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“How much for a Vellum of Safeguarding?” a voice asked.
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Both voices and tones could be altered within the Mystic Exchange, making it easier for buyers and sellers to keep their identities hidden. But when that voice spoke, Linda couldn’t help but twitch her eyelid.
It was so lazy that it instantly conjured up the image of an aristocratic slacker sprawled on a luxurious lounge chair, getting fed grapes by servants without even bothering to open their eyes. For some reason, Linda couldn’t help but feel a weird sense of kinship.
She just knew she was about to land a deal today.
Linda named her price. “Ten thousand Luster Shards.”
Then the lazy voice paused and asked again, “Oh? What’s so special about your Vellum of Safeguarding? A regular Severing Sigil only goes for a thousand Luster Shards, and that’s already considered pricey for a sigil. What makes yours worth ten thousand?”
Most Vellum of Safeguarding only sold for five or ten Luster Shards, just enough for a little peace of mind. Asking ten thousand was straight–up insane.
His question was dripping with sarcasm.
Linda didn’t even blink. “You get what you pay for. This Vellum of Safeguarding will block a hit for you, no matter what it is. Just once.”
He snorted, clearly mocking. “I could just grab a Ward–Sigil for the same effect, and it costs way less than yours.”
Linda replied calmly, “Covers both Arcane Salvo and physical hits.”
“Physical?” the buyer echoed.
Linda explained, “Basically, it’ll stop anything coming your way, swords, spells, ghosts, curses, even if you get hit by a car or fall sick. One shot, total protection. That’s what I call real peace of mind.”
“Now that’s what I call a real Vellum of Safeguarding,” Linda said.
The buyer snorted, “Yeah, right. You expect me to believe that?”
Linda said, “If it fails, you get your money back.”
The buyer fell silent.
Linda wasn’t sweating it. She was just testing the water. These two Vellum of Safeguarding were basically her trial pieces from the past month.
After seeing Craig and Laura’s destinies, plus the Eye of Rebirth’s hints in the Great Repository of Tomes, Linda was ninety percent sure this was all stuff they’d gone through in her last life.
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Chapter 22
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But back then, Linda was still stuck as an outer–circle apprentice at the High Sanctum of Archmagi, didn’t know them at all, and had zero clue about what actually happened.
There was no way for her to verify if any of it was real.
But she knew one thing for sure.
Her fate had changed. This time around, she hadn’t had her powers stripped away. Instead, she’d become an apprentice of the First Unity Coven.
So Linda figured she might as well give it a shot.
If this was destiny Laura and the others were supposed to have, then this time, she was determined to change it.
She’d poured her sweat and tears into these Vellum of Safeguarding. Her power was still pretty weak, so it took her a whole month just to make two.
But they really worked.
They could stop any kind of damage coming her way.
The buyer sounded a lot more cautious now. “So it can handle all kinds of attacks? No matter how strong?”
Linda answered, “Below Gilded Core, ninety percent effectiveness. Anything stronger, the effect drops off. You’ll have to see for yourself.”
Linda herself was only at the Gilded Core stage.
She’d tried it. It could take her hardest hit, no problem.
“Alright,” the buyer said.
As soon as the words dropped, Linda heard the familiar jingle of coins clinking into her account, and then a chipper message rang out in her head.
“Congrats! User ‘Money_No_Problem‘ has bought your Vellum of Safeguarding. Seven thousand Luster Shards have been credited.”
Linda just gave him a blank look.
She stared in disbelief. ‘They really skimmed thirty percent off the top. What a rip–off!”
“Why can I only buy one? I can’t get more?” the buyer asked.
“Oh, it’s a one–per–customer deal. A Vellum of Safeguarding only blocks one hit. One’s enough, what are you trying to do, stockpile for the apocalypse?” Linda replied.
“One’s not really enough for me,” he said, sounding casual.
Linda shrugged, “Just come back for another when you’ve used this one up.”
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Chapter 22
…
“Alright,” the buyer replied.
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The buyer sounded a bit annoyed, but just as she finished speaking, Linda heard another sound. “Congratulations! You’ve just made your second sale! User ‘Just Browsing‘ has purchased your Vellum of Safeguarding, and seven thousand Luster Shards have been credited to your account. Keep up the good work!”
Linda caught the announcement right away.
And ‘Money_No_Problem‘ saw it too.
The Vellum of Safeguarding on the stall vanished in an instant.
“Hey, where’d it go?” ‘Money_No_Problem‘ asked.
Linda answered, “Sold.”
“Oh, there’s actually a second guinea pig like me? He was fast. I was just thinking about getting someone to buy it for me,” he said.
Linda just stayed quiet.
With her stock gone, Linda packed up her things. The buyer’s astral faded from view, heading off to browse other stalls.
She gathered her bundle and looked around.
“Heading home,” she said to herself.
With thought, she blinked off the street and landed in a patch of empty sand. Linda clicked her tongue. “Talk about broke.”
Not even a place to crash in the Mystic Exchange.
Sometimes, Linda wondered if the Mystic Exchange was coded up by some overworked dev who kicked the bucket and woke up in a cultivation game, with trading and homesteads.
The only thing missing was a PvP system. Everything else a marketplace needed was already baked in.
If the code was swapped out for runes and Displacement Anchors, that coder would have to be at least a Master Scrivener in the Fusion Phrase.
Only someone at that level could pull off creating a Null Space this huge, stretching across half of Atrufset and hosting countless top cultivators.
Linda scoped out the area for a while, only to realize that putting up a house here was way harder than she thought. Not only did you have to pay for the land, but the building itself wasn’t free either.
She pulled up her account.
“Fourteen thousand Luster Shards,” she muttered.
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Chapter 22
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Everything she owned was stored in the Exchange vault, ready for her to withdraw whenever she needed it.
Linda opened up the Hermit’s Sanctum page.
The cheapest house listed was fifteen thousand Luster Shards.
And all you got for that was a thatched hut.
“Even in a place like this, I still can’t afford a home,” she muttered.
Linda transferred a thousand Luster Shards from the three thousand she’d made selling Mystic Silver–Leaf yesterday, bringing her total up to fifteen thousand. With that, she bought herself a cramped little hut, barely two square meters.
If Rafael were here, he’d totally chew her out for blowing her money like that.
That’s a ton of Luster Shards.
But Linda, who’d seen Mystic Exchange’s secrets firsthand, knew this was money well spent.
Even if all she got was a cramped little hut barely big enough for one person.
She stepped into her new Hermit’s Sanctum, completely bare, nothing but empty walls.
But she didn’t mind. What she wanted wasn’t here for comfort or shelter, but the unique abilities that came with owning a Hermit’s Sanctum.
She sat cross–legged on the floor and began her refinement.
The Mana–Channeling flowed around her, round after round, letting her finish in moments that would normally take a whole day.
When she finally left the Mystic Exchange, only six hours had passed in the outside world.
Linda gripped her apprentice token. “One day out there, two days in my Hermit’s Sanctum. Time flows twice as fast inside.”
She returned to the Mystic Exchange, eyeing her tiny thatched hut. “Yeah, it’s the cheapest spot, but with this perk, totally worth it.”
‘Once I earn more, I’ll upgrade to a better one. The time boost will get even crazier, she thought to herself.
Linda let out a sigh of relief.
The Mystic Exchange gave her way more time to train and cultivate.
Her eyes gleamed with resolve. ‘I’ll go all out for next year’s Coven tournament. There is no way I am missing out on all the action.
Deep in her refinement, she planned to spend two full days inside the Mystic Exchange and squeeze every last drop out of the double–time boost. But just as she was getting into the groove, some invisible force
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Chapter 22
yanked her out.
Linda gritted her teeth, annoyed. ‘Seriously?‘
:
“Are you kidding me? An anti–addiction timer? Damn it!” Linda muttered to herself.
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She’d only managed to stay in for thirteen hours straight before being booted out. It seemed the rule was one real–world day, max.
After a day passed, she’d have to jump back in and start all over again.
That was one of the flaws of using the Mystic Exchange as a Hermit’s Sanctum for refinement.
“Forget it. Looks like I should head up the mountain now,” she said.
Linda glanced up at the top of Frost–Crowned Highlands, a hint of contemplation in her eyes. ‘Guess it’s time to meet my new mentor.‘
AD
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
