Chapter 31: Items in the Storage Ring

A few hours before midnight, Ain finally rented a single room at the Clouds Rest Inn, a cheap inn he’d encountered after leaving the alleyway.

Previously, in the hidden realm, he’d looted 12,684 starcoins from Carl and Mason. Upon purchasing the hololink for 12,000 starcoins, the remaining sum was transferred to his Cyberspace account. Now, with the room costing 500 starcoins, his new balance was down to 184 starcoins.

“I could’ve eaten for months with 500 starcoins…” Ain lamented while closing the windows. His mindset was a construct of over a decade of poverty. He struggled to adjust to these new standards. Nonetheless, as a spirit master, it was only inevitable.

After securing the room and seating himself on the single bed, he excitedly retrieved two items from his pockets. The cloth pouch he’d received from Elric and his storage ring.

“Let’s check the aether crystals first,” Ain promptly decided.

Opening the pouch, he saw several clear, pebble-sized, uniformly cut crystals exuding dense aether fluctuations. Under the overhead white light, the crystals sparkled like precious white gemstones. He eagerly spilled the crystals onto his palm before activating Scan.

[Name: Aether Crystal]

[Aspect: Aspectless]

[Rank: None]

[Aspect Traces: Fire 6.7%, Water 6.2%, Wind 7.1%, Wood 6.4%, …]

[Description: Natural crystals that store large quantities of aether.]

“Aether crystals… the name is pretty self-explanatory,” Ain mumbled, sensing the large quantity of aether within the crystals. He felt it possible to absorb this aether, just as he could with the ambient aether.

There were seven aether crystals in total, and Scan displayed similar results for all of them. Aside from that, the crystals appeared identical to one another, suggesting deliberate and uniform processing.

After inspecting the aether crystals, Ain set them aside before focusing on the main attraction – the storage ring. “Let’s use Scan first.”

[Name: Storage Ring]

[Aspect: Space]

[Rank: Rank-1]

[Grade: Excellent]

[Aspect Traces: Space 59.2%, Metal 25.5%, Earth 5.0%, …]

[Description: A mechanical artifact capable of storing inanimate objects. It features a holographic interface for easy access and a storage capacity of 5 cubic meters.]

Ain carefully absorbed the information before eagerly moving on. He touched the storage ring’s sensor, activating the blue holographic display. A square grid appeared above the silver ring with small images occupying some of the squares. There was a partially-filled bar hanging above the grid, representing the storage ring’s five cubic meter capacity. Only a tiny volume was filled.

Upon scrutinizing the images within the grid squares, Ain found them to be images of his belongings. The ring automatically scanned the items to generate images for convenient selection and retrieval. There were the familiar bags he’d looted from Carl and Mason as well as his newly purchased apparel. Tapping their images on the holographic interface, these items appeared midair as small amounts of aether was absorbed by the ring.

“So it can automatically absorb my aether…” Ain muttered, observing this scene with vast interest, allowing the items to simply fall onto the bed. After his first successful attempt, he glanced at the unfamiliar images and tapped on the first image depicting a book.

Soon, Ain curiously held a green book with golden embellishments, observing it from various angles. The book was untitled, and its pages blank. However, it emitted faint aether fluctuations hinting at a greater mystery.

“Do I need to inject aether like the Puppet Command Token?” He pondered. Before committing to this idea, he used Scan, his most efficient appraiser.

[Name: Spirit Cultivator Tome]

[Aspect: Aspectless]

[Rank: Rank-3]

[Grade: Superior-Grade]

[Aspect Traces: Fire 6.1%, Water 6.5%, Wind 6.3%, …]

[Description: An artifact containing a spirit cultivator’s inheritance. Due to restrictions, only the selected individual can view its contents by injecting aether.]

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“A Rank-3 artifact!” Ain almost stammered. This was undoubtedly another gift from Sage and Livia! From its description, the tome seemed to contain knowledge relevant to spirit cultivators. It wasn’t a combat artifact like the Puppet Command Token but his desire for knowledge treasured this tome immensely.

“Spirit cultivators nurture spirit pets, right?” Ain recalled intently. It was briefly mentioned by Livia as they randomly conversed. Propelled by the sprouting interest, he took to Cyberspace in search of information.

As he’d only recently obtained a hololink, learning the intricacies of browsing required extra time. A spirit master’s identity hastened his progress as he encountered fewer restrictions on information. Once he finally uncovered what he sought, half an hour had already passed.

Ain’s previous understanding was correct, but also severely lacking. Spirit cultivators indeed nurtured spirit pets, but their significance far exceeded his imagination. Spirit Cultivator was an esteemed profession immersed in research and practice, held in high regard by the world. They nurtured spirit pets by concocting elixirs that accelerated training, assisted in unlocking new skills, and most importantly, designed specialized evolution elixirs to induce spirit pet evolution.

Spirit masters, as they personally formed contracts, naturally hoped to nurture their own spirit pets. However, the harsh reality was that most lacked the talent, knowledge, or time to do so. Without talent, one’s progress would be abysmal, seemingly crawling through the mud. Without systematic knowledge, one would be burdened by confusion, running around like a headless chicken. And without time, one would never see improvements, remaining stuck at the starting line forever.

The prerequisites for a spirit cultivator were quite harsh, and from talent, knowledge, and time, knowledge was unexpectedly the greatest hurdle. Systematic knowledge wasn’t openly disseminated, only imparted behind closed doors with great prudence. Powerful organizations and elite families monopolized this knowledge as it directly affected spirit masters’ growth. After all, evolution, unlocking potential for higher ranks, was integral to spirit pets.

As he learned of evolution, aside from emphasizing the importance of spirit cultivators, Ain also gained a general understanding of spirit pet qualities.

From Scan, he’d learned that Nox’s quality was Noble, and the Earthen Boar he’d killed also had a Noble quality. He didn’t know what these represented until now. The height of a spirit pet’s power was determined by its quality. The qualities he’d discovered today were Common, Noble, and Ancient.

Common quality limited a spirit pet to Rank-0. If it wished to reach Rank-1, it must first evolve its quality to Noble. A spirit pet with a Noble quality could achieve Rank-1 and Rank-2. If it wished to advance to Rank-3, it must first evolve its quality to Ancient.

As such, Common quality was limited to Rank-0. Noble quality was limited to Rank-2. And Ancient quality was limited to Rank-4.

Spirit masters couldn’t go without evolving their spirit pets. Taking this into consideration, Ain summoned his spirit pet.

“Wooo…?” Nox appeared with a flash and glanced around curiously while inquiring.

“We’re here to rest. Now, don’t move,” Ain answered before using Scan.

[Species: Ink Revenant]

[Aspect: Ghost]

[Quality: Noble | Max Quality: ???]

[Rank: Rank-0]

[Innate Skill: Possession]

[Skill: Phantom Claws]

[Aspect Traces: Ghost 97.5 %, Fire 0.9 %, Wind 0.5 %, ...]

“With your Noble quality, I don’t need to consider evolution until Rank-2. As for reaching Rank-1, the inheritance tome should have some clues,” Ain remarked to Nox, already feeling grateful for the Spirit Cultivator Tome. Sage and Livia had imbued clarity into his blurry path. The fog of confusion and ignorance was rolling away swiftly.

“As for your max quality, it’s probably beyond Ancient,” he concluded.

“Wooo…” Nox cheered, unaware of his meaning. It simply assumed Ain had praised it.

Elric was at Rank-4, and Ancient quality corresponded to Rank-4. Since Scan worked on Elric, it should’ve detected Ancient quality as well. Since it was still unidentifiable, Nox’s max quality was likely higher.

“That’s good news. From what I’ve found, max quality is a tough hurdle to overcome,” Ain smiled at Nox as he held its cool body. Max quality was the true ceiling of potential for spirit pets and spirit beasts. Wild spirit beasts could also trigger evolution through copious amounts of time and sufficient resources. However, surpassing their max qualities was impossible. The epitome of spirit cultivators was exactly this achievement.

“I have to become a spirit cultivator,” Ain set another goal. The prospects were too exciting for him to ignore.

“Wooo…!” Nox cheered him on, bobbing around in his arms.

Setting aside the Spirit Cultivator Tome, he retrieved another unknown item from his storage ring. It was a crystal flask with a purple liquid flowing inside.

“A potion?” Ain speculated. As soon as the potion flask appeared, Nox eagerly reached for it with two white extensions, transmitting its longing and excitement. “Wooo…!”

“Hmm? Is it good for you?” Ain repeated its thoughts inquisitively.

“Wooo…!” Nox’s eyes vigorously nodded.

“Huh… then tell me, which one do you want more?” His interest roused, Ain fished out the Prismatic Void Stone from his pocket and held it against the potion flask. Nox only cast a cursory glance at the black stone before determinately pointing at the potion flask. “Wooo…!”

Its answer was obvious. “Alright. Let me use Scan first,” Ain said.

[Name: Wailing Revenant’s Tears]

[Aspect: Ghost]

[Rank: Rank-3]

[Grade: ???]

[Aspect Traces: Ghost 97.5 %, Fire 0.9 %, Wind 0.5 %, ...]

[Description: A custom evolution elixir for Ink Revenants. It can induce the Ancient evolution with a success rate of 80%.]

Just as the results from Scan appeared, another stream of information unexpectedly surged over. It was a new quest.

[Quest: The Anticipated Power-Up]

[Description: With Arcane Heart University’s imminent recruitment, what can you achieve with a Rank-0 Spirit Pet? Before the recruitment, evolve Nox to Ancient and strengthen it to Rank-1.]

[Reward: Heavenly Whispers x2]

Noting down two sets of information, Ain set the quest aside for now. He was more thrilled by Wailing Revenant’s Tears.

“Another Rank-3 item. This is clearly an evolution elixir for Nox!” He thought happily. The hidden gifts prepared by Sage and Livia were too promising. Although he’d accepted their kindness, Ain still couldn’t help but find it unbelievable. What did he do to deserve this? Was it just in their nature to do this? Or were they helping a young spirit master on a whim?

He’d heard legends of strange wealthy people randomly helping out a beggar. Was that the case here? Unable to comprehend their actions, Ain returned to the evolution elixir. With his perfect memory, he’d noticed something intriguing.

“The Wailing Revenant’s Tears and Nox have the same aspect traces…”