With the aid of the dark creatures, the operation of felling trees to construct wooden rafts only took half a day under Han Shuo’s command before it was fully complete.
Five wooden rafts and ten wooden oars all entered the water with the efforts of the skeletal warriors. Everyone boarded the wooden rafts after all thirteen bags had been placed securely on them, and started rowing down the Nirolan River with oars in hand.
Han Shuo, Fanny, and Lisa were all on one raft, and Fanny had summoned a zombie warrior to row. The three of them lounged leisurely on the sturdy wooden platform, admiring the view of the Nirolan River in a satisfied manner.
It was already dusk, and the glow of sunset painted the sky. The deep, blue waters of the Nirolan River were calm, and a few bold fish leapt out to draw silver lines on the water surface. The towering trees in the distance were covered with leafy boughs, and a few unknown insects called out happily, putting everyone into a quiet and calm state of mind.
As Fanny and Lisa chattered and laughed quietly, admiring the view on all sides, Han Shuo sat cross legged on the wooden raft with his eyes closed, silently training his magical yuan, not giving up even a single second that could be used to strengthen and reforge his body, continuously opening up the passages in his body.
Fanny and Lisa originally had a belly full of questions for Han Shuo, but they didn’t disturb him when they realized that he had closed his eyes and wasn’t speaking. They actually felt moved by how studious Han Shuo was, thinking that it was no wonder he’d improved so quickly in such a short amount of time. Their beautiful eyes occasionally landed on Han Shuo’s body, discussing something in low voices. It seemed that their topic of discussion must have certainly involved Han Shuo.
After a long period of silence, Han Shuo abruptly opened his eyes and looked around when he felt that the wooden raft had shuddered. He discovered that the raft had made it across the Nirolan River and arrived in a lush area, thick with shrubbery and trees.
Fanny and Lisa giddily directed the dark creatures to move the spoils of battle from the wooden raft onto the shore. When Gene and company were all present and accounted for, everyone cheered and used mental strength to command the dark creatures, rushing towards Balthazar City after the direction had been set.
After walking for two days straight, the crew finally arrived at Balthazar city. They first found a large hotel and immediately began to shower and change, feasting on delicacies to their heart’s content, and retiring happily for the night.
Han Shuo’s treatment was now vastly different from what it had been when they’d first headed into the Dark Forest. He naturally enjoyed the most noble treatment, and shared his room with no one. Everyone had even undertaken the task of moving the resources to the hotel’s specialized vault with their own hands. No one dared to let Han Shuo do it.
The next day, early in the morning.
Dondondon. Fanny lived next to Han Shou and he knocked on her door as soon as he’d gotten up.
“Who is it?” Fanny’s lazy voice sounded from within the room.
“It’s me.” Han Shuo responded.
“Oh, wait a minute. I’ll open the door for you after I’ve finished washing up.”
Fanny opened her door after a while, wearing a thin, white, silk robe. The long, soft robe thoroughly accentuated her slender and well-endowed body. Her hair was messy and she lazily flicked a glance at Han Shuo, moving aside to let him in. She asked, “What are you doing here so early in the morning?”
Greedily staring his fill at Fanny, Han Shuo automatically sat at the round table after closing the door. He smiled and said, “Master Fanny, I was thinking last night that the loot we hold is still too conspicuous in our hands. I wanted to come discuss with you how to dispose of it.”
“Mm. It’d also be a good thing if we disposed of these resources sooner. We’re not merchants and can’t very well bring these items back to the school with us, but these items come from the town of Drol. If we’re discovered by others, not only will we not receive any gold coins, but we may be in trouble as well. What should we do?” Fanny’s beautiful brows were creased faintly as she spoke after thinking for a while.
“If we had a space ring, we’d be able to resolve this problem. Master Fanny, although space rings are precious, there’s still got to be a price for them. How much would a regular, smaller space ring cost?”
“Typically only space archmages have the ability to refine a space ring. The materials needed to refine a space ring are also quite precious, therefore, the prices for space rings are all quite high. Even a space ring that is of a slightly inferior quality will run for at least one or two thousand gold coins. It isn’t something that just anyone can afford, so you’d best not think these random thoughts.”
“Master Fanny, as an adept mage, most of your necromancy students are from noble families, so how come you don’t have even a space ring?”
“Heh heh, although I’m an adept mage, I rarely leave the Academy under normal circumstances. My income every year is only a few hundred gold coins, so where would I have the spare change to purchase a space ring? The necromancy major is the weakest major. If these students all came from large noble families, then they wouldn’t join the necromancy major. Besides, they haven’t graduated yet, why would their families buy a space ring for them!”
Han Shuo nodded and basically understood the gist of things after Fanny’s explanation. It looked like the necromancy students and teachers were all paupers. No wonder they were all so excited when faced with this batch of resources.
“So that’s the case, a space ring costs one or two thousand gold coins. Heh heh, looks like I should get a space ring first.” Han Shuo thought about the two thousand gold coins saved in his crystal card, rubbed his chin for a while as he mused, then spoke as if deep in thought.
Rolling her eyes at Han Shuo, Fanny was out of sorts. “What gold coins would you have as an errand slave? If you had that much money, would you have been sold and become an errand slave for the necromancy major for six years?”
Chuckling, Han Shuo said, “Times have changed, who says I’ll be poor forever? Don’t worry, I have my ways to get a space ring.”
When he had finished saying these words, Han Shuo surreptitiously looked to the left and right under Fanny’s astonished eyes and took out an agate necklace studded with a ruby. The necklace sparkled with a faint, red hue and the ruby was glittering and translucent, an obviously valuable gemstone.
“Master Fanny, this is for you!” Han Shuo saw that Fanny was staring at the necklace in his hands, entranced. He laughed lowly and gave the necklace to Fanny.
At first, she was abruptly joyful, and then blushed hotly. When she’d recovered herself, she hastily shrank back and said, “I, I can’t accept it. Right, where did you get this?”
“From the orc wolf rider’s bags of course. I have sharp eyes and nimble fingers and saw that a bag was sparkling with red light, and thus discovered this agate and ruby necklace. I thought that since Master Fanny is such a beautiful person, if you were to wear this necklace, it would be sure to display you in an even more charming and alluring light. So I put it away to give specifically to you.” Han Shou’s expression was quite normal as he spoke lightly.
“This item is too precious, I can’t have it, you keep it for yourself!” Fanny’s beautiful face was flushed red as her beautiful eyes stared closely at the necklace, but her mouth stammered words of refusal. It looks like that although she greatly liked it, she hadn’t fully lost her reason.
“Take it, I have no use for it as a man. Besides, you’ve taken care of me all these years, and I’ve been very thankful to you all along. I finally have the chance to repay you, I’d be very sad if you rejected it.” Han Shuo was quite serious as his normal, silly, honest look had disappeared. He spoke quite resolutely.
“I really can’t, you already saved me last time and you’ve helped me a great deal along the way. How could I accept your things. Ooh, although last time in the pool, you…” Fanny rambled a bit as she seemed to remember Han Shuo’s mischief at the pool. Her face flushed a delicate and charming scarlet as she flung an eyeroll at Han Shuo.
Her beautiful figure almost lured Han Shuo’s soul away. His thoughts racing, Han Shuo hastily stood up with a strong sense of righteousness. He smiled, “You must accept this or I will always feel ashamed and uneasy. I have other matters to attend to, good day.”
Han Shuo didn’t wait for Fanny to deny him again after he’d spoken, and directly pulled open the door to leave. His footsteps gradually faded away into the distance.
Fanny was panicking in her heart as her eyes landed on the agate and ruby necklace. Her expression was indescribably odd. Her eyes would be resolute one second, and tender the next. Then her face would flush angrily as another, complex emotion continuously played out on her face.