Pick Any Enchanted Gear You Like
Early that morning, Dean Xiao brought Mo Fan good news — an invitation to come along and collect the substantial rewards from the freshman competition.
They made their way to the library, a building that looked uncannily like a model of some enormous, thick tome, and Dean Xiao led Mo Fan straight to the topmost floor.
The top level was off-limits to students. Dean Xiao stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze passing through the tall floor-to-ceiling windows to take in the entire Blue District of Pearl Academy at a single sweep.
"Dean Xiao." Mo Fan stepped into the private conference room. The Dean stood alone, and something in that solitary silhouette — a quiet weight — hinted at thoughts left unspoken.
Dean Xiao turned. His face wore a warm, easy smile.
"On the day of your entrance assessment, I already knew you were concealing something more. I never saw how you escaped Mu Nujiao's Kun Grove — but I caught the scent of darkness..." He studied Mo Fan with an unhurried smile.
"It's not much of a secret, honestly. If you looked into what happened in Bo City, you'd find out soon enough," Mo Fan said, equally unbothered.
His Dual Elements had originally been set to go public on the day of the Magic College Entrance Examination — that had been Principal Zhu's intention.
Then the Bo City disaster struck, and no one had given it another thought. Principal Zhu himself had fallen in the fighting, and the ceremony he was meant to preside over had never taken place...
If Dean Xiao wanted the truth, a few inquiries among people who had known Bo City would be more than enough.
"No need for that," Dean Xiao said. "Sooner or later you'd have let it out on your own. Now — let's move on to the real reason we're here today."
"Been waiting for this." Mo Fan rubbed his hands together. The public resources of the entire freshman class — how much would that be worth? Enough to buy a villa somewhere in Shanghai?
"The public resources are already parceled out into countless shares distributed across all departments. We have to convert those resources into something you can actually use..." Dean Xiao continued. "Of course, converting resources of one type into another can never be done at perfect equivalence, so what you receive will be an approximation of the total value."
"As long as no one's skimming too much off the top," Mo Fan said. He understood the situation well enough.
A pile of resources tied to elements he didn't use was practically worthless to him. And most of it was calibrated for Basic-Level Mages anyway — as an Intermediate-Level Mage, he'd get almost nothing out of it.
Take Stardust Artifacts, for instance. Handing him five thousand of the things right now would be pointless, unless the school could let his Loach Pendant devour them all in one sitting — and even then, those were public resources that had to be returned to the academy.
As Dean Xiao had said, the best they could do was estimate the value of those public resources and convert them into something Mo Fan could actually put to use.
"I know you haven't had access to quality Enchanted Gear. I've brought a selection of higher-grade pieces — suitable for Intermediate-Level Mage combat. Choose one." Dean Xiao flicked his sleeve with practiced ease, and like a conjurer, produced several miniaturized Enchanted Gear items onto the conference table for Mo Fan to examine.
"Intermediate-Level combat Enchanted Gear — these have to be worth a fortune, right?" Mo Fan said, eyes brightening.
"Value is relative — it depends who needs it. But put them on the open market, and every one of these would sell for at least..." Dean Xiao raised an open hand.
"Five hundred thousand?" Mo Fan ventured.
Dean Xiao shook his head.
"Five million!!" Mo Fan's face broke into a wide grin.
"The money our school spends every year on public cultivation resources is no small figure," Dean Xiao continued. "Part of it comes from donations by distinguished graduates, and part from the academy's own budget. The donated share is substantial — and it cannot be converted into your allocation. We can only calculate based on what the academy itself has spent."
Mo Fan nodded. That made sense.
Pearl Academy's alumni donations were meant for future generations of students — they had never been part of the freshman competition's system of rewards and penalties.
"Go ahead and pick your piece of Enchanted Gear first. Your cultivation resources, Summoned Beast resources, and prize money will follow afterward," Dean Xiao said.
Mo Fan's eyes lit up. *Good lord — a five-million piece of Intermediate-Level Enchanted Gear handed straight to me, and there are still three more rewards coming. If I'd known there was this much on the line, I'd have thrown my Fire Element into the fight and taken Mu Nujiao down one way or another!*
"Could you walk me through what's here? I don't know much about Enchanted Gear — that's always been the domain of people with money," Mo Fan said.
"Of course. The piece closest to you is called the Blood Boots. They are forged from the bone and blood of the Blood Beast of Changbai Mountain. Worn in combat, they grant the Mage's legs the extraordinary running capability of the Blood Beast — burst speed that surpasses even Wind Trail · Drifting Shadow. Furthermore, each time the boots are refilled with a Blood Beast's Refined Soul, they may be activated once to unleash the Mountain-Shattering Force: the raw leg strength of the Blood Beast channeled into a single kick, powerful enough to split stone." Dean Xiao had the instincts of a born teacher; start him on a subject like this and the educator in him emerged without his even noticing.
"It can even be used for active attacks — now that's something," Mo Fan said.
He still remembered his duel with Yu'ang. Yu'ang had owned a footwear-type Enchanted Gear of his own.
But that piece had only been good for a single evasive movement. Compared to the Blood Boots sitting in front of him now, it wasn't even in the same league.
"What about this one?" Mo Fan pointed to the piece in the center. "It looks like a suit of armor."
"Correct — that is an Armor Enchanted Gear. The key distinction between Armor and Shield Enchanted Gear is this: a Shield is purely passive defense, requiring the Mage's sharp reflexes to trigger it and block an incoming attack. The strength of Armor Enchanted Gear lies in the fact that it is worn throughout combat — if a hit connects, the armor intercepts it automatically. It cannot achieve the complete nullification that Shield Enchanted Gear can, but it does passively reinforce the Mage's constitution. Every Mage, regardless of level, has a body that is fundamentally fragile — Armor Enchanted Gear is their single greatest guarantee of survival in battle. This particular piece is called the Azure Scale Armor. Its defining quality is flexibility and suppleness; even a Wind Element Mage can wear it without the slightest interference to their casting. Its weakness is that the defensive ceiling isn't especially high — it struggles against heavy, direct impacts and devastating attacks," Dean Xiao said.
"This is probably the entry-level tier for Armor Enchanted Gear, isn't it?" Mo Fan asked.
"It is. Armor has always been the most expensive category of Enchanted Gear — second only to Stardust Artifacts. The Azure Scale Armor can handle a few hits from Servant-class Demon-Beasts without trouble. Against a Battle-General-class creature, or under the impact of an Intermediate-Level spell, it would mostly just keep the Mage from dying — nothing more," Dean Xiao said.
Armor Enchanted Gear had its merits — you wore it throughout the entire battle with no special activation required — but for the opponents Mo Fan regularly faced, its protective ceiling felt barely adequate.