The Apprentice City of Lodris sees a massive flow of people every day. The large population living here requires food and clothing, and because it is filled with apprentices, it also requires a vast amount of low-tier magic materials.
Consequently, the gates of Lodris were built to be extremely spacious, wide enough for five horse-drawn carriages to drive side-by-side; even so, there was still a bit of congestion here every day.
The city walls were not very high. In this province, which was almost never under threat of attack, they served at most to defend against the surrounding magical beasts.
However, the surrounding magical beasts were now nearly extinct, leading to the five-meter-high city walls going unmaintained for years, leaving them riddled with pits and hollows.
Furan stood at the entrance of the Apprentice City, carrying a large bundle, lamenting that it would be nice if she had a space ring.
Unfortunately, Furan had even asked Harbos about such a thing, and even Harbos had never seen one, only sighing that it would be wonderful if such a thing truly existed.
According to Harbos's explanation, current mainstream spatial technology relied on expansion techniques—expanding a room. If the originally anchored space was relatively large, then subsequent expansion would be easier.
Just like the classroom Harbos rented for the weapon forging class, it was a simple three-fold spatial expansion, and even that required various maintenance considerations.
With this kind of technology, trying to fit a large space into a small ring was simply too difficult for current capabilities.
Therefore, Furan had no choice but to give up some items and only take the essentials for her journey.
This included dozens of books, some precious materials, that tattered book Furan had brought back from the Spirit Realm, weapons... and of course, all the gold coins she had earned in the Apprentice City, totaling 246 gold, 43 silver, and 59 copper.
She kept the coins hidden under her robes, well-protected.
In addition, she had halted all her business operations in the Apprentice City.
This included orders for making magic rings, potion production, and the backlog of orders for crafting enchanted daggers, which she also cancelled.
In the end, there were still over 100 daggers in her orders that hadn't been completed, so she simply cancelled them all.
Notably, at the very end, she took all the enchanted daggers she had kept in her room at home and melted them down into baishan copper, selling them as raw materials; they still fetched a recycling price of five gold coins.
She cancelled the dagger orders naturally because her Rune Craft had reached the extraordinary level. Continuing to make them felt like a drop in the bucket, so she just cancelled them.
Once her Rune Craft reached the extraordinary level, a new class popped up on her Panel.
[Class: Ancient Rune Warrior (One Star)]
Description: A warrior who relies on ancient runes for combat. Compared to contemporary runes, ancient runes are more complex, with no key information erased, and their power is far greater than that of contemporary runes.
Requirements: 1. Rune Craft (Mastery).
2. Spiritual Power reaching 4.
3. Win ten battles using runes.
4. Draw a true ancient rune.
Note: You already possess the Rune Warrior (Half Star) class, which is considered as completing the first three requirements. You only need to complete the fourth requirement to obtain this class.
It was quite good to be able to advance her Rune Warrior class; she was currently lacking constitution points to make up for her weaknesses.
Although she no longer used runes for combat—since runes required a bit of time to draw during a fight—she figured that in that time, wouldn't it be better to cast a Spell or get in another strike with her blade?
So, she rarely used runes for combat anymore.
However, Furan was a bit puzzled when she saw the fourth requirement. What did it mean to "draw a true ancient rune"?
After searching through her references and finding nothing, Furan had no choice but to set the matter aside.
Furan stood in the queue to leave the city. She intended to wait properly, as she was in no hurry to depart.
However, the people in front of her didn't think that way. After glancing back at the robe she was wearing, they immediately moved behind her.
This was the first time Furan truly felt the gap in status. Previously, she had always stayed at home, and even after becoming a Formal Mage, she was still engraving magic rings for those apprentices; back then, she hadn't revealed her status as a Formal Mage.
While the people of Lodris held some awe for apprentices, it wasn't excessive; they simply didn't dare to engage in superficial conflicts with them.
Thus, she had never personally experienced just how precious the status of a Formal Mage was in the Apprentice City.
She raised an eyebrow, watching as the people in front heard the commotion behind them, turned to see her, and then immediately retreated in fear to a spot three meters behind her.
The people behind her didn't dare to get too close to her either.
Almost as soon as Furan joined the queue at the gate, it was her turn within a minute.
"Greetings, Mage Excellency!"
Seeing a Formal Mage approach, the Guard stood up straight and bowed his head slightly, not daring to look Furan in the eye.
Furan handed over her documents. Although a Formal Mage held high status, they still had to register; this was a requirement of the Alliance.
Of course, rules were one thing, and enforcement was another. You couldn't exactly drag a few mages to serve as Guards, and those Guards naturally feared that the mages might unreasonably blast them with a fireball—there would be no one to complain to then.
So, this matter relied entirely on the mages' own sense of duty. Those with good tempers would hand over their documents, answer a couple of questions, and be allowed through. For those with bad tempers who walked straight out, the Guards didn't dare stop them.
However, if you encountered a major issue later and needed the Alliance's intervention, the Alliance could make things difficult based on your transit records.
"I am going to Gedde Town, then to the Antire region, and finally to the Northern Lands Academy."
The Guard hurriedly copied all the information into his ledger and then handed a stamped document to Furan.
"Very well, Mage Excellency. Please have a safe journey!"
Furan clicked her tongue. This was much faster than she had imagined. Indeed, displaying her status made things much more convenient.
Without any further delay, she took her remaining belongings and walked straight out of the city gate.
Only after walking outside the gate did she suddenly realize she seemed to be missing something.
"How am I supposed to travel without a means of transportation?"
She slapped her forehead, only just remembering this important detail.
"No wonder Elan recommended a small town outside the city that sells horses before I left. So that's why."
Although there were many wondrous means of transportation in this world, none were sold in the Apprentice City. Thus, a First-Order Mage like Furan could only honestly buy a mount.
"I'll go check it out. At least buying a mount is better than walking."
She looked back at the city gate behind her. Above the gate was a large plaque that read [Apprentice City of Lodris].
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