiot's breath stunk! I resisted the urge to bat his face away, but only because I suspected I wasn't a match for him.

"This zone is ours. I'd advise you two to get out of here if you aren't looking for a beating."

He pulled his face away much to my relief, his yellow pomade bouncing as he did. Well, time to leave now. But before we could take the first step, me and Griaugh were blown away by a powerful gust of wind and sent flying away from the area. We then tumbled onto the ground on our faces. Damned pieces of shit, at least let us leave properly!

"Ah, what terrible people! Want to grab a bite instead?" Griaugh sighed as he stood up, holding out a hand to help (I was slower to get up, still sprawled on the ground). Now that he mentioned it, I was kind of hungry. It was surprising that it took that long for me to realise that; I haven't ate in almost a day after all.

"Sure."

.....

I soon reached a huge marketplace with his help.

"Here we are, the food district!" Griaugh spread his arms in the same grandiose motion Pewjack did, but more elegant. Was that a tradition here?

"I thought you were new to this sect like me?" I asked, puzzled. Since Griaugh was partaking in the disciple tournament, that meant he just joined the sect like me. How did he know of the places then?

"Ah, you didn't realise during the fight? My mana element is light and one of my spells allow me see in a huge radius and find out where things are!"

I had not ever heard of the element light. Was it a element native to wherever I was at? Whatever the case, this convinced me even more that I should find Light Spellbooks as quickly as I could. These light spells were all insanely good!

We soon picked a place and had a good meal bought from a random stall. It was an odd dish, melted cheese on a large piece of chewy bread. Many chunks of pineapple covered the top, strangely complimenting the dish. I wasn't sure why Griaugh was trying to get along with me after I beat him up, but I wasn't going to reject a gift horse.

We had a good talk during the meal, and I managed to get three things off my mind. The first, I found out from him that light spellbooks were rare and hard to fine, hardly ever found at bookstores. Well, crap. I then asked about the country I was currently in much to his puzzlement, but I found out that I was (as expected) not in my home country.

Finally, I asked for a blacksmith location and was guided by him to one. As we walked into the store full of weapons, I found it rather reminiscent of the time I first enter the store at Lumious, although I was too broke to buy anything. Wait, I still didn't have cash! I panicked, not knowing what to do.

It was fortunate that Griaugh offered me help with the funds.

"Oh? You want me to forge a pure Mithil hoe?" The blacksmith was surprised at my request, but more professional than the one back at Lumious, not laughing out loud as he received the chunks of mithil. It was a nice change.

"Alan, I think you should get a better weapon." Griaugh tried to give advice on my weapon of choice.

"I like to use hoes."

"But-"

"My choice."

"Astounding. This Mithil is almost a hundred percent pure! Do you want the 'express forging' or the 'normal forging'?" The blacksmith finished examining the Mithil purity at this point, interrupting us.

"What are the differences?" I asked quizzically.

"You see, the normal forging is not as thorough and slower, since I'm forging the weapon by forge. For express forging, I use magic to shape the metal directly. This will give the weapon better structure and purity, making it a lot stronger. The best part? It's really fast, only minutes."

"Wait, does that mean a mage with the right element can just bend weapons out of shape like that?" That was certainly a problem; it would be a disaster and a waste of money if that ever happened!

"Well, you can pay me extra to enchant your weapon! It will stop earth mages from bending it until the enchantment is off. It's not hard to get rid of the enchantment, but they won't be able to do that while fighting."

Consider me sold. Me and Griaugh watched in wonder as the smith tossed the chunks in the air and slowly fused them into a single misshapen block. The lump was then morphed and twisted into the shape of a hoe, the process fascinating to watch as the metal rippled. (The process took 5 mins in total despite how short the description was.)

"Ah, done! I made some adjustments to make it a better weapon than your original. First, the blade of the hoe is now sharper and thicker! It won't get smashed up as easily now, unlike that mess of a hoe you had. I added a pommel at the bottom as well to balance the weight of the thicker blade. It will double as a magical orb as well now, so you can cast stronger spells faster!"

It was looked simple, the entirety completely aquamarine. Yet, it was a mesmerising piece of art.

As I held it in my hand, I could feel how much better it was balanced now. I tried letting a hint of my mana into the blade, and found it very conductive. Ah, the effects of Enchanting Spells would be so much more effective and quicker now! I thanked the blacksmith for the job well done and Griaugh too, for cutting a sum out of his pocket.