Chapter 76: What Was Inside the Spatial Ring 1

Kent did not leave with Keta.

Instead, he claimed that the spells he had cast earlier had completely exhausted his mana.

After a good deal of persuasion, he finally managed to send Keta away. The two agreed that once Kent had recovered, he would visit the Ancient War Trees that had already reached the proper age but had yet to awaken, and cast some light-element magic for them.

In truth, Kent possessed one advantage that no ordinary mage could possibly match.

Mana recovery.

If he were a genuine light-element mage, recovering mana in the subterranean realm would have been extremely difficult. After all, light-element mana was scarce in a place dominated by endless darkness.

Kent, however, had no such problem.

His mana belonged to all elements.

Even dark-element magical energy could be absorbed into his body, converted into mana, and then transformed again into the light-element mana required to cast light magic.

At his current level, the difference was not particularly obvious.

But as his strength increased, the surrounding environment would play an increasingly important role in mana recovery—one whose importance could hardly be overstated.

“I laugh because I’m happy, so very happy...”

Kent hummed a popular song from Earth as he walked.

Normally, there was an unwritten rule in the subterranean realm: one should never make too much noise while traveling.

This was the underground.

No one knew what might be lurking in the darkness, and unnecessary noise could easily attract unwanted attention.

But Kent was far too excited to care.

His fingers were tightly wrapped around a ring hidden in his palm.

A spatial ring.

As long as Ryan could open it for him, the ring would belong to Kent completely.

By the time he returned to his residence, Kent could barely contain himself.

He carefully locked the door behind him, took out the spatial ring, and began examining it in detail.

This was clearly an advanced alchemical creation.

Kent still did not fully understand its internal structure, but that alone would not stop him.

If this ring had fallen into the hands of a mage with only a single elemental affinity, that mage would have been able to do little more than stare at it helplessly unless he possessed the corresponding magical key.

Kent was different.

He was an all-element mage.

As long as he investigated carefully enough, he should eventually be able to understand how the ring worked.

He first held the ring up before his eyes and studied it closely.

The band itself appeared to have been forged from mithril and magic silver, with a tiny space-element magic crystal embedded within it.

The crystal was no larger than a grain of rice and had a milky-white color.

Kent also discovered several magical formations engraved along the inside of the ring.

These formations had clearly been inscribed directly with spiritual power.

Without probing them mentally, they were almost impossible to see with the naked eye.

But after examining the ring’s basic construction, Kent could not help feeling somewhat disappointed.

A spatial ring made from a space-element magic crystal was among the lowest-grade versions possible.

The finest spatial rings were crafted from a magical gemstone known as Voidstone.

Compared with Voidstone, ordinary space-element magic crystals were vastly inferior.

And judging from the tiny size of the crystal embedded in this ring, its maximum storage capacity was probably no more than half a cubic meter.

That estimate also assumed that the alchemist who created it had been skilled enough and that the magical formations had been engraved with sufficient precision.

Kent might not yet understand exactly how to construct a spatial ring himself, but he still knew enough to judge its quality.

As the old saying went, even if you had never eaten pork, surely you had seen a pig run.

Even so, his disappointment did little to suppress his curiosity.

What Kent really wanted to know was much simpler.

What exactly had Hank stored inside this spatial ring?

Kent slowly extended his spiritual power into the spatial ring.

Almost immediately, he sensed a faint magical fluctuation.

Carefully, he used his spiritual power to guide a trace of space-element mana toward it.

A spatial ring was normally unlocked through spiritual power.

Every person possessed a unique spiritual signature, and somewhere inside the ring was a small magical formation designed specifically to recognize that signature.

If the spiritual fluctuation entering the formation matched the one previously imprinted within it, the spatial ring would open.

That was why breaking into someone else’s spatial ring required extraordinary precision.

It could not be rushed.

For a mage without an affinity for the space element, forcibly opening such a ring would take at least ten times longer. Worse still, the slightest mistake could destroy the ring entirely.

Kent, however, had no intention of directly attacking the magical formation that identified its owner’s spiritual signature.

Instead, he chose another route.

He tried to sense the dimensional space connected to the ring itself.

For an ordinary mage, such a thing would have been nearly impossible.

But for a space-element mage, it was considerably easier.

After all, a spatial ring was ultimately nothing more than an advanced application of spatial magic.

It was like entering someone else’s house.

Other mages had no choice but to go through the front door and figure out how to unlock it.

Kent, on the other hand, could simply pass through the wall.

It might take him a little longer to get through, but compared with picking the lock, it was still far more convenient.

“So there really is an independent spatial connection...”

Kent murmured to himself.

Until now, his knowledge had been entirely theoretical. He understood the principles, but he had never actually put them into practice.

Yet as he continued probing the ring, he gradually sensed an unusually dense concentration of space-element magical energy.

More importantly, he clearly detected a spatial node hidden within the ring.

That node led somewhere else.

To an unknown space.

And that was precisely one of the greatest weaknesses of spatial rings made from space-element magic crystals.

The dimensional space opened by such crystals did not truly exist independently. Instead, the ring merely established a connection to a small region within some unknown spatial dimension.

Voidstone was entirely different.

A Voidstone contained its own independent space from the very beginning.

That space existed within the stone itself.

As a result, spatial artifacts made from Voidstone were more than a hundred times safer than those made with ordinary space-element magic crystals.

After all, no one could say for certain what might exist inside an unknown dimension.

There could theoretically be living creatures there.

Or perhaps some powerful space mage performing spatial teleportation might accidentally enter the very same unknown region.

Of course, this was only theory.

As far as recorded history was concerned, there had never been a confirmed case of a spatial ring connecting to an unknown space inhabited by living beings.

Kent’s feelings at that moment were rather complicated.

He was excited.

Yet at the same time, there was a faint sense of guilt nagging at him.

He felt almost like a thief slipping a hand into someone else’s purse.

It was difficult to describe.

Still, feelings were one thing.

They certainly did not stop his hands.

“I’m rich!”

Kent’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“Adamantine coins!”

After painstakingly tracing the spatial node, he had finally managed to perceive the contents stored inside the ring.

The first things he noticed were several coins made entirely from adamantine.

“There are only three... but they’re worth at least a million gold coins!”

Without the slightest hesitation, Kent moved his spiritual power.

“Those are coming out first.”

With a thought, the three coins were pulled through the spatial connection.

Clink!

Clink!

The coins appeared out of thin air and dropped onto the floor.

Kent hurriedly picked them up and carefully placed them to one side before continuing to inspect the ring.

Only now did he realize that the storage space inside was not even half a cubic meter.

Apparently, the alchemist who had crafted this ring had not been particularly skilled.

Kent could not help feeling slightly contemptuous.

A second-rate craftsman.

Further inside, he discovered several crystal coins and diamond coins.

He left them where they were.

Diamonds might have been immensely valuable back on Earth, but on this continent they were hardly anything special.

After that came several scrolls.

There was also a letter.

Kent had little interest in any of those things.

What he wanted was treasure.

“Hm? What is this?”

Kent’s eyes widened in surprise.

With a faint ripple of spatial energy, an object about the size of a bowl suddenly appeared out of thin air.

It looked like an enormous scale.

The object was completely black and gave off an exceptionally dense magical aura. Even more strangely, Kent could faintly sense an overwhelming presence radiating from it, as though some terrifying power were hidden within.

He had no idea what it was.

But that hardly mattered.

Once something had been taken out of the spatial ring and fallen into Kent’s hands, there was absolutely no reason to put it back.

Without hesitation, he slipped the mysterious black scale into the alchemical pouch he carried with him.

This kind of pouch was specially made for alchemists and could effectively isolate magical fluctuations, preventing the aura of the items stored inside from leaking out.

Kent also placed the three adamantine coins into the pouch.

As for the spatial ring itself, he temporarily slipped it onto one of his fingers.

His thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.

Hank’s greatsword and armor were still waiting for him back in the laboratory.

Kent certainly had not forgotten about those treasures.

Deep within the second underground level lay a forbidden region.

No one was permitted to approach within several hundred li of the area without authorization.

More than a hundred thousand dark elves stood guard around it.

This was where the Tree of Life grew.

It was also the sacred birthplace of the dark elf race.

Every fifty years, a new generation of dark elves would be born from this place.

After passing through layer after layer of inspections and reporting procedures, Darkya was finally allowed to draw closer to the Tree of Life.

Every dark elf who came before the Tree of Life would bow in the deepest reverence.

Darkya was no exception.

She solemnly paid her respects before continuing onward.

The Tree of Life occupied almost the entire cavern.

The underground space that contained it was even larger than the vast cavern in which Muan City itself had been built.

Dark-green magical radiance flowed continuously from the enormous tree, bathing the entire region in a deep emerald glow.

Seen from afar, it hardly looked like a single tree at all.

It resembled an immense forest stretching across the cavern.

Every thousand years, the Tree of Life would give birth to a Dark Elf Empress.

The First Elder also resided near the outer reaches of the Tree of Life.

This sacred region was, in fact, the true capital of the dark elf race.

“Darkya?”

The First Elder looked up when he saw her approaching.

He set aside the work in his hands, and a trace of affection appeared in his expression.

“Why have you come back? Weren’t you undergoing your trial in preparation for a breakthrough?”

“First Elder, I have a message for you from the Second Elder.”

Darkya respectfully handed him a Message Stone.

This magical stone could temporarily record both voices and images, making it an exceptionally rare and valuable magical item.

Since they were currently in the First Elder’s official residence, Darkya addressed him formally as the First Elder.