Land of Magic

4

Any practitioner or cultivator from outlying kingdoms could find everything that they’d ever dreamed of here.

However, the prices made the friends’ hearts weep. For some of the Technique scrolls, the merchants would ask for up to a hundred coins; for artifacts at the Heaven level — one hundred and fifty coins was the minimum. The prices in the alchemy shops started at one thousand coins.

“Today is the fifth day of the exams...” everyone murmured.

“The penultimate day!” Someone added excitedly.

“Cultivators from all over the country have come to the city to try their luck!”

Hadjar and Einen were upset to find that they’d arrived on the fifth day of the exams. When they’d left Underworld City, they’d calculated their travel time so that they would reach the capital with time to spare. If everything had gone smoothly, they would’ve arrived a week before the start of the exams. Unfortunately, due to numerous delays along the way, they were almost late.

The majestic gates of ‘The Holy Sky’ School resembled the front of a fortress: they were massive and heavy, built into the wall that covered part of the rock atop which the school itself was located. There were many people gathered at the foot of the stone-paved square. They were all waiting for noon — the hour when the gates would open and anyone could enter the outer courtyard of the school, where the exam would be taking place.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Einen asked breathlessly.

Hadjar was about to reply when something hit him gently in the back of the head. He turned and saw a leather ball rolling across the square. The children who had thrown the toy had disappeared. As he stooped to grab it, Hadjar felt something hit his head again. This time, it was a drop of rain. One, then another, then a third, until a real downpour began.

“Rain!” Hadjar shouted. “It’s rain!”

With his arms outstretched, grinning like a little kid, he stood in the pouring rain and angled his face toward it. He allowed the rain to wash away all the dirt, dust, and sand from his body. It was the long-awaited rain he hadn’t felt for three long years. Since leaving Lidus, he hadn’t seen a single drop fall from the sky. And now he was enjoying its coolness while most people hid under umbrellas and awnings.

“My friend,” Einen said.

Hadjar opened his eyes and saw the islander standing on one leg and kicking the ball into the air with the other. The game called football didn’t exist in this world. Instead, they had the popular game called ‘Sun’. A player needed to juggle a ball with their feet, then pass it to another player. The one who couldn’t receive, juggle, and then send the ball back would lose the game.

Neither Hadjar nor Einen, who was equally happy to see the rain, cared that the square immediately turned into a muddy mess because of the downpour. They were laughing, rolling around in the mud, and kicking the ball everywhere. The people around them looked at them with disdain. Hadjar didn’t even notice that they were being watched. It wasn’t because the people were interested in their antics, but because there was absolutely nothing else to do while waiting for the gates to open.

Soon, the attention of the crowd was drawn by a more fascinating sight: on the opposite side of the street from Einen and Hadjar, two applicants had started a fight. Both were at the middle stage of the Heaven Soldier level. Despite the fact that they looked like young men in the prime of their lives, they couldn’t have been more than twelve years old. The process of becoming a true cultivator affected the body’s structure too much. It left the cultivator’s body as perfect as its genes allowed.

Hadjar, after going in for another lunge and almost landing face down in the mud, thought he was seeing things. After a couple of blinks, he realized that he wasn’t. Across the street from him, a figure moved toward the square, standing out in the crowd like a white star in the night sky. A girl was riding a powerful, six-legged horse. Her pink skin looked impossibly soft, as if it had never been touched by water, light, or wind. Her white hair, lush and wavy, framed a perfectly round face. Her almond-shaped, blue eyes regarded the two friends with disdain and indifference. All she wore was a kind of leather vest that covered her stomach and chest, but left her arms and back bare. Tapering at the base of her belly in a tempting triangle, it abruptly transitioned into her pants. This seemingly ordinary outfit, when viewed through the World River, turned out to be a very valuable artifact. Surely, if she so desired, it could easily transform into full leather armor.

However, it wasn’t her armor, nor her aura of a Heaven Soldier at the advanced stage, nor even the maddening beauty of the blue pendant on the girl’s chest that had attracted Hadjar’s attention. He was staring at her... ears. They were long and pointed. They peeked out from under her hair and were about three inches long.

“What’s the matter?” Einen asked Hadjar.

“By the High Heavens, is that an elf?”

“I’m surprised you’ve even heard of them, my friend.”

Hadjar had indeed heard of elves. However, he’d heard of them on Earth! He’d had no idea that there were other intelligent races in this world besides humans!

Although, now he understood why the Shadows, when speaking about the Land of Immortals, had always referred to them as ‘beings’. Damn it! If there were elves here, then somewhere under the sun, there were also-

Hadjar’s thoughts were interrupted by a sudden message. It flashed before his eyes, reminding him of the old days:

[System notification!

The neural network has finished rebooting!

Would you like to update the interface?]

Hadjar shook his head. The neural network should’ve been at least a year and a half away from being rebooted. However, his breakthrough to a new level of cultivation had probably affected the speed of the reboot.

Anyway, he had no choice but to accept. There was only a ‘Yes’ button under the message. He’d learned so much over the years that the neural network needed urgent recalibration. He was so glad to finally have it back!

[Update started!

Approximate time needed: 72 days, 13 hours, 52 minutes, 49... 48... 47 seconds!]

His rejoicing had been premature…

At that moment, the gates of ‘The Holy Sky’ School opened and a white-haired man wearing green robes appeared in front of the silent crowd. He looked around calmly and thundered:

“The fifth day of the exams begins now!”