In a spacious conference room at the Central Tower of the Black Mist Jungle, five Candidate Wizard sequenced members face Vice Dean Hayek and several Masters, their expressions solemn.
"You five have been selected to participate in this Bloodline Altar trial." Hayek’s voice was steady and authoritative:
"This is both an honor and a challenge. The environment inside the altar is complex, filled with danger, but also endless opportunities."
Ron and the other four—Trish, Holt, and two other sequence members he’s not very familiar with—stood in a line, bodies straight, expressions focused.
"Considering the uniqueness of the trial, the School has decided to provide necessary equipment support to each participant."
Hayek waved his hand, and Soron stepped forward, holding five exquisite velvet bags.
"These are specially crafted spatial bags," Soron explained as he distributed them:
"Each can accommodate about five cubic meters of items, much more than ordinary space equipment."
Ron accepted the soft deep blue bag, feeling the peculiar energy fluctuation emanating from it.
The bag appeared ordinary, only palm-sized, yet it could hold so many items; it was indeed a rare strategic resource.
"Of course, this advanced equipment is the property of the School," Hayek added, his gaze sharp:
"After the trial, the School will take thirty percent of the value of any items withdrawn from inside as a usage fee. This is a fair exchange."
Ron examined the spatial bag in his hand closely, already calculating in his mind.
This equipment was indeed precious, but the 30% ’tax rate’ was not low either.
"There is another option," Soron continued:
"You can also choose not to use the spatial bags provided by the School and prepare equipment entirely on your own. Of course, this means you will lose this convenience, and anything taken from the altar will be entirely yours."
After the meeting concluded, the five members each left to prepare their own equipment.
Ron headed straight to the School’s trading center, his mind clear with a plan.
The trading center is located on the eastern side of the School, a semicircular white building where various resource transactions occur frequently.
Ron smoothly threaded through the bustling crowd, arriving at a counter labeled "Rare Material Exchange."
"I need Black Sand Essence," Ron stated directly to the staff behind the counter:
"The smallest size."
The opposite was an elderly woman, with graying hair but unusually sharp eyes.
She looked Ron up and down, seemingly assessing the reliability of this young apprentice.
"Black Sand Essence?" She raised an eyebrow, "That is not a common commodity, young man. Even the smallest size requires two whole Magic Stones."
"I know the price," Ron calmly took out two prepared whole Magic Stones from his pocket:
"I demand impeccable quality, any flaw will not suffice."
After the transaction was complete, Ron briskly returned to the workshop.
Even though he felt some pain giving away two Magic Stones, this investment was necessary for the upcoming plan.
"Spent so many Magic Stones again..."
Ron looked at the thumb-sized dark red crystal in his hand, sighed lightly: "Magic Stones really don’t last long."
Inside the workshop, Ron quickly entered the laboratory to begin preparing to refine his own spatial bag.
Black Sand Essence is a unique ’Abyssal Material’ from the first layer of the Abyss and the key material for making space equipment, containing natural spatial folding traits.
The essence of refining a spatial bag is to draw out the spatial energy from Black Sand Essence and fix it onto a specific carrier.
He took a piece of high-quality Sub-dragon Hide and cut it into the appropriate shape according to a specific pattern.
"This process is much simpler than I imagined." Ron murmured to himself, skillfully drawing complex runes on the Sub-dragon Hide:
"It’s even easier than making an Alchemy Bomb."
The key lies in the layout of the guide lines and the construction of the initial space.
Black Sand Essence itself has spatial attributes; it’s just necessary to establish the correct energy guiding path and activate it through specific alchemy reactions to form a stable small sub-space.
Ron’s fingers deftly purified several rare alchemy materials to their most suitable state and accurately adorned crucial nodes on the surface of the Sub-dragon Hide.
The "Material Refining" skill played a significant role at this moment, allowing him to intuitively feel the interaction between materials and precisely control every reaction link.
Three hours later, a small dark brown bag lay quietly on the lab bench, its surface faintly showing flickering rune patterns.
He carefully reached into the mouth of the bag, feeling his arm seemingly enter an invisible space far beyond the capacity the bag’s exterior size could hold.
"Succeeded!" Ron’s eyes showed a sense of accomplishment: "Its capacity is even a third larger than the ones provided by the School."
He took out a pocket watch to check the time.
There were less than twelve hours left until the official commencement of the Bloodline Altar, and he needed to urgently complete the remaining preparations.
Meanwhile, at the top tier of the administrative tower of the Black Mist School, Thompson stood inside Hayek’s office, holding a thick file.
"This is my observational report on Ron Ralph."
Thompson handed the file to Hayek, his voice calm but with an obvious note of admiration: "I believe you should personally review it."
Hayek took the file and quickly flipped through it.
As he read deeper, his brows gradually furrowed, his eyes revealing a flash of surprise.
"Alchemy Bomb? He successfully made an Alchemy Bomb?"