A Level 7 Storage Ring

After the lesson ended, Master Hayes said, "You can handle things that require mana but not spells now. You don't need to attend the introductory course anymore."

Gagnor thought for a moment. "Other than the introductory course, do you offer any other courses?"

"Magic courses for Levels One through Three. They'll help you obtain the corresponding mage rank more easily in the Mage Guild's assessment. The fee is..." Master Hayes glanced at Gagnor's clothes and stopped.

Gagnor wisely did not ask. Instead, he changed the subject. "If I have any questions about magic later—"

Master Hayes said directly, "As long as I'm free, you can come ask me."

He seemed to think of something else. "If you're interested in magic, you could consider going to Akes Magic Academy. They aren't strict about age, and the tuition is much lower than Deep Blue Academy's... By the way, the current Pope served as a librarian there when he was young."

Gagnor thanked Master Hayes and left.

After returning to his lodgings, he impatiently tried to open the Blood Elf's Spatial Magic Ring.

However, things did not go as he wished. The Storage Ring did not react at all to his mana.

Even after he exhausted all his mana, the ring remained as quiet as an ordinary ornament.

This left Gagnor somewhat distraught.

What's going on?

Could the panel be wrong? Is this actually just an ordinary ring?

Gagnor focused more intently than ever and repeatedly examined it with his panel ability. The result still showed that it was, without a doubt, a Level 7 Spatial Magic Ring.

Then why couldn't he open it?

Gagnor knitted his brows tightly. After a moment, he finally thought of something and hurriedly fetched the Blood Magic Notes to consult them.

Half an hour later, a word caught his eye.

"Blood Brand..."

In the original Blood Elf text, this was a single word. However, Priest Green's translation into Human Language was not, and Gagnor was unsure whether the translation was accurate.

But one thing was certain.

The Blood Brand was a special type of Blood Elf magic that could establish a binding relationship between a magical object and its owner, preventing others from using it.

Was there a Blood Brand on the ring?

Gagnor's brows drew together even more tightly.

Obviously, this was the most likely reason.

However, the ring's original owner had been dead for many years. There should be a way to remove the Blood Brand, right?

Gagnor carefully read through the entire Blood Magic Notes and discovered that the term "Blood Brand" appeared quite frequently, though most of those instances were concentrated in the untranslated latter half.

He then searched the translated section for several Blood Elf words with meanings close to "remove." Comparing them with the later text, he found that one of the words appeared alongside "Blood Brand" multiple times on certain pages.

It seemed that the Blood Magic Notes really did record a method for removing the Blood Brand.

Thinking of this, Gagnor struggled internally before finally making up his mind—he would translate this section of the Blood Magic Notes!

As an ancient race renowned for its magic, the Blood Elves had many related documents and books classified as magical texts.

Thus, Gagnor went to the only place in South Sea Town that sold magic books: the Mage Guild bookstore.

Here, he once again felt the exorbitant cost of magic. The thin Mage's Handbook cost five silver coins, while any decent book cost twenty or thirty silver coins. As for genuine magic books, they often cost more than a hundred silver coins.

"I'll take this Blood Elf-Human Dictionary." Gagnor brought the dictionary before the bookstore clerk, his heart as heavy as the book itself.

"Sixty silver coins," the clerk said without looking up.

"Sixty silver coins?" Gagnor froze. "Doesn't it say fifty silver coins here?"

Only then did the clerk raise his head. Somewhat surprised, he said, "You're only buying the Blood Elf-Human Dictionary and not Funeral Overture?"

"Funeral Overture?"

"The two essential books for studying Blood Elf culture. Buy them together and they cost sixty silver coins. Separately, one costs fifty silver coins and the other twenty." the clerk explained.

Gagnor hesitated for a while. "All right, I'll buy both."

After paying sixty silver coins, Gagnor left the bookstore with the Blood Elf-Human Dictionary and Funeral Overture in his arms, his heart aching terribly.

He was almost out of money.

It seemed that once Ryan returned, he would have to go to the Black Market and sell the Bloodsail Pirates' badge as soon as possible...

After returning to his lodgings, Gagnor immediately began translating the Blood Magic Notes.

He had no foundation in the Blood Elf Language, but fortunately, the words "Blood Brand" and "remove" appeared densely in only one short section, spanning just a few pages. The pressure was therefore not too great.

After several days of translating and checking, Gagnor could finally understand this section.

The result was encouraging.

This section was indeed about removing the Blood Brand, and the method was not complicated. Of course, the prerequisite was that the item's original owner had died. The longer they had been dead, the simpler the removal method.

If the original owner was still alive, removing the Blood Brand would be practically impossible. For such a situation, the author of the Blood Magic Notes had thoughtfully provided a more feasible suggestion—kill the original owner.

The original owner of the Spatial Magic Ring had been dead for at least several centuries. The Blood Brand had long since become extremely weak, so all it required was a Cleanse Blood cantrip to remove it.

After several days of study, Gagnor mastered the Cleanse Blood cantrip. Once he cast it on the Spatial Magic Ring, the original owner's Blood Brand was successfully removed.

Now, he could finally use the Storage Ring as he had wished!

Gagnor first tried taking something out of it.

Could there still be something good inside?

Unfortunately, after the erosion of countless years, almost everything inside the ring had turned into dregs and mud.

Except for a piece of meat.

The meat had also decayed severely and was hardly any better than the dregs and mud, but it still vaguely retained the shape of meat.

Without a doubt, this was no ordinary meat. However, the more important reason it had not completely decayed was probably that the Storage Ring contained two Uncorrupted State slots, which had greatly slowed the rate of decay.

There were several types of spatial slots. Ordinary spatial slots corresponded to a single item level, while Uncorrupted State slots corresponded to two.

Therefore, this Level 7 Storage Ring had a total of five spatial slots: two Uncorrupted State slots and three ordinary spatial slots.

As for their capacity, the Uncorrupted State slots were no different from ordinary spatial slots. Each was roughly equivalent to a large suitcase.

After putting on the Level 7 Storage Ring, Gagnor immediately stuffed his quiver, Wolf-Sinew Bow, hoe, tent, clothes, and everything else he commonly used when traveling inside.

Of course, he could not waste the two Uncorrupted State slots either, so he filled them with potions and food.

From then on, he could travel light!

Thinking of this, Gagnor suddenly felt that spending so much money had been completely worth it.