Miscellaneous

"I'm sorry. I just tried to do something beyond my abilities and scared you all."

Qi Fei spoke with a hint of embarrassment.

"As long as you're all right."

At that moment, Linley wanted nothing more than to stay away from Qi Fei.

The man was too bizarre, yet both his strength and influence were formidable. It was best not to get involved with him.

While the two were talking, Alice had thoughtfully led Bebe away, giving them room to chat.

"By the way, Lord Cadmus, I'm returning this to you."

Linley held out the Ring to Qi Fei with both hands.

He'd been forced to bind it with his blood, so even without the reminder from the old man in his soul, he knew it was a Space Ring.

He couldn't just accept something like that.

"I told you, it's your reward. I've already gotten enough in return from you."

Qi Fei waved his hand and refused to take it.

Once you gave something away, you didn't take it back.

"?"

Linley looked confused.

"Did you know that beyond the seven elements, there are also the Four Rules?"

Qi Fei decided to tell Linley some of the truth.

His future cultivation of the Rules of Fate would depend on Linley, so letting him in on part of the truth now would make it easier for them to get along later.

Besides, I Eat Tomatoes' protagonists were generally pretty reasonable.

There was no need to worry that Linley would turn greedy after learning the truth and try to hold Qi Fei hostage.

"I do."

Linley nodded.

For someone with a Saint Realm old man in his soul, this was basic knowledge.

"Through you, I glimpsed the direction my cultivation of the Rules of Fate should take. This is the reward I prepared for you in exchange for helping my cultivation."

Qi Fei's casual remark left the old man in Linley's soul deeply shocked.

"Linley, you're incredibly lucky."

Doehring Cowart spoke into Linley's ear in his spiritual form.

"He can use you to cultivate Fate Magic, the Fate Law. And you can use his resources to grow faster. It's a win-win."

Practitioners of Fate Magic were extremely rare. He hadn't expected Linley to meet one—and to become connected with him, no less.

What was more, this man's teacher seemed to be above the Saint Realm.

If Linley befriended Qi Fei, the help he could offer in the future would be immense.

Linley's luck was truly astonishing.

Doehring Cowart couldn't help sighing.

Normally, when the old man spoke to Linley in his spiritual form, no one else could hear him.

But Qi Fei wasn't a normal person.

After the Supreme God of Destruction had strengthened him, after his experience tempering his Divine Will, and after seeing those Threads of Fate just now...

Qi Fei had heard every word of their conversation.

Still, he wasn't in a hurry to point it out.

The old man had mistaken him for a practitioner of Fate Magic, but he wasn't saying anything bad about him. Qi Fei decided to let it go.

"But he's giving me far too much. I'm worried he might have other motives."

Linley was still concerned.

Qi Fei had handed him a Space Ring filled with valuables right off the bat. It was a little frightening.

"It looks like a lot, but in reality, it's only about as much as a seasoned Saint-level expert would have."

Doehring Cowart explained it to Linley.

A peak Saint-level expert would possess wealth that could easily dwarf everything in this Ring.

Most of its value came from the gold represented by the Magic Crystal Card. The rest of the collection wasn't particularly precious to a Saint-level expert.

The truly precious treasures, the ones that could benefit even a Saint, couldn't simply be bought with money.

This was probably the Fenlai Kingdom's accumulated wealth from over the years.

Cadmus had likely taken one look, decided it was useless to him, and casually tossed it to Linley.

"His Senior Brother is a Saint-level magical beast, and his teacher is very likely above the Saint Realm. I doubt he even cares about these things."

Doehring Cowart continued.

"Above the Saint Realm? Wouldn't that make him like the War God and the High Priestess?"

Linley exclaimed inwardly.

Qi Fei couldn't help laughing at Linley's thoughts.

If he hadn't known that Linley was unaware of the truth, he would have thought Linley was insulting Beirut.

The High Priestess was a Lowgod of Life; the War God was a Fire-style Lowgod who had refined a Divine Spark.

Even with Beirut's public identity as a Highgod, those two wouldn't have been important enough to sit at the same table as him—let alone with the hidden identity of Beirut as a Chief God.

While Qi Fei was reflecting on this, Linley and Doehring Cowart quickly finished their conversation through their rapid spiritual exchange.

"Then I'll accept it, even though I feel a little shameless, Lord Cadmus."

Linley's voice brimmed with gratitude.

With this fortune, his father and his younger brother, far away in the O'Brien Empire, could both live comfortably.

He would have to repay Qi Fei properly.

"Just call me Qi Fei."

To be honest, even after all this time since he'd transmigrated, Qi Fei still wasn't used to being called Cadmus.

"Yes, Lord Qi Fei."

Linley readily agreed.

"May I ask what I need to do to help with your cultivation?"

After thinking it over, he felt this was the only way he could repay Qi Fei.

"You only need to live your life as usual. My cultivation depends on my own comprehension."

Just being able to observe Linley was already the best outcome Qi Fei could hope for.

As for asking Linley to help him change fate, Qi Fei would wait until after he refined the Sovereign Spark, when his body could withstand more, before trying that.

"Is that really enough?"

Linley asked in confusion.

If that was all it took, there was no need to give him so much.

"That's enough. Cultivating laws and rules depends on your own understanding."

Of course, that didn't apply to Qi Fei, who had a cheat.

But the other versions of Qi Fei were still Qi Fei himself, so it wasn't wrong to say his cultivation depended on himself.

"If you feel you haven't earned it, then use the resources in the Ring to cultivate hard and help me fulfill my ancestor's dying wish sooner."

Qi Fei came up with an excuse to redirect Linley's attention.

"Your ancestor's dying wish?"

Linley looked at Qi Fei, puzzled.

"The ancestor of the Cadmus Family once fought your family's ancestor to a draw, but never got to witness a Saint Realm Dragonblood Warrior with his own eyes."

Qi Fei spoke with a look of deep regret.

He seemed genuinely saddened by the loss his family had suffered.

"I see."

Linley suddenly understood.

No wonder Qi Fei had immediately recognized his background.

"I've seen how quickly you cultivate magic. You seem to have the potential to reach the Saint Realm. Cultivate hard. I'll wait to fight you once you've become a Saint."

Qi Fei patted Linley on the shoulder.

He wasn't entirely making it up.

Even if he became a god through the Rules of Fate, he would still have his Saint Domain True Body. That would be enough to fight Linley.

"Yes!"

Linley, thoroughly taken in, answered excitedly.

They had made a promise to meet again in the Saint Realm, and one day they would fight and fulfill their ancestors' wish.

How wonderful it sounded.

"By the way, Junior Brother, how about moving into Ernst Institute?"

Once the two had finished talking, Harvey, who had been perched on Qi Fei's shoulder without saying a word, suddenly spoke up.

"To be honest, Senior Brother, I've been thinking about asking Master if I could do that."

Qi Fei hadn't actually considered moving into Ernst Institute.

He'd only planned to buy a house in Fenlai City and then follow Linley around town every so often.

Yale, the eldest in Linley's dormitory, often took the whole group to Fenlai City to visit brothels.

Linley had never tried it himself, but he still went along to fit in.

And now that he was gradually falling in love with Alice, he was coming to the city even more often.

Of course, moving straight into Ernst Institute would be fine too. At least it would make observing Linley more convenient.

"Sounds good. Once we meet up later, I'll talk to Ernst Magic Academy."

Harvey hadn't gone there already because he didn't dare let Qi Fei leave on his own.

Harvey had originally wanted to chat with Bebe, but even though Bebe was only a few dozen steps away, he didn't dare approach him now.

There was no way he'd leave Fenlai City and go to Ernst Magic Academy.

He couldn't part from Qi Fei until he'd handed him over to his father.

"Thanks, Senior Brother."

Qi Fei spoke gratefully.

"You're all welcome at Ernst Magic Academy."

Linley had never imagined that Qi Fei and the others would consider coming to his academy because of him.

He could only hope the school's leadership would accept a group of Saint-level experts staying there temporarily.

"Thanks."

Qi Fei replied casually.

Then they each went their separate ways.

After Qi Fei and Harvey met up with Beirut again, Harvey brought up the idea to him.

Beirut figured that since they were already there, they might as well head straight to Ernst Institute.

Bebe was there too.

So the three of them took Linley back to Ernst Institute.

Qi Fei had no idea what Harvey had said to the Academy Head, but he was able to move into the academy without a hitch.

Once inside, Qi Fei's daily routine wasn't much different from what Beirut had planned before.

He got up early and cultivated Dou Qi.

In the morning, he studied magic and trained his body in the breaks while his mental strength recovered.

Gravity Magic and the armor Senior Brother Harry had given him worked together to train his body from every angle.

In the afternoon, he did combat training with his Senior Brothers.

The intensity of the training kept increasing over time.

Recently, Senior Brother Harry had even told Qi Fei to stop relying on his armor's protection and work on his ability to dodge.

Once, his Senior Brother had used his strongest attribute, Darkness Attribute, and had nearly beaten Qi Fei to a pulp.

Purple-gold and black shadows filled the air. Qi Fei had no idea which direction the next attack would come from.

Although Harry had limited his strength to the peak of the ninth rank that time, Qi Fei had still ended up swollen all over.

Of course, the training had produced impressive results.

After taking enough hits, Qi Fei had naturally learned to dodge and to defend himself with techniques.

He had finally graduated from being a complete novice in combat.

Along with his improved awareness, his development of Flame Explosion was also making steady progress.

By using the Profundity of Explosion, Qi Fei had managed to bring nearly ten times the power out of a single portion of Dou Qi.

In the process, he had also gained an initial grasp of a Profound Mystery related to high temperatures, one that hadn't been mentioned in the original work.

As for the other elemental laws, he was still at the stage of studying magic.

Qi Fei could now say with confidence that Battle Through the Heavens Newcomer's attribute was fire.

The two fire attributes combined had allowed him to grasp the Laws of Fire Elements so quickly.

As for the Rules of Fate, having Linley as a reference made his progress almost unbelievably fast.

By Qi Fei's estimation, his understanding of fate changed completely from one day to the next.

But since the Rules of Fate weren't divided into specific Profound Mysteries, he had no idea how long it would take him to become a god.

After afternoon combat training, Qi Fei still had to study magic theory with Beirut in the evening.

His foundation was far too weak, so he could only make up for it by putting in more time.

After magic theory, he also had lessons on the specialties of other planes with Senior Brother Hart.

But over time, that class had turned into a joint treasure hunt for Harvey and Qi Fei.

Qi Fei found an empty lot and used Earth-style Magic to build a huge warehouse.

Every night, Qi Fei would take a pile of miscellaneous items out of his Space Ring. He and Senior Brother Harvey would identify them together, then put them into different Space Rings.

Among the odds and ends, the most numerous were various divine artifacts. Before they'd even finished sorting everything, they had already filled two Space Rings.

The most common type of divine artifact was clothing.

These artifacts had been made by strengthening ordinary garments. Their defensive power reached the minimum standard for a divine artifact, but their upper limit still fell short of proper armor.

Qi Fei had no use for them, but he could always give them away in the future.

The second most common type was offensive divine artifacts.

Among them, the one Qi Fei liked best was a High-God Artifact spear carved from a tree branch.

Senior Brother Harvey had identified the material as a special tree called Starlight Wood, which was probably produced in the Life Supreme Plane.

These trees were naturally attuned to the Rules of Life, making it easier to craft Life Element divine artifacts from their wood.

That made it a fairly common specialty.

Of course, Qi Fei wasn't preparing it for his future Life God Clone.

He was cultivating the Rules of Fate, so how could he not prepare a Gungnir for himself?

The original was made from World Tree wood, and Qi Fei was still a long way from getting his hands on that. But a lower-grade version would do.

Besides, Qi Fei could now more or less replicate the Spear of Fate's effect of never missing when thrown.

So this would be the main weapon for his future Fate God Clone.

As for the incompatibility between its attributes and his, cultivating it with Fate Divine Power for a while should solve the problem.

Just like Linley's Violet Blood Soft Sword.

Apart from the divine artifacts, most of the rest consisted of currencies from various planes and some generally useful resources.

Most of those resources were meant for attacking, while only a small portion were useful for cultivation.

And among the cultivation resources, a large number only worked on those in the Saint Realm and below.

Qi Fei had no idea why there were so many of them in the Ring.

There was also a huge pile of Floating Shadow Crystal Balls, a specialty of the Coiling Dragon Universe.

These crystal balls were like magical videotapes. Even entry-level Water Element magic was enough to record on them, so they were produced in great quantities.

The crystal balls Qi Fei found contained recordings of powerful experts fighting. Every one of them offered him valuable insight.

They made a nice collection.

Besides all that, there was one other thing that Qi Fei and Harvey had been looking forward to most.

Space Rings.

Before they checked them by dripping blood onto them, these discarded Rings were like treasure chests, full of promise.

Qi Fei's best find had been a box containing twelve High Godheads, two hundred and sixty-one Midgod Sparks, and a number of Lowgod Sparks.

If he put them all on display, the Saint Realm experts on the Yulan Continent would probably fight like dogs over them.

Harvey's best find, on the other hand, had been a crate of Amethyst from Hell.

Amethyst was a semi-natural mineral. It served a purpose similar to a Soul Gold Bead, but its effect was more than ten times weaker.

That was why only Deities who couldn't afford better usually bought it to refine.

When Harvey saw it, he'd complained about what kind of mind would stockpile a whole crate of Amethyst instead of selling it for Soul Gold Beads.