"Oh, you're asking who I am? I'm the pride of the entire Behemoth Dynasty! You should know that the runes on my body were designed for me by the great writers of Crooked Serpent City back then. Quite a few elven artists were among them! Do you know how much these runes on me would fetch if sold? And these precious magic crystals are worth a fortune too! And, and, back then, nobody in the entire city-state alliance could do without me, unless they were willing to hide in their homes for the rest of their lives and never come out..." The metal slab rambled on endlessly.
Li sighed. "Let's be reasonable here. What exactly are you?"
"Don't let it scare you when I tell you—my scientific name is the Magical Inclination Matter Existence Particle Decomposition Long-Distance Rebirth Device."
"The Magical Inclination Matter Existence Particle Decomposition Long-Distance Rebirth Device?" Li muttered gloomily. "Um... do you have some kind of nickname?"
"Of course. You can also just call me a portal. I've always thought that name wasn't impressive enough, but everyone likes calling me that, so there's nothing I can do about it."
"A portal?" Timaria cried out. As a member of a prestigious noble family, Timaria naturally understood the importance of portals in this world. In fact, portals had not yet been mass-produced in this world. Even the small portals used among nobles could only transport a single person at a time.
Even this kind of single-person transportation was not used unless it was an emergency. First, it consumed enormous amounts of magical materials. Second, it required a grand mage of at least level sixteen to activate it.
The former was already a threshold for nobles whose families were not particularly wealthy, while the latter was a hurdle that eighty