Chapter 72: Long-Awaited Response
The Dawnstar Federation was established on the Dawnstar Archipelago, which consisted of multiple continents in close proximity. If one could observe from great heights, despite the massive size of the landmasses, they resembled large islands when compared to the surrounding seas.
The Emerald Garden was among these major continents that comprised the Dawnstar Archipelago.
Duskfield City, where Ain resided, was in a subpar region of the Emerald Garden, away from the core of the continent. With its normal geography, lacking any special features, the city’s development was limited, leading to its average strength.
The only noteworthy location nearby was the Ruins of Ataxia, but the distance was still too great for spirit tamers to consider exploring it regularly.
Because of this, young spirit tamers fantasized about being admitted to some of the famous universities in the Emerald Garden.
And among these famous universities, Saint Heart Arcane University occupied one of the leading positions.
…
In the central region of the Emerald Garden, Saint Heart Arcane University.
A clear blue river flowed through the sky, twisting in a serpentine fashion. It accompanied the clouds at times, while at others, it kissed the ground.
Various buildings, resembling castles and palaces, dotted the landscape, merging into the mountains and forests.
In the vast sky, numerous islands floated about leisurely, all connected by the sky river, painting a mystical picture.
In a structure on one of the floating islands, a beautiful girl, with long black hair and similarly colored eyes, sat in front of a holographic screen with a slight frown on her face.
“Is it really impossible to measure attribute traces accurately?” The girl muttered with frustration while searching through various sources for a solution.
“I’ve already reached Rank-3 and contracted the Torchlight Dragon. I need to evolve it into the Abyssal Torch Dragon before it reaches Rank-1, otherwise, I’ll lose this opportunity forever.”
“But despite my skills, all the secret medicine formulas have become redundant because of the inaccurate attribute traces. The evolution potion won’t display its true effects either.”
“Am I destined to take the mediocre path?”
This had been a dilemma for her since she first became a spirit tamer over a year ago.
Despite the minimal hope in her heart, she continued to search for a solution. But with every passing day, the remaining flames of hope were slowly being smoldered by reality.
The girl closed the research report on her hololink, leaned back in her chair, and took a deep breath.
The waning flames of hope were given new life, as if fueled by oxygen, and recovered some of their vigor.
“Nothing new from public research papers… let’s check the trading forums. I haven’t done that in a while.”
Gaining nothing from the research papers, the girl began browsing through various trading forums, using specific keywords to assist her.
As she glanced through some of the titles, she suddenly paused at a particular one. She squinted her eyes slightly and said, “A scam?”
Just as the words left her mouth, the girl paused as she realized something, and let out a chuckle filled with mockery towards herself as she muttered, “Just when I found something, I immediately dismissed it as a scam. It seems that I’ve already admitted defeat subconsciously.”
Putting these thoughts away, the girl opened the post and read through the brief description.
“Hmm, an attribute measurement service that can measure up to one decimal place… Although it’s still a little insufficient, it can allow me to at least attempt evolving the Torchlight Dragon.”
“But the question still remains, is it real?”
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The girl leaned her arms on the table and thought silently for a few seconds. Determination slowly appeared in her gaze as she sat up straight.
“I’ll have to test things out first. Hmm… let’s try the Mystic Sight Pills.”
With the wave of the girl’s hands, a few precious ingredients required for the Mystic Sight Pills appeared in front of her.
“I’ll send samples from these resources first.”
The girl’s plan was simple. The Mystic Sight Pills were lost in history, and she was certain that she alone possessed its formula and the relevant knowledge.
Using the attribute traces of these resources, and a strictly controlled concoction process, she would calculate the expected attribute traces of the resulting pills.
Next, she would send the pills to be measured as well. If her calculated attribute traces match the measurements she receives for the pills, the attribute measurement service would be proven authentic.
With a flick of her wrist, small pieces from the ingredients suddenly separated and floated into a container with numerous sealed compartments. After securing the package appropriately, the girl transferred the trading post to her hololink and prepared to leave the room.
At this moment, her hololink suddenly rang, drawing her attention.
Beep! Beep!
The girl glanced at the name that appeared before answering the call. Another girl’s voice sounded from the hololink.
[Leila, where are you?]
Hearing this question, Leila noted the time before replying, “I have a small matter to attend to, I’ll be a little late.”
[It’s fine if you’re late. I just have to confirm that you’ll be here. After all, everyone wants to meet the Champions Path’s champion.]
“Don’t worry, I’ll be there within an hour.”
After ending the call, Leila calmly glanced at the trading post once again before leaving for the Cyberspace transmission hub.
…
Aethralis, the core city of the Emerald Garden.
In a luxurious and meticulously decorated hall, a middle-aged man walked back and forth while muttering something in a low voice.
He would occasionally glance at his hololink, discover something, contemplate it, and finally disregard it before repeating the process once again.
“No, no, this isn’t enough. Young Lord Soren wouldn’t fancy something like this. I have to think of something else.”
“Is this it? Can I use this as a gift? Wait. If I can find it, then others can too. It won’t allow me to stand out if it’s not unique.”
“This is difficult. There’s no lack of spirit masters currying favor with Evenon family. Young Lord Soren’s birthday is an opportune moment, I can’t let it slip past me.”
On the side of the hall, a few servants stood with their heads lowered, not daring to interrupt.
Their master, Lord Trystum, a Senior Grade-3 Spirit Master, had made this a routine for the past few days. He had encountered a bottleneck that prevented him from reaching Grade-4. Despite all his efforts, he was unable to find the correct path and laid all his hopes on advice from the rare Grade-4 Spirit Master in Aethralis.
But this endeavor was also very difficult. Their master had been attempting this for the past few years, but no Grade-4 Spirit Master would offer such valuable insights, even at a great price.
The only method left was to slowly curry favor and accumulate merit, enough to exchange for some advice.
And now, the greatest opportunity to do so had arrived. Young Lord Soren, who had recently become a spirit tamer, was the treasured grandson of Evenon family’s Grade-4 Spirit Master.
If their master could gain Young Lord Soren’s favor through an exceptional gift, the Grade-4 Spirit Master might be willing to assist him.
The servants quietly listened to the mutterings that faintly reverberated in the hall. After a few seconds, the voice disappeared as Lord Trystum once again rapidly browsed through his hololink, continuing his search for the perfect gift.
As his vision swept past, he caught sight of something interesting and paused.
“Accurate attribute trace measurements? It can’t be real. If it was real, why would it be in a trading forum like this? Wait, why am I in a trading forum like this?”
Lord Trystum hurriedly realized his mistake and was about to close the forum to search elsewhere when his gaze passed over the title again. He thought for a second before throwing the hololink towards one of the servants.
The hololink drew a gentle arc in the air as the servant stepped forward to catch it.
Lord Trystum then waved his hand, and a few resources appeared in the air. Small portions of the resource automatically separated, flew into small containers, and the containers disappeared into a silver ring that had appeared in his hands at some point.
With another gentle flick, the ring followed the hololink’s trajectory and landed in the servant’s hands as well.
As this happened, Lord Trystum retrieved another hololink from somewhere while saying, “Take a look at that post and send those resources over.”
By the time the servant responded, Lord Trystum was already submerged in his search.
…
The sun had just greeted the sky when Ain awoke.
Today was Friday, and it had been two days since the competition.
After familiarizing himself with the Secret Phantom Technique, Ain also began studying two new spells.
The first spell was Invigoration, which he received as a reward, and the second spell was Tranquil Thought, which was recorded in the inheritance book.
Ain had already mastered several Rank-1 core spells, so these two new additions didn’t take much effort. He was still some distance from mastery, but he could already cast them successfully.
The previous day, he spent some extra time on alchemy and tested the feasibility of his plan to research the supreme traces.
Ain’s few trials had already led to some progress, which was miles apart from the slow AMD research. He only needed to continue with the trials, and it would eventually yield some results.
It was still early in the morning, so Ain first began his spirit tamer training and meditation. After making sufficient progress, he concluded the morning session.
Tomorrow was the weekend, meaning that it was time for his weekly trip. Ain brought up his hololink and planned to browse through Liberty Firm’s catalog for some resources. It was time to spend the star coins that had reached over two million.
When he swiftly glanced over the holographic screen, Ain suddenly paused.
The trading forum that he specially pinned at the front exhibited some new changes.