Chapter 214: Chapter 212: Departure and Setting Out

In Hilia’s room, Elina visited once again.

This time, she looked different from before, clearly conflicted.

"Let me say this first—the Pure Magic Crystal costs at least two thousand Gold Coins before I’ll even consider selling it. If you don’t have the Gold Coins—or something of equal value—I’m not selling."

Before Elina could speak, Hilia stressed her point.

Elina nodded. "I know. I can’t gather that many Gold Coins, but I still want that Pure Magic Crystal."

Hilia: "?"

Elina said, "I’ve thought about it for a long time. Maybe I really can’t handle that place on my own. If I take a partner, even if I have to split the loot, it’ll at least be safer..."

Hilia said, "You’re not talking about the ancient ruin you offered in exchange for my Pure Magic Crystal, are you?"

Elina nodded.

Hilia asked in surprise, "So what you mean is, you didn’t actually want to share the location of that ancient ruin. Then why did you say you’d use the ruin’s location to trade for my Pure Magic Crystal?"

"I was planning to swap a fake location for it."

Hilia: "...That’s not how you pull off a scam, sis."

You’d get yourself killed.

"But you didn’t agree, did you?"

"That’s not the point." Hilia said, "Tell me, what kind of ancient ruin actually needs a Pure Magic Crystal?"

Elina said, "I stumbled across that ruin by chance. It’s not far from Southern Border City. I hadn’t gotten a chance to enter yet because opening the door takes a huge amount of Magic Power. There’s a groove on the gate shaped exactly like a Pure Magic Crystal, so I thought the way to open the ruin is to insert a Pure Magic Crystal.

Back then, I’d already given up exploring the ruin—until I heard a Pure Magic Crystal showed up in Southern Border City and was going to be auctioned. I pretended to be elf royalty and came here for a bit of luck, in case I could steal... or, uh, borrow it? You know the rest."

Hilia nodded. "I know—a certain idiot who knows nothing about Arrays insisted on breaking one, then got a faceful of contamination from the Concealment Array’s defense mechanism."

Elina defended herself: "That was an accident. If it happened again, I wouldn’t faint so easily."

"Right, right, all accidents," Hilia replied half-heartedly.

Elina was quiet for a moment, then admitted in defeat: "I tried to trick you into selling me the Pure Magic Crystal, but didn’t succeed. I’ve been thinking it over these past few days and ended up coming back to you.

"You might not want to sell me the Pure Magic Crystal, but I’d like to invite you to explore that unknown ancient ruin with me. If a ruin needs a Pure Magic Crystal to open, there’s got to be something good inside!" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Hilia wasn’t moved by the promise of ancient ruins and instead asked, "Suppose there really is something good in that ruin. Have you considered that if it’s high-tier, you might just die as soon as you go in?"

"No way. I’ve learned some ways to judge the tier of ruins—it’s definitely an untainted ancient ruin. This type of ruin doesn’t restrict entry by Tier—it just has a lot of traps. And I’m really good at dealing with traps."

She added, "If it were a ruin where you had to fight, I wouldn’t have gone all the way to Southern Border City. I don’t like fighting."

Hilia snickered, "If you’re so good with traps, why did you fall for the heretic’s Array?"

"That was a real accident... Believe it or not." Elina pouted. "If you’re interested, we can set out right away. If not, I’ll have to think of something else."

"Let me think about it." Hilia said, falling into deep thought.

Came to Star Ash Town for vacation, but ended up wrecking the Divine Halls in both Star Ash Town and Southern Border City... Kind of awkward sticking around here now.

Going on an ancient ruin adventure doesn’t sound bad. After the adventure, I’ll just come back and wait for classes to start.

But... using a Pure Magic Crystal as a Key is expensive.

No matter how I think about it, I just can’t let go, Hilia sighed internally.

Rose chuckled, "You could ask her if the Pure Magic Crystal can be removed and used again after opening the ruin door."

Hilia froze for a moment, then tossed the question to Elina.

Elina considered it, then said, "I’m not sure, but from what I’ve seen, ruins that require a special Key like this usually let you remove the Key and use it multiple times."

Hilia said, "If we go to the ruin, I’ll need to set the Pure Magic Crystal into my Magic Staff. Can it still work as a Key like that?"

Elina thought for a moment, then said uncertainly, "Judging by the size of the Keyhole, it should be fine. It just needs the energy from the Pure Magic Crystal, you don’t have to put the whole thing in."

"Good enough. I’ll go with you," Hilia agreed.

Elina’s face lit up immediately: "Really? That’s great!"

She jumped up as she spoke. "No time like the present—let’s head out now!"

Hilia shook her head, "I don’t do unprepared battles. Give me a few days—let me get ready first."

Elina waved it off, "Trap-solving ruins don’t need all that extra preparation!"

Hilia replied, "If you prepare well, at least if you fail to disable a trap, you have the strength to tank it."

"Fine, but don’t take too long. I’m worried someone else will find it."

"Even if they do, no one else can open it. Don’t worry."

"Okay, then I’ll go get ready too."

...

So, over the next few days, Hilia spent the 40 Gold Coins she’d earned, plus what she’d saved earlier, all on reconstructing her Magic Staff. She embedded the Pure Magic Crystal into her current staff, replacing the original Advanced Magic Crystal.

Even though the Pure Magic Crystal wasn’t as perfect as when it was freshly mined, it was still a Pure Magic Crystal. Its support functions were way better than the Advanced Magic Crystal.

Just casting any Magic made the difference obvious.

At least 50% more power!

Plus, it cut back on Magic Power consumption, made Magic faster, and so on.

It could even store a few High-tier Magic spells inside the Pure Magic Crystal—but that would reduce the crystal’s lifespan, so Hilia didn’t try that.

Besides reconstructing the staff, she also bought a batch of blank Scrolls, specially making healing, buff, and defensive Scrolls for accidental trap triggers.

She also bought a few potions as backup.

All of them were to restore Magic Power and stamina.

After all this prep, her Gold Coins ran out fast. By the time she was ready, she had less than 10 Gold Coins left—even after selling a few Scrolls on the side.

She was broke, but the Gold Coins she’d spent gave her a huge sense of security.

Soon, the day to meet up with Elina arrived.

Hilia checked out of her inn room, sent a message to Vanessa with her wristband, then headed outside the city to meet up with Elina.

"All set—let’s roll!"