Ember led Riven through the bustling market district, weaving between the clusters of students and staff browsing the various stalls and shops. The sheer variety of goods available was overwhelming—weapon shops displayed an arsenal of swords, staffs, and exotic weaponry Riven had never seen before, their enchanted edges gleaming under the light. Various potion stores lined the streets, shelves stacked to the ceiling with elixirs of every color, their labels boasting effects ranging from enhanced mana regeneration to temporary elemental resistance.
Raw materials were also plentiful—ingredients for alchemy, blacksmithing, and enchantment were neatly arranged in glass cases, available to those with the right amount of merits or mana cores.
And that was exactly what Riven lacked.
He had wealth—gold stored away thanks to the Count—but here, it was useless. The only currency that mattered in the second year was merits and mana cores, and he needed a lot of them.
