The book had a lot of simple concepts. It was truly a book made for fools. Explaining how to make fire and how it burns on wood. They didn't talk about friction or chemical reactions however. It did mention how to cast spells with fire. Using incantation and such.
Unluckily, Alto was unable to cast spells. Or as of now. You needed to possess mana to conjure magic. Alto, assumed as he leveled up he would gain that ability. He just didn't know when. A curious thing that he could use was magic circles. You write a certain pattern down and suddenly flames burst out of it when infused with mana.
The thing was, that the mana didn't need to come from a human casting it. Instead magic stones could be used as a replacement if someone was unable to cast spells. It was surprisingly rare for people to possess magic amplitude according to the book as well.
He was originally planning on keeping his distance while shooting small creatures with fire, it was still risky though he had a chance fighting like that.
The issue of course, is that he needed a magic stone, which meant that he would have to kill some monster again.
Also he learned a fun little fact from the book. Turns out, magic stones differ from the creature they came from. The magic stone he sold for a mere four silver. Was in fact not worth four civil.
'He ripped me off!'
Some magic stones went for cheap, it was depending on the density of their light and their size. The one he sold was dense, though it was not that large.
So depending on the magic stone one uses for magic circles. The size and density of the crystal determined how the circle would function. If the magic stone was really dense but small it could create a very hot flame erupting from a circle. Though it would be small, like a blowtorch. If the magic stone was large and not that dense then it could create a very, very, large flame. That could barely burn anything.
You could also infuse the magic circle with your own mana, that was unavailable at the current moment.
'Come on, get up. You have to do something today.'
Alto was hesitant to fight another beast but it had to be done. His goal was simply to survive, it was to escape. For that, he thought that he would need to become strong.
After leaving his room Alto roamed the streets, taking his time as he made his way towards the entrance. His dirty clothes made his stick out even more.
"So, are you an adventurer?"
'An adventurer?'
"Hey I'm talking to you."
'Someone is ignoring him?'
"Mister?"
Alto feels a hand grab his shoulder. Turning around to see a man with blue eyes and spiked white hair.
"Sorry?"
"I asked if you were an adventurer?"
Pausing for a few seconds Alto responded with a curious expression on his face.
"What's an adventurer?"
"What? How do you not know? Didn't you bring in that worm crystal? And sell it for dirt cheap like it was the equivalent of trash for you?"
With a rather sour expression, Alto remembered the moment.
"Yes, that was me. What's an adventurer?"
The man seemed perplexed.
"Never mind, my parties going hunting today… I was wondering if you could… like help us out?"
"So pro helping some newbie?"
"...Something like that, my parents say I'm not strong enough to be a hunter yet. I want to prove them wrong by bringing tons of crystals."
'This is perfect! I can use these people to my advantage and profit off of them!'
"Sorry but I'm not that strong. I only got lucky."
"Oh it's fine. We only have like three people so we need all the help we can get."
—-
Sometime later, Alto returned to the surface. Only this time he came with other people. The man who talked to him was called Glaive, he used a spear and had padded leather armor. The second party member was actually a mage. She was shorter with the same silver hair and blue eyes as Glace. Her name was Trace. She somewhat knew how to control water, and a tiny bit of healing magic. She carried a large staff that was nearly the size of her body.
The last member was a short guy, he carried a strange knife and had very long silver hair covering his face. His name was Gyan.
Alto, wasn't too confident. He was planning to fight again anyway so it is better to be with people. Though they were mostly all inexperienced.
As they were walking, a baby worm appeared. It jumped straight towards Glaive, surprisingly he mostly stood his ground and managed to block it with his sword. He maybe got pushed back a few feet at most. While it was stuck in the air. Alto, quickly slashed at it, the blade only cut into it after it reached the ground.
{You have slain Baby Parasitic Worm.}
{121 XP Gained!}
{Level Up}
"Nice one Alto!"
"You too, Glaive."
They continued using the same strategy, they hid from any abomination that wasn't a baby worm. The main issue was that Alto wasn't always the one to get the kill. Causing him to only gain xp sometimes.
They also butchered the worms as well. Well Gyan did, he would take out their crystal or sometimes crystals. That was only for the dead beast that they came across while traveling. A large boar with its neck ripped open. In the end they ended up getting six in total. Splitting it up among the group. Alto asked if he could just take a single more dense crystal from the dead beast they stumbled on. The others agreed. With that, Alto returned to the same merchant that ripped him off.
With a smug look, he brought the crystal onto the desk, the merchant smiled at him. Then examined the crystal.
"I can do four silver."
Alto's smile grew wider.
"Ah, that just won't do… you see this guy offered me fifteen silver coins at the town square."
The merchant looked petrified.
"Fifteen silver! That's outrageous! He's probably going to steal it from you or use fake currency!"
"Ah yes… though he did mention creating some… sort of creating a crystal shop? Saying something like 'That Cheapskate! He bought my crystal for four silver and sold it for thirty!' I don't know the details but he promised me some contract and stuff…"
"You?!! A contract!"
"Yeah, I was going to be his main supplier or something."
"Wait! Was it Mason?"
"I didn't catch his name."
"... I'll give you a deal, promise to sell to me and me o…"
"Twenty Five."
The merchant looks perplexed. Then he calms down and evaluates the situation.
"Twenty!"
"Twenty four."
"Twenty two!"
"Twenty three.
"Deal!"
'Can't believe that worked. I mean it is a bore crystal after all. I wonder how much they actually sell for?'
After grabbing his coins he headed out to rent his hotel room.
Now that he had a party. There was nothing that could go wrong!