Infinite Mana - Chapter 178: Shopping Spree (Patreon)

Sieghart spent the remainder of the afternoon moving between libraries, specialist bookstores, runic workshops, equipment dealers, and sellers scattered throughout the capital’s enormous commercial districts.

The sheer amount of practical information immediately justified coming here. Seraphina possessed deeper magical theory, but the capital gathered knowledge from merchants, soldiers, craftsmen, adventurers, miners, nobles, and travelers arriving from almost every human territory.

His first important purchase came from a runic engineering library whose shelves were divided by application rather than magical discipline. Entire sections covered household enchantments, transportation systems, warehouses, workshops, agricultural equipment, and devices Sieghart had never considered building.

Two diagrams caught his attention almost immediately. The first described a compact heating array that circulated warmth through metal channels while several regulating symbols limited temperature and prevented the surrounding structure from becoming dangerously hot. The second design looked suspiciously close to air conditioning from Earth. Wind Runes circulated air through prepared channels while a cooling formation removed heat before returning the air into the enclosed space.

Sieghart stared at both pages while mentally placing the systems inside his carriage. The cargo compartment became uncomfortable whenever everything remained closed, turning cold at night, warm during the day, and unpleasantly humid after extended travel.

“Those are going in.”

Comfort had originally seemed unnecessary compared with armor, speed, and storage capacity, but several nights sleeping between crates had changed his priorities. A carriage he intended to live inside should probably stop behaving like an oversized wooden box.

The ventilation diagrams interested him for another reason. Proper airflow could remove smoke, moisture, strange smells, and perhaps even poisonous vapors if Sieghart ever repeated the brilliant decision of creating toxic miasma inside an enclosed environment.

The book was expensive enough to make him pause, although that hesitation lasted only until he imagined sleeping somewhere with controllable temperature. He paid, added the volume to his growing collection, and immediately continued searching. The next shop specialized in magical equipment maintenance, where Sieghart found shelves dedicated to mana storage, charge efficiency, crystal pressure, capacity expansion, and techniques for reducing the passive loss of stored magical energy.

That subject became more interesting than nearly everything else around him. Most magical equipment depended upon cores, prepared crystals, or specialized metals capable of holding mana until some runic structure demanded power.

Sieghart’s carriage currently required direct mana input whenever the engine operated, and most of his planned defensive systems would suffer from the same weakness if he designed them carelessly.

A barrier that disappeared the moment he fell asleep would provide very little reassurance. Automatic defenses were only useful if they remained active precisely when Sieghart was too unconscious to maintain them personally.

One thick manual focused almost entirely upon increasing stored charge without replacing the original power source. It covered layered containment arrays, pressure distribution, overflow channels, and methods for expanding capacity without destabilizing existing equipment.

“Definitely buying this.”

With Infinite Mana, charging equipment beforehand cost him nothing except time and attention. He could fill every storage component before sleeping, then let prepared systems remain active for hours without relying upon conscious mana flow. The idea immediately expanded into a much larger project. Exterior reinforcement, intrusion alarms, barrier emitters, impact detection, automatic lighting, and eventually defensive countermeasures could all operate from stored reserves while Sieghart slept inside.

He would need safeguards before adding anything capable of attacking automatically. The last thing Sieghart needed was accidentally incinerating an innkeeper because somebody knocked too aggressively against the carriage after midnight.

He bought two manuals on storage expansion, another covering defensive equipment maintenance, and a thinner reference guide filled with emergency shutdown circuits for overloaded enchanted devices.

His pile of purchases kept growing while the remaining money inside his storage compartments steadily moved in the opposite direction. Sieghart deliberately stopped calculating the total for a while because ignorance made browsing considerably easier.

The updated national map came from a large cartography shop near one of the capital’s central avenues, where enormous regional maps covered entire walls beneath carefully protected glass panels. Unlike Ronan’s suspiciously incomplete version, this map included officially recognized dungeons. Sieghart nearly smiled when the merchant unfolded the newest edition across a broad table and began explaining the symbols.

There were considerably more than ten. Dungeon marks appeared throughout human territory with different indicators for active mining operations, restricted entrances, partially explored complexes, known danger levels, abandoned sites, and regions undergoing recent changes. Several existed surprisingly close to major settlements, while others sat inside mountains, forests, valleys, old battlefields, and isolated stretches where nobody had bothered creating permanent communities around them.

The map did not identify every Guardian or boss, naturally, but many locations contained short notes describing dominant monster populations, known environmental hazards, and whether organized expeditions operated there regularly.

Sieghart found the earthworm dungeon after several minutes of searching. Its location, monster classification, and nearby mining roads matched what he had already seen, which made the rest of the map considerably easier to trust. He studied the surrounding region next and found another dungeon several days south of the capital. That location immediately became his preferred destination after leaving the city.

Sieghart bought the map alongside a smaller dungeon reference guide containing basic information about the officially documented sites. The opening pages repeatedly warned that dungeon ecosystems changed and old reports should never replace current preparation.

That disclaimer sounded like something written after enough adventurers died because they assumed a ten-year-old report remained perfectly accurate. Sieghart approved and stored both references with the books he intended to read first. After gathering information, he moved toward the equipment markets. Sieghart deliberately ignored expensive enchanted weapons because buying finished magical gear defeated the purpose of practicing runic engineering and reselling improved merchandise elsewhere.

Instead, he purchased simple but well-made swords, knives, spearheads, small shields, leather armor, reinforced boots, traveling cloaks, utility belts, and durable metal tools that could accept modifications without requiring rare materials. None of the items were impressive by themselves, which was exactly what Sieghart wanted. Cheap equipment offered larger margins once a useful enchantment raised its practical value beyond the original purchase price.

Heating arrays could transform ordinary gloves into winter gear. Reinforcement could make inexpensive shields more reliable, while sharpening, impact absorption, water resistance, illumination, and minor elemental effects could improve countless everyday items. Sieghart could train runic engineering while creating merchandise at the same time. The idea sounded almost suspiciously productive, so naturally he responded by buying considerably more equipment than originally planned.

By the time merchants began closing their shops, the carriage had become noticeably heavier despite Sieghart’s careful organization. Books occupied shelves while weapons, armor, tools, crystals, inks, metal plates, and replacement parts consumed most remaining compartments. Only after everything had been secured did Sieghart finally sit behind the steering wheel and count how much money remained from the income he had accumulated while working for Lunar Arc.

He became completely still after finishing the calculation, then repeated it once because the first result looked unpleasant enough that he briefly hoped arithmetic had somehow betrayed him.

Almost one entire year of accumulated income had vanished during a single afternoon of shopping. Sieghart still possessed reserves, but the remaining amount looked considerably less reassuring than it had that morning.

“That might be a problem.”

Money had never impressed him much after his grandparents died. Wealth seemed considerably less meaningful once he learned that possessing coins did not automatically protect the people he wanted alive. Independent travel changed the equation. Books cost money, materials cost money, repairs cost money, maps cost money, food cost money, and every interesting shop apparently contained something Sieghart could immediately justify purchasing.

He could not continue spending without restraint simply because the numbers felt abstract. One afternoon had just proven that even accumulated Lunar Arc income could disappear surprisingly fast when curiosity met a capital marketplace.

Fortunately, the ordinary equipment filling his carriage provided a straightforward solution. Sieghart could enchant several pieces while traveling south, then resell them in smaller settlements where specialized magical goods were harder to obtain.

That had been his plan from the beginning. The only problem was that he had enthusiastically completed the spending half before proving whether the earning half actually worked.

“I definitely need to start selling things before another bookstore sees me coming.”

The sun had already disappeared by the time Sieghart finished organizing everything and considered leaving the capital. He drove toward the southern gate anyway, hoping nighttime traffic would remain as relaxed as it had been during daylight.

The situation near the wall had changed considerably. The enormous gate remained open, but only halfway, while additional guards stood nearby and several soldiers inspected larger caravans preparing to leave after dark. Archers positioned along the walls also looked more attentive than before, with bows close at hand and fewer people sitting casually around the defensive platforms.

Nothing suggested an emergency. This was probably ordinary nighttime security, which somehow made Sieghart dislike the situation even more because behaving suspiciously would become entirely his own fault. Leaving after sunset in a strange horseless carriage packed with weapons, armor, magical books, runic materials, and equipment would attract attention even if everything inside had been purchased legally.

He could probably pass without difficulty, but the word probably had betrayed Sieghart often enough that he turned away before giving anyone a reason to become curious.

“One night. I’ll sleep, leave after sunrise, and avoid doing anything interesting until I’m outside these walls.”

Finding an inn created another problem because parking the carriage somewhere public meant leaving nearly everything he owned unattended. Paying for a comfortable bed would accomplish very little if he spent the entire night imagining thieves emptying his vehicle.

Sieghart eventually chose a less comfortable solution. A narrow alley between two warehouses sat away from the busier streets, dark enough that the carriage became difficult to notice from either entrance. He backed the vehicle between the buildings and positioned it close to one wall, leaving enough room to access the rear compartment while preventing anyone from casually opening the larger side panels.

The alley smelled like damp stone, old wood, spilled grain, stagnant water, and several substances Sieghart preferred not examining closely with Enhanced Smell. It was still safer than leaving everything beside an inn.

Afterward, Sieghart lay down between crates and tried sleeping. His body was exhausted enough to demand rest immediately, but his mind had apparently decided that purchasing expensive equipment required spending the night imagining people stealing it. Every distant sound became suspicious. Footsteps outside, wheels passing on another street, laughter, breaking glass, creaking timber, and even a cat knocking something over dragged Sieghart back toward wakefulness.

Nothing actually happened, which somehow failed to make sleeping easier. The absence of trouble only gave his imagination more time to invent increasingly specific scenarios involving thieves, guards, curious mages, and damaged runic books.

Several hours passed before Sieghart finally managed something resembling sleep. Even then, he remained shallow enough that unrelated noises repeatedly woke him before any proper rest could settle in. Morning arrived long before his body considered the night finished. Sieghart eventually sat upright inside the carriage and stared blankly at the opposite wall while deciding that capitals were terrible places for sleeping.

“That was awful.”

Once morning traffic became loud enough that the alley no longer felt isolated, Sieghart allowed himself another short nap. Knowing hundreds of ordinary people were moving nearby somehow made random nighttime footsteps less threatening.

The second attempt went considerably better. When Sieghart woke again, sunlight had reached part of the alley entrance and his thoughts finally felt organized enough for spellcasting and driving.

The closest dungeon worth investigating lay south of the capital, conveniently placing him farther from Greymill, the robbery site, and every location where people might already possess inconvenient descriptions of his carriage. Sieghart briefly considered remaining in the capital for several more days. There were undoubtedly libraries, archives, merchants, adventurers, magical shops, and researchers he had not even discovered yet.

Staying would almost certainly produce useful information, but it would also increase the probability that somebody became interested in him, noticed his spells, recognized his appearance, or simply involved him in another emergency. Sieghart decided leaving was safer than testing his luck unnecessarily.

While guiding the carriage back toward the main avenues, however, he noticed a group gathered outside an optical equipment shop where customers were testing several pairs of enchanted glasses.

Sieghart slowed slightly and activated Magic Vision. Tiny runic formations surrounded the lenses, each pair carrying different structures related to magical observation rather than ordinary eyesight correction. One pair highlighted active enchantments. Another reacted when the wearer looked toward hidden magical markings, while a more expensive design produced visible distortion whenever someone using illusion magic crossed the demonstration area.

Sieghart immediately became more attentive. Those glasses probably could not completely defeat Phantom Image, but equipment capable of detecting magical inconsistencies might expose enough of his disguise to create suspicion. That possibility was troublesome, especially because the glasses appeared to be ordinary commercial products rather than rare equipment restricted to powerful organizations or wealthy mages.

At the same time, the problem produced several useful ideas. If Sieghart studied how ocular equipment detected illusions, he might eventually modify Phantom Image to produce fewer visible inconsistencies. He could also create his own detection glasses, allowing him to identify illusions without keeping Magic Vision active constantly. Better equipment might even help recognize people using ocular techniques against him.

Sieghart almost stopped at the shop before remembering how much money had vanished the previous afternoon. His hands tightened around the steering wheel while he forced the carriage to continue moving instead of creating another expensive detour.

“Later.”

The southern gate looked much more relaxed during daylight. Traffic moved freely between the enormous doors while guards watched from nearby positions without stopping ordinary travelers or inspecting every wagon.

Sieghart joined the flow while keeping the updated dungeon map open beside him. If he maintained the planned route, he could reach the nearest southern dungeon without passing through several major settlements, which sounded almost suspiciously convenient.

That pleasant thought lasted until Sieghart noticed people behaving strangely along one side street ahead. Pedestrians slowed whenever they passed a narrow alley between several buildings, sometimes looking inside before immediately turning away. Others whispered to companions and increased their pace, while one merchant deliberately crossed to the opposite side of the street and nearly collided with another pedestrian in his hurry to create distance.

Sieghart stared toward the opening as his carriage approached. Nobody screamed, no obvious fighting reached the street, and nothing visibly dangerous emerged from the shadows, yet everyone nearby behaved as though approaching the alley was a terrible idea.

The absence of anything obvious only made the behavior more suspicious, and Sieghart sighed while reducing the carriage’s speed before he had even decided whether curiosity deserved another interruption.

“Please don’t be another problem.”

He looked toward the southern gate in the distance, then back toward the shadowed opening he had absolutely no intention of investigating when he woke that morning. Apparently, he was about to discover exactly why everyone kept looking.