Han Xiao and his group arrived in the northern part of City Number Eight in a low-altitude transportation vehicle. The clues from the Rock Mercenaries pointed to a popular commercial street, bustling with people. The street was wide, with a fountain square in the center and various shops on all sides.
Following the address, the group arrived at the front of a shop. The building was painted in a variety of vibrant colors, and there were magic lanterns with ever-changing colors on both sides of the door. The door was wide open.
Melos glanced up at the shop name, and his face twitched.
"Universal Love Bookstore... What kind of weird name is that?"
"Let's go in and take a look."
Stepping into the shop, the interior was surprisingly rustic, with smooth brown wooden floors and rows of glazed wooden bookshelves filled with books. These books exuded a rich magical aura, seemingly high-end magic books written in magical script. The shop was filled with the fragrance of books. In a place like Noriosse, almost only magicians still use books, so this was clearly a magician's shop.
The clue suggested that someone here knew the target's whereabouts. Han Xiao looked around, but because of the bookshelves, he couldn't see if anyone was inside. He patted Melos on the shoulder, signaling him to call for help.
Melos was about to speak when he suddenly realized something, "Wait, why don't you do this little thing yourself?"
"You're in great shape, have a loud voice, and a strong breath." Han Xiao said expressionlessly, "Mainly because I'm too lazy to shout."
"..."
Melos glared at him and shouted, his voice booming like thunder.
Is anyone there?!
Splash...
A sudden commotion came from deep within the bookshelf, as if the person inside had been startled by the shout, accidentally bumped into the shelf, causing a pile of books to fall down, and letting out a cry of pain.
"Wait, wait a minute, I'm coming out..."
A male human dressed in a mage's robe limped out, hissing in pain. He had been hit on the foot by a book as thick as a brick. Upon seeing the crowd, he put on a warm and enthusiastic smile.
"I'm the owner of this bookstore. Do you prefer solo or group reading? Do you prefer aesthetically pleasing or more rugged content? What kind of creatures do you like? Oh, you're all humanoid beings, and I have humanoid creatures of any skin color here!"
Everyone was completely confused. Sylvia asked in bewilderment, "What are you talking about?"
The magician shopkeeper blinked, then looked enlightened. "I see. Hybrids are also available. Whether it's insects, fungi, wild beasts, or machines, I have every kind of race you can imagine, guaranteed to suit all your tastes!"
What the hell is hybridization? Do you think you're rice?!
Han Xiao felt something was off as he listened. "Isn't this a bookstore?"
At this moment, Aroshia opened a book on the bookshelf. Everyone looked over. This magic book was full of illustrations, and the pictures were moving and lifelike. It was a kind of image-capturing magic, often used for recording videos, just like a movie being projected on the book, with each picture being a fragment.
It looks high-end, but the content is...
"Oh!" Sylvia's face flushed bright red, and she quickly turned her head away, but her gaze involuntarily drifted towards the book.
"This, this..." Melos looked bewildered, his worldview shaken.
Aroshia mused, "So this is the process of material life's reproduction..."
"Unknown information detected... Data acquisition in progress..." Phillip's mechanical eye flashed frantically, capturing every frame.
The Volga Three Brothers moved with lightning speed, pulling a large stack of books from the shelf and spreading them on the counter. "How much? I want them all!"
"Stop fooling around."
Han Xiao squinted, snapped the book out of Aroshia's hand, tossed it aside, stared at the magician shopkeeper, and said in a deep voice, "I'm here to find someone with prophetic abilities; he should have left you a message too."
The magician shopkeeper's smile froze, turning to disappointment. He muttered to himself, "They're not here to buy books. I've already decorated the place so formally, why are there still no customers? Is it really necessary to be so afraid of others knowing about this?"
After glancing at the crowd, the mage straightened his clothes, stood up straight, and his sleazy demeanor suddenly changed. Now he looked like a proper mage and said, "Let me introduce myself. You can call me Yixuan. I am a teleportation mage. This bookstore is just a side business; my main business is providing teleportation services."
On some magical planets or advanced civilization planets, there are always mages who run teleportation services, teleporting clients to another location on the same planet to save time on vehicle usage. However, the farther the teleportation distance, the greater the consumption and difficulty. Therefore, teleportation is generally only carried out within the same planet and rarely across planets. If the location is not set correctly, the client will be thrown into space. Only sufficiently powerful mages dare to perform ultra-long-distance teleportation.
When Ames destroyed the DarkStar mothership, she used teleportation magic to instantly arrive from several star systems away. The caster was another Beyond Grade A mage who was fighting with her for fun. The spell was precisely located on Floating Dragon Island, which happened to be there at the time. The distance of several star systems was not off at all. It was simply an incredible magical power.
"Are you a teleportation mage?" Han Xiao asked. "So the target I'm looking for was teleported to another part of Noriosse by you?"
Yixuan shrugged. "He pays, I teleport; it's a normal transaction."
Where did he go?
"Ha, I wouldn't casually reveal a client's privacy." Yixuan chuckled. "Oh, by the way, he also left me a message to pass on to everyone who needs to find him."
"What did he say?" Han Xiao frowned.
He said he wants to play a game with you, and he'll see you if you steal the Heart of Crystal Fire.
"The Heart of Crystal Fire?" Han Xiao nudged Phillip with his toe. "Check it out."
"Searching... buzz... found... buzz..." Phillip's mechanical eye suddenly shot out a beam of light, forming a semi-transparent projection image in mid-air, which displayed the information about the Heart of Crystal Fire.
[Heart of Crystal Fire: A ring crafted from a rare crystal born in lava, exquisitely luxurious, and said to be immune to high temperatures and burning. It was once auctioned for 7.93 million Enas and bought by Rockefeller, the leader of the Noriosse Financial Group, as a gift for his wife. Rockefeller ' wife always wore this ring when they attended public events...]
"Seven, seven million nine hundred and thirty thousand!" Melos almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Spending so much money just to buy a worthless ring to please a woman?!
That's enough to buy at least several warships!
His worldview was once again crumbling.
Han Xiao's expression changed drastically. "He wants me to steal an incredibly expensive piece of jewelry from the wife of a super conglomerate tycoon? Is he trying to use us or is he just toying with us?!"
Stealing a precious ornament from the wife of the conglomerate leader who controls the planet in Noriosse is incredibly foolish!
My teacher, who's on the Dragon Emperor, is clearly trying to mess with me!
"Don't ask me, I'm just passing on messages for money." Yixuan shrugged. "Rockefeller's wife is in Noriosse, but don't expect me to teleport you and the Tu Shu there directly. I don't want to be seen as your accomplice."
Narrowing his eyes, Han Xiao said in a deep voice, "I have no interest in fulfilling this unreasonable request. Where exactly did you teleport him?"
Yixuan said impatiently, "Didn't I tell you? I won't disclose my clients' privacy, and don't even think about bribing me. I have professional ethics."
"Then don't blame me for beating you up." Melos immediately put on a fierce expression, raised his fist the size of a casserole dish, stepped forward from the crowd, and strode forward, intending to scare the teleportation mage.
Just as the large hand was about to touch Yixuan, a sudden change occurred!
Buzz--
A portal of light suddenly appeared, positioned precisely in the narrow gap between the two. Melos was startled. He reacted quickly, halting his advance and attempting to retreat. Unexpectedly, crimson tentacles shot out from the portal, wrapping around his body and suddenly unleashing tremendous force, pulling the unsteady Melos directly into the portal and disappearing from sight.
Immediately afterwards, a whistling sound like a vortex filled the air, and the portal spun and shrank towards its center before disappearing without a trace.
"Melos!" Volga's Eldest exclaimed.
Everyone's expression immediately changed.
The atmosphere froze for a moment.
Yixuan glanced at everyone smugly.
"Just as that person said, when those who came looking for him didn't get the information they wanted, they threatened me. Hmph, you didn't expect that, did you? I was prepared!"
Han Xiao remained calm, but sighed in exasperation. He had noticed something amiss when Melos made his move and wanted to stop him, but before he could speak, Melos had already been caught off guard—the speed of a martial artist was indeed a problem!
As expected, the target anticipated this situation and thus warned the teleportation mage in advance, setting them up for a trap. When the target made the outrageous request to steal the Heart of Crystal Fire, it created the "trigger" for the prophecy. Moreover, even without using precognitive abilities, the target could calculate their reaction, knowing that they would most likely refuse the request and then seek other ways out of the teleportation mage. Threatening was obviously a highly probable behavior, thus putting them in a dilemma.
'Teleportation magic, a troublesome ability...' Han Xiao clicked his tongue inwardly. Melos was unlucky enough to fall for it; getting him back was the top priority.
The atmosphere was tense. At this moment, Yixuan pointed to the door and said in a tone of complete control, "I am proficient in teleportation magic and am always in a state of imminent activation. I can teleport away before you even encounter me, so don't try to threaten me."
As for your companion who dared to offend me, I'll teach him a lesson. I'll teleport him back in two hours and leave him at the north gate of City Number Eight. You can find him yourselves then. I have no interest in fighting you now. If you're not buying books, then get out of my bookstore. You're not welcome here!