The Greatest Sinner

Evan was pleased with the result, thanks to the "Transforming of Spells" he had greatly increased the power of the "Ice Veil". Of course, he sacrificed three Compression Runes for this and now the spell required much more mana, but it was definitely worth it.

Whoosh.

The young man gripped the hilt of his sword tighter and pulled it out of the wall with one tug. As soon as he did so, however, the sword blade began to fall apart. There was nothing Evan could do about it, so he just watched his weapon was breaking before his eyes. After a couple of seconds, all that was left of the sword was the hilt and the guard.

"Well... Looks like I need a proper weapon for such a powerful spell." Evan said calmly, looking at the remains of the sword in his hand.

The altered "Ice Veil" was too powerful for such a simple weapon. Evan decided to find something stronger and more durable. He couldn't let something like that happen during combat.

At that moment, he immediately remembered his fight with Fien. Her rapier looked many times better than his sword. Although, Evan didn't need the "Catalyst", but he wished he had something of similar quality.

"I think it's time to have a meal and spend some money."

Evan hadn't eaten anything since he left Marcel's mansion. He'd only had time to visit the library. Initially, he had plans to explore the city carefully, but then he wanted to get right down to the experiment he had read about in the old diary.

Evan put the hilt of his sword aside and went to take a shower. The bathroom in his new home couldn`t even be compared to the hot springs at Zak's mansion, but it suited him fine.

After the shower, Evan quickly got ready and left the house. He took only his amulet and the card. Evan was dressed very simply, from the outside he did not look like a magician, but like a poor commoner. However, he did not care what others thought of him.

Evan believed that clothing should be comfortable and to the wearer's liking. If he is comfortable in the cheapest things he will wear it, but if he likes something expensive, he won`t spare the money. You have to enjoy what you wear, the rest is not important - that's how Evan reasoned.

Evan left the house and headed back to the center of the Mossy Vulture. Since he wanted a new weapon, he needed either a forge or a gun store.

Moreover, since he now had plenty of money thanks to Marcel, Evan wanted to have lunch somewhere nice. He was curious about the cooking in this world and how much different it was from his past one in terms of food. When he was at Zak's he had tried some unusual and strange ingredients, so he wanted to try even more new things.

...

After a while, Evan found himself again at the Vulture statue in the center of the town. Initially, he had first wanted to go for weapons, but an interesting sign at one of the restaurants caught his attention. It depicted strange-looking berries, which he had not seen at Zak's mansion, so he immediately headed for the restaurant.

<I wonder if they'll let me in. Huh, I hope it'll be fun.> Evan thought to himself as he looked at the entrance to the restaurant called "Berry Paradise". Before Evan's eyes, a lot of people in expensive suits were entering the restaurant with a pompous look.

Against their backdrop, Evan looked quite unpresentable, but that only made him more curious.

Step. Step. Step.

Evan entered "Berry Paradise" and to his surprise, he was easily allowed inside. Moreover, he was smiled at and bowed respectfully, as were all the other guests in expensive clothes. However, the opinion of the visitors of this place was strikingly different from the behavior of the staff.

As soon as Evan walked into the hall, a lot of people were paying attention to him. Evan looked around, grinned, and sat down at a table by the window. Mossy Vulture was a beautiful city and sitting by the window Evan was simultaneously admiring the decorations of the restaurant and the beauty of the central square.

No sooner had a minute passed than a waiter came up to him and left a menu. As he expected the vast majority of the dishes were related to different berries. They cooked everything from hot dishes to desserts and cocktails, and in every dish, berries were an obligatory ingredient.

Evan wanted to eat and lots of it, so he ordered whatever he wanted. His choice was the steak marinated in "Cave Blueberry" with "Frosted Berry" sauce. For dessert, Evan chose chocolate fondant with "Air Raspberry" syrup and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. For his drink, he ordered a mint cocktail with a small amount of "Lemon Strawberry".

The young man was pleased with his choice and couldn't wait to finally try these amazing dishes. By the way, the prices at the restaurant were quite high. Evan would have to pay a total of thirteen silver coins. With that amount of money, he could buy himself food for a few days or even a week. Nevertheless, Evan was not going to regret spending the coins. First of all, he had a lot of money, and secondly he did not want to limit himself.

There were more expensive items on the menu, one dish even cost twenty silver coins. Evan`s dishes were in the above-average price range.

While his food was being prepared, Evan was looking at the people passing through the square. He was surprised by the fact that everyone looked very wealthy. Sure, downtown is one of the most expensive places in all of Mossy Vulture, but it's also one of the most popular.

The only ones who didn't look like aristocrats were the few people in long cloaks and mantles. Often they were in a hurry and holding books, and such people were bypassed and made way for them. It was easy to guess who they were.

Magicians were respected and feared at the same time. Other people tried to present themselves in the best possible light in front of them. While most magicians didn't give a damn about others. Even Marcel, a man who liked to enjoy his wealth, wore expensive clothes because he liked it, not to assert his status.

Ordinary people tried to establish themselves in society through things, money, connections, power, and other factors. With magicians everything was much simpler, only one fundamental factor was important - power. There was no point in having power and money if you were weak. With power, you can get everything you need, that's why magicians strive to increase their power at all costs.

Naturally, ordinary people understood this as well, but there was nothing they could do about it. If you don't have a talent for magic, you'll never be able to fight for a place under the sun in the same arena as magicians. So all most people have to do is compete against each other, as magicians are at an unattainable level.

While Evan was looking at the passersby, the waiter had already brought him three excellent dishes.