Elite Mages' Academy

Chapter 364: Spatial Equipment

Lilith’s journey would end there. Gold City was well-connected and acted as a central zone due to its nearby roads, which led to places near and far. According to Lilith’s plan, she was to return directly to the Judge Academy’s colony. Upon arrival in New Washington, she would report the incident to the academy’s senior management once more, and anything after that would be discussed between the academies themselves.

Before parting ways, the two of them settled their debts with each other first. The starmetal from Silverlight Lake, which was said to be 100% pure, was eventually given to Xiao Lin, but he had to pay a certain amount of money to Lilith as compensation. They argued for half a day before finally reaching a decision: the total he would have to pay Lilith was 50,000 New Dollars, and he was required to transfer the money over to Lilith after returning to Dawn City.

The damaged sword from the center of Silverlight Lake was given to Xiao Lin too, because Lilith did not have any interest in a useless sword. It went without saying that there was no charge for that.

Xiao Lin himself chose to stay in Gold City for a couple of days before returning to Dawn City. Come the next morning, it was not a very sentimental parting of ways, since they were bound to meet each other again in the future anyway. Ibeiya however, seemed to be more reluctant. She pulled the hem of Lilith’s clothes and had a sad look in her eyes.

A man in Lilith’s place might not have the heart to leave and would perhaps have stayed behind too, but Lilith was a woman. She gently pried away Ibeiya’s hand from her shirt and left expressionlessly.

Xiao Lin did not know whether laugh or cry, though he could not help recalling Lilith whispering to him before she left, “Beware of Ibeiya.”

Lilith had been wary of Ibeiya right from the outset, while Xiao Lin’s vigilance had reduced significantly. In fact, the adorable little girl never did anything suspicious or acted in a way that was unfavorable to them. On the contrary, she harrowed through each and every crisis alongside the two of them.

“That girl is no ordinary girl. Don’t underestimate a dark race. They’re the best at hiding their true colors. Frankly speaking, I suggest that you directly send her to Dawn Academy for investigation, if that’s possible. This is the best choice,” that was Lilith’s last advice to Xiao Lin.

Xiao Lin laughed at that, but when Lilith left, he mulled over it for a moment before looking for Ibeiya and chatting casually with her.

It had been two days since he came to Gold City. Back when they were still in Wildfire Town, Ibeiya was forced to follow them for her own survival due to the undead attacks that could have come at any time. She ended up tagging along for the remainder of their journey, and even though Gold City was relatively safe, Ibeiya showed no sign of leaving alone.

Ibeiya’s reasoned that she was originally homeless to begin with and therefore wandered around everywhere, though saying by Xiao Lin’s side made her feel safe. After sensing Xiao Lin’s intentions, she immediately changed into a coquettish tone and shook Xiao Lin’s arm, saying, “You’re a good person, Uncle. You’ll never leave me alone. I can do whatever you ask me to, if that’s what you want, so don’t chase me away!”

Xiao Lin frowned at her repeated calls of ‘Uncle’. He was lucky that Lilith had left, otherwise he would be on the receiving end of a few eye-rolls that said, ‘Sick pervert’. He nevertheless had his own plans, so he patiently persuaded her, “I’ll arrange a place for you to stay in Gold City so you don’t have to wander around. I’m not in a really good situation right now. It might be difficult to protect myself and it will be equally as hard to take care of you.”

“I don’t want it!”

“Be good!”

“NO!”

“Listen to me!”

…

After a while, Ibeiya still insisted on following Xiao Lin. In the end, she proposed a compromise: Xiao Lin ought to at least let her follow him back to Dawn City, as she claimed that there was good law and order there.

Xiao Lin froze. He did not immediately agree and simply said that he would reconsider.

As a capital-level colony completely controlled by Dawn Academy, Dawn City was different from other cities in Planet Norma. The authority in Gold City was very broad despite the existence of numerous powers from various universities. People were quite free to go in and out, which led to a plethora of characters inside the city.

However, incredibly cumbersome procedures were required when entering Dawn City. Xiao Lin heard about them before and he did not want to add more headaches to an already troublesome situation. More importantly, Lilith’s words made him feel as though he could not fully trust Ibeiya. Letting such a mysterious girl enter their city was out of the question. If something went wrong there, Xiao Lin would suffer the consequences too.

Fortunately, there was still long to go before he had to deal with all that. Xiao Lin wandered around during his few days in Gold City, and he was initially worried about whether others would recognize him and report him directly to Dawn Academy’s local office. It did not take long for him to breathe a sigh of relief over that. In fact, the arrest warrant was not put up everywhere as he expected. Like Lilith said, the arrest warrant was only posted in a few places where the Earthlings were more concentrated.

Whoever issued the warrant clearly did not want it to be too publicized due to the lack of the dean’s official stamp.

Xiao Lin made plans to buy spatial storage equipment for himself. In the previous battles, Lilith’s spatial bracelet seemed quite nifty and he felt a little envious of it. Purchasing such an item was much easier in Dawn City, but Gold City’s business scene flourished quite well too. Well-connected transportation allowed a large number of merchants from various areas to gather there. Due to the larger number of mercenary groups and adventurers nearby, the trade in weapons and equipment was more abundant as well.

After hearing Xiao Lin’s intentions, Ibeiya volunteered to lead the way for him. Her knowledge of the Gold City was far more than Xiao Lin, and she knew which weapon stores had poor quality or lacked resources. She finally introduced him to what was said to be a century-old shop. It had somewhat of a reputation in Planet Norma, and it happened to be a shop that was famous for creating spatial-type equipment.

After Ibeiya brought him there, Xiao Lin came to discover a large number of spatial props, though the price nearly gave him a heart attack. The cheapest items cost tens of thousands of New Dollars, while prices for the slightly higher-grade ones hovered around the hundred-thousands.

Of course, Xiao Lin had more than enough money to afford it, but the quality was not as high as he imagined even if he bought them at that kind of price

For example, a spatial ring with a value of 40,000 New Dollars only had the function to provide about one cubic meters of storage space, which was far too small and differed greatly from his expectations. Xiao Lin shook his head decisively when he thought of the sheer number of weapons capable of being stored in Lilith’s spatial bracelet. Spatial equipment with a slightly larger storage space had a price that numbered in the hundred-thousands, which was distressing even for Xiao Lin.

“Uncle, do you understand spatial equipment at all?” Ibeiya curled her lips and explained patiently, “Equipment like these are very difficult to manufacture because they use starmetal. The materials are scarce and the manufacturing costs are high. Moreover, creating an independent space is inherently very difficult to do.”

Xiao Lin was a little disappointed. Lilith’s bracelet was clearly not of ordinary value, but Ibeiya’s words also made him raise his eyebrows unexpectedly, “Did you just say starmetal?”