After stepping out of the shop, the woman glanced back once, eyes lingering on the door as it shut behind her.
She didn’t say anything.
And it wasn’t sothing she could ignore.
She climbed the narrow stairs back to her apartnt in the lower-town district, her thoughts lingering on the tomatoes.
It was a day off from teaching, a rare holiday, but she wasn’t out to relax.
She had one goal today: to find sothing that could help her focus better while learning new spells.
As a fire mage stuck at the Adept level, she knew her potential had limits. She couldn’t level up anymore, but she could still expand her spell list. Lately, she’d been working on a mid-range fire spell, sothing to reinforce her basics and stay useful as a teacher.
But her concentration had been slipping more than usual. Every ti she sat down to practice, her mind would wander halfway through the casting pattern.
What she needed was sothing to help her stay sharp.
Focus-boosting potions existed, of course, but they were expensive. The cheapest ones cost around 40 to 50 low-grade mana stones per vial. More than half her monthly salary at Mirefield Academy.
She couldn’t afford that.
Not if she wanted to keep saving. Not if she wanted to stay independent.
So she spent the morning going from one shop to another, looking for anything that might help: affordable tools, herbs, even old mage manuals.
But there was nothing.
By noon, her legs were tired, and she was getting frustrated.
That’s when she noticed a small shop at the end of the street. People were walking in and out, muttering to each other on the way out.
"That place is a scam," soone said. "Three tomatoes for one mana stone? He even wrote ’mana recovery’ and ’focus boost’ on tags like they’re real things. With food."
She paused.
Food? Boosting focus?
She didn’t believe it.
But... she couldn’t ignore it, either.
What if it was real? Even a mild effect could help. And if it worked, she’d be spending a fraction of what a potion costs.
She hesitated for another mont, then walked toward the shop.
Inside, she found a small, clean space. A boy stood behind the counter, probably around sixteen, at most. The shelves were simple. In the front display were baskets of tomatoes and potatoes, neatly arranged.
And just like they said... there were tags.
One read:
Tomatoes – Focus Boost (10–15 min), Minor Mana Restoration Potatoes – Passive Mana Recovery
She stared at them, unsure what to think.
It looked too clean. Too organized. Like soone trying too hard to make it look legitimate.
But the mana glow coming from the vegetables wasn’t fake. She could feel it. Faint, but there.
Still, she didn’t move. Just stood there, confused and cautious.
That’s when the door opened again.
She turned her head and froze.
Darian Velastra walked in, along with his team. Their presence imdiately shifted the room’s energy. They weren’t acting like custors at all. They looked comfortable, familiar with the place.
She recognized the crest on Darian’s coat. A known mage with high potential, enrolled in the Westlight Academy, the top academy in Evesest City. and heir of the Velastra family who awakens as a mage with the potential of a master.
And when he saw the tomatoes?
He picked one up, read the tag, and without hesitation said, "I’ll take them all."
Her eyes widened.
Darian’s group confird it out loud. No doubt. No skepticism.
They believed the effects were real.
That tomato from the shop earlier... It might actually help.
She looked at her open spellbook on the desk—still marked up from last night’s failed attempt.
Maybe she’d go back to that shop this afternoon.
Just once more.
Buy one.
See for herself.
In the anti.
After leaving Rowen’s shop, Darian and his group didn’t head straight for the wilderness or rush off on their next mission.
Instead, they made their way toward the garrison rest area near the eastern gate—close to the border, but still well within town limits. The place was quiet at this hour. A few benches lined the walkway, and the shaded pavilion offered a view of the checkpoint ahead, where mana barriers marked the edge of the secured zone.
They sat down to rest, setting their gear aside.
Darian reached into his bag and pulled out one of the tomatoes he’d just bought.
He turned it over in his hand for a mont, thoughtful.
"I’m going to test the focus effect," he said quietly.
No one argued. After yesterday’s fight in the wilderness when they’d barely survived an encounter with a master-level goblin, Darian had been quieter. More focused. He wasn’t angry. Just tired of the feeling that he hadn’t done enough.
He wasn’t advancing to trainee level yet. That would take ti.
But he could start preparing.
Learning a new spell was part of that.
He already knew basic fire control, but he needed more—sothing faster, more refined. So he was going to train today, nothing dramatic. Just solid practice.
He took a bite of the tomato.
It was fresh and warm, the faint trace of mana leaving a slight buzz on his tongue.
After a few seconds, he closed his eyes and breathed out.
It wasn’t overwhelming, but it was there; his mind felt clearer, sharper. Like his thoughts had lined up properly.
"This’ll help," he murmured.
He stood, stepped a few paces away from the group, and began forming the first symbols of the fire spell he’d been studying.
After so ti, Darian finished his practice with a slow exhale.
The spell’s structure had finally settled into place.
He raised his hand and cast it one more ti, this ti without hesitation.
A curved wall of fla surged up from the ground in front of him, steady and well-shaped. Controlled.
Firewall.
After so ti, one particular group of people walked inside, looking around proudly.
There were two knights, one mage, and in the middle, a young boy who looked about the sa age as Rowen. This group was here to help the young master level up in the wilderness and dungeons.
After they entered the shop, the young master spotted Rowen, who was pretty much asleep behind the counter. Then the young master said to one of his knights, "If Uncle Velor hadn’t told us to check this place, I would’ve never co to this shabby shop."
Hearing his voice, Rowen opened his eyes. He was surprised to see the young master wearing rich-looking clothes. He even had a butler with him.
Rowen quickly got up and put on a professional seller’s face. But before he could say anything, the young master just said, "Just buy whatever it is. We don’t have ti."
The butler tossed about fifteen low-grade mana stones on the counter.
Rowen was just about to explain that the potatoes only cost around ten mana stones total—and ntion their function—but before he could speak, the group had already left.
It felt more like a donation than a sale. If Uncle Velor hadn’t told them to check the shop, they never would’ve co at all.
After packing the potatoes into a basket for them, Rowen sat back down, thinking to himself, :Rich people really are different... They can casually toss around mana stones like nothing.
The group left, and Rowen excitedly counted the low-grade mana stones. Seeing that there were fifteen, he got even more excited. He quickly closed the door and went upstairs, where his room was.
Then he called out to Fern.
Fern appeared the sa as usual—sleepy. Rowen thought, This guy always likes to sleep.
Fern looked at Rowen with an annoyed face.
Rowen took out the low-grade mana stones and told Fern to open the portal. Fern’s eyes lit up when he saw the stones, and he quickly summoned the portal.
They both stepped in.
Once inside, Rowen called out the land’s screen to check how much energy was left. After seeing there was no energy remaining, he tossed the low-grade mana stones to Fern and said, "Recharge the energy with these."
Seeing the mana stones, Fern started drooling like a hungry dog. Without wasting ti, he gulped down six of them right away.
Rowen called out the screen again. Seeing that the remaining ti was now showing one and a half hours until the next batch of potatoes, he got excited. Now he just had to wait and harvest the next batch.
He was left with five mana stones.
After thinking for a mont, Rowen decided there was space for more crops. He made up his mind—he was going to buy new seeds to grow.
Rowen beca excited again, because new crops ca with new abilities.
Rowen was looking for a normal shop—one that still sold vegetable seeds.
These days, most people were focused on hunting monsters. So even lived off at alone, especially adventurers. The demand for side dishes and vegetables had dropped. Fewer people wanted them, and even fewer were growing them.
But Rowen had sothing different.
His crops carried magical effects—just enough to matter. And so people were getting tired of eating at all the ti. Even if they needed it for energy and mana recovery, not everyone liked it.
Still, with most farrs gone and few seed sellers left, it wasn’t easy to find the kind of shop he needed.
That’s when an idea hit him.
If I can harvest magical crops... then I can sell the seeds too.
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