Chapter 268 : Chapter 268
Chapter 268. Entering the Spirit Realm Again
This was the day Fulan and Nora had agreed to go to the Spirit Realm. When Nora arrived at their meeting place, she saw Fulan already sitting in a chair, waiting.
The first thing that drew her attention was a certain quality emanating from Fulan. It gave her the same sense of comfort that a compulsive perfectionist would feel upon seeing a perfectly orderly, flawless pattern.
It was as though Fulan had blended into the surrounding environment itself, to the point that there was not the slightest sense of discord about her.
Nora rubbed her chin, puzzled as to why Fulan seemed to have changed after only a few days. It was rather strange.
So Nora asked directly,
“What happened to you? Why do you feel different somehow?”
Fulan revealed a helpless expression, as though she had long expected Nora to ask exactly that.
Ever since she had just advanced to the Second Tier, quite a few people—some she knew, some total strangers driven by curiosity—had come up to ask her the same question.
She knew that this was the result of having drawn those spell models too perfectly during her advancement. It was the effect of her trait 【Perfect Mage】.
Later, after examining the source of that feeling more closely, she discovered that it was because the efficiency of her mental power was far higher than that of an ordinary mage.
That difference in efficiency caused the outward expression of her mental power to differ from that of normal people.
It was as though her mental power itself were of a higher quality, and in a profession like that of a mage, where everything depended on mental power, that difference was especially obvious.
Fulan gave the same explanation she had already used more than a dozen times.
“I’ve recently been trying a special experiment. This is the effect of a special substance extracted during that experiment.”
Once she said that, those mages would all put on expressions of sudden understanding and stop asking further questions.
After all, it was perfectly normal to run into a mage on the street who had been affected by one of their own experiments. Quite a few mages suffered some kind of harm due to improper handling.
And a mage’s personal experiments were an extremely private matter. Any normal mage knew better than to casually probe into the details of someone else’s experimental work.
Perhaps those curious mages had known from the start that this would be the answer they got, and only insisted on hearing Fulan give that vague yet fitting explanation in order to satisfy their curiosity.
After hearing this answer, Nora also let go of her curiosity and did not pursue the matter further. She placed a hand beneath her head, coughed twice into her mouth, and said,
“Since you’re already here, let’s go. I’ve made all the preparations for entering the Spirit Realm. They’re in a house nearby.”
Fulan stood up and followed Nora toward a house at the end of the street. But after entering the house, Nora did not stop walking at all. Instead, she led Fulan down a corridor to a door.
She turned the handle and revealed a scene behind the door that took Fulan somewhat by surprise.
The door led to the outside of the house. In other words, they had passed all the way through the house and arrived somewhere else.
Fulan could not help but say,
“The house you rented is in quite a remote spot!”
Nora turned her head slightly and replied,
“What can I do about it? The people who planned this part of the Northern Society never included this place in the street layout, so the only way in is through someone else’s house. All the other entrances are blocked.”
“As for why I rented a house here... you know how it is. Houses here are cheaper.”
Just as Fulan had no money from a mentor backing her, Nora was in the same position, and hers was even more difficult. Unlike Fulan, she did not have any craft she could casually use to make a large amount of money.
The reason she had brought Fulan to this temporarily rented house to enter the Spirit Realm was because Nora’s assigned residence also contained her own experiments.
Mages were obsessed with their work and believed such things should not be seen by others.
The overwhelming majority of mages would never allow even their spouses or relatives to enter their laboratories.
Instead, they would permit certain close friends, mentors, or disciples to enter.
And clearly, Fulan and Nora were not close enough yet. Even Nora herself did not want to bring Fulan into her laboratory.
In order to build a better relationship with Fulan, she had specifically rented a house in a relatively safe location so she could take her to the Spirit Realm from there.
Under Nora’s guidance, the two quickly arrived before a house that was black from top to bottom. Compared with the neighboring houses, it looked distinctly out of place.
This was a house specially prepared for mages. Its black exterior could block out most outside interference, maintain internal stability, and even provided a certain degree of defense.
Its only flaw was the location. It was actually situated right in the middle of the homes of the civilians who had moved into the city.
Fulan looked at the curious gazes of the nearby residents, as well as a young man in a Magic School robe who was staring at the place with obvious envy.
It seemed that some mages were always forced to come here because of financial constraints. From the reactions of the surrounding residents, she could tell they were already used to mages passing through here at any time.
The two entered. The first thing they did was inspect the inside of the house. Although no one in the Northern Society should dare attack a mage, the necessary vigilance still had to be maintained. Besides, the location here was rather special, and Fulan could not afford to be careless.
As usual, Fulan set up magic traps outside, then went with Nora into a relatively spacious room inside the house.
The things needed to enter the Spirit Realm had already been set out there. To Fulan’s surprise, there was a pile of transparent, rod-like crystals in the room, each one shimmering with flowing light inside.
Seemingly noticing Fulan’s gaze, Nora smiled and explained,
“This is a kind of currency commonly used in the Spirit Realm. It’s called Spirit Crystal. In the Spirit Realm, most transactions are carried out with this currency.”
Looking at the Spirit Crystals before her, Fulan suddenly remembered that the first time she had entered the Spirit Realm, after killing the person who ambushed her inside the trial, she had obtained a small bag of crystalline objects.
Thinking about it now, those had been Spirit Crystals. Only now did she finally know their proper name and use.
Then another question occurred to Fulan, and she asked,
“The currency of the Spirit Realm? Can’t people use the gold, silver, and copper currency of the Material Realm?”
Nora smiled and answered,
“No, because bringing things into the Spirit Realm for trade requires materials to be consumed for every bit of weight and volume you carry over.”
“If people really used Material Realm currency for transactions, then bringing up every silver coin would mean taking a loss. Even bringing up a gold coin would cost you part of its value first.”
“So under those circumstances, we use this Spirit Realm currency—Spirit Crystal—for trade.”
“I’ve heard it has considerable value in the hands of those Spirit Realm Lords, but to ordinary traders like us, it’s simply a currency.”
Fulan frowned and then asked,
“Does that mean I have to go up there first, trade something for some Spirit Crystals, and only then go buy things?”
Fulan looked at Nora and saw an expression on her face that practically read, ‘What else would you do?’ So Fulan waved a hand and said,
“Then let’s go up first. I’ll look around later and see whether I can sell something up there.”
Fulan had not expected that the very first thing she would have to do in the Spirit Realm was make money. She had thought she would not have to worry about finances for the time being, so ever since coming to the Northern Society, she had not resumed making Spell Rings.
Still, she was not too worried. After all, she genuinely had a great many valuable things on her right now.
At worst, she could temporarily make a few weapons and take them up to sell, and that would still exchange for plenty of Spirit Crystals.
After hearing Fulan’s words, Nora handed her a Spirit Crystal about the length of a finger and said,
“This is the entrance fee. Once you’ve paid it once, you won’t need to pay again as long as this market remains open. When the next market opens, you’ll have to pay again.”
Then Nora took out a purple sphere and handed Fulan a slip of paper. Written on it was the incantation for entering the Spirit Realm.
“When I tell you to recite it in a moment, recite what’s written on it, and we’ll be able to enter the Spirit Realm.”
Then Nora checked everything again before finally saying to Fulan,
“All right. Start reciting.”
Nora did not rush up immediately, because if she had gone first, then what if Fulan recited it incorrectly or something unexpected happened?
So Nora planned to wait until this “newcomer,” Fulan, had entered the Spirit Realm first, and only then go up herself.
That way, she would not end up already there, waiting for ages without seeing Fulan arrive, and then have no choice but to come back down again.
But what Nora had not expected was that Fulan recited the contents of the paper with complete ease and familiarity. Before Nora could even react, she saw Fulan’s body turn ethereal—the sign of entering the Spirit Realm.
“That fast?!” Though shocked, Nora still quickly recited the incantation. Her body also turned ethereal, and her consciousness rose, heading toward the Spirit Realm.
---
Fulan opened her eyes and immediately felt that the Spirit Crystal she had been holding in her hand had already disappeared. She looked down at her palm and could see only a small, slender hand.
Wait... a small, slender hand...
Fulan raised both hands and felt over her body, then discovered in surprise that her current body was her very body from the Material Realm, not the one she had previously possessed in the Spirit Realm under the influence of the Lord of Radiance.
Fulan saw that she was wearing a black robe. She searched herself for a moment but could not find that book anywhere.
This led her to a guess. Could it be that the book, along with the power of the Lord of Radiance, had already followed her into the Material Realm, which was why she had returned to her present appearance in the Spirit Realm?
“That works too. At least I won’t have to explain to Nora why I look different in the Spirit Realm from how I do in the Material Realm.”
Originally, Fulan had already prepared herself to explain it to Nora, but to her surprise, once she got here, there was no need.
Fulan looked around. She was standing in an open area, and ahead of her was a paved stone road.
On the other side of that road, she could see a cluster of low buildings, with a rather crowded flow of people moving through them. Along with that came the noisy sounds of conversation.
At that moment, beside Fulan, a figure suddenly emerged from the void and gradually solidified.
That figure was Nora.