章節 59: Upgraded Ring
"Whatever the reason, Ranav bought the sword and paid in full—fair and square. Now, it belongs to him. Young man, if you want to keep the sword, I suggest embedding a mana crystal on the hilt. However, if you wish to sell it, I could help you fetch a higher price from noble families. After all, it was an award from the royals," the count said, his tone firm yet encouraging.
The countess said with a smile, "No need to sell it just yet. Ranav is a trained swordsman, and this sword could prove quite useful. I suggest he keep it until he finds a more powerful blade of his liking."
Ranav nodded. "Alright, I'll follow your suggestion."
After dinner, Ranav returned to his room, finally finding uninterrupted time to talk with Jessica. Their reunion felt long overdue after her extended absence.
"Jessica, how are you?" Ranav asked, his tone filled with concern and curiosity.
Jessica replied softly, "I'm fine, I think. But thank you for asking."
"What happened during your upgrade? Why did it take so long?"
"I honestly don't know," Jessica admitted. "It felt like I just had a long, deep sleep."
Ranav raised an eyebrow. "Do you realize how much time has passed? It's been one month and three days since you went silent."
"One month and three days? That's fifty-one days!" Jessica exclaimed; her voice filled with surprise. "To me, it felt like just a long nap. No wonder so much has changed inside the ring."
Though Vishvam had one sun and one moon, time there worked differently from Earth. The world used familiar concepts like seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. While seconds seemed slightly different, Ranav couldn't measure the discrepancy without Earth's standard.
In his village, people calculated time by observing the sun. At sunrise, they started counting from zero. When the sun was directly overhead, they counted twelve. Sunset marked twenty-four, and when the moon was directly overhead, they counted thirty-six.
Ranav had initially laughed at the system's inconsistency, particularly during winter when days grew noticeably shorter. However, from Nanima's books, he learned that wall clocks existed here, too. The first one he saw was at the count's house.
This clock featured forty-eight blue mana crystals in a circle, representing the forty-eight hours of Vishvam's day. Inside this, a second circle of forty-eight smaller cyan mana crystals marked the forty-eight minutes per hour.
Similarly, the calendar had forty-eight days per month and sixteen months per year. With this extended year and observations from geography lessons on Earth, Ranav deduced that Vishvam was significantly larger than Earth. Despite this, the seasonal cycle mirrored Earth's, with weather in each month remaining almost consistent annually. Winter was sometimes shorter and sometimes longer, but that also happened when he was on Earth.
When Ranav entered the ring via his spiritual sense, he was stunned. The small storage space he remembered was gone, replaced by a massive corridor nearly twelve feet high and ten feet wide.
"Jessica, what happened? Where's the old storage space?" Ranav asked, stepping cautiously deep into the corridor which seems to be more than a hundred feet long.
Jessica's voice sounded amused. "Your storage space is behind the first door on the left… you passed it a while ago. It's much larger now. Go back and check."
Ranav backtracked to the first door. "How do I open it?"
Jessica chuckled. "Look at yourself. Haven't you noticed anything?"
"Myself?" Ranav glanced down and froze. He has a translucent body that mirrors his real one, a perfect replica of himself.
"You were walking in the corridor in spiritual form. Just you didn't realize it. Now, extend your hand and turn the doorknob," Jessica explained patiently.
Ranav did as instructed. The door slowly opened, and he was greeted by a room so massive it dwarfed anything he'd seen before. It was obviously larger than the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, where he had visited many times to cheer for Manchester City FC. He was a loyal supporter of their local club.
"How is this possible?" Ranav asked, his voice filled with awe.
"Dimensional magic," Jessica replied matter-of-factly.
Inside, he found all his previously stored items… notebooks, pencils, and clothes… neatly arranged in a corner.
"To store or retrieve items, do I need to come here every time?" Ranav asked curiously.
Jessica reassured him, "No, you can still access the storage space as before. Test it later after exploring the ring's new features."
Ranav exited the room, the door closing automatically behind him. He asked Jessica, "What are the other rooms for?"
"Why don't you try opening the door opposite?" she suggested.
Ranav opened the second door to reveal a vast library. Shelves stretched endlessly, filled with shimmering, illusory books.
"These books..." Ranav reached out to grab one, but his hand passed through.
"You can only take books that are visible," Jessica explained.
In one corner, a few tangible books stood out. Ranav picked one up and smiled, it was Principles of Mana Flow, a book he had studied at Nanima's study.
"So, the library stores copies of books I've read?"
"Exactly," Jessica replied. "The more you read, the richer this library becomes. You won't need to buy duplicates or carry physical books anymore. It also stores all the books I read. If you want to read a book, I can instantly make a copy of it for you."
"That's incredibly convenient. Thank you, Jessica."
Jessica chuckled softly. "No need to thank me. This ability was already part of the ring's potential. Also, I don't need to read the books myself. Once they're stored, I instinctively know their content. I can pass the knowledge to you when needed."
Ranav teased, "What happens if you decide to sleep again? How will I manage without you?"
Jessica hesitated, her voice becoming soft. "That… I don't know yet."
"Silly! I was teasing you," Ranav said, laughing.
Jessica's mood visibly relaxed. Feeling this, Ranav remarked, "I can sense your emotions more clearly now. It seems our mind link has grown stronger."
Jessica hesitated again before admitting, "That's what I wanted to tell you. With the ring's upgrade, our mind link has become incredibly strong. I can now hear every thought you have… unless I deliberately block it out."
Jessica continued cautiously, "Today, I caught flashes of your memories and some personal thoughts. I know you wouldn't share them intentionally. That's why, most of the time, I cut off our mind link unless you need me. I'm sorry for the unintentional intrusion."
Ranav froze, processing her words. His mind raced, and all he could manage to say was, "What?!"
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票