"Were you scammed by some bad guy?" Chloe asked, tilting her head. A strand of lavender hair slipped across her cheek.

"Do you think anyone has the ability to scam me?" Vlad replied with a counter question. His eyebrow rose slightly.

Chloe gave a quick thought to his words, imagining Vlad getting scammed. She tried to picture him being tricked, cheated, or led astray. She shook her head as the thought seemed too absurd to be true. The image simply would not form.

She took a step back from him and touched his forehead with the back of her hand.

"Not hot. So no fever," she murmured, her palm lingering for a moment longer.

Vlad removed her hand, his brows furrowing as he asked, "Why are you acting weird?"

"Vlad is acting weird. You said you formed pri—" her voice dropped lower as she whispered, "you formed a primordial core?"

"It’s true. I really did," Vlad insisted, his tone serious. His crimson eyes held steady.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously!"

Chloe went silent, trying to process the revelation. Her gaze drifted to the side as she turned the information over in her mind.

"Did you meet the Legendary Knight?" she asked a moment later, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I hope I did," Vlad sighed. "But the one I met could be close to his level."

"That strong!?" Chloe’s voice turned louder, although her face remained expressionless. Surprise flickered only in her eyes. "Lucky... congratulations on forming the core."

"Thank you," Vlad chuckled before asking, "Do you also want to meet them?"

Chloe immediately shook her head. The motion was quick and decisive.

"You know you should talk to more people," Vlad sighed, lightly flicking her forehead.

"I don’t need more people," Chloe replied before grabbing his hand. . "Let’s go. I need to buy many things."

Vlad pressed his fingers against the back of her soft and slender palm, a light smile playing on his face as she pulled him towards the market. First, they decided to visit the shop for which they had arrived in the market. Their footsteps echoed softly on the cobblestone path.

"This must be the shop," Vlad murmured as they stood before the dark wooden doors of a stone building. The timber was aged, weathered by years of rain and sun. A worn-out bell hung by the door, its brass surface dulled with age, and above the entrance, a board was suspended on which Mystic Vault was engraved with glowing italic letters.

An open sign hung from the vertical wooden handles of the door, swaying slightly in the evening breeze.

The name of this shop had come up when Vlad searched for mana stone shops in the forums on his phone.

He opened the door with a push, and the duo went inside.

The interior was a towering cylindrical structure with multiple wooden sections embedded on the inner wall from bottom to top. A shining chandelier hung from the high ceiling, illuminating the whole shop with warm golden light. Its crystals refracted the glow into tiny rainbows that danced across the walls.

A table was placed at the centre, a candle holder at one side burning with multiple candles embedded at different levels. The flames flickered softly, casting dancing shadows across the surface. The candles did little to add brightness, as the room was already bright enough because of the chandelier. They seemed to be placed more for aesthetics, lending an air of old-world charm. Beside the table, a Card Ledger was placed. It appeared to be in better condition than the one they had seen at the teleportation gate of Barton City.

Behind the desk, a short elderly man sat, his long grey hair and beard coiling in his lap like silver serpents. He wore large spectacles on his wrinkled face with thick magnification that made his brown eyes appear even larger as he looked at the customers entering the shop.

"Good evening, grandpa. Is this the right place to buy a mana stone?" Vlad asked, reaching the desk.

"It certainly is," the old man replied, his voice cracked and brittle because of his age. He adjusted his spectacles with a trembling hand. "What level do you need?"

"Do you have Primordial level?" Vlad asked bluntly. The words landed like a stone dropped into still water.

The old man nearly fell from his chair at the absurdity of Vlad’s question. His eyes bulged behind the thick lenses. He quickly pulled himself forward, saving his old back from hitting the marble floor at the last moment. The chair scraped loudly beneath him.

"Kids, if you are here to play around, I will show you how scary an elderly man can become," the shopkeeper muttered, a crease of irritation appearing between his brows.

Even Chloe felt second-hand embarrassment from how shamelessly Vlad asked for a Primordial mana stone as if it were a candy sold by the roadside. She shifted uncomfortably, hiding herself behind his back.

"I am really serious," Vlad said, carrying no hint of sarcasm in his face or voice.

"An ignorant youngling from the first year who knows nothing of the world," the old man sighed, slumping back into his chair. It was not his first time encountering students asking for impossible artifacts. Each year, one or two ignorant kids like him would visit his shop, wide-eyed and clueless. "Didn’t they teach you in class? Primordial mana stones do not exist. I can show you mana stones up to Celestial level."

"Denying the existence of something because you have not seen it is the true definition of ignorance," Vlad retorted as he pivoted on his feet. The leather of his jacket creaked with the movement. "If you do not have it, just say so."

The veins bulged across the shopkeeper’s forehead, his face turning red with fury. His breathing grew heavy, rattling in his aged chest.

"Even if it existed and I had it, I would not sell it to a rude brat like you," he declared, his voice breaking from both old age and anger.

Chloe looked back and forth between the two, her lavender eyes darting like nervous butterflies. She grabbed Vlad’s wrist as he was retreating and said, "This is the only shop that sells mana stones. I am fine with a Celestial mana stone."

"I’m not," Vlad’s answer came in an instant, sharp and final. "You’re an S+, Chloe. I’ll not let you be limited to Celestial grade only when you have the talent to reach higher."

His fingers intertwined with hers as he moved out of the shop, the wooden door swinging behind them before coming to rest at the centre with a soft click. The evening air greeted them, cool and fresh.

"Will you ask your benefactor for the mana stone?" Chloe asked, walking beside him. Her hand remained in his.

"I can’t, even if I wanted to," Vlad answered, shaking his head. He did not know how to contact the Black Dragon and Thunderbird again. Even if he could, the chances were low that they possessed a Primordial mana stone of Anemo affinity.

"There’s only one person in the academy who might possess a Primordial mana stone or a method to acquire it," Vlad said, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

"You mean..." Chloe murmured, her eyes slightly widening as she realized whom Vlad meant.

"Let’s meet the principal of this academy," Vlad declared, his smile blossoming into a confident smirk.