Chapter 19: The Second Return

“Good evening, guest~”

The face of the mirror spirit reappeared from within the glass.

“What do you need?”

Qin Yuan took a bottle of Mana Spring from his storage bag and pushed it forward.

“Do you accept this?”

“Oh?” The delicate face of the magic spirit grew serious. It extended its two pairs of somewhat ethereal arms carefully to grab the glass bottle, uncapped it, and gently sniffed.

“Of course!” It nodded and said, “This is Mana Spring. The highest price I can offer you for a bottle like this is 2 gold coins.”

“Hm.” Qin Yuan was quite satisfied with the price; it wasn’t far off from what the Whispering Magic Tome had mentioned.

After all, he now knew the location and could return to collect more after some time.

That small pool of Mana Spring was practically an inexhaustible treasure trove.

Qin Yuan took out four bottles at once and handed them all over.

“Please exchange all of these for gold coins.”

He planned to keep some for recharging his teleportation crystal and a bit for personal use.

“No problem!”

The mirror spirit accepted the bottles, placing each one into its mouth in turn, then spat out eight shining gold coins.

Qin Yuan then glanced over at the shelves.

The alchemy shop wasn’t very large, and he had already examined most of it earlier that morning.

At this stage, the only thing that piqued his interest was the last remaining sheet of magical rune paper.

Since he wasn’t short on money now, Qin Yuan gritted his teeth and paid 5 gold coins to buy it.

“Oh, by the way.” He suddenly remembered something.

That morning, when he took out the star meteorite he had scavenged from the vampire, he had intended to ask its price. The mirror spirit had mentioned that if he added 2 more gold coins, it could craft the meteorite into a staff.

Qin Yuan proceeded to ask for more details.

Through the spirit’s explanation, he roughly understood the value of a staff for a mage.

Firstly, manual casting only operated at 80% efficiency, which was crucial.

Besides that, the staff would come with a random, immutable positive attribute, such as increased casting speed or enhanced spell power.

Qin Yuan looked around but didn’t forget to ask, “If I want you to make one for me, how long would it take?”

“I’m quite proficient with one-star staffs, and the materials needed are stocked in the shop. It should take about two days~”

Nodding, he then asked another question.

“By the way, the magical rune paper is sold out now. When will it be restocked?”

The mirror spirit pointed to the shelves and said, “On Saturday night, the guild will send some mages over to take all the remaining stock and replace it with a new batch.”

“I see.”

Qin Yuan nodded and finally decided to hand over the star meteorite and the gold coins to the mirror spirit.

They agreed he would come collect the staff the afternoon after tomorrow.

Before leaving, under the mirror spirit’s eager gaze...

Qin Yuan casually gave it a positive review!

Seeing that night was already deep, he returned to the tavern, ate, and sat in his room, contemplating his next move.

About ten hours remained before he would return.

In the storage bag, the Whispering Magic Tome was still resting, and beside it was a small basin.

A crystal ball, shimmering like the starry sky, was soaking in Mana Spring.

Watching it, he could directly observe the charging progress.

A rough estimate showed it would take about twenty-four hours to reach the minimum level the tome had mentioned.

Real-world time was apparently counted, meaning by the next time he entered the “Spirit Realm,” it would be fully charged.

“Tomorrow’s goal is probably the floating island the tome mentioned. Getting that sacred fruit would be perfect,” Qin Yuan mused.

“Also, I need to practice casting spells. My proficiency is still too low, and since spells can be practiced in reality, maybe I can find an uninhabited wilderness to grind my skill.”

Having spent most of the day running through the forest, Qin Yuan was naturally a bit tired.

It was already late.

Soon, he leaned against the bed and fell asleep.

...

[Returning...]

At eight o’clock the next morning, Qin Yuan woke and opened his eyes to find his surroundings had changed. He was still leaning by the computer desk.

The game session had ended, and he had been transported back to the real world.

The computer screen before him was lit, positioned on the desktop as usual.

Though he didn’t always play, sitting at the computer desk with the screen on gave him a strange sense of comfort.

He opened the player interface to check.

[Time remaining until next entry to the “Spirit Realm”: 23:59:44.]

[This session will last 48 hours.]

So, tomorrow morning again...

And this time, he would stay inside for a full two days straight.

But would that mean more rest time in reality afterward?

Questions in his mind remained unanswered.

He then logged into the forum through the software.

Qin Yuan quickly noticed a hot topic on the homepage.

[Player Alliance Officially Formed!]

The key detail was that the poster's name was shown as [Federal Security Bureau].

Thousands of comments had already been posted.

Entering the thread and skimming through the content, Qin Yuan fell into deep thought.

This post was like a bomb dropped into deep waters, stirring up a sea of waves.

The Federal Security Bureau had decided to establish an organization called the “Player Alliance.”

For now, there was no entry barrier; any player could join. Upon joining, members would receive a monthly base salary of 10,000 yuan, with increases for contributions.

Two additional conditions were quite lenient.

First, players in the alliance must register their information and update their level upgrades at the local security bureau within two days in real time.

Second, players must promise not to display extraordinary abilities in front of ordinary people.

Third, no illegal or unethical acts may be committed using supernatural powers.

That was all.

Overall, the terms were quite appealing.

The replies reflected this, with many players eager to join the federal security forces.

This was understandable since the benefits were generous, naturally attracting many low-level players.

Qin Yuan had anticipated this development, though he hadn’t expected such a swift response—it was only the second day...

For now, Qin Yuan remained cautious; he wasn’t in need of money.

A new message popped up on the forum.

Opening it, he read:

“Zhang Wenbin: Hey, big shot, did you see that Federal Security Bureau post on the forum?”

This was the player whose life Qin Yuan had saved in the wild; they had exchanged forum IDs and become friends after returning to reality.

Interestingly, Zhang Wenbin had used his real name instead of a flashy gamer tag.

“I saw it. I’ll observe for now,” Qin Yuan replied succinctly.

“I see...”

After a while, Zhang Wenbin messaged again: “I’m planning to check out what’s going on today. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

“Okay.”

Qin Yuan thought it a good idea to have someone scout ahead.

...

That afternoon, in a desolate wilderness,

Qin Yuan sat cross-legged on a stone, resting momentarily. He took a deep breath as mana surged within, gathering toward his right hand.

The intricate magic runes on his palm lit up.

In the next instant, his figure flickered and vanished from the spot.

He reappeared ten meters away on a grassy field.

“Phew... phew...” The excessive mana consumption left his face pale. He quickly took out a bottle of Mana Spring from his backpack and took several sips.

The warm liquid was swiftly absorbed, gently restoring his mana.

Looking down at the ground, Qin Yuan frowned.

The actual arrival point was about a meter off from his intended destination.

He’d need more practice...

Moreover, the skill’s mana consumption was excessive. Qin Yuan calculated that even at his peak, he could only use the Blink skill three times.

By comparison, spells like Magic Missile or Fireball could be cast nearly ten times.

Entangling Vines could be used six or seven times.

After depleting mana, even with continuous Mana Spring consumption, it would take about an hour to recover.

Practicing this skill for an entire afternoon would only allow about ten uses.

He also noticed that leveling up didn’t significantly increase total mana capacity.

The main improvement lay in mana quality, making spells more powerful with the same amount of mana.

This meant that even at levels seven or eight, he wouldn’t gain many more Blink uses.

According to the Whispering Magic Tome, each qualitative leap for humans occurred every ten levels, usually after a successful class change.

“Not bad already...” the tome floated over and said, “Blink is one of the tougher one-star runes to master, and yours is rare grade, but it’s a very versatile and effective skill. You’ll appreciate it more with real combat experience.”

Qin Yuan nodded and continued waiting for his mana to recover.

He had just shared some details about the real world with the Whispering Magic Tome and Owl Feather.

Since he had brought them out, he couldn’t just lock them in his player bag for twenty-four hours and ignore them—that would be too cruel.

He had expected such earth-shattering news would be hard for them to accept or understand.

He had already anticipated several possible reactions and prepared accordingly.

The actual response was that he had overthought it...

The tome quickly accepted the information after initial surprise. It pondered for a moment and then said, “That reminds me of something.”

“What is it?” Qin Yuan asked.

“I once heard that our Spirit Realm is linked in a special way to another place where magic doesn’t exist and has taken a completely different path. I think it must be referring to this place.”

“Back then, though I found it incredible, I believed it firmly, perhaps because the source was someone very authoritative.”

“But no matter how I try, I can’t recall who told me that. It’s strange...” The tome shook its head, thinking hard but unable to remember the key detail.

As for Owl Feather, it was even stranger.

Upon hearing this, it widened its eyes and the first thing it asked was whether there was anything delicious here.

“...”

Feather was like this—often quiet, with eating being its sole passion.

Qin Yuan felt helpless at this reaction and began to doubt himself.

Could there be something wrong with his thinking?

Had he lost the ability to be on the same wavelength with them?

Or were the creatures of the Spirit Realm simply so adept at embracing new ideas?