At this moment, Lane once again offered a spatial ring with both hands. “Additionally, to compensate for your losses, this is a small token of our family's apology. Please accept it, Wizard Jie Ming.”
Jie Ming took the spatial ring and swept his mental energy over it. Even with his composure, his eyebrows couldn't help but rise at what he saw inside.
The ring was neatly stacked with a vast quantity of high-grade materials. While none were particularly precious or rare, the sheer volume was the key. These materials were almost exactly the ones he had been purchasing in bulk recently to refine the array cores of the All-Heavens Star Grand Array.
Jie Ming roughly calculated that there was enough for one and a half array cores. That was an astonishing amount, considering that each array core he refined required materials with a volume equivalent to a star. Even at the preferential prices he'd secured later in his supply contract with the Star Ring Federation military, the total value would exceed a hundred trillion low-level military merits.
On top of that, they had also provided a spatial ring large enough to store the entire pile. A spatial ring of that level was itself a high-grade spatial wizard artifact of astonishing value—ordinary sixth-level wizards couldn't possibly craft one; at least a seventh-level high-grade alchemist would be required.
“This gift... is far too generous.” Jie Ming wasn't just saying that for show; the value of this compensation would make any eighth-level wizard's heart ache. After all, wizards weren't merely good at earning money—they were also first-rate at spending it.
In a sense, if you didn't even know how to spend money, that meant your potential on the wizard path was far too weak. Thus, the vast majority of wizards had no habit of saving. As soon as resources arrived, they would immediately invest them in research or self-enhancement. Even a high earner like Jie Ming kept only ten billion high-level military merits as emergency funds, spending everything else he earned.
If not for the Blood Sacrifice Method's rapid sales, with military merits ticking upward every second, his account would probably be empty too. From that perspective, those civilian sixth-level wizards were actually the biggest earners in wizard families. Because their potential and talent were limited, even if they accumulated vast resources, they couldn't consume much themselves, allowing them to feed a lot back to their families. It could be said that civilian sixth-level wizards were a family's true foundation.
To suddenly produce such a quantity of resources as compensation... the Mobius family was hemorrhaging badly. Assembling such an enormous stockpile in such a short time meant they must have forcibly diverted massive liquid assets. If a capital mobilization of this scale were mishandled, the Mobius family might even face a broken capital chain.
Hearing Jie Ming's intention to decline, Lane, the eighth-level wizard, gave a wry smile. “Wizard Jie Ming, this is our genuine gesture. After all, we are the ones at fault.”
Jie Ming understood that if he refused the gift, the other party would instead feel frightened, thinking he didn't accept their apology. If that happened, in order to eliminate the threat early, they might panic and take reckless actions. So Jie Ming didn't persist in declining; instead, he smiled and put away the spatial ring. “In that case, let this matter end here.”
With that, he took the initiative to offer his right hand. Lane's face lit up with joy, and he immediately gripped Jie Ming's hand. With a light handshake, their conflict was put to rest. Then Jie Ming took out his Magic Net terminal. “If there's a chance later, we should keep in touch.”
Lane was briefly stunned, then a flash of genuine delight appeared in his eyes. This wasn't the deliberately crafted expression he had shown before—it was real surprise. Exchanging contact information meant they now had a connection and a relationship. The main objective of the day had already been achieved, but an unexpected bonus had come along as well.
In truth, the price the Mobius family paid this time was merely the death of one errant family member and a hefty sum of resources. Having developed for over a hundred thousand years, their family members numbered in the hundreds of millions. Apart from eighth-level wizards, no one was truly irreplaceable.
The funds consumed by the compensation were painful, but they could be earned back eventually. If this allowed them to directly establish a link with a young genius who had been recognized jointly by Savien, Basian, and Morna—three titans of spatial studies—then this deal was a sure win, however one looked at it.
Many wizards in the distance had been watching this interaction, and their gazes completely changed. Their looks at Lane also shifted from schadenfreude to envy. After making the compensation, Lane tactfully took his leave, leaving Jie Ming to continue browsing.
Half an hour later, the first round of exhibition exchanges gradually drew to a close. With the activation of the magic arrays, subtle changes began in the once-bustling hall. The demonstration arrays on the display stands were shut down one after another, and the floating light screens automatically retracted. The silver-white metal floor swelled upward, quickly forming maintenance puppets. These puppets wove through the crowd, guiding attendees to the various branch venues.
In the center of the hall, a convergence of light formed a light screen over ten meters tall. At the same time, a gentle mechanical female voice echoed throughout the venue. “The first stage of free exhibition has ended. Please proceed to the corresponding thematic branch venues according to your personal interests.”
The light screen quickly split into a dozen sections, displaying various titles: “Frontier Theories on Spatial Stability,” “Rune Transformation Design for Large-Scale Plane Architectural Structures,” “Law Resonance and Energy Conversion,” “Optimization of War Alchemy Systems,” and more. Beneath each title were listed the speaker's name, affiliation, and intended discussion direction.
Seeing the information on the light screen, the hall's crowd immediately dispersed.
Some walked without hesitation toward the branch venue of a topic they had chosen long ago. But more stood in place, carefully browsing the introductions to weigh their options.
Jie Ming returned to the center of the hall and swept his gaze across the light screens one by one. This Academic Symposium was indeed of a high caliber; the paper topics in the dozen or so parallel sessions covered nearly every frontier direction in spatial studies he could think of. He had considerable interest in each one. Naturally, his greatest interest lay in composite topics that combined spatial studies, array formations, and alchemy systems.
Halfway through his scan, however, Jie Ming paused slightly at one particular branch venue title. “Application of Mental-Energy Wave Fine-Tuning Techniques in Practical Combat Wizardry.” The name itself wasn't particularly special; what mattered was the introduction below. Speaker: Redes (Seventh-Level Combat-System Wizard).