Ren's haul from this trip was nearly 600,000 Valis. The main reason was that the Magic Stones his group gathered were of much higher quality, not to mention the abundance of monster drop materials.
After deducting the crafting fee for the magic staff, Ren was left with over 500,000. It was more than enough to buy a decent weapon from Maya's shop.
"Maya, do you have any more Spatial Backpacks? Can I place an order?" Just as they finished settling their transactions, Sora popped up and asked.
Hearing this, Yukino Yukinoshita also stepped forward. "If you have more in stock, please get one for me as well. I also need one."
Their words immediately attracted the attention of many others. *You can buy spatial equipment here? Could Asuna Yuuki's spatial gear have been bought from this very shop?*
At that moment, many recalled the Spatial Backpack Asuna carried. Even more students were tempted, though they wondered about the price.
There were quite a few wealthy students in the class. They all wanted to hear what the proprietress had to say about the cost. If the price was reasonable, they wanted one too!
"You all want one? What about you, Ren? Do you want one?" Maya looked at the two girls before shifting her gaze to Ren.
Faced with Maya's question, Ren stared at her blankly before putting on the pitiful expression of a broke man. "Maya, do I look like someone who can afford that?"
Although he had a bit of money now, it was absolutely not enough to buy spatial equipment. He decided to pass. Besides, Ren had already made up his mind to research it himself.
*What if the Weapon Storage magic Jin-sensei taught us could be modified into a general item storage magic? How will I know if I don't try?*
"Just because you can't afford it now doesn't mean you won't be able to later! If you need one, I can get it for you first, and you can pay me back when you have the money." Maya looked at Ren with a smiling face.
She was thinking more and more highly of this kid. His strength had already reached the fourth tier, which was incredibly fast. He had completely exploded in potential after his awakening!
"I'll pass for now. Let's talk about it when I actually have the money. I'm in no rush, not to mention I can just freeload off Asuna and Yukino's space!" Ren said this with absolute, shameless confidence.
This earned him an eye roll from Asuna. Yukino also shot Ren a sideways glance; though she didn't say anything, her look of utter disdain spoke volumes.
Maya was amused by the scene. Her gaze shifted back and forth between them. It seemed they had a pretty good relationship. She didn't press Ren any further and instead looked at Sora and Yukino. "I'll have a few in stock next week. If you want them, I'll bring them over for you."
She actually had stock, even if they had to wait until next week. This answer immediately made the two girls' eyes light up. Then, a few more people from Ren's class popped up. "Proprietress, give us the details. What's the price?"
The wealthy students in the class began to flex their financial muscle. Under the watchful eyes of the broke students led by Ren, they waved their cash and pre-ordered Spatial Backpacks from Maya.
However, it was impossible to have that much stock all at once. The first batch would only consist of five backpacks, and the rest would have to wait a while before they could get theirs.
These items were priceless and incredibly rare; even with money, you weren't guaranteed to be able to buy one. How could anyone pass up the opportunity they stumbled upon here? Even if they had to wait a while, they were more than willing.
After asking for the price, they immediately paid the deposit on the spot to secure their Spatial Backpacks, acting as if they were afraid Maya would run away.
Watching his classmates wave their cash around, Ren became even more determined to go back and research spatial magic. If he could actually figure it out, he would completely bid farewell to his financial worries!
Maya recorded the contact information of everyone who wanted a Spatial Backpack and collected quite a few deposits. Ren had truly brought her a massive amount of business this time.
After handling the various matters, Ren and the others said their goodbyes and left. After parting ways outside, Ren and Asuna returned to their apartment building together, while the others headed to their respective homes.
Unsurprisingly, the classmates would all remember Maya's shop and know that they could buy Spatial Backpacks here. It was something everyone desperately needed.
Ren and Asuna returned to the apartment building. Asuna didn't rush upstairs; instead, she followed Ren into his home and took out the items he had stored in her Spatial Backpack.
"Everything is here. I'll be heading up now, I need to take a nice, long bath." Asuna took out all of Ren's belongings before saying goodbye and leaving.
After seeing Asuna off, Ren organized his things and then went into the bathroom to take a shower. Having dealt with these chores, Ren returned to his room and activated his Array.
He then began to study the Divine Power that Hestia had left on his body. This was his main priority right now. As long as he could figure out even a little something from it, it would be of immense benefit to him.
Divine Power was far superior to both Magic Power and True Qi. Although they were all essentially forms of energy, the difference in tier was not just a tiny bit. Ren used his [Jianjigu] talent to study it while meditating to digest the residual potion energy in his body.
Time passed unknowingly. By the time Ren opened his eyes again, it was already past six o'clock the next morning. Glancing at the faintly brightening sky outside, Ren was momentarily stunned.
*That fast? It's already dawn? Time really flew by.* Ren took out his phone to check the time and saw quite a few unread messages from Asuna.
Looking at the timestamps, they were sent yesterday afternoon and evening. At this hour, she was probably still sleeping, so Ren didn't reply. The messages were all asking where he went and why he wasn't home.
Ren had been too engrossed in his meditation to notice anything happening in the outside world. Tossing his phone aside, he stretched his back, his joints immediately letting out a series of satisfying pops.
He sensed the condition inside his body, and an excited smile instantly appeared on his face. This period of time was not without gains; in fact, the harvest was massive.
His True Qi and Magic Power had completely fused together, transforming into an incredibly pure form of energy. Ren wanted to turn it into Divine Power, but it lacked a crucial element!
That was Divinity! At his current stage, it was impossible for Ren to possess such a thing. This was the fundamental difference between mortals and gods. Ren had tried to comprehend what Divinity was, but his talent provided zero feedback.
"In other words, it's absolutely impossible to fully acquire Divine Power at this stage. However, having these two energies fuse into one is more than enough!" Although Ren felt a bit regretful that he couldn't directly synthesize Divine Power.
But to be able to fuse this kind of power at his current stage, he was already extremely satisfied. After the two energies merged, it was simultaneously True Qi and Magic Power. With this one-plus-one effect, Ren's strength skyrocketed!
Although his cultivation tier hadn't broken through, the quality of his strength was completely different. Before the energies fused, his True Qi and Magic Power did not interfere with each other; if one ran out, he could only use the other.
But now, Ren didn't have to worry about that problem at all. His reserves of Magic Power and True Qi were already vast to begin with. Now that they were fused, he himself was a massive energy source.
If Ren ever mastered some mana-draining magic in the future, he might just be able to spam it like basic attacks, because he absolutely did not lack energy.
"I'll put the matter of Divinity aside for now. Since I can't comprehend or master it at the moment, I'll deal with it later." After briefly organizing his current gains, Ren made a decision.
Being able to fuse the two energies was already highly satisfying. As for Divinity, once he was strong enough, he would definitely be able to figure it out.
*With the fusion of these two energies, does this mean I have the foundation to become a god?* After all, this energy was only missing Divinity to completely evolve into Divine Power.
According to his research, the Divine Power Hestia left on him was actually quite similar to his newly fused energy now. The only difference was a trace of Divinity.
Ren stopped dwelling on the issue. He checked his condition and found that all the potion residue in his body had been absorbed, and his mental power had also surged significantly.
*Then, I should take advantage of the time before school to properly study that Weapon Storage magic.* To be honest, Ren always felt that this magic was somewhat similar to a certain Fairy Queen's Requip magic.
*Or rather, a low-budget version of it?* This thing involved spatial manipulation. The Magic Circle was the door to open the space, and the mark engraved on the weapon was the anchor point...
Ren's brain worked rapidly. Theoretically, the Weapon Storage magic tossed the weapon into a pocket dimension, then used the anchor point to determine its location. When casting the magic, the weapon was pulled out via the anchor.
His previous idea was to put things into a large backpack and then use magic to pull the backpack out. Now, it seemed he didn't need to do that.
Because as long as he could perceive the space inside, carve it out, and stabilize it, Ren could achieve void storage. Weapon Storage could be transformed into Spatial Storage.
Ren raised his hand and cast the Magic Circle for Weapon Storage, but he didn't trigger the mark on his weapon. He simply activated the Magic Circle itself.
"This is the passageway... Now, perceive!" Staring at the Magic Circle in his hand, Ren directly unleashed the [Spatial Perception] talent he had acquired from Shin-sensei.
The moment his perception ability was released, Ren was immediately drawn to what he sensed because... he saw Asuna. A soundly sleeping Asuna.
"So it can be used like this too!" Ren suddenly realized, a gleam flashing in his eyes. *Isn't this absolutely fantastic? To think I can actually perceive the floor above me.*
However, Ren had no intention of being a peeping tom. He silently shifted his perception down into the Magic Circle in his hand. At that moment, Ren felt that expanse of void space.
The weapon he had marked was quietly floating within it. This sight instantly made Ren's eyes light up. *It really works!* If he couldn't perceive the internal situation...
Then Ren wouldn't be able to proceed to the next step. Now that he could perceive it, things were much easier. Everything within Ren's perception range was unclaimed territory, so all he needed to do was enclose a plot of land and build his own house!
*So, how do I enclose the land? And how do I build my house?* These questions plunged Ren into deep thought. If he wanted to store items, he had to fence off an area inside.
He couldn't possibly mark every single item and stuff them in one by one, right? That would be way too troublesome. What Ren wanted was a special space, much like a spatial ring.
Spatial rings seemingly utilized certain materials containing spatial attributes to carve out a space, which was then fashioned into the shape of a ring or other accessories.
The purpose of those materials was to stabilize the space... *So I still need to get my hands on that kind of material to stabilize the space?*
If that were truly the case, Ren might as well just buy a spatial ring. Therefore, he immediately passed on this idea. This was not what he wanted.
Weapon, anchor point... door... The relationship between these three quickly flashed through Ren's mind. Then, his eyes lit up. *Can't I just place anchor points directly inside this void?*
Acting on his thoughts, Ren directly cast the anchor point used for anchoring weapons into the void inside. However, the moment it was cast, the mark dissipated instantly.
Ren instantly understood the reason. It dissipated because there was nothing to bear the mark. It could be cast directly onto a weapon because the weapon was a physical substance.
But there was no physical substance in the void, so the anchor point couldn't be embedded into it. Thoughts rapidly flashed through Ren's mind. *After reaching the fourth tier, Magic Power can be projected externally...*
"Then... what if I set up a barrier directly inside, and place the anchor points on the barrier? No... that wouldn't last long at all." Ren mobilized all the magical knowledge he had learned.
Anything involving spatial manipulation was simply too troublesome, not to mention this involved a path that hardly anyone had researched. Even if Ren went to look up reference materials, he probably wouldn't find any relevant information.
Under Ren's frantic brainstorming, his [Jianjigu] talent began to take effect at this moment. A completely new method appeared in his mind.
Magic Stones! He could use those. He would first mark them, then toss them inside to act as the Array Cores for a Magic Circle, ultimately forming a massive mark, just like the meditation Array Ren had set up.
Once this Magic Circle took shape, Ren could stabilize a pocket of space and turn it into his private property. That way, he could store items in it.
Before that, he had to solve one last problem: the energy supply for the Magic Circle... After all, the energy within the Magic Stones absolutely couldn't sustain it forever. When their energy ran out, the space would still revert to the void.
"Then I'll just have to supply it myself. The consumption of such a Magic Circle shouldn't be large—it probably won't even drain faster than my natural recovery rate!" Ren made his decision on the spot.
Without wasting any time, he got up and walked out of his room. When they were selling the Magic Stones earlier, Ren had intentionally kept a few and hadn't sold them all. Their quality was quite good, and they would come in handy right now.
It wasn't just Ren; Asuna and the others had also kept some on hand. After all, who knew when they might need them in the future? Ren rummaged around and found the Magic Stones he had saved.
After bringing them all back to his room, Ren began his experiment. He first placed a mark on each Magic Stone one by one and set them aside. Once he was done, Ren stored them all into that void space.
Having done all this, Ren controlled the numerous Magic Stones inside, distributing them to various corners. He used them as central hubs to transmit energy, and he also needed to construct an energy supply channel connected directly to himself!