Convict walked over to a chair and sat down, picking up the teapot to pour himself a cup.
He took a sip, his mustache twitching slightly. “Jingyuan Academy's hospitality is as thoughtful as ever. This tea is brewed from Silver-Leaf Grass gathered by the shores of Jingyuan Lake. It's refreshing and beneficial to the mental sea.”
Secret Eagle sat on Convict's other side and pointed behind her. “The kitchen and storage room are over there. The ingredients are fresh, and the storage room is stocked with basic alchemy materials. Feel free to use them; they're free of charge.”
Ethan walked around the living room and stopped by the window.
Outside the window was the lake, its surface smooth as a mirror, reflecting the energy dome in the sky.
The reed-like plants along the shore swayed gently in the breeze, and the tiny motes of light falling from their pale gold plumes drifted onto the water, stirring up circles of extremely faint ripples.
He withdrew his gaze, and when he turned around, Convict had already finished his first cup of tea.
Placing his teacup on the low table, he leaned back in his chair. “Alright, rest up today. Tomorrow, I'll take you to broaden your horizons.”
Secret Eagle picked up a cup of tea, cradling it in her hands. “The trade fair has already begun. I received a notification in my core crystal. It will be open continuously starting today, lasting until the end of the exchange tournament.”
Convict nodded. “We'll check out the trade fair tomorrow first. Jingyuan Academy's trade fair isn't some small-time affair like the ones at our academy. People from over fifty thousand Three Rings Academies will be there, plus Jingyuan Academy's own wizards. There will be enough good stuff to make your head spin.”
He tilted his head toward Ethan. “Get some good rest tonight. Tomorrow at the trade fair, keep your eyes peeled. If you see something good, don't rush to buy it. Walk around first to get a feel for the prices. Also, violence is strictly forbidden at the trade fair; that is Jingyuan Academy's absolute rule. If anyone dares to lift a finger there, the surrounding wizards will tear them to shreds before Jingyuan Academy's people even need to step in. So you don't have to worry about safety.”
Ethan nodded. “Understood.”
Convict stood up from his chair and brushed off some nonexistent dust from his robe. “Alright, find your rooms. We'll gather in the living room tomorrow morning.”
Ethan walked up the stairs to the second floor.
There were eight doors on each side of the corridor, sixteen rooms in total.
Each door was made of a solid block of dark gray stone, with pale gold energy patterns embedded along the edges of the doorframe.
He chose the room at the end of the corridor on the side facing the lake and pushed the door open.
The room was at least twice as large as his bedroom in the Blood Bone Tower's Wizard Tower.
Ethan walked over to the window and pushed it open.
A gentle breeze from the lake swept a dense concentration of energy particles into the room, rustling the parchment sheets on the desk.
He walked over to the bed, sat down, and took out his core crystal from his storage ring.
Sending his mental power into the core crystal, a large amount of information flooded his mind.
The trade fair's location, opening hours, rules of conduct, and so on.
There was also a map of Jingyuan Academy's open areas, marking which places could be accessed freely and which required special authorization.
Additionally, there was a newly received notification: the day after tomorrow, in the morning, there would be an exchange seminar for all wizards of the Three Rings Academies. The topic was the basic theory of composite elemental spells, to be delivered by a Fourth-Tier Wizard from Jingyuan Academy.
Ethan put away the core crystal, sat cross-legged on the bed, and closed his eyes.
Outside the window, the light of the energy dome gradually transitioned from pale gold to deep blue, and then from deep blue to dark silver.
The reeds on the lake were still swaying gently, and the tiny motes of light falling from their pale gold plumes drifted on the water's surface, flickering.
When Ethan opened his eyes from his meditation, a silver tray had already appeared on the stone ledge by the window.
Extremely fine runic patterns were carved along the edge of the tray, slowly flowing and emitting faint remnants of spatial fluctuations.
Resting on the tray was a grilled magical beast steak, half a loaf of white bread, a small dish of unidentified purple berries, and a steaming cup of a light green beverage.
The steak's surface was still sizzling with oil, looking as though it had just been taken off the grill.
The bread's crust was crispy, its interior soft, with steam rising from the cut edge carrying a rich wheat aroma.
The purple berries were coated in a thin layer of condensation, giving off a matte sheen under the light of the core crystal lamp.
Ethan picked up the cup of Silver-Leaf Grass tea and took a sip.
The warm liquid slid down his throat, bursting into a subtle, warm current in his stomach that spread to his limbs.
His mental sea trembled slightly, and his mental power visibly increased by a fraction.
Although this was partly due to his passive ability, Glutton, it was still enough to prove how ridiculously wealthy this Seven Rings Academy was.
Damn, is a Seven Rings Academy really this absurd?
They serve stuff like this for breakfast?
What a bunch of filthy rich bastards.
After finishing his meal, Ethan stood up and walked out of the room.
When he arrived in the living room, the two Deans were discussing something.
Seeing Ethan emerge, Convict stood up. “You're here. Let's go. Jingyuan Academy's trade fair has plenty of good things, but there are even more people. Good stuff disappears in the blink of an eye.”
On the side of the stone building was a small teleportation room. Embedded in the floor was a small teleportation array about three meters in diameter, its pale gold array patterns slowly flowing across the dark gray stone slabs.
A pale gold light surged from the array patterns, engulfing the three of them.
When the feeling of solid ground returned, a massive expanse of stalls unfolded before his eyes.
The teleportation platform beneath their feet was paved with solid blocks of off-white stone. Densely packed pale gold runic patterns were embedded inside the stone, slowly drifting within the slabs like living things.
Standing along the edge of the platform was a ring of towering stone pillars, their surfaces rippling with silver-gray energy patterns. At the top of each pillar floated a fist-sized core crystal, emitting a soft, pale gold glow.
Beyond the platform, the market stalls stretched out in all directions, seemingly endless.
The stalls spread out in every direction, crowding the gray-white stone floor with booths of all sizes.
The items displayed on the stalls were incredibly diverse: bundles of magical beast pelts, live creatures locked in iron cages, various potions in glass bottles, mounds of ores, and strings of teeth and claws.
Cries of hawkers rose and fell.
“Fresh Shadow Bat wings! Just harvested from the Dark Abyss Rift yesterday! Three magic stones a pair!”
“Scarlet Flame Scorpion stingers! A primary material for refining Fire-attribute Wizardry Tools, over eighty percent purity, selling cheap!”
“Come take a look! A complete Three-Eyed Toad skeleton! Perfect for brewing medicinal wine or making a specimen!”
Ethan's gaze swept over the stalls, but his feet didn't budge.
He sensed something.
Beyond the stone slabs beneath his feet, the surrounding stalls, and the energy dome overhead, there was another presence.
It felt like looking at things through an extremely thin film of water; while the scene on the surface was clearly visible, more silhouettes loomed indistinctly beneath.
Layer upon layer.
One layer nested inside another.
He extended his mental power in that direction.
His perception pierced the first layer of appearances and touched what lay behind. Then, he froze.
Spatial folds.
The trade fair venue before him appeared to have only a single layer on the surface, but in reality, dozens of layers of space were stacked together like a mille-feuille.
In each layer of space was the exact same scene—densely packed stalls and bustling crowds—except the positions of the stalls were different, the items sold were different, and even the attire of the crowds varied.
Dozens of layers of space were folded into the same area, overlapping without interfering with one another.
Each layer had its own independent set of stalls, and each layer had its own independent pathways and teleportation nodes.
As long as an entrant stepped onto a specific teleportation array, they would be assigned to a different layer of the trading area.
This level of craftsmanship was even more extravagant than the folded-space tower at Jingyuan Academy's reception.
“So many spatial layers?” Ethan withdrew his mental power and muttered to himself. “What an incredible undertaking.”
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