Chapter 21: Dimensional Bag
Soren’s injuries were healing quite well. By the next day, he was walking without any noticeable signs. Only during intense activities would he feel a slight inconvenience; if the wounds didn’t reopen, he could fully recover within two days at most. This was the main reason Soren pursued a proficiency of 20 in extraordinary constitution—if he could increase it a bit more, he could fully recover from such injuries within a day.
After all, treasure caves were only low-level adventure locations.
If one wanted to delve deeper into some underground ruins or more advanced adventure spots, the time spent could even exceed a month.
This included not only the time spent exploring the ruins but also encounters with wilderness survival events along the way, as well as the highly probable occurrence of man-made accidents. Thus, constitution greatly affected an adventurer’s enduring survival capacity. For example, Soren once encountered an idiot spellcaster who, in a narrow underground cave, decided to use a fireball, resulting in a cave-in. Although his teammates were all high-level professionists and suffered no casualties, they ended up trapped underground for a whole week, eventually having to dig their way out!
So,
Please remember to stay away from those low-IQ spellcasters.
Sometimes, they are more dangerous than monsters!
Of course.
This wasn’t the most ridiculous thing!
The more ridiculous event was caused by a certain priest, who used the ‘Earthquake Spell’ in an underground ruin, resulting in a widespread collapse. The majority of the loot was destroyed by the earthquake, and all of his teammates were buried hundreds of meters underground. In the end, only a special-bloodline dwarf warrior with a constitution over 25 managed to crawl out alive. This priest was ultimately deemed a ‘ridiculous’ exemplary creature, a nightmare for all adventurers!
However.
Such behavior was mostly done by players.
The NPC spellcasters in the storyline were usually skilled; sometimes, they could even turn the tide with a seemingly inconspicuous low-level spell.
Unfortunately, storyline NPC spellcasters were the hardest to become allies!
………………
Before picking up Vivian, Soren made a trip to the Arcane shop.
The guards at the city gate were strict, taking outsiders’ fees seriously. The flaying incident, which initially brewed and fermented, had begun showing signs of worsening. However, Soren knew this was just a beginning because, in his memory, the flaying incident was an evil chained sacrificial ritual that ultimately involved the entire Southern Region, encompassing six kingdoms, eighteen principalities, thirty-one city-states, and over three hundred cities. At least two hundred thousand players had engaged in the storyline, leading to over twenty legendary-domain professionists being drawn out!
One could say that this period was the most powerless time for players.
Soren recalled everything from his memory, constantly trying to deduce the current time—the flaying incident had just begun, and the Ancient Red Dragon had not yet appeared. This meant that there was still about a year until the gods lost their divine power and were forced to descend as saints. Adding some special events, he should have about two years to accumulate strength.
In two years.
A serious event would occur!
That was the fall of the Goddess of Magic, the complete collapse of the Magic Network system, and all wizards temporarily losing their spellcasting abilities.
The Goddess of Magic was a powerful deity and was among the first to be struck during tumultuous times; she governed the Magic Network system across countless planes, assisting wizards in casting spells.
This was the spell slot ability that wizards utilized today!
Currently, the number of wizards was vast, so basically, every city had an Arcane shop. It was only after the fall of the Goddess of Magic that the number of wizards began to drastically decrease. As the Goddess of Magic fell, the maintenance of the Magic Network system was lost, and the Magic Network began to collapse on a large scale, ultimately leading to all wizards completely losing their spell slots.
All wizards with intelligence below 18 would completely lose the ability to cast spells!
All wizards with intelligence below 20 would only be able to cast the lowest-level cantrips!
Only those with intelligence above 20 could rely on their abilities to perceive and analyze the world’s rules, gradually restoring their normal spellcasting abilities through understanding these rules. However, by that time, their spell slots would no longer be reliant on the Magic Network but would depend on their own magical power and understanding of the rules.
The Magic Network system represented both convenience and a constraint on spellcasting power!
It allowed less talented wizards to cast spells more easily while also limiting powerful wizards from advancing to become fearsome Grand Archmages!
From then on.
Spellcasters began to walk two extremes—either extremely incompetent or extremely twisted.
But all of that was in the future.
At present, the Magic Network system was still functioning normally, and all wizards were channeling their magical power into the Magic Network to exchange for spell slots.
Although this required them to frequently memorize spells!
Soren organized his past memories in his mind, as the fall of the Goddess of Magic was an immensely important event.
The resulting turmoil would affect countless planes!
During that period, the value of extraordinary items soared several times; a low-level dimensional bag worth around 100 Gindlers could spike to over 500 Gindlers. Because with the fall of the Goddess of Magic, many deities also fell to the mortal realm, resulting in many priests and druids losing their spellcasting abilities.
Only those whose relevant attributes exceeded 20 and crossed into the extraordinary realm could rely on their powers to understand the rules of the world.
Gradually restoring their own spellcasting abilities!
The arrival of this period should not be far off; if Soren remembered correctly, the Goddess of Magic was the earliest fallen deity, and soon enough, wizards would lose their spellcasting abilities.
Then, the era of arcane revival would begin!
………………
The Arcane shop was actually quite unassuming.
Wizards generally didn’t like to interact with ordinary people; even other professionists found it hard to engage with them.
Among all spellcasting professionists, only priests were somewhat down-to-earth.
Soren gently pushed open a wooden door, and the Arcane shop was very spacious and empty, with only a few enchanted items displayed on counters. There were actually very few customers here.
Because the things here were also very expensive, ordinary people could hardly afford them!
“Selling or buying?”
An elderly man glanced lazily at Soren. He wore glasses and held a book as thick as a brick. After looking up at Soren, he indifferently said, “If you’re selling enchanted equipment, let me assess its value; if you’re buying enchanted equipment, feel free to browse.”
The Arcane shop was established by the Wizard Alliance, which was basically spread across most cities, staffed by second-tier or higher wizards who would rotate periodically. At this stage, the Wizard Alliance was still relatively powerful and prosperous, and it was only after the fall of the Goddess of Magic that their strength began to decline significantly, leading many to rob the Arcane shops.
But doing so now would be asking for death!
The old man seemed to sense Soren’s profession and reminded him, “Don’t touch anything here; there are spell traps everywhere.”
Everyone knew that the hands of thieves were the least honest.
Of course, Soren wouldn’t seek death; instead, he took out two Serpent Demon Longswords from behind and placed them directly in front of the old man.
He was a third-tier wizard.
His profession level should be above 10 Scholar/10 Wizard; taking Soren down would be just a matter of moments.
“Hmm?”
The old man cast a glance at the Serpent Demon Longswords, revealing a hint of surprise, and muttered, “Abyssal Fire Stone?”…
He picked up one of the longswords with some difficulty, touching the blade with his fingers. Wizards didn’t generally possess high strength, and their constitution was lower than that of other professionists; only upon entering the legendary domain could they strengthen themselves through special rites. The old man observed carefully and then withdrew his fingers, saying, “To use such materials to forge a weapon is quite a waste!”
“That’s a bit of a waste.”
The old man looked at Soren, not asking about the origin of the weapon, simply stating, “80 Gindlers.”
The Arcane shop had its own channels; as long as it was an extraordinary item, they would buy it without questioning its origins, regardless of whether it was stolen.
Wizards never complained about having too much money; they spent it even faster!
“120 Gindlers.”
Upon hearing the old man’s offer, Soren’s brows furrowed slightly as he slowly said, “This sword is forged from Abyssal Fire Stone!”
“Based on the pricing rules for weapons, the price of greatswords fluctuates by about 50%!
“This sword, whether sold or as material for recycling, should be valued above 200 Gindlers; if it can be transported to the north or the plains, its value could even reach 300 Gindlers.”
“More than double the profit!”
“80 Gindlers is simply too low. If handled by the Thieves’ Guild, the price would be higher!”
The old man looked at Soren with some surprise and then said, “You certainly know the market.”
“Well then.”
“120 Gindlers it is.”
The old man lightly shook a bell, and soon a heavy figure emerged from the back—a stone golem, standing about 2.2 meters tall, a type of alchemical construct life. The stone golem picked up the Serpent Demon Longsword and walked into the back door, soon returning with an inconspicuous bag behind the old man.
This was a dimensional bag!
The old man opened the dimensional bag and poured it onto the counter, revealing a pile of gleaming Gindlers.
He glanced over, and with a wave of his finger, the Gindlers automatically split into two piles—one small pile flew into the dimensional bag, while the larger pile was pushed in front of Soren.
“Mage Hand.”
This was a very convenient ability.
Wizards were indeed wealthy; after the old man took the two Serpent Demon Longswords, he returned his attention to his book, casually saying, “Feel free to look around; if you want to buy anything, let me know.”
240 Gindlers.
That was quite a pile, weighing 12 pounds, which was actually inconvenient to carry around.
Sometimes it even affected combat ability.
Soren pulled out a little over 100 Gindlers, saying, “I want a low-level dimensional bag.”
The old man nodded, raised his hand to take the Gindlers, and then pulled out an inconspicuous bag from a drawer.
“Be careful not to damage it.”
He glanced at Soren, perhaps thinking he was quite acceptable, and reminded, “It only has the lowest level of enchanted protection, and normal use won’t damage it. However, if it’s intentionally destroyed, everything inside will spill out.”
Soren nodded, accepted it, and placed 140 Gindlers inside.
The low-level dimensional bag had three feet of space, with the opening only half a foot wide, allowing it to hold relatively small items.
It could be damaged in an attack; if destroyed, it would lose its storage ability, and the small space within would collapse, causing everything to fall out.
There was even a risk of items slipping into spatial cracks.
The chance of extraordinary items below legendary tier being damaged was not low; even Soren’s ogre bracers could potentially break and become ineffective in combat!
Some items, when damaged, could be irreparable.
Transaction completed.
Soren quickly left the Arcane shop, heading toward the blacksmith shop near the main square.
He needed a curved blade.
Extraordinary-level curved blades were hard to find in the south, so he would have to buy a military-standard curved blade for now.
A line of data appeared:
“Negotiation successful!”
“You successfully increased the value of the sold item through negotiation!”
“Valuation +1, Negotiation +1.”
