The "Bait" in the Image World

At dusk, Shi Fen sat cross-legged in the center of his bedroom, palms pressed together on his lap, a tiny ring resting in the center of his palms.

After the embarrassing blunder, Shi Fen spent a long, long time centering his mind and spirit before his emotions finally settled.

It was hard to imagine that such a small World Ring weighed nearly 800 kilograms. Combining the weight of the ring with the name of its material, Shi Fen suspected it was crafted from an extremely high-grade F-tier metal.

That was the only reason it could be so heavy.

He was currently using his faint Spiritual Force to refine the World Ring, a process akin to water dripping through stone. Although Shi Fen possessed an Inner World capable of storing items, he felt it was necessary to have a "cover," which was essential.

The earlier mishap had served as a reminder.

He needed to be doubly careful.

Even though using a small World Ring as a daily cover was risky—as even in the vast universe, it was extremely rare for an Apprentice-level creature to use a World Ring, making them easy targets—there was no other way.

His wealth simply did not allow for a low profile.

As for ordinary space rings, those would have to wait for the future.

He spent the entire night refining the ring until it was completely under his control. He slipped it onto the middle finger of his left hand; the 800-jin ring made Shi Fen feel as if his hand were wrapped in a giant lead weight, making every movement uncomfortable.

It's a good thing it can merge into my palm, otherwise, wearing this ring every day would be unbearable.

Shi Fen merged the ring into his palm and used his Spiritual Force to control it, sensing everything within the World Ring.

"The World Ring is truly extraordinary. To control it, I only need to channel my Spiritual Force to communicate with the world power inside; the world power then handles everything for me."

Shi Fen's Apprentice-level Spiritual Force could only extend a few dozen meters outward. Yet, such weak Spiritual Force could manipulate the entire space of the ring world, which was truly miraculous.

Even though Shi Fen could access the entire space, there were limitations. He could not "store or retrieve" items that were too large in volume or too heavy in mass.

"Incredible, truly incredible!" Shi Fen exclaimed in wonder as he practiced retrieving items from his room.

He practiced using the World Ring repeatedly within his room, aiming to reach a state where he could store and retrieve items with ease.

The world power of the ring was immense; if a powerful expert were using it, they could master it instantly after refining. But Shi Fen's current strength was too weak—if those experts were to "blow a breath," not even ashes of Shi Fen would remain.

With Shi Fen's current weak Spiritual Force, trying to control the ring's world power felt like "a kitten pulling a sled"—it was exhausting. To reach the state of effortless control, he had to pay a price.

The books on his shelf suffered a terrible fate. More than half of them were completely destroyed. Yet, the "sacrifice" of the books was worth it, as their destruction paved the way for Shi Fen's success.

He packed the damaged items into a woven bag, planning to throw them away when he went downstairs later.

Driven by a surge of excitement, Shi Fen busied himself from yesterday afternoon until noon today.

Exhaustion from the over-excitement flooded Shi Fen's mind.

He rummaged through his home for some instant food, devoured it, and then took a shower before returning to his bedroom.

"With the Image Space, why bother sleeping?"

His Spiritual Force dove into the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror stored in his mind, and his consciousness entered the Image World. His body's breathing steadied as he entered a state of "sleep" and rest.

A few minutes after entering, Shi Fen's mental state was fully restored.

"I was right; the Image World can also restore one's mental state, and the recovery effect here is even stronger." Shi Fen noticed his mental state was completely refreshed, a hint of pride appearing on his face.

With his mental state restored, he immediately flew to a corner of the "Main Hall" to inspect the various Tech Tools. "Let's see what treasures Teacher left for me and how they differ from before."

He inspected them one by one, silently recording the data in his mind.

He was like a wealthy landlord in his own treasury, counting his treasures as if they were his own family jewels.

"There are actually three Wisdom Forges. Why give me so many when I'm the only one using them?"

"There are also three Refining Furnaces."

"Hmm? Why are all the important treasure-refining devices in sets of three? Is this intended for my father, my brother, and me to forge here together?"

"This 'trash can' only has one. What a pity, and not a single Storage Card either." He looked at the hundred empty slots above it, feeling a sense of regret.

These devices were the same as before; some had Storage Cards, while others did not.

Ever since Shi Fen had seen the vast number of World Rings, he had been obsessed with these magical Storage Cards. They were, after all, the most suitable space-storage equipment for him to use.

Shi Fen shuttled back and forth between the 10 neatly arranged "Mining Vehicles," placing his hands on their bodies and comparing them as he walked to see if they were identical.

"Hmm? There really is one that's different."

He circled the unique "Mining Vehicle," carefully inspecting every detail of its body.

The overall shape of this "Mining Vehicle" was identical to the others, but this one lacked any "hatch doors."

Shi Fen lay flat on the glowing white floor, attempting to inspect the underside of the vehicle for any hatches.

The "Mining Vehicle" was flush against the ground, leaving him unable to see any useful information.

"Could it be a different vehicle with a different function? Or perhaps the leader of the mining vehicles?" Shi Fen stood in front of the ten vehicles, rubbing his chin and making bold guesses.

"Sigh," Shi Fen sighed softly, deciding not to waste any more time there, and continued to inspect and record them one by one.

"One of this device."

"Why are there ten of this device?"

"What kind of device is this? I've never seen it before, and there are ten of these as well."

"What is this now?"

"Why are there so many things I've never seen before..."

As Shi Fen searched, he began to feel bewildered. These devices, which he had never encountered, were all grouped in sets of ten, appearing here in unison.

The largest device was entirely silver, shaped like an oversized watermelon.

The smallest device was a cube with sides about ten centimeters long.

It was precisely because they were not very large that he hadn't noticed them at a glance during his last overall inspection.

Shi Fen had a strong memory. Although he had only taken a hurried look after entering last time, he was certain that these devices had definitely not been there.

"It seems the tools displayed previously were incomplete."

Shi Fen now understood his teacher's style quite well; he liked to "play."

The first time the teacher gave a reward, it was already worth a fortune. Given the teacher's methods, these newly added items certainly won't be inferior. He probably left them out in the open, using my curiosity to make me hurry up and comprehend the Secret Patterns.

Shi Fen felt his guess was likely spot on.

This tactic was highly effective.

Shi Fen's personality was such that he responded to soft persuasion rather than force, and he was truly falling for this.

"It seems I can't go wandering in the Wilderness Area. Adventuring is too much of a waste of time. Besides, I'm not short on money; the money I earn from forging is enough for daily household expenses. I must hide away and focus on comprehending the Secret Patterns. Once I finish, the resources and wealth on Earth will be nothing but fleeting clouds."

"I'll dedicate myself to studying the Secret Patterns for a year first."

Shi Fen made up his mind.

He decided to continue keeping a low profile, honestly and quietly making a fortune.

When Luo Feng eventually headed into the universe, he would join him and adventure out there directly. By then, the Wilderness Area would be nothing but trash in comparison.

Shi Fen's future was bound to be bright; there was no need to seek fame right now.

With his future development plan set, Shi Fen continued to inspect the remaining items in the main hall.

After taking only a few steps, Shi Fen's gaze was drawn to a transparent box beneath a table.

"My god."

Shi Fen recognized what was inside the transparent box and immediately abandoned all dignity, dropping to his knees and pressing his face against the side of the box to carefully count the items within.

The transparent box was extremely compact, about 20 centimeters long, 10 centimeters wide, and 10 centimeters high. Inside were neatly stacked boxes of "Storage Cards."

He leaned against the side of the box, staring intently at a small case of Storage Cards at the bottom, using both his hands and eyes to count without a shred of decorum. "1, 2, 3, 4... 100."

A "scientist" who had lived two lifetimes, despite being capable of rapid mental calculation, was now like a child who had just received toys, excitedly counting on his fingers and muttering to himself about how many toys he had gained.

"One small box has 100. Looking from the top, there are 10 small boxes laid flat per layer, so that's 1,000 Storage Cards per layer. With 10 layers in total, that's 10,000 Storage Cards."

Shi Fen squatted under the table, swaying his body, excitedly counting on his fingers to calculate the total number of Storage Cards. His peripheral vision caught sight of characters on the back of the box, and he instinctively reached out to tilt it, wanting to see what was written.

The box turned a few degrees toward him. Seeing it shift and tilt, he was momentarily stunned.

"Huh? Why did it move?"

The box was very light, weighing at most a few hundred jin.

Shi Fen lifted the box effortlessly. He stood up and turned it over to examine it. On the "front" of the box, a line of text was written: "Length, width, and height: 100 million kilometers."

Shi Fen frowned, incredulous. "Didn't he say I couldn't use any items? Why can I pick up this box, and why is it so light?

I remember in the Virtual Trial Space, a single Storage Card weighed 10 kilograms. Shouldn't 10,000 of them weigh 100,000 jin?

What is going on?

These Storage Cards, while not as high-grade as the previous ones, still have internal worlds with dimensions of 100 million kilometers. A treasure of this specification shouldn't be this light."

He tried to open the transparent box, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't. Suddenly, as if realizing something, he looked shocked. "No way, Teacher. Are you playing word games again?"

He remembered that in the message Yi left him, it said he could not "use" various items.

But it didn't say he couldn't "move" them.

Thinking of this, Shi Fen immediately began inspecting the areas he hadn't checked yet, searching for hidden boxes while examining various "Tech Tools."

Shi Fen checked every single unchecked area.

"How is it that I haven't found a single box? That shouldn't be right. He gave me 100,000 World Rings with a diameter of one trillion kilometers; there's no way there are so few Storage Cards." He stood in the corner of the "main hall," clutching the transparent box, lost in thought.

Shi Fen felt conflicted.

He knew this box of "Storage Cards" was his teacher's "bait." His teacher's meaning was simple: to tell Shi Fen that there were plenty of good things, so don't be lazy and hurry up to comprehend the Secret Patterns.

It was a way to urge Shi Fen to speed up his comprehension. He understood that much.

What he couldn't understand was why there was only one box of "low-grade" Storage Cards. These Storage Cards only had internal worlds with a diameter of 100 million kilometers. The "standard" Storage Cards for top-tier devices were far superior to this box.

A flash of inspiration suddenly appeared in Shi Fen's mind.

"Those storage cabinets!" he shouted excitedly.

Beyond the spaces visible at a glance, many of the tables for the tech devices had cabinets underneath with doors that could be pulled open by hand. It wasn't just the tables; many independent "storage cabinets" stood beside various devices as well.

He had inspected all of them in the Virtual Trial Space, and they had all been empty. That was why he hadn't checked any of them when he entered this time.

He immediately stood up and dashed to the nearest storage cabinet, opened it to inspect it, and found it empty. He then immediately headed to the next one.

As one empty cabinet after another was opened, Shi Fen felt no disappointment; instead, he grew even more excited.

He had guessed correctly—his teacher was indeed playing word games.

Clutching the transparent box, he rushed to the storage cabinet next to the "trash can." The moment he opened it, he was stunned by the sight before him...