'Now, I have two items. Looking at the time, I probably only have time for one last item. The question is, which one should I get?'
Alina sighed, jumping from rooftop to rooftop until she reached the bell tower on the church, the highest point in the entire town.
She crouched down low and felt the wind as she looked around before her eyes landed on the large gates not far away.
Behind the walls was probably the Imperial City, and the academy...
"I'm probably going to need an hour and a half, at least, to find the academy and check my attendance."
She sighed, rubbing her fingers together in nervousness as she calmed herself down.
Surprisingly, the agility and stamina of this body is exceptional.
She could sprint full speed for an entire minute without beating a sweat. However, it seems like getting all five items is too hard.
'I have the Brooch of Darkness and Orion's Bow. There's still the Wand of Life, the Jade-Vein Needle, and...the Rings of Duat.'
The Wand of Life is created using a branch taken from the Tree of Life.
According to the original plot, that wand can be acquired at the Imperial Castle, where it is kept in one of the servant's broomsticks.
Meanwhile, the Jade-Vein Needle is a powerful dagger carved from dark green jade, capable of disrupting a target's internal Qi (spiritual energy flows) with a single, precise pierce.
The person holding onto it is a student by the name of Longwei, the crown prince of the Chinese Royal Family.
'No, I can't target him. He's too...overpowered. Besides, he's probably already at the academy grounds. I can't go take the Wand either, since I'll kick the bucket before I can get past the imperial guards. So I guess that leaves me with the Rings of Duat...'
Her thoughts trailed off as she recounted how the rings can be obtained.
The easiest way for her to obtain the rings...is to buy it off a street seller. But the street seller always wanted payments that required odd items. It was either that, or...
Alina looked at the contents of the small pouch in her messenger bag and sighed to herself.
After paying for Orion's Bow, she only had 15 gold coins and 7 silver coins left. Remembering how much real life cash the rings costed, Alina could only sigh and hope that her luck is good enough.
She took a couple glances around her and pulled on her hood. To others, she was just a wanderer wearing a dark cloak that hid most of her body.
But if they looked close enough, they could see the edges of the Westlance Academy uniform underneath the dark cloak.
Soon enough, she located her next target and scaled down the bell tower, she made sure the keep an eye on the timer on the panel that wouldn't disappear no matter what she did.
---
Alina sneaked past the villagers in the street market, her eyes scanning the stalls for a specific vendor.
Sure enough, she found them. As she approached the stall, which was just a carpet and a person wearing a mysterious hood selling random items, the seller called her out and asked what she wished to purchase.
After pretending to inspect the items on display at her feet, she crouched down and deliberately allowed a glimpse of her uniform to be seen by them.
'According to the forums, this vendor is very...bootlicky, so let's just hope he sells it to me at a cheaper price...'
Alina thought silently in her mind as she reached out to touch the two silver and black rings that was in a small basket full of other types of rings.
Feeling the sleek surfaces, she confirms the artifact and told the vendor, "I wish to purchase these rings. In exchange, I will give you 1 gold coin."
She speaks firmly, as if she wouldn't accept no for an answer-
"Yes! yes! Sold to you, pretty young miss!" The cloaked seller quickly nodded and accepted the deal without any hesitation with a gleeful smile!
Stunned, Alina looked at the cloaked seller with an odd gaze that made them uncomfortable.
'Well, that worked...better than I thought,' thought Alina, tossing a gold coin at the cloaked seller.
'Then again, perhaps gold coins were very valuable in this part of town.'
Alina held onto the rings tightly and decides to place them in her inventory first. Looking at the timer, she decides to give up looking for the rest of the items.
'It's fine, they'll turn up again further more into the story. What's important is that I have Orion's Bow and the Rings of Duat as a pair and the Brooch as well. They'll be enough for me to defend myself against most problems...I hope.'
---
Alina held onto the horse as they sped through valleys and onto the main road, heading directly towards the Academy as fast as the steed would take her.
'Two hours left on the clock, I should be able to arrive before the timer ends.'
She angled herself so that the steed went faster, her cloak fluttering in the wind as she leaned closer.
'Rings of Duat, Orion's Bow, and the Brooch of Darkness... I haven't had any time to take a look at their status. Wait a minute, do I have a status?'