The moment those words left his mouth, Convict stopped in his tracks.
He turned around, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.
Secret Eagle also looked back.
Both of their gazes fell upon Ethan at the same time.
“Kid,” Convict said, a hint of astonishment in his tone. “Not bad spatial perception. Hundreds of years ago when I first came here, I didn't notice those spatial layers at all. I only found out after looking at the map.”
Secret Eagle didn't say anything, merely sizing Ethan up from head to toe.
Ethan bowed slightly. “Thank you for the compliment, Dean.”
Convict waved his hand. “Tsk, let's go. Time to broaden your horizons.”
Overhead stood a massive gray crystal display, its surface carved with dense runic patterns that slowly flowed.
Floating directly above the crystal display was a line of constantly shifting text: Trading Area.
Beneath the display, three humanoid constructs made entirely of translucent crystal were maintaining order.
Several wizards dressed in dark robes were queuing in front of them. Each person pressed their core crystal into a slot on the display, and they were then engulfed by a pale gold beam of light, vanishing on the spot.
It seemed these were the teleportation nodes leading to the different layers.
Convict tilted his head toward Ethan. “The trade fair is split into sixty layers of folded space. Layers one to twenty are for ordinary stalls and bulk transactions. Layers twenty-one to forty have items for First-Tier Wizards. Layers forty-one to fifty-five contain high-quality goods usable even by Second-Tier Wizards. Anything above layer fifty-six is restricted to Tier 3 Wizards and those with special permits. Today, I'll take you to the forty-seventh layer first, so you can see what a real trade fair looks like.”
With that, Convict walked up to the crystal display, pulled his core crystal from his waist, and pressed it into the slot on the side.
“Layer forty-seven.”
A pale gold beam of light engulfed the three of them.
When their feet touched solid ground, their surroundings had completely changed.
Rows of neat, orderly crystal counters were arranged in a structured layout.
Each counter was three meters long and two meters wide, with its tabletop polished from a single slab of gray crystal.
Dense sealing runes were carved along the edges of the counters. The runic patterns slowly flowed across the crystal slabs, and with each cycle, they condensed a layer of translucent energy light membrane over the counter.
The items inside the membrane were clearly visible.
The pathways between the counters were wide enough for ten people to walk abreast.
The number of stalls here was at least ninety-nine percent fewer than on the first layer, but every single item displayed on the counters radiated energy fluctuations that only Official Wizards could utilize.
Rows of knowledge crystals were arranged by attribute and category. Beside each crystal stood a small crystal display carved with a brief introduction of its contents and the price.
Bundles of high-tier magical beast pelts were stacked in specially sealed cabinets, their surfaces still retaining the lingering energy of the beasts when they were alive.
Several transparent crystal containers held writhing live organs, their inner walls carved with runic arrays designed to maintain viability.
Ethan's gaze swept over a counter.
Displayed on it was a row of thumb-sized, deep red crystal cores. Frozen inside each core was a single drop of churning, lava-like liquid.
The small crystal display beside them read: Earth-Core Lava Essence, primary Fire-attribute alchemy material, ten magic crystals per drop.
Convict walked at the very front.
He walked at a leisurely pace. Clearly, this was not his first time here, and he was highly familiar with the layout.
After turning at two intersections, he stopped in front of a counter.
Resting on that counter were several fist-sized, dark silver ores.
The surfaces of the ores were covered in fine crystalline patterns, with each pattern emitting extremely faint spatial fluctuations.
The small crystal display beside them read: Void Crystal, primary space-attribute alchemy material, forty magic crystals per piece.
Convict glanced at them. “This stuff is the core material for refining spatial storage Wizardry Tools. The storage rings sold at our academy are made from leftover scraps. A storage Wizardry Tool refined from an entire piece of Void Crystal has an internal space at least a hundred times larger than an ordinary storage ring.”
Secret Eagle walked over to another counter.
Displayed on it was a row of arrowheads polished from dark blue-green bone. Each arrowhead was as long as an adult's palm, its surface covered in dense runic patterns.
“Spellbreaker Arrowheads, ground from the weathered ribs of an abyssal bone dragon. Ten magic crystals each. Their piercing power can break through the standard defense of a Second-Tier Wizard.”
Convict took a look. “Too expensive.”
Secret Eagle nodded. “I know. Just looking.”
Convict walked over to the adjacent counter and squatted down.
On it lay several scrolls bound in dark red leather, with extremely faint blood-red light patterns flowing across the leather surfaces.
He glanced at them, raising an eyebrow. “Oh, a detailed analysis of Flesh Regeneration. This stuff is rarely seen on the market. Which battlefield ruins did this stall owner dig it up from?”
He asked for the price. The stall owner was a middle-aged witch wrapped in a black cloak, revealing only a pair of eyes glowing with a dark green light.
The witch's voice came from deep within the cloak, raspy like sandpaper rubbing together. “Three hundred magic crystals. No bargaining.”
Convict's mustache twitched. “Three hundred magic crystals? Why don't you just rob me?”
The dark green light in the witch's eyes flickered. “This scroll records the experimental notes of a Tier 3 Wizard, not some common junk circulating on the market. It even contains three modified variants of Flesh Regeneration, each clinically verified. Three hundred magic crystals is already very low.”
Convict looked at Ethan and lowered his voice. “The things here are indeed good, but they are also incredibly expensive. But then again, that's just how Jingyuan Academy's trade fair is. There are enough good things to make your head spin, but the prices will make your heart bleed.”
Ethan nodded. He naturally understood this principle.
You get what you pay for.
There were plenty of good things here.
As for the prices, they were naturally outrageously expensive.
Though, for the most part, they were still worth every penny.
Convict looked left and right. “Alright, it's exactly nine o'clock. Since we're here, we must want to buy some things, so feel free to wander around on your own. If you want to sell something but don't know where to set up, just talk to those guards. They will assign you a spot based on what you're selling. We'll gather at the teleportation array on the first layer at twelve o'clock.”
Secret Eagle nodded and left on her own.
“Alright, Dean,” Ethan replied.
The three of them went their separate ways.
Ethan turned and walked in another direction.
Compared to these miscellaneous items, knowledge was what he needed most right now.
Although Blood Bone Tower was a Three Rings Academy and its library had a decent amount of knowledge, it was ultimately too small compared to the fifty thousand other Three Rings Academies in District 77.
Jingyuan Academy's trade fair gathered the essence of all the Three Rings Academies in the entire district. The breadth and depth of the knowledge that could be found here were far beyond what Blood Bone Tower alone could offer.
However, for now, he had to get a high-quality spatial ring first.
The storage ring on his hand was one he had saved up for by selling potions during his apprentice days. Its base space was one hundred cubic meters, but with the 999-fold expansion from his passive ability, Void Space, its actual capacity reached one hundred thousand cubic meters.
It sounded like a lot, but over the past few years, it always felt insufficient.
Moreover, the ring itself had a simple structure, with mediocre stability and protection.
Making do with it during his apprentice phase had been fine, but now that he needed to purchase a large number of knowledge crystals and high-tier materials, relying on this ring was far too shabby.
Rate on N.U.
