Chapter 61 - 60: The God’s Ring (2)

Chapter 61: Chapter 60: The God’s Ring (2)

In the original novel, during the third week of the semester, Veera had entered the Arcane Training Tower after earning his first 200 credits from a dungeon hunt. The ancient spirit slumbering inside Veera’s Abyssal Grimoire had immediately recognized the God’s Ring and taught Veera a forbidden Abyssal Blood-Weaving technique to forcibly stitch the three broken gem fragments back together.

?Although the repaired ring in the original story only recovered thirty percent of its Mythic-Era functions due to the crude repairs, it still gave Veera a secret portable training space where he ground his combat skills day and night, allowing him to overtake Julian Von Draken, Prince Larsen, and Aria during the mid-term tournament!

?No wonder this ring is sitting right here in the lobby,. This is one of Veera’s biggest early-game opportunities.

?More importantly, Aegon didn’t need to crudely stitch a broken relic together and settle for 30% of its power like Veera did.

?With the [ Ring of the Focused Mind ] and his 22 points of Nascent Soul Power, as long as Aegon held the broken God’s Ring in his hand, traced every single one of those ten thousand microscopic spatial nodes into a complete mental blueprint, and fed that blueprint into ATUM, his Grimoire could reconstruct a brand-new, one-hundred-percent intact God’s Ring from scratch!

?Just as Aegon reached into his coat pocket for his badge, heavy footsteps echoed from the entrance of the Arcane Training Tower.

Step. Step. Step.

?Walking through the tall double doors was none other than Veera.

?Having skipped lunch to brood over his humiliation at the Opening Ceremony, Veera had come to the Training Tower intending to spend his 50 starter credits on a gravity chamber.

Yet the moment his boot crossed the threshold of the lobby, the black-and-red Abyssal Grimoire hidden inside his tunic gave a sudden, violent throb against his chest!

?<Wait, kid! Stop right there!>

?Inside Veera’s mind, a raspy, ancient voice echoed with sudden, frantic excitement.

?< Look at that octagonal pillar in the center of the hall! That platinum band... by the Nine Hells, that is the Dimensional Sage’s God’s Ring! Why is a Mythic-Era spatial training artifact sitting in a mortal academy lobby?!>

?Veera froze in his tracks, his bloodshot eyes snapping toward the glass dome.

?"A Mythic-Era artifact?" Veera’s breathing instantly grew ragged, a wild surge of hope igniting in his chest.

"Master, can I use it?! If I get a Mythic artifact, can I crush Aegon Noiré during the Monthly Crucible?!"

?<The spatial core is cracked in three places, which is why these blind mortals think it’s trash, the ancient spirit hissed eagerly in his mind. But with my Abyssal Blood-Threads, I can help you mend thirty percent of the array! Once you have a personal pocket dimension to train in, surpassing that little brat from House Noiré will be effortless! Quick, check how many credits it costs to take it!>

?Veera’s heart pounded like a war drum. Finally! After being stepped on by Aegon for two whole days, heaven had finally delivered a supreme fortune straight into his hands!

?Suppressing the ecstatic grin threatening to split his face, Veera hurried toward the central pillar, only to stop dead in his tracks when he saw the familiar black-cloaked figure standing right in front of the reception counter.

?Aegon didn’t even spare Veera a sideways glance.

?Placing his Golden Griffin Badge squarely onto the polished desk in front of the elderly proctor, Aegon pointed a finger at the glass dome.

?"Proctor, I am buying the broken God’s Ring. Open the case."

Just then—

"Wait! Stop right there!"

Veera’s desperate shout echoed from the entrance of the lobby.

?Before the elderly proctor could even reach for Aegon’s badge, Veera sprinted across the black basalt floor like a cornered beast, shoving past two startled Second-Year students as he lunged toward the reception counter.

?Around the central pillar, the dozen upperclassmen blinked in surprise, turning their heads to look at the breathless boy in the wrinkled S-Class coat.

?"Isn’t that Veera, the commoner who took third place in the entrance exam?"

?"YEAH, but why does he look like someone just set his house on fire?"

?Veera didn’t care about the strange looks from the seniors. His chest heaved violently as he slammed his own student badge onto the counter right next to Aegon’s, his bloodshot eyes glaring daggers at the ten-year-old boy beside him.

?"Proctor, don’t open that case for him! I want to buy the God’s Ring!"

?Inside Veera’s mind, the ancient spirit residing in his Abyssal Grimoire was roaring furiously.

<Good job, kid! Whatever happens, you cannot let this brat take that ring! A Mythic-Era Personal Spatial Training Center is a once-in-a-millennium fortune! If it falls into his hands, you will lose your greatest chance to overtake him!>

?Behind the polished counter, the elderly proctor frowned behind his silver-rimmed spectacles, glancing down at Veera’s badge before looking up at Veera as if he were looking at an idiot.

?"Boy, are you blind or did you forget how to read?" the proctor said dryly, "First of all, Student Aegon placed his badge on my desk before you even walked through the door. Second, taking the broken God’s Ring off the pedestal requires 200 Academic Credits upfront. But Yyour badge only has 100 credits on it. What are you going to pay the other hundred with, your teeth?"

Veera froze, the blood rushing to his face as the surrounding Second-Year and Third-Year students burst into mocking laughter.

?"Haha! He only has his 100 credit starter stipend and he’s trying to snatch an item at the reception counter?"

?"Wait a second, why is Aegon Noiré spending two hundred credits on that unfixable piece of scrap metal anyway? First he buys a petrified pill for fifty credits at noon, and now he’s buying a dead ring?"

Standing calmly beside the counter, Aegon finally turned his head and looked at Veera’s flushed face.

?"Veera, we meet again." he greeted warmly.

Veera just scoffed in irritation.

At this, Aegon’s turned voice turned cold.

"Veera, You cracked your quartz orb during the morning class, and you hid in the shadows during the afternoon sparring session without fighting a single wager match. Instead of shouting at the counter with half the required credits, perhaps you should go find someone in the arena to donate another hundred to you."

?Veera clenched his scarred fists so hard his nails dug deep into his flesh. Every word Aegon spoke was like salt rubbed straight into his open wounds.

?"Damn it! Damn it all! Master, what do I do?! He actually has two hundred credits right now! Why would he suddenly buy a broken ring that nobody has touched in years?! Does he know what it is?!"