A soft crunch…
Fire Finch, still holding a half-eaten potato chip, noticed the unexpected guest who had suddenly appeared in her home. Yet, she barely reacted, merely casting a sidelong glance before returning to her tablet, nestled on the corner windowsill, engrossed in her drama.
‘Ah…it’s Little Jia…oh…’
This wasn’t Li Jia’s first visit; such was the unfettered nature of space magic. It wasn’t worth the exorbitant cost of a spatial barrier just to keep her out.
‘Not worth it…’
“Guild Leader!?”
Aya Tone’s voice echoed through the room. Only then did Fire Finch lift her head, looking past Li Jia.
“Oh, Little Jia, how thoughtful of you to bring Aya Tone to your elder sister’s place,” Fire Finch said, her voice laced with a lewd grin as she tossed her tablet aside and flipped off the windowsill to land on her feet. ‘My little darling, to think such a good thing as you personally delivering yourself to my doorstep would happen?’
‘Outside, it’s kidnapping, but if you come yourself, then it’s a different story~’
“Guild Leader, don’t come any closer!”
Slam! The door was forcefully shut.
Watching the retreating figure of Aya Tone, clearly guilt-ridden as he fled, Fire Finch’s lips curved into a slight smile. ‘Was he really that afraid of her? Even without succeeding, toying with a pure young man was quite enjoyable.’
“Why are you here?”
Facing Li Jia, Fire Finch adopted a different demeanor. She walked to the bar, poured herself a drink, and then poured another for Li Jia.
Li Jia took the glass.
“I’ll stay the night. Tomorrow, I need to handle the application, and I might need your help.”
“Are you sure you’ve decided? Don’t blame your elder sister for not warning you, that dungeon in the Demon Capital isn’t easy. Recently, the spatial fluctuations inside have become increasingly frequent, and many monsters have died in the spatial rifts.”
Fire Finch took a delicate sip of her fragrant tea. It was late, and strong beverages were best avoided.
“Have you thought it through?”
This time, her tone lacked its usual flippancy.
She knew Li Jia understood better than anyone what frequent spatial fluctuations truly signified.
“What do you think?” Li Jia didn’t answer directly, but the unwavering resolve in her eyes silently conveyed her decision.
She had spent this time poring over ancient records concerning spatial energy fruits, and her investigations revealed a pattern:
The more frequent and intense the spatial fluctuations, the rarer the fruits nurtured within, and the more potent their contained energy and effects would be, increasing exponentially.
‘The greater the storm, the more valuable the fish!’ Moreover, only S-rank dungeons could produce S-rank energy fruits.
Additionally, harvesting spatial energy fruits required an individual with a spatial ability themselves.
Therefore, she had no choice but to take this risk.
“I know I can’t talk you out of it.”
Fire Finch, accepting her fate, set down her cup and turned to a nearby cabinet.
“Here, take it.”
She opened the cabinet, revealing a magic staff, entirely silver and exquisitely crafted, like an ancient pope’s scepter. At its apex, a deep black magic crystal was embedded, starkly contrasting with the staff’s inherent color, making it appear strikingly out of place.
“This is?” Li Jia’s hand, still holding her glass, trembled slightly. She could distinctly feel powerful spatial fluctuations emanating from the staff.
‘—This was a divine artifact a spatial mage could only dream of!’
Upon closer inspection, the incongruous black magic crystal seemed to contain a miniature black hole, constantly devouring the surrounding light.
“Well, I knew you were practically going to your doom, so I specifically asked my second uncle to forge a weapon for you.”
“Going into an S-rank dungeon with that trashy staff of yours? It would crack and break in minutes. Wouldn’t want you to fail and blame the weapon, now would we?” Although Fire Finch’s words were disparaging, her underlying concern was unmistakable.
“Alright, you’re a grown woman. Tsundere is so out of style.”
As the staff settled into her palm, a wave of icy coldness surged from her arm directly to her mind. Li Jia’s gaze involuntarily fixed on the magic crystal. Gradually, her pupils dilated, and she became utterly entranced.
The cup in her hand slipped silently. Fortunately, Fire Finch’s reflexes were swift, catching it before it could shatter on the floor, thus averting a tragedy. She didn’t disturb the hazy-eyed Li Jia; her second uncle had mentioned this was normal and simply to let it be.
‘After all, an S-rank weapon isn’t so easily controlled.’
After an indeterminate period, Li Jia felt her consciousness plunge into an endless void of space. It was utterly silent, devoid of any trace of time’s passage. The surrounding light seemed suppressed, dim and featureless, imbued with an air of profound mystery. She looked around in bewilderment, her heart filled with questions.
She opened her mouth, intending to exhale the turmoil in her heart, but was horrified to discover that in this space, not only was light inhibited, but sound could not propagate either. It was as if she were in—a black hole!?
Li Jia took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. ‘Well, at least I can still breathe.’
‘She didn’t know what was happening, but idly waiting for death wasn’t her style. No matter how powerful a black hole, it was still a form of space, and she was a spatial mage!’
In the room, Fire Finch sat on a chair, bored, clutching her tablet. Little Jia had been in that same pose for nearly half an hour. In that long stretch of time, she had even finished the water in her cup. She couldn’t watch her drama with sound, and her headphones were in the bedroom, so she couldn’t leave.
‘So slow. Second Uncle said this staff should be fully mastered in half an hour at most. Is Little Jia really that weak?’
Just as Fire Finch grumbled under her breath, a powerful spatial energy fluctuation suddenly erupted from the long-still Li Jia. Magic surged into the staff as if limitless.
In an instant, the entirely silver staff gradually took on Li Jia’s distinct color. However, when Li Jia’s magic touched the uppermost magic crystal, an even more potent devouring force burst forth from within it.
The magic swirling around the staff’s body was instantly and completely absorbed by the crystal.
As more and more magic was absorbed by the magic crystal, the formerly pitch-black crystal began to be adorned with numerous points of light.
‘—Those were the spatial nodes Li Jia had previously established.’
When the last spatial node imprinted itself within the magic crystal, in that expanse of black space, a magic known as ‘Black Hole’ surged into Li Jia’s mind like a tide, deeply branded upon it. She felt her consciousness instantly broaden, gaining an entirely new understanding of spatial magic.
When she finally came to, she found herself back in reality, and the staff in her hand felt even more attuned to her will. Each swing felt like an extension of her own hands.
Even more astonishingly, she discovered that a peculiar connection had formed between herself and this staff. With a mere thought, the staff in her hand vanished into thin air before their eyes. With another thought, it reappeared. ‘How miraculous!’
She looked at Fire Finch, her eyes filled with unwavering determination: “This S-rank dungeon, I will definitely succeed!”
Fire Finch replied, “Alright! Now, about that staff, let’s settle up. Friendship discount of 5%, rounding down, that’ll be eighteen hundred million. No credit, thanks.”
Li Jia scoffed, “Get lost!”