Chapter Eighty-Seven: Anti-Copying Runes

Before noon, Andy had already sold out his stock and closed up shop. As promised, he treated Catherine to a lavish meal, and then returned to his dormitory at the academy.

Once back, he calculated his earnings. After deducting the protection fee and the magic stones spent on querying the contents of the manuals through the Magic Mirror, he had made a net profit of over five hundred magic stones that day.

These magic stones were enough for Andy to consult the Magic Mirror about the contents of a witchcraft specialty. However, he decided to save them, prioritizing the query for the “Klein Black Hole Meditation Technique.” After all, meditation was the foundation of witchcraft. The sooner Catherine could switch to this method, the greater the benefit to her future cultivation.

At any rate, if things went smoothly, a business like theirs would only need three or four days to accumulate enough magic stones to query the meditation technique. Andy could learn the witchcraft specialty afterward without missing anything.

The next day, Andy continued to sell manuals at the market labeled E. Thanks to returning early the previous day, he had managed to transcribe a few more copies—ten in total—and once again sold out before noon.

On the third day, Andy was surprised to encounter a wealthy customer right as he set up. The buyer purchased all ten manuals in one go.

With this, they finally had enough magic stones to query the meditation technique for Catherine. Andy and Catherine hurried back to their dormitory and used the Magic Mirror to look up the “Klein Black Hole Meditation Technique.”

It was said that black holes were the core of dark energy in the astral realm, capable of devouring everything. Legend had it that the great wizard Klein, after years of observing black holes, created this meditation method.

After acquiring the meditation technique, Catherine needed some time to focus and convert her current technique. She asked Andy to prepare plenty of food for her, as she was about to enter seclusion.

However, Andy was uneasy about leaving Catherine alone at home while he went out to do business the day after next. The process of switching meditation techniques was most sensitive to disturbances.

After querying the meditation technique, they still had over five hundred magic stones left. Considering the situation, Andy went to the trading market near the Mixed Academy and spent over three hundred magic stones to buy a set of witch arrays.

This was a range-type combined alert and protection array. Admittedly, its defensive capabilities were rather ordinary—it could only withstand attacks up to a strength of sixty, and couldn't even take a single fireball from Andy. Still, it would at least give Catherine, who would be absorbed in her meditation, a moment to react if something happened. The array’s alarm bell was to be carried by Andy, so he would sense any attack at once.

The apprentice who sold Andy the array was a well-known figure at the Mixed Academy, famed for producing “foolproof” arrays that were popular among students who knew nothing of arraycraft. Andy had no trouble setting it up and soon had the array deployed around his villa.

The seller explained that if one had some knowledge of arraycraft, it was possible to adjust the array’s parameters—shifting its focus between alert and defense, for example—and carefully explained the adjustment methods. Unfortunately, Andy had not yet studied arrays in detail and found the instructions confusing, though Catherine listened with great interest.

The next day was Sunday, Andy’s planned day of rest, so he did not go out to set up shop. After helping Catherine set up the array and enjoying a hearty meal together, he saw her off as she began her seclusion.

Andy then resumed consulting the Magic Mirror for manual contents. He planned to transcribe just ten more copies; after all, the value of such manuals lay in their scarcity, and flooding the market would only depreciate them. He felt that ten per day was a suitable number—after all, the capital city had a large enough market to absorb that many.

As he queried and transcribed, Andy’s speed improved with practice.

Suddenly, as he was working, he sensed a fluctuation in the villa’s array. Andy hurriedly put away the Magic Mirror and the manuals he was transcribing, and went out to investigate.

It turned out that he had a visitor—Oliver Barov. Andy invited him in, only to see Oliver produce a book and ask Andy if he had recently been selling such manuals in the capital.

Andy was surprised. “Yes, an adventuring party in Dallas owed me money and paid me with a bunch of manuals instead. Now that I’m in the capital, I’m trying to get rid of them. That’s why I asked you about the trading markets a few days ago. But how did you end up with one of the manuals I sold?”

Oliver gave Andy a peculiar look. “I bought this from someone else for five hundred magic stones.”

“What? Five hundred?” Andy exclaimed. “A manual of this grade usually goes for just a hundred, maybe two hundred magic stones! If you wanted one, I’d have given you one for free!” Andy looked at Oliver as if he were a gullible mark.

“A hundred or two hundred is for those anti-copying editions. This is an original,” Oliver retorted, returning Andy’s look of sympathy.

After Oliver’s explanation, Andy understood. Most manuals on the market were inscribed with anti-copying runes. The books Andy had borrowed from the library all had such runes. These enchantments prevented the manuals from being copied—if someone attempted it, the rune would activate and destroy the manual.

Such anti-copying runes could be crafted by any apprentice with a basic knowledge of runecraft, and at very low cost. Therefore, most manual sellers used them to prevent their works from being widely circulated, which would lower their value. Manuals without these runes—originals, or “master copies”—were exceedingly rare, usually the product of a wizard skilled enough to break the runes.

Oliver’s explanation made the situation clear to Andy. He had always wondered why no one simply borrowed books from the library, copied them, and sold them. He’d assumed the academy’s disciplinary office did strict checks, but now he realized the true reason.

Now that he understood, Andy felt a pang of regret for having sold those manuals so cheaply. Then he heard Oliver mention that the market was currently scrambling to buy Andy’s original manuals, and that he had used his own connections to buy one and come ask Andy about it.

This gave Andy a bad feeling. In hindsight, the wealthy customer who had bought all ten of his manuals in one go the other day had seemed odd—he hadn’t even checked them carefully before making the purchase.

Sure enough, Andy’s premonition came true the next day. As soon as he entered the market, he heard a familiar voice:

“...Captain Barton squandered everything on food, drink, gambling, and whores, racking up a debt of thirty-five thousand magic stones, then ran off with his sister-in-law. We had no choice but to accept the adventuring party’s manuals as our wages. Manuals originally priced at five hundred, three hundred, two hundred magic stones—now all for eighty each, just eighty!”