Overlord: Welcoming the Birth of the King
Chapter 25: Mage Guild Branch, Purchasing Magic Scrolls

In the evening, a cool breeze blew in through the window. 

Tang Zheng, who had fallen asleep on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up. 

Huff— 

"Had a nightmare?" 

Tang Zheng raised his hand to wipe the sweat pouring from his forehead, exhaled, and muttered softly to himself. 

He dreamt of the Bone King, standing right in front of him, a pair of crimson eyes staring coldly! 

"Damn it!" 

Tang Zheng curled his lips and cursed under his breath. 

The Bone King was a transmigrator, and so was Tang Zheng. The Bone King was a player, and Tang Zheng was too! 

"So why the hell should I be afraid of you!" Tang Zheng took a deep breath, slapped his cheek to sober up, then got out of bed and looked out the window. 

Outside, the sky had already darkened. 

Tang Zheng walked to the guest room window and pushed it open. The cool breeze flooded the room, dispersing much of his restless mood. 

He hadn’t expected to sleep until evening. 

This small inn was a two-story European-style building. The room he stayed in was on the second floor. Through the window, he could see a narrow alley below and the nearby street. 

Outside the window were a few connected wooden railings extending outward, but they looked old and obviously not sturdy. 

A thief with some skill could easily climb up the second floor by using the walls on both sides of the alley. 

Tang Zheng glanced at it and shook his head lightly, then closed the window again. 

Such a small inn could hardly keep out thieves. 

Tang Zheng washed his face to refresh himself and then left the guest room. 

On the street, 

Compared to the daytime, the flow of people was noticeably thinner. Only groups of adventurers holding weapons strolled leisurely. 

Tang Zheng had already inquired with the innkeeper about nearby shops selling various goods. 

He first headed to a clothing store. 

The clothes he wore had been on for over ten days and already smelled sour. Since he was going to the Great Tob Forest next, he needed to prepare a few more outfits. 

When he came out of the shop, 

Tang Zheng held a full package in his hand and wore a black robe covering his whole body. 

He spent a total of three silver coins. 

The most expensive was the black long robe he wore, costing one silver and seven copper coins. The package was full of other clothes made of cheap coarse linen, similar to what he had worn before. 

The reason he bought this better-quality black robe 

was because he was about to go to the Mage Guild. It would be inappropriate to wear shabby clothes there to buy things. 

Within the kingdom, every major city had branches of the Adventurer’s Guild and the Mage Guild. 

However! 

Unlike the Mage Guild headquarters in the capital, the branches in other cities did not have much function in training magic chant users with magical power talent. 

Generally, people with the talent for magical power chanting who appeared would be sent by the Mage Guild branches in various cities to the headquarters in the capital for training. 

The reason for this situation was naturally due to lack of funds! 

The traditional customs of the Li Yestige Kingdom made the upper echelons of the entire country not pay much attention to the Mage Guild, causing the guild to rarely receive financial support from the top. 

Therefore! 

The Mage Guild branches in each city became places specialized in making magical items, magic scrolls, and selling them. 

The Mage Guild here was a three-story, plain-looking building. If Tang Zheng hadn’t asked a passerby, he probably wouldn’t have guessed it was the Mage Guild branch. 

It was completely different from the bustling Adventurer’s Guild, very quiet. 

There were no guards at the entrance. 

But then again, no one would dare to barge into the Mage Guild. 

Tang Zheng came to the dark brown wooden door and was about to push it open. 

Ding— 

A soft bell rang from above the left side of the wooden door. 

Tang Zheng looked up and noticed a fist-sized bell hanging above the door. 

A faint red glow occasionally flickered on the bell. 

A magical item? 

That thought flashed through Tang Zheng’s mind. 

Click! 

The dark brown wooden door automatically opened. 

So that’s how it worked. 

Tang Zheng’s eyes brightened with a hint of realization. Convenient indeed, but the magic item bell probably had functions beyond just this simple one. 

With that in mind, Tang Zheng stepped into the Mage Guild. Soft light flowed in from the door gap, and the interior was exceptionally bright. 

Compared to the rough and simple Adventurer’s Guild, the inside of the Mage Guild was a world apart from its plain exterior. 

The main hall was dominated by red and black tones. The surrounding walls were all covered with red wooden panels, except near the floor where it was painted black. 

The hall wasn’t big, probably less than 100 square meters. 

Judging from the outside, the building’s footprint should be much larger; internally it was obviously partitioned. 

Six wall lamps hung on each side wall, and overhead was a cylindrical chandelier emitting soft white light, illuminating the entire hall brightly. 

At this moment, 

Perhaps because it was evening, there was hardly anyone in the Mage Guild. 

Only two middle-aged men in mage robes sat behind the counter. One was dozing off, resting his chin on his hand, not opening his eyes despite Tang Zheng’s arrival. 

The other was younger. 

When Tang Zheng entered the hall, the younger man had already looked over. 

"I want to buy some magic scrolls," Tang Zheng stepped forward and spoke softly. 

Unlike expensive magical items, often costing around 1,000 gold coins, magic scrolls were consumables and crafted with relatively refined workmanship, so their prices weren’t too high. 

But precisely because they were consumables! 

Even relatively well-off adventurers wouldn’t easily purchase them. 

"My name’s Vara. What kind of magic scrolls do you need?" 

The younger mage named Vara sized Tang Zheng up lazily. 

Pure black hair color was rare. 

"Do you have a catalog? I want to take a look," Tang Zheng bowed slightly and asked somewhat shyly. 

Bang! 

As if expected. 

Vara casually pulled out a thin booklet from below and placed it on the table, then seemed to drift off. 

Faced with such an attitude, 

Tang Zheng didn’t mind. Instead, he awkwardly picked up the booklet on the table and began flipping through it. He had forgotten that he didn’t actually understand the writing of this world. 

The first thing that caught his eye was the introduction to zero-level magic scrolls. 

Tang Zheng’s awkward mood eased. There were pictures; even without knowing the words, he could tell the scrolls’ functions from the illustrations. 

There were more zero-level scrolls than he expected. 

Such as: Ignition, Eternal Light, Cleaning, all purely for daily life with no offensive capability. These zero-level scrolls were dispensable for adventurers. 

He had heard from the "Rock" team that some caravans or nobles would always carry some zero-level magic scrolls to improve their travel quality. 

Tang Zheng searched for a while and quickly found a zero-level scroll for "Papermaking." 

However, he didn’t immediately speak to buy but continued flipping through the booklet. Next were first-level magic scrolls. 

The number suddenly decreased significantly, but their practicality and effect greatly improved! 

"Repair (First Level)": can repair damaged objects. 

"No Scent (First Level)": can eliminate the user’s scent. 

"Floating Board (First Level)": can create a translucent floating board to carry items. 

… 

"Magic Arrows (First Level)": releases three magical arrow attacks. 

Tang Zheng saw that attack-type magic scrolls were very few, only three in total. The others were mostly supportive scrolls. 

Huh? 

Tang Zheng flipped to the last page and found there were no more entries. 

No second-level magic scrolls? 

Tang Zheng was briefly stunned. If he remembered correctly, the humans of this other world should have the technology to create third-level magic scrolls. 

Moreover, in the Slane Theocracy, there existed extremely precious fourth-level magic scroll manufacturing techniques! 

Even third-level magic scrolls should be precious resources for the Mage Guild, but second-level scrolls shouldn’t be rare. 

So. 

It’s not that they don’t exist, but they are not sold to the public? 

Or ordinary buyers don’t have the qualification to purchase them.