Yarrow studied the iron sheet resting inside the wooden box. Its metallic sheen gleamed under the glass cover, though its surface bore a few scratches.
He couldn't see anything special about it. If not for its careful packaging, he would have dismissed it as a scrap of metal picked up off the roadside.
"Tao Hu, are you sure this thing is actually valuable?" Yarrow asked, skepticism evident in his tone.
Three Sykes wasn't an enormous sum, but it wasn't insignificant either—it covered three days' worth of food. If he had just wasted that much on a piece of junk, it would sting.
"Don't worry, my judgment is spot-on. This iron sheet emits a strong magical fluctuation—oh, that's what you call 'magic.' With such a powerful reaction, it definitely isn't junk," Tao Hu said confidently.
If it turns out to be worthless, you're getting mugwort for dinner, Yarrow thought to himself.
After stowing the iron sheet, he wasted no time and made his way to the inn.
Upon arrival, Yarrow booked a four-person room, took the key, and headed upstairs. The inn was affordable, the rooms were clean, and it catered to adventuring teams with shared dormitories. Since there were no three-person rooms available, he had to settle for a four-person one, though it was only 6 Daka more expensive than a double.
Most importantly, this inn had private bathrooms—unlike the ones with communal bathhouses. As a southerner, Yarrow deeply appreciated that luxury.
He unlocked the door and flicked on the crystal stone lamp. The room was modest, only slightly larger than his old university dormitory. Four beds were positioned in each corner, covered in crisp, white sheets.
"A bed!" Ji Xiaofei cheered, dashing across the room and flopping onto one of the mattresses.
Yarrow set down his belongings and stretched out on a bed himself. He retrieved the wooden box, took out the iron sheet, and examined it again.
It was just an ordinary rhombus-shaped piece of metal.
"What exactly is this thing?" he muttered.
"I'm not entirely sure either, but I can definitely sense strong magical energy from it. That alone makes it valuable," Tao Hu remarked from the side.
Yarrow had only been in this world for two years. He understood the basics of magic, but as for rare artifacts? That was another matter entirely.
"If this were a novel, all I'd have to do is inject magic into it, and something would happen, right?" he mused.
Sitting up, he held the iron sheet in both hands and carefully channeled a thin stream of magic into it.
Nothing.
"Maybe it just needs more time?"
Three minutes passed.
Still nothing.
"Um… maybe it requires a special activation method? Like chanting a spell?" Tao Hu suggested.
"Maybe it needs fire!" Ji Xiaofei chimed in, hopping onto Yarrow's bed and peering at the metal sheet.
"That would be too easy. If it were that simple, the shopkeeper would've figured it out already," Yarrow reasoned.
"Just try it! There's no harm in testing," Ji Xiaofei urged, tugging at his sleeve.
Yarrow sighed, gave her a sideways glance, and reluctantly recited a spell. A small flame flickered into existence in his palm. He held the iron sheet over the fire, letting the flames lick at its surface.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—
"Oh, crap!" Yarrow shouted.
The iron sheet suddenly glowed with a brilliant golden light. Intricate golden lines appeared, shifting and dancing across its surface.
"Yes! I was right!" Ji Xiaofei cheered, throwing her hands in the air.
So it really was that simple?
"Good, good, well done," Yarrow muttered, giving Ji Xiaofei's head a quick, distracted ruffle before focusing on the newly revealed script.
The golden lines coalesced into rows of glowing characters, floating just above the metal's surface.
"What does it say?" Tao Hu leaned in eagerly.
Ji Xiaofei squinted at the text and attempted to read it aloud: "Uh... hoo… ee… la… yu… bu… lu… I have no idea!" She rubbed her temples, looking slightly dizzy.
"Yarrow, can you read it?" Tao Hu turned to him.
But Yarrow wasn't listening. His eyes were wide, his whole body trembling. He covered his mouth with one hand as if trying to contain himself.
"Eh? Yarrow, what's wrong?"
"Xiaofei… pinch me. Quick!" he blurted.
Ji Xiaofei didn't hesitate—she bit his face instead.
"Ow!" Yarrow yelped, leaping up, but his face was alight with excitement. "It's real… this is real! Oh my god…"
Still cradling the iron sheet in one hand, he wiped the drool and teeth marks from his cheek with the other.
"So? What is it?!" The girls leaned in, curiosity burning in their eyes.
Yarrow took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He reminded himself that they were still in an inn—if he made too much noise, people would notice.
After another deep breath, he finally whispered:
"This is a Lost-World Spell."
Tao Hu and Ji Xiaofei blinked at him in unison.
"A what?"
Yarrow cleared his throat dramatically before leaning in and speaking in a hushed tone:
"Legend has it that in ancient times, great mages devised special methods to inscribe spells onto objects—animal bones, gemstones, even metal sheets—allowing magic to be stored within. Only those in possession of these enchanted items could cast the spells they contained. But after the dawn of the New Moon Era, this practice gradually faded. The exclusivity of such spells led to their loss, as knowledge became hoarded rather than shared."
His voice trembled slightly with excitement as he pointed to the six lines of incantation glowing on the iron sheet.
"Do you realize what this means? This isn't just any spell—it's extraordinary."
The two girls leaned in closer, eyes wide with curiosity.
"The power of a spell is directly linked to the length of its incantation. The longer the chant, the stronger the magic."
He tapped the iron sheet. "Basic spells have only one line. The most powerful ones can have up to eight. Anything above four lines requires a master-level mage to even attempt."
Ji Xiaofei and Tao Hu exchanged stunned looks. "This one has six lines... which means—"
Yarrow nodded solemnly. "It's incredibly, unbelievably powerful."
Ji Xiaofei's eyes sparkled. "Then... does this mean Yarrow is going to become a legendary mage?"
Yarrow chuckled, shaking his head. "Not quite. This isn't just about power—it's a relic. The technique used to create these Lost-World Spells has been lost. That means every existing one is a one-of-a-kind artifact, highly sought after by collectors."
He lifted the iron sheet slightly, watching the golden inscriptions shimmer. "This is worth more than the finest gemstones."
Tao Hu gasped. "Then... does that mean it's actually worth the 50 gold lang that Tuo mentioned?"
Yarrow smirked, his expression unreadable. "Fifty? Heh…"
He leaned back, his voice dropping to an almost conspiratorial whisper. "I once heard about a Lost-World Spell auctioned by the Mage Association. It was a five-element spell. The final selling price? Fifty-four thousand gold lang."
The two girls went utterly still.
"F-Fifty-four... thousand?" Ji Xiaofei stretched out her fingers, trying to fathom the sheer number. "That's... so many..."
Before she could finish counting, Yarrow suddenly grabbed her cheeks, his hands pressing into her soft skin as he leaned in, his eyes blazing with uncontained excitement.
"We're going to be rich!"
"Yay!"
"Amitabha, Amitabha!"
"Wuhu!"
Unable to contain his joy, Yarrow swept both girls into his arms, spun them around in a dizzying whirl, and then tossed them onto the bed with a triumphant laugh.
"Wow, Yarrow's turning into a beast!" Ji Xiaofei teased, covering her mouth as if scandalized.
"Ah, so this is what they mean by 'wealth reveals true nature,'" Tao Hu mused, her tone half-joking.
Yarrow exhaled deeply, forcing himself to calm down, but the victorious grin stubbornly refused to leave his face.
He stretched out on the bed, folding his hands behind his head. "I can already picture it... lounging in a real leather pajama set, on the balcony of a seaside villa, sipping the finest red wine as the sun rises over the ocean..."
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