Chapter 1954: Changing Tracks, Starting Anew

Jieyi observed for a long time, but in the end, he couldn't make heads or tails of it; however, the next moment, he forgot all about the box.

The teleportation ended, and in the pure, transparent water domain that resembled a void, a massive azure object that occupied most of his field of vision suddenly appeared.

Jieyi looked as if he had been frightened, staring blankly and not daring to make a sound; it was a long while before he came to his senses and stammered to Xia Duo, "Teacher, this, what is this?"

"This is the place where you will work, study, and even live in the future!" Xia Duo stated this fact in a flat tone.

But to Jieyi's ears, it was no less than a thunderclap, "The place where I will live in the future? This, this—"

"Come, I'll take you inside to see!"

As he spoke, Xia Duo cast Flight on both of them and then they flew rapidly toward the Floating City together; as the distance between them continuously shortened, the proportion of the field of vision occupied by the Floating City grew larger and larger.

Until finally, it became a giant wall extending infinitely in all directions—up, down, left, and right. To be honest, even though this was not the first time Xia Duo had observed the Floating City from such close range, every time it brought him nearly the same sense of shock.

After all, even on Earth, it would be difficult for such a magnificent structure to exist (2 kilometers in diameter, with a volume hundreds of times that of a Pyramid).

If that was the case for Xia Duo, then Jieyi went without saying; from the moment he saw the Floating City, Jieyi had been in a state of distraction, and after getting closer, his eyes were filled with nothing but shock, unable to even utter a single exclamation.

……

After approaching the range of the Mythallar, Xia Duo granted Jieyi Primary Resident Permission for the Floating City; this permission allowed the relevant person to normally cast low-level spells of the 3rd circle or below within the Floating City, which was completely sufficient for Jieyi.

Entering inward from the circular passage at the entrance, one entered the gravity field of the Floating City, where the direction of gravity pointed toward the center of the sphere.

In Xia Duo's planning, this passage would be converted into microgravity in the future to facilitate the takeoff and landing of warships and aircraft, while also serving as a gravity buffer zone upon entry, similar to an airlock on a space station on Earth.

It was just that what was being buffered here was not the air state, but the gravity state.

……

Because the internal facilities of the Floating City had not yet begun construction, Xia Duo did not introduce the uses of each zone to Jieyi, nor did he even take him deeper inside.

They just stayed stuck at the entrance, within the coverage of the Arcane Energy Field.

After about a few minutes, once Jieyi's state had recovered slightly, Xia Duo reminded him, "Look at the box in your hand!"

"The box? Right, the box!"

Only then did Jieyi react and hurriedly lower his head to check; he did not know when, but the box was already filled with half a box of ghostly blue Standard Arcane Crystals.

Jieyi had seen Arcane Crystals before; in fact, there was one in his Dimensional Bag right now, which he had applied for from the Material Department out of curiosity, but because he had asked about the price of this item outside, he had never used it.

Instead, he went to the Magic Technician Department to find some scraps that they didn't want or had discarded to conduct experiments.

After all, at the beginning, he wasn't sure if he could succeed, so of course, it was better to spend less money; otherwise, if he delayed in producing results while the consumption was high, the Tower of Time would sooner or later cut off his research funding.

If he spent less money, then even if his progress was poor, the higher-ups would likely turn a blind eye and give him a few more chances.

Members of the Progress Society had long since figured out the experience; unless one was planning to scam funding from the start—scamming as much as possible—no one wanted their research to be suddenly terminated due to insufficient funding.

Therefore, everyone had learned to conduct research by way of multiple experiments at a lower cost, rather than starting off with all sorts of high-spec, high-consumption experiments; that was simply the prelude to having one's funding cut off.

At this moment, seeing the half box of Standard Arcane Crystals that had suddenly appeared in the box, Jieyi couldn't help but recall when he went to the Material Department to apply for materials; the Arcane Crystal was approved almost without any questioning, and he was given one Standard Arcane Crystal at a time.

But for other materials, they had asked repeatedly many times and even made him submit a preliminary experimental design plan before it could be approved.

Jieyi's final choice to use the discarded materials from the Magic Technician Department, besides the factor of inheriting the fine traditions of the seniors of the Progress Society, was also largely because the application and approval process of the Material Department was relatively rigid.

Even with the teacher giving him the green light, the necessary procedures were still all there; it was nothing more than lowering the audit standards a little compared to others.

Although as a researcher, Jieyi felt very unhappy about this approach, as a member of the Progress Society, he had known the necessity of this order for a long time, and he also supported doing so.

Compared to the past Tower of Time, the current Tower of Time was clearly more vibrant.

……

Just as Jieyi was pondering how so many Arcane Crystals had come to be, he suddenly reacted: when did this box become a Magic Item?!

The next moment, a faint light rippled on the surface of the box, and a Standard Arcane Crystal was born out of thin air.

Jieyi rubbed his eyes, looking at the Iron box in his hand in disbelief, his mouth wide open; the next moment, another Standard Arcane Crystal appeared in the box.

Arcane Crystals were light in texture; if it had been the more common Five-Colored Gem, Jieyi would have felt the change in pressure on his hand long ago, but now that there was nearly half a box more, he only discovered it after his teacher's reminder.

A few more seconds passed like this, and Jieyi made a rough count; a Standard Arcane Crystal could appear every three or four seconds of calm. If he took it out to sell, it was simply unimaginable.

"Teacher, is this what you wanted me to see?"

"Yes, what have you discovered?"

"Arcane Crystals! Teacher actually possesses such an Artifact; from now on, the Tower of Time will never lack money again!"

That the Tower of Time lacked money was not an unspeakable secret within the Tower of Time, or rather, Mages and Mage organizations were always in a state of lacking money.

But Jieyi had actually seen such an Artifact capable of automatically producing "money"—it was even more miraculous than an Artifact. If he weren't still in front of his teacher, Jieyi would have really wanted to shout three times.

It was a pity that, regarding Jieyi's answer, Xia Duo shook his head with a flat expression; if it were truly an Artifact, he would have started selling them long ago, but it just happened not to be.

This was a byproduct of an item that might be standard equipment for a Great Arcanist in the future; if he sold a small amount to earn some pocket money, others wouldn't say anything, but if he went too far, that would be pushing everyone to the opposite side.

Up to now, Xia Duo had not sold even a single Arcane Crystal directly within the borders of Netheril, but instead sold them indirectly in the form of producing high-quality Magic Items.

Elven Magic Items already had a very high premium, so adding the premium of an Arcane Crystal didn't count for much.

But on the side of the Elves, Xia Duo was not so particular; they were potential competitors in the future. When he purchased the 【Defender】 set from Evereska previously, he used Arcane Crystals for settlement, and the Elves were also happy to accept them.

Even in the future, as long as the 【Mythallar】 technology was not leaked, the Elves would still have to grit their teeth and stockpile Arcane Crystals, though the price at that time would certainly not be comparable to now.