Leo walked with awe to the huge tower. He was not expecting that one of the biggest buildings in the entire city would be a place to buy goods. But then again, the Thousand Treasure Tower was supposed to be the biggest chamber of commerce in the entire empire.
He crossed the streets and got to the massive building where the building sat. It had expansive windows that showed the people outside the treasures it held. Of course, none of the treasures that were visible to him were in his reach. All of the treasures he could see were likely to be treasures reserved solely for nobles.
This stark difference between the Thousand Treasure Tower in Solhaven and Eldridge showcased the difference between the cities themselves. It was the sheer size of the city and the number of people inhabiting it.
Solhaven was relatively small and only had 70000 people inhabiting it. Out of them, there were around 1000 nobles. Most of them weren't even proper nobles. A lot of them were descendants of Baronets who barely qualified as nobles.
Baronets were descendants of Barons who didn't contribute at all to the empire for multiple generations. There were a lot of them throughout the empire. Out of all the ranks of nobility, only Viscounts and people with higher ranks possessed any amount of land, while Barons were richer than the Baronets.
However, they still had access to magic, unlike commoners. And in Eldridge, there were over 30000 Nobles. Of course, the number of people directly holding the titles was a lot lesser than that - about 1000 of them. And of those, only 20 were Barons. There weren't any Viscounts in the entire city, since they would be presented with a smaller city for themselves.
But 30000 people would theoretically be able to enter the higher floors of the Thousand Treasure Tower which was usually reserved for the mages. Even then, it was not useful to showcase their treasures to the 6 million people living in Eldridge.
However, they would continue to do so because they want to showcase their wealth. Leo had a desire to one day visit the upper floors, but there was time for that. For now, he had a goal in his mind.
He entered the tower and quickly went to where the pills for Aura Knight training were. he quickly browsed through the pills quickly and picked something out.
[Aura Recovery Pill]
[Allows you to quickly recover Aura]
[20,000 Starcoins]
It was not that expensive. It would be able to help Marcus recover quickly since his aura would be the best to recover first. With his exhausted body, if his aura came back first, then he would be able to let his muscles recover quicker.
Leo had also taken a peek at the other pills there. He was surprised to see the item he bought at the auction at Solhaven listed there as a normal product.
[Swift Ascension Pill]
[Helps in breaking through to 1st Circle Aura Knight. Improves chance of forming the first circle by 30%]
[1.3 Million Starcoins]
Leo chuckled a little when he saw the price. Even though he wouldn't have to wait till an auction to purchase the pill, he would still have to pay a lot more than what he paid initially to acquire the pill. He preferred the auction method more.
Even though the Swift Ascension Pill was marked at a higher price, the Aura Gathering Pill was actually cheaper than normal. Instead of 50000 Starcoins, it was priced at 45000 Starcoins.
Since there were a lot more Aura Knights, it made sense that they had a reason to buy or make the pills in bulk. That would bring their costs down.
Leo didn't bother buying the pills yet though. He wasn't planning on training in Aura till he reached the academy. He just paid for the single pill and went back to the apartment.
When he got there, he found Marcus still passed out on the bed. He went to him and woke him up.
"Marcus. Wake up," Leo gently nudged him.
Marcus opened his eyes at the sound of his name. Even though he seemed to be in a deep sleep, he was able to react immediately when he heard his name.
When he woke up, he saw Leo standing there. Leo didn't comment on how Marcus was able to wake up immediately. He just handed him the pill.
"Take this. It should help you recover faster," he said and walked away.
Marcus was unaware of exactly how much the pill cost but decided to take it anyway. He swallowed the pill and found a stream of aura arising from the pill. It wasn't a large stream, definitely not enough for him to train.
But it was enough to circulate throughout his entire body a single time. He quickly circulated it to every part of his body and let his muscles soak in the aura for the first time in ages. When he did that, he felt rejuvenated.
He had a very limited amount of aura when he exited captivity and used it all to fight the bandits. Now that he had taken the pill though, he was almost at 60% of his peak aura capacity. The pill wasn't enough for him to completely recover his aura, but it gave him a good starting position.
After taking the pill, he felt good enough that he started to practice instead of going back to sleep. He started gathering aura into his body and get back to his peak performance.
Leo noticed the pace at which he was training and was incredibly shocked. He realized that Marcus was almost as talented as Daphne. While Daphne had broken into the 2nd Circle in just a year of training in aura, Marcus was only at the 1st Circle despite being younger and probably starting sooner.
However, Marcus had also been in a position where he wouldn't be able to train in aura for a long time, so that could be a reason why he wasn't as strong as he could be. Looking at the speed at which he was gathering aura without aid, he realized that Marcus would be able to reach the 2nd Circle if he had the help of pills.
However, he decided not to buy him aura pills. There was a limit to how much he could help Marcus. At this point, he had given him a place to stay and a pill that cost 20,000 Starcoins. For the next 3 months, he would owe Leo 15,000 Starcoins each month as well as the cost of the pill.
And on top of that, Leo was also going to sponsor him for the Aura Knight Academy, so that was another 500,000 Starcoins that Marcus would want to earn. If Leo started paying for too many things, Marcus wouldn't be able to take the guilt of freeloading.
After a month or so, Marcus would be able to earn the pills by himself, anyway. 1st Circle Missions paid 6-7000 Starcoins each. If Marcus finished 10 of those missions each month, he would be able to pay for his own Aura Gathering Pill in two months.
