My inventory is full of monster materials.

The atmosphere froze instantly.

Zefer and the others were all stunned.

In their eyes, Mark was an "unclaimed creature" that suddenly appeared in the wild, but they never expected that he had already taken a mentor and even had a letter of recommendation.

At this moment, Zephyr's eyes gradually darkened, and with a slight twitch of his fingertips, an invisible magical force condensed into a transparent hand, snatching the envelope from Mark's hand from afar.

After carefully reading the letter word by word, Zefer's expression grew increasingly grim, and finally, a sound of teeth grinding could be heard coming from behind the paper.

"It's the wood sprite from Pinewood Town."

Zeffer's fingers, which were gripping the letter, trembled slightly, and he looked like he was about to explode.

Mark reacted swiftly, snatching the letter back while the other person was distracted, and then spoke calmly and quickly.

"Now you know, I have a mentor. That's all for now, my stomach's a little upset, I'll take my leave."

Mark knew that things had escalated to this point, and it was highly unlikely he would be able to buy the emblem today. Rather than staying stuck here, he decided to get out of there first and then make further plans.

"etc!"

Zeffer suddenly called out to Mark, his face instantly changing to a kind and friendly smile, and his tone becoming gentle.

"So you're a student of the mage Cecily Valencia! You should have said so earlier! I'm an old friend of your mentor's; leave the matter of the Holy Emblem to me."

Upon hearing this, the foreman, Iva, and the fat man, Bruno, were both astonished—Zeff had always been arrogant and domineering, when did he become so easy to talk to?

Mark also looked suspicious. The man in front of him had a very sharp aura just now, so why did he suddenly change his attitude?

Before Mark could refuse, Zeffer solemnly performed a mage's salute, his tone sincere and earnest.

"Mark, you are an extremely talented apprentice, and your future achievements should not be underestimated."

"So I hope you won't hold my earlier offense against me. Consider it an apology and let me handle the matter of the Holy Emblem for you."

"..."

Mark hesitated upon hearing such well-intentioned words.

It seems that Zeffer is a person who respects talent, so there is no need to make the relationship too strained.

Seeing that Mark's expression relaxed, Zeffer seized the opportunity and asked him questions.

"The Holy Emblem costs 150 gold coins. Do you have enough money? If not, I can lend it to you first, no need to pay it back in a hurry."

Mark shook his head and responded in a flat tone.

"No need, I have my own."

After saying that, Mark took out a red crystal the size of a fingernail from a hidden pocket in his leather inner shirt. The crystal was completely translucent and surrounded by a faint magical aura.

"Magic Crystal!"

Zefer immediately recognized the origin of the crystal.

Imwa, Bruno, and Lina, who were standing nearby, all turned to look.

Magic crystals are rarer magical materials, several times more precious than magic stones. Even the cheapest ones cost hundreds of gold coins, and the one Mark has is of good quality even among the basic ones, worth at least two hundred gold coins.

Zefer's smile grew even brighter as he gave instructions to Iva and Lina.

"Go and get the agreement for the purchase of the Holy Emblem."

"yes!"

Lina immediately agreed and turned to take the agreement, but was stopped by Iva.

Imva subtly caught Zefer's meaningful glance and waved to Lina.

"Go back to your work, I'll take care of things here."

Lina looked up and felt something was off, but she didn't dare to ask any questions. She silently turned around and returned to her workstation.

Soon, Yinwa retrieved two copies of the agreement from her office.

Zefer took the agreement, quickly glanced through it, nodded in satisfaction, and waved to Iva and Bruno.

"You two go ahead and get busy. Mark and I will handle things here."

The two men quietly withdrew, while Zeffer led Mark to an empty reception table in the corner of the hall and pushed one of the agreements in front of Mark.

Mark was extremely cautious, carefully reading through the agreement three times, paying particular attention to details such as the identities of the buyer and seller, the goods, the price, and the time.

Mark eventually pointed out one ambiguous point.

"My magic crystal needs to be appraised by the association as collateral. What are the appraisal standards? When will the results be available?"

Zeffer smiled gently and answered patiently.

"Don't worry, this is all done according to the association's standard procedures. I can guarantee that your magic crystal is worth at least 200 gold coins, and the appraisal results will be available today. It won't delay you from getting the Holy Emblem."

Mark signed the agreement after confirming that nothing was missing, and then exchanged signatures with Zeffer. Finally, two copies were made and each kept one copy.

After finishing the agreement, Mark breathed a slight sigh of relief and looked up to ask.

When will my holy emblem arrive?

"A holy emblem?"

Zefer's amiable smile vanished instantly, replaced by a sinister grin.

"Hehe, of course I can give you the Holy Emblem, but only if you pay me enough."

Mark's heart skipped a beat; he realized something was wrong, and his voice suddenly rose.

"What do you mean? I've already given you the magic crystal!"

"Tsk tsk."

Zefer shook his finger, his face full of mockery.

"That's not enough. You need to add at least another 100 gold coins."

"Another 100 gold coins?"

Mark pointed to the agreement and argued.

"The agreement clearly states that the Holy Emblem costs 150 gold coins, and my Magic Crystal is worth at least 200 gold coins. Why do I have to pay extra?"

Zeffer, however, slowly took out the agreement, pointed to a line of text, and read it aloud word by word.

"Look carefully, 150 gold coins is for the recommendation qualification of 'Official Mage of Serki City'."

"And your mentor Cecily is not a formal mage in Serki City, so the price of the Holy Emblem will be doubled to 300 gold coins."

"What?!"

Mark was struck dumb. He quickly flipped open the agreement in his hand, looked down, and his heart sank, his pupils dilating suddenly.

The line for "purchase qualification" in the agreement, which originally clearly stated "all official mages", has been changed to "official mages of Sergei City"!

The content has been changed!

When was it changed?

Mark forced himself to calm down and quickly racked his brains.

If you were under an illusion, there would definitely be a notification on the panel, but there was no response, so the problem must lie with the protocol itself.

Could it be a problem with the paper?

Mark suddenly remembered that when Eva deliberately sent Lina away to her room to retrieve the agreement, she must have used some kind of magical material that could make the writing invisible or cover up the words to secretly modify the contents of the agreement!

It turns out that from the very beginning, Zefer was pretending, feigning goodwill to lower his guard and gradually fall into the trap he had set.

What's worse is that this is the Mage's Guild! A bustling hall with people coming and going!

They actually dared to scam people in public!

Mark suppressed his rage, his voice chillingly cold as he stared intently at Zeffer and questioned him.

"What exactly do you want?"

"If you refuse a toast, you'll have to drink a penalty cup."

Zefer's tone was sinister, and his aura was icy.

"Wouldn't it be better if you just joined us properly? Why do you insist that I use underhanded tactics? Let me tell you the truth, if you're not willing to work for me, you can forget about ever getting ahead in this lifetime!"

"Haha, shallow waters breed many turtles!"

Mark was so angry he laughed, then suddenly turned his gaze and glared fiercely at Zeffer.

"I don't understand. You clearly know that someone with my talent could get the Holy Emblem anywhere else, even if I couldn't get it in Sergei City."

"The day I successfully change jobs will be the day you regret it!"

At this point, Mark stopped compromising and instead made veiled threats in his words.

But Zephyr didn't care at all, and instead sneered.

"During my apprenticeship, I saw too many geniuses like you, but they all died in the end, and I was the only one who became a full-fledged mage."

"Remember, a genius who never develops is just waste material!"

However, Mark remained unmoved, his eyes still filled with stubbornness, refusing to yield.

Seeing this, Zefer no longer concealed the murderous intent in his eyes.

"I originally wanted to persuade you to submit and join my cause, but the way you are now has changed my mind."

"You can forget about living if you step out of here."