Passerby Villain In A Wizard World

Chapter 238 - 238: ATALI: An Ancient Ruin

"Okay, I'm satisfied. Happy? Now, give me the damn code, old man. Stop playing around."

Ian couldn't take the sly look of the old man and ordered while gnashing his teeth.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Young people nowadays are so restless. They don't have any patience at all."

The old man was still busy acting wise, but after seeing Ian's dark face, he coughed and immediately told the so-called code in a whisper,

"The code is 'Atali Awaits.' You can enter that place after saying the name. You just have to go to the black market at night and use this token to enter that place. Once you say the code, they should bring you to their group."

After explaining it, the old man stopped and looked at Ian.

"Atali Awaits? Hmm... quite simple for a code, eh..."

Ian mumbled while scrutinizing the old man to see if he was getting scammed.

"Don't look at me like that. It is not I who makes the code. Besides, since you want to go to Atali, it kinda makes sense."

"Then that's good, as long as it gets me into that place."

Ian nodded, didn't delve further, and placed the pouch along with the token inside the mana ring. Then, he waved his hand and said,

"Okay, old man. It is time for me to leave. Let's meet again if fate allows."

After saying that, he directly went outside the room without awaiting a response.

"Hey, young man, don't forget to come again. You cannot find a reliable person like me in the entire Runeshire City."

The old man was afraid that his money-grabbing tactic might drive away the potential potion maker. But Ian was already outside the shop and didn't seem to hear him.

'Well, then again, if he really goes to Atali, he might not return alive. Let him be.'

The old man suddenly thought of the ancient wizard ruin and shivered unconsciously. Even an official wizard could get lost and lose their lives in that place, let alone an apprentice.

So, he directly ignored Ian's rude exit and sat on his chair, taking out all the potions Ian had sold just now with a smile.

Today, he really scored big.

...

In a shadowy corner, hidden from the bustle outside and out of view, Ian revealed his true form after making sure nobody was tracking him.

"Phew, using the Shape-Shifting ability consumes so much mental power."

He mumbled after returning to his handsome self from the short gait he showed before. Since he was doing a shady deal outside, of course, he couldn't just expose his true identity.

Moreover, he was looking forward to using the Shape-Shifting ability he got from Lyra before. Now that he had used it, he found it as good as ever, although the mental power consumed was a little bit high.

'Fortunately, I finally got the Forbidden Token from that old man.'

Ian thought with glee while swiftly heading outside. He was quite happy.

'Now I just need to enter Atali Ruin and find the necessary potion recipes there. Hopefully, Ron's news is correct.'

He thought with hope. It had been ten days since he arrived in the city of Runeshire, and he already knew that there was no Ascension Potion to speak of.

Heck, he couldn't even purchase any Intermediate Potion recipes outside.

For such things, he had to join some organization, and he couldn't just wait for the Arcane Assembly to start.

Fortunately for him, a few days ago, Ron gave him a map where he could possibly find everything he needed.

As for him being invited by the Fourth Ring Wizard, just as he had thought, it was nothing big. According to Ron, he was just asked about the reason for his early return and a few other things related to Ignisia Tower.

'Atali Ruin, a mysterious ancient arcane ruin spanning the entire Aetherion...'

Ian recalled a bit of the information he knew about the place he was going next.

As far as he knew, this world, Aetherion, had a very old history and had seen tragic wars countless times.

So, the rise and fall of a wizard organization was quite normal, and so were the Wizard Ruins.

However, out of all of them, Atali Ruin stood at the forefront with its massive presence spanning everywhere and even beyond this world.

In fact, as per the information he had collected, even the higher-ups weren't too sure about this ruin.

How much of it was the truth, Ian didn't know, but he still remembered that Carl also went to the Atali Ruin in the Arcane Passage and gained a lot of things.

And that place was perfect for him, as he had the help of his Ethereal Form.

But going there alone was a problem, hence why he asked that old man from the Apothecary's Rest to find him the Forbidden Token.

This token was a ticket to attend a shady assembly at the black market, where one could access things that were normally out of reach in this city.

After all, those at the apprentice level normally couldn't access that ruin. He had to

They would be fine even without him. Of course, he would still not leave them alone, but just let them build their future themselves.

"Oh... then it's fine. By the way, I finally have some skills you can learn. Do you want to try?"

Ignysyl suddenly asked with a smile, causing Ian's face to become extremely bright.

"Then, what are you wasting time for? Let's get to it immediately."