Rick, still sore, interjected. "Sure, as if we will really believe you! Do you know how much just 60,000 gold coins—"
His words died in his throat as the chubby boy made several large sacks fly out from his spatial ring.
The sacks fell to the ground, a resounding clink of thousands of gold coins filling their ears.
"There you go. If I accidentally destroy it, these are yours. But relax. I know how to control my power."
Lian observed the scene with interest. He barely had 2,000 gold coins; what he saw in front of him was far more.
"Deal!" Rick, blinded by the sight of the jingling, full sacks, tossed the sword toward Plamr.
Lian wanted to back out, but it was too late now. That idiot friend of his had thrown the artifact just like that, without thinking. "Let us hope for the best…" he muttered as he watched the boy catch the sword.
Plamr grabbed the sword with a hidden grin, giving an exaggerated bow. "Do not worry, newbie. Watch and learn." With a swift movent, he channeled his mana into the sword. The flas ignited, more intense than Rick's and slightly better than Lian's.
Then, with a gesture of his seemingly harmless staff, he summoned a gust of wind that made him move at surprising speed. His chubby body almost seed to float as he charged toward the still dummy.
But before it could be struck by Plamr's flaming thrust, the dummy moved, rolling to the side to dodge the blow.
"Tsk, that staff is an artifact. It makes sense he could destroy the dummy in a minute; with two artifacts in hand, even I could do it!" Rick muttered, watching the boy.
Lian thought the sa. Sothing was off, but he could not figure out what. The boy seed to focus more on moving than attacking.
Ti passed, but he had not hit the dummy once; in fact, he had been hit by it multiple tis.
"He is getting away!" Lian said, ready to sprint to recover his artifact. But before he could, Rick's voice brought him back to reality.
"Relax, Lian. Did you forget that guy left 60,000 gold coins here?" Rick approached a sack, patting it before gently opening it. "He will not escape anywhere without his—"
His voice stopped abruptly.
The gold coins poured out like a river of liquid tal, each coin a sonorous drop.
Hearing this sound, Lian turned his head, only to widen his eyes in disbelief.
"What the hell—" Rick was the first to break the tense air.
"That bastard! He stole our artifact!" Lian shouted as he spun around, his legs already poised to run, his mind visualizing a series of concentric triangles. He wanted to catch that despicable creature!
"Ventus Surge, Aura Levis"
His movents imdiately beca smoother as a gentle but powerful breeze allowed Lian to run faster.
He ran for several minutes but could not locate the fugitive at all. Only the sound of his curses could be heard by everyone in the training area.
On the other side, Rick was drenched in sweat. It was he who had given the artifact to Plamr, and it was he who had stopped Lian from chasing him.
"Damn, I am screwed…"
The damage he had caused this ti could not be described in words.
The only thing that comforted him was that the dummy had not been destroyed; otherwise, they would have had to pay for that too.
After searching far and wide and asking so students around, Lian returned to the starting point, where a pale-faced Rick and an inert dummy awaited him.
Lian had given up. The academy was large and full of all kinds of individuals. The only thing he could do was ask the teachers or other academy figures, like the Mage who handled the dummy rentals.
Rick, still standing next to the now-inactive dummy, kept muttering apologies, his face streaked with sweat and sha. "Lian, I… I am really sorry. I did not think that guy was a scamr. I—"
"Forget it, Rick," Lian interrupted, his voice low but sharp. He ran a hand through his hair, the lock falling over his eyes. "It is not your fault. Or rather, not just yours. I was an idiot to trust him too." He paused, staring at the ground. "If you do not mind, I am heading back. I need to think of a solution. I know soone who might help us, but I am not sure…"
Rick opened his mouth to say sothing but closed it imdiately, nodding slowly. "Okay, friend. If you need , you know where to find ." He wanted to stay and support him, but his face was not thick enough to allow it.
Lian did not respond. He turned and walked toward the dormitory, hands in his pockets and head down. The academy campus, which just a few hours earlier had seed full of possibilities, now weighed on him like a shadow.
The loss of the sword was not just a matter of money but also of sentintal value. It was his first artifact. Sure, he had not made it himself, but he was still attached to it, even if they had only spent a few minutes together.
Moreover, what bothered him most was that he had been robbed in broad daylight, right within the academy itself.
It was late afternoon when Lian reached his dormitory.
Once in his room, he closed the door with a thud and collapsed onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. He did not care that the sheets were dirty because of Rick. At that mont, his thoughts were elsewhere.
"Damn it," he muttered, clenching his fists. "How could I have been so stupid?"
"Should I really contact the Dean over sothing like this? It seems absurd… I cannot solve every problem this way…"
Determination shone in his blue eyes, burning like the flas of the artifact he had lost. "No, I have to resolve this myself. First, I will ask around again. If I find nothing about this Plamr the Scamr, then I will move to Plan B."
Lian got up from the bed, his vigor renewed. He grabbed the spatial ring the Dean had given him and began looking inside, pulling out several items. "Plan B is this. I will beco a Rune Master, create my own artifacts, sell them, make a na for myself, and with the connections I build, I will track down that bastard!"
Lian tightly gripped the Runic Stylus in his hands. He would find the chubby boy. This was a promise.
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