"It seems the entrance to the passage moves around. There are eight stone tables, each with eight stone stools. You can only enter Traveler Street by choosing the correct eight stools."
He glanced at Redneck and Victor, both red-faced and furious, then sat on a stool at another stone table that no one had used before.
He was patient. He waited until everyone at the other tables had failed before giving a slight wiggle and vanishing from the spot.
Emma Mortis Wanted to Try Changing
It was the same lake, the same Lake Pavilion.
But after leaving the Lake Pavilion and crossing the garden bridge, they entered an entirely new world.
What greeted them was...
Ah, the air of freedom!
Students no longer had to follow the school's old-fashioned rules. A single outfit-changing Magitech Card could let them transform themselves in all sorts of ways.
"Down with school uniforms!"
Dark even saw a senior who usually liked to pretend she was stern let out a scream on the spot.
Her uniform, which had covered every important part of her body from head to toe, instantly changed into a fitted black dress with puffed sleeves, lace, a flared skirt, and a generous amount of bare shoulders and collarbone.
Another senior, with a bowl cut and an earnest, unassuming look, simply ran a Magitech Card over his head as he stepped off the bridge—and turned his bowl cut into a slicked-back style.
His uniform had become a little suit that showed off his figure.
The Magitech Card in his hand transformed into a bright red rose.
He tucked the rose into his breast pocket and strode along with a commanding air, looking nothing like the uncouth fellow he had been before.
Changing outfits, having fun, dating, shopping, drinking, singing and dancing...
Traveler Street was like a Fairy Land utterly unlike St. Marian, with everything St. Marian lacked!
And all it took to enjoy all this to the fullest was a tiny handful of credits!
Although the Academy Cup was held every year, no one would start scrimping at the beginning of the semester for a competition at the end of the school year.
Besides, there was a saying that was always going around St. Marian, though it wasn't exactly true for everyone: the more you spent, the more you earned!
But since there really were a few role models who proved it, many people used it as an excuse to persuade themselves to spend freely.
Of course, there were also those who couldn't afford to spend freely at all!
When Dark had taken a quick walk around Traveler Street and ran into Victor and Robert again, the two were walking out of a toy shop, looking dejected.
Apparently, the credits they had nearly run out of weren't enough to buy the toys they wanted.
Dark didn't have the spare time to pay attention to other people. He merely glanced at them before striding away.
So he missed another wealthy student who happened to be passing by—Emma Mortis—being cornered by two underachievers.
Emma had originally come to Traveler Street to look for some obscure books that the academy library didn't have. But along the way, she spotted Dark, who seemed to be searching for something, and instinctively followed him.
Instead, she got caught up in Victor and Robert's pestering.
Fuming with embarrassment, Emma snapped, "So it's your own fault you don't have enough credits, isn't it? Even a normal person would have 480 credits without earning a single extra one. What about you?"
Victor said awkwardly, "I have 250..."
Robert's face flushed again. "Emma, we just want to borrow five credits from you! That's easy for you, isn't it? We'll pay you back in class on Monday!"
Victor glanced at the new Magic Chess displayed in the shop and couldn't help adding, "We're only five credits short!"
Looking at her classmate, who was known as the Son of the Hero, Emma suddenly felt a little sorry for him.
Then an idea came to her.
Her brows drew together again, and she suddenly said sternly, "I can lend you the credits, but you have to pay me back double. And for every day you're late, you'll owe me double the amount again! The second day will be double the first day's amount, the third day double the second day's, and so on. I'll only accept full repayment in one go. If you agree, I'll lend you the credits, with your Sorting Cards as witnesses!"
Robert agreed at once without a second thought. "We'll pay you back ten credits tomorrow, twenty the day after, and forty on Monday. That's just two classes' worth for each of us. No problem!"
Victor felt that something was off, but his eagerness to buy the Magic Chess made him ignore the odd feeling.
With their Sorting Cards as witnesses, the two signed the contract, then rushed into the toy shop and bought the latest Magic Chess set, which could sing, dance, and rap!
Meanwhile.
After wandering around for a long time, Dark finally found a shop that specialized in Magitech devices: Morgan Shop.
Traveler Street was full of all kinds of general stores, where you could buy plenty of cheap goods.
But the Magic Brain Dropper was a specialized Alchemy tool with very demanding requirements, and it was extremely expensive. You could only hope to find one in a dedicated shop.
After searching for ages, Dark found Morgan Shop wedged between two jewelry stores.
He pushed open the long-neglected wooden door and was immediately hit by the smell of damp decay.
"Little brat, don't go touching things. If you break anything, you can't afford to pay for it."
The one-eyed Morgan behind the counter only needed to peek out from beneath his eyepatch to tell that Dark was a freshman.
And how many credits could a freshman earn in a month?
Morgan knew that all too well.
He bluntly showed Dark the door. "Even the cheapest thing in my shop costs over a thousand credits. That's more than a freshman like you can afford."
Dark glanced at the test tube set on the shelf and suddenly asked, "Even that set of test tubes costs a thousand credits?"
"Th-this..."
One-eyed Morgan was stumped. After a long pause, he snapped, "Why wouldn't this set of Constant Temperature Magitech Test Tubes be worth a thousand?"
Dark asked, "Then what about this beaker, this flask, and this evaporating dish?"
One-eyed Morgan shot to his feet and slammed his hand on the counter. "What's it to you!"
Dark shook his head. The shopkeeper had a bad temper and was a bit childish. Maybe it was just that time of the month.
He stopped arguing with One-eyed Morgan and started looking over the shelves.
If there were test tubes and beakers, surely there'd be droppers too?
"Flame Crucible, Spirit Demon Alcohol Lamp, Magitech Separator... Ever-changing Glass Rod, Mana Dropper..."
The Mana Dropper was probably a lower-grade version of the Magic Brain Dropper. It could only absorb a little mana.
A dropper was a short tube with a narrow opening at one end and a rubber bulb at the other, used to measure liquid by the drop.
But in the process of making Magitech Cards, droppers were generally used to absorb mana, knowledge, thoughts... even souls!
Legend had it that some Magisters would put their own souls into Magitech Cards to create Magic Spirits with a standard intelligence level of 3.0!
The Magic Brain Dropper Dark wanted was a grade below the Soul-Sucking Dropper.
It wasn't some priceless rarity that no one could buy.
But it really wasn't anywhere on these shelves!
He had no choice but to go to the counter and wake One-eyed Morgan, who was pretending to sleep out of embarrassment.
"Hello, shopkeeper. Do you have a Magitech Dropper?"
One-eyed Morgan didn't even look up. "What does a freshman like you want with one of those?"
Dark maintained the necessary politeness. "For an experiment."
One-eyed Morgan looked up, his gaze strange, but still said, "Wait here. I'll go check in the back."
A moment later, he really did come back with a Magic Brain Dropper. It just wasn't in the best condition.
Next Chapter: The Adventurers' Guild Isn't a Dating Service!
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