Chapter 198: Continuous Teleportation.

In three days, St. Velia Magic Academy would stop accepting new students!

Shu Li and his friends were stunned.

Traveling by water would take at least a week to reach Igya City. They would definitely miss the start of the school term. It looked like they had no choice but to use the teleportation arrays after all.

Even the wisest person could overlook something.

No matter how carefully they had planned everything, they had never expected the magic academy to have a deadline for admitting new students.

If there had been no teleportation arrays, would they have missed their chance to enroll this year entirely?

After discussing it, the Light Squad changed their plans and reluctantly decided to use the teleportation arrays. Money could always be earned again, but if they missed enrollment this year, they would lose an entire year.

They had originally planned to buy a map and then have a feast at the best restaurant in Vishish City. Now, to save money, they settled for second best and asked Yori to take them to a reasonably priced little restaurant for lunch.

Surprisingly, the chef there was quite good. The roast meat had been seasoned with spices and tasted excellent. Amanda alone demolished half a roasted lamb.

After lunch, none of them were in the mood to sightsee anymore. They asked Yori to take them straight to the teleportation station.

Each of them paid fifty silver coins to board a rail carriage. Powered by magic stones, the vehicle was fast, stable, and environmentally friendly.

The young magic apprentices sat by the windows, admiring the scenery of Vishish City as the rail carriage traveled along its tracks.

Grand buildings, broad plazas, solemn statues, soaring towers, an enormous clock, crystal-clear rivers... One magnificent sight followed another, leaving them refreshed and delighted.

“I wonder if Igya City is as beautiful as this place,” Angel said with a sigh.

“Igya City is the main city of the Central Court. It's a hundred times better than here,” Yori said. “I guarantee that once you go there, my lords, you won't want to leave.”

Hearing that only made the Light Squad look forward to Igya City even more.

“But if you've been there before, why did you leave?” Budno asked innocently.

“Uh...” Yori stroked his mustache awkwardly. “Igya City may be wonderful, but it's hard for anyone who isn't a mage to make a living there. I earn more working as a guide here.”

“Oh, I see!” Budno held up his fingers and began calculating for him. “One gold coin a day as a guide means thirty gold coins a month, and in a year that's—”

Yori hurriedly cut him off.

“There are lots of guides in the city. We're always competing for customers. Earning five gold coins in a month is already pretty good.”

As he spoke, he shot Budno an exaggerated look.

There were other passengers in the carriage, most of them locals. If people found out how easy it was to make money as a guide, that would only create more competition for him in the future.

The guides had an unspoken agreement among themselves: never reveal exactly how much they could earn in a month.

Budno caught his hint, stuck out his tongue, and turned back to the view outside the window.

Ding-ding-ding—

They had arrived.

The rail carriage chimed to announce the stop.

As soon as the doors opened, the magic apprentices followed Yori out.

“My lords, look. That's the teleportation station.” Yori raised a hand and pointed toward the tower ahead.

The tower stood around twenty meters tall. A gigantic magic stone was embedded in its peak, dazzling beneath the sunlight. The entire structure was covered in magical inscriptions that shimmered with flowing light.

The teleportation array was inside the tower. People lined up in an orderly fashion, and before entering, everyone had to pay the teleportation fee to the mage stationed by the entrance.

Most of the people using the teleportation array were wealthy individuals dressed in fine clothing, well-equipped adventurers, and impressive-looking mercenary groups.

Yori had successfully completed his job by bringing the magic apprentices here.

The Light Squad thanked him, then marched toward the tower with their heads held high. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

Once they had decided to use the teleportation arrays, they had carefully studied the route.

Starting from Vishish City, they would pass through Balai City, Holu City, and Sangpeng City before finally arriving in Igya City.

Their first destination was Balai City.

A teleportation array could transport twenty people at a time and activated once every fifteen minutes.

Whenever one activated, the entire tower lit up in brilliant colors. Every magical inscription began to rotate, drawing energy upward into the magic stone at the tower's peak.

Then, in an instant, a pillar of light erupted from the tower and shot straight into the clouds.

While Shu Li and the others waited in line, they watched one of the teleportation arrays activate and were deeply shaken by the tremendous energy released by such an advanced magical formation.

So this was the teleportation array developed by human Mage Sovereigns and Saint Mages?

Amazing!

But that raised another question.

There were plenty of Mage Sovereigns and Saint Mages among the Fairies and Elves, and countless people skilled in magical formations. So why had none of them developed a teleportation array?

If they built one between the Elven city and the divine tree, they wouldn't have to spend half a day flying back and forth every Midsummer Festival.

The other Little Fairies had clearly thought of the same thing, because puzzled expressions appeared on all their faces at once.

Dixio said, “Teleportation arrays are really convenient.”

Angel said, “The only problem is that using one is way too expensive.”

Budno asked, “Do you think they'll eventually spread to other countries and regions?”

Amanda said, “If they do, we'll be able to travel all over the continent whenever we want.”

Kumandi tilted his head back to stare at the pillar of light piercing the sky and frowned.

“Spreading them across the entire continent probably won't be that easy.”

Shu Li looked confused.

“Why not?”

If something could benefit the entire continent, why wouldn't people do it?

Ace explained, “Geography between nations is extremely important. Mountains, grasslands, canyons, rivers, swamps, deserts, and other natural barriers protect a country's security to a certain extent. Spreading teleportation arrays everywhere would effectively destroy those barriers. Once war broke out, the consequences for a country could be catastrophic.”

The innocent Little Fairies and the little dragon finally understood.

They had no real concept of nations, so the thought had never even occurred to them.

As the princess of a fallen kingdom, Nasha was the most sensitive to matters of national security. After hearing Ace's explanation, she strongly agreed.

“Ace is right. Kings would rather fill their borders with troops to stop foreign invasions than allow teleportation arrays to be built in every city within their territory.”

Pedam Kingdom had lacked sufficient military strength. That was why the Kingdom of Cecilia had been able to keep it under constant pressure until the kingdom ultimately fell and its royal family was destroyed.

Whenever Nasha thought of her father and mother, whose fates were still unknown, hatred surged uncontrollably inside her.

She clenched her fists, forcing herself to suppress it.

Shu Li had originally thought teleportation arrays were similar to airports in his former world. Countries and cities all had flights, and as long as two nations were on friendly terms, people could travel freely between them.

But this other world's continent was not peaceful.

Countries guarded against one another constantly, always wary of invasion.

It seemed that spreading teleportation arrays across the entire continent was little more than a dream.

It would depend on whether Mage Sovereign Danlov had the ability to persuade the kings of every nation.

Half an hour later, it was finally their turn to pay.

With Shu Li at the front, every member of the Light Squad painfully pulled out one hundred gold coins.

Seeing how slowly they were counting their money, the mage collecting the fee frowned.

“Hurry up. There are plenty of people waiting behind you.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Shu Li placed one hundred gold coins on the payment machine.

A magical formation was built into the device. The moment it sensed the gold coins, it immediately displayed the number of coins deposited.

The number 100 flashed across its surface, and the barrier lifted to let him through.

As soon as Shu Li entered, the barrier dropped back into place.

Pretty smart!

Shu Li moved aside to wait for the others.

He watched as each of his companions reluctantly took out their money and put it into the machine. A minute later, the Light Squad had regrouped and entered the teleportation hall.

“Whoa—”

Shu Li and his friends exclaimed as they stared wide-eyed at the floor, which was densely embedded with magic stones.

No wonder it cost one hundred gold coins per person.

There had to be more than a thousand high-grade magic stones here alone, not to mention the incredibly complicated formation patterns winding between them. Just looking at everything made their eyes blur.

They couldn't understand it.

They couldn't understand any of it.

This was way too advanced.

No wonder Ilio had said that human mages loved research and invention, and that the Fairies and Elves had things worth learning from them.

Shu Li's blood surged with excitement.

Now he could hardly wait to reach the magic academy.

“Passengers traveling to Balai City, please enter Teleportation Array Number One as soon as possible,” called one of the mages operating the arrays nearby.

The young magic apprentices did not dare delay. They followed the other travelers into Teleportation Array Number One.

Once the number of passengers reached twenty, the mage operating the array pulled down a lever.

In an instant, the high-grade magic stones within the teleportation array released their energy.

The formation lines blazed with dazzling light, forcing everyone to close their eyes.

Shu Li suddenly felt weightless.

His head spun violently, and before he could even react, the sensation vanished.

A sweet voice sounded beside his ear.

“Welcome to Balai City—”

He opened his eyes and found himself staring at completely different decorations inside the hall.

“We're... already here? That was so fast!” Amanda stared in amazement.

It was even faster than the dragon race could fly!

“One hundred gold coins,” Angel muttered, touching the storage pouch hanging from his waist.

“It really is fast. It combines spatial magic with teleportation,” Ace said.

His green eyes shifted as he swept his gaze over the teleportation array beneath their feet, where the light was gradually fading. In an instant, he saw through the complicated and profound patterns.

“Can teleportation really move someone more than a hundred kilometers at once?” Shu Li asked.

As an Intermediate Grand Mage, he could only teleport around ten meters at most.

“Theoretically, the higher your magical rank, the farther you can teleport,” Kumandi said. “According to the books, a Saint Mage can teleport up to a thousand meters.”

“What about a Mage Sovereign?” Dixio asked.

Kumandi shook his head.

“The books don't give an exact number. Maybe two thousand meters, maybe three thousand. But definitely nowhere close to over a hundred kilometers.”

Shu Li's gray-green eyes shifted thoughtfully.

Once he returned to the Elven Kingdom, he decided he would ask the Elven King how far he could teleport.

Budno asked, “Are we going to keep teleporting?”

Shu Li nodded.

“Let's go!”

Since they had already decided to spend the money, they might as well go all the way.

They would teleport directly to Igya City and report to St. Velia Magic Academy as soon as possible.

And so the eight young magic apprentices once again painfully handed over one hundred gold coins each to the mage collecting the fee, then stepped into the teleportation array bound for Holu City.

After arriving in Holu City, they did not stop to rest.

They pulled out more money, paid the fee again, and entered the teleportation array to Sangpeng City.

“Welcome to Sangpeng City—”

Upon hearing the sweet announcement, the Light Squad walked out of the array, numb by now as they took out more money, paid yet another fee, and transferred to the route for Igya City.

A pillar of light shot into the heavens.

The teleportation array activated.

The tower in the center of Igya City was packed with travelers using the teleportation arrays.

The moment the Light Squad emerged, they were nearly separated by the crowd.

As expected of the most prosperous city in the Central Court, high-ranking mages could be seen everywhere.

Each wore magnificent magical robes and carried an advanced magic staff, looking extraordinary and refined.

Shu Li and his friends held hands and followed the flow of people until they finally managed to leave the tower.

“Whew— I almost got flattened,” Budno said, patting his chest.

“Everyone here is rich!” Angel exclaimed.

“And our money pouches are almost empty,” Dixio said miserably as he clutched his storage pouch.

“We need to find a way to earn money as soon as possible,” Kumandi said. “Let's buy a map first.”

Nasha asked, “Do they have guides here?”

A map was certainly useful, but having a guide lead the way would be even easier.

Ace said, “Hiring a guide costs money.”

Shu Li immediately shook his head.

“Let's just buy a map!”

A map only cost ten silver coins.

Hiring a guide cost one gold coin.

Which one was cheaper was obvious.

Besides, they had plenty of time.

There were still two hours before nightfall, more than enough for them to find the magic academy.

Shu Li looked around, hoping to find a local and ask where maps were sold.

Then, all of a sudden, he spotted someone “familiar.”