Chapter 012: The Ring

Actually, it wasn’t just Daniel—probably anyone who heard this sentence would faint!
Many people who could cultivate combat energy spent their entire lives hovering at the threshold of level three, unable to cross it and living in gloom. Yet Du Fan broke through in just three months. If not for Du Fan’s proven strength, no one would have believed it.
Du Fan gave a wry smile, thinking, “You’re so excited just because I practiced Light Combat Energy casually. If you knew I’ve also cultivated Wind Combat Energy and Wind Magic, both at level three, you’d all be terrified, right?”
Old Mark had already forgotten what Du Fan had said about wanting to learn magic. After being excited for a while, he finally said, “I… I’ll go tell your mother the good news right away… As for Daniel, hurry up and inform the Duke and the two young masters…”
Du Fan, unable to decide whether to laugh or cry, waved his hand and said, “It’s okay, Grandpa Mark. There’s no rush with these matters. I’ll go see my mother myself in a bit. Instead, tell me more about Roland Academy.”
Hearing this, Old Mark calmed down. He quickly said, “Third young master, you must have heard of Roland Academy’s fame. I won’t go into too much detail. Normally, given our Green family’s status, it’s not impossible to enroll midway. But since there’s an annual enrollment drive now, my suggestion is that if you’re interested, you should take the exam yourself. If you pass, it will be due to your own strength. If not… we can think of other ways.”
Du Fan smiled slightly and said, “Since Grandpa Mark says so, I’ll take the exam. By the way, where will this enrollment take place?”
Old Mark replied, “As usual, it will be held at the Holy Church in the capital. No matter which academy you want to join, you can just go and register there. With your status at the Holy Church, who would dare treat you badly?”
Du Fan nodded slightly and said, “Then I’ll go to the church myself later. I still have some things to handle. I don’t need you to show me the way this time, Grandpa Mark.”
Old Mark was slightly stunned but still replied, “Understood, third young master. Please go ahead slowly.”
Du Fan responded with an “Mm,” about to turn away, but suddenly frowned slightly and said, “By the way, Grandpa Daniel, I heard you guys were talking about the ducal household’s recent finances, right?”

Daniel was stunned for a moment before awkwardly saying, “Yes, Third Young Master.”
Du Fan nodded and asked, “So, what’s the recent income and expenditure situation? If I’m not mistaken, our Green family mainly relies on the taxes from our fiefs as capital, right? Have we been unable to collect enough taxes from the fiefs lately?”
Daniel replied, “It’s not exactly that… It’s just… well…” He paused before continuing, “The harvests from our family’s fiefs have not been good in recent years, so the taxes collected are not much. Also, you, Third Young Master, have withdrawn quite a lot of money, which has left the household in a deficit…”
Du Fan smiled. “I see. I suppose Grandpa Daniel wants to advise me not to be too extravagant, right? Don’t worry. These past three months were only due to the needs of cultivation; I bought some potions as supplements. Now that I’ve reached the third level, I won’t be so eager for quick results. I won’t withdraw too much money from the household anymore, so Grandpa Daniel, you don’t need to worry too.”
“I see!” Daniel looked ashamed. “If I had known you were buying potions for cultivation, I would have raised the money even if it meant selling everything we have.”
Du Fan smiled. “That’s not necessary. After all, I’ve already spent a lot of the family’s money. If I keep spending, even if I reach the Saint level, the family will be ruined. Relying on potions to accelerate cultivation is only a temporary solution. Long-term cultivation still depends on one’s own efforts. So, Daniel, you don’t need to say that either. Well, I have matters to attend to today, so I’ll be leaving. You guys, go on with your work.”
“Okay, good luck, Young Master!” the stewards said in unison.
Du Fan nodded and turned out of the front hall, heading toward the backyard.
Chenchen poked her head out from Du Fan’s collar and asked, “Du Fan, are you really not going to rely on potions for cultivation anymore? If so, your progress will be very slow, you know.”
“Who said I’m not going to use potions?” Du Fan patted Chenchen’s head.
“But that’s what you said just now.”

Du Fan sighed and said, “I said that earlier because I was too embarrassed to use our family’s money anymore, you know? Our Green family has always relied on the taxes from our fiefdoms to sustain our household. Plus, our fiefdom is in the north and isn’t very fertile, so although we’re a large family, we’ve never been wealthy. Take the Belinger family for example—their annual income from business is probably more than ours over several decades. The hundreds of thousands of gold coins you’ve spent helping me these past few months are likely equivalent to half a year’s worth of our family’s income.”

Chenchen said, “Oh,” and then asked, “So what do you plan to do?”

“What else can I do?” Du Fan shrugged. “I’ll sell these magic stones I have and see how much they’re worth, then figure out how long we can last. As for long-term cultivation, it’s impossible without a stable source of funds. I’ll come up with a way to make money as soon as possible.”

Saying this, Du Fan shook his head. “If I had known alchemy would cost this much, I would never have gotten involved. But now that I’m on this path, I definitely won’t give up. Thankfully, I managed to reach level three within three months—otherwise, I really wouldn’t have the face to see my mother right now.”

As they spoke, the two arrived at the entrance of the quiet courtyard in the back yard. Du Fan pressed Chenchen’s head down before going to knock on the door.

“Come in!” the Duchess’s voice came through faintly.

Du Fan quickly tidied himself up before pushing the door open and entering.

The Duchess was sitting by the window, reading a book. When she saw Du Fan enter, surprise flashed in her eyes as she took in his appearance. She said, “I never expected my son to turn into a genius after just a few months apart. I was going to ask what you used all those gold coins for at home, but seeing you now, I guess I don’t need to ask.”

Du Fan stuck out his tongue. He knew full well that his mother wasn’t someone to be underestimated, but still, he said softly, “Well… actually, it wasn’t for anything serious… I just bought some potions to aid my cultivation.”

“Is that so?” The Duchess looked at Du Fan amusedly. “Never mind… This is already the second or third time this has happened. Though I don’t know what you’re hiding from me, I do know one thing—you little rascal will definitely not suffer losses… Alright, tell me, what brings you to see me today?”

“Well…” Du Fan paused slightly. “I actually came to show Mother something.”
The Duchess nodded and asked, “What is it?”
“It’s this…”
As he spoke, Du Fan waved his hand gently and recited a spell. A wind shield instantly appeared in front of him.
This time, the Duchess’s expression changed slightly. She tentatively snapped her fingers, and a pale blue combat energy shot out from her fingertips and struck the wind shield. Yet the surface of the shield only rippled slightly before melting the combat energy.
Seeing this, the Duchess let out a sigh. Her beautiful face was filled with shock as she stared at Du Fan and said, “You little brat, how did you do it? I thought it was already a miracle that you advanced to the third level of combat energy in three months, but now you’ve even advanced to the third level of magic… Your two brothers combined weren’t as strong as you! But listen here, you little rascal… Trying to master both combat energy and magic at once is like trying to chew too much at once—you can’t do it all. If you don’t achieve anything in the future, just wait and see how I’ll deal with you.”
Du Fan smiled and said, “Mother, there’s no need to worry too much. If I could achieve such things in three months, who can say I won’t keep advancing? Don’t worry, Mother. One day, I’ll prove to you that I, the so-called worst son in the Green family’s history, will definitely not disappoint you.”
A faint smile appeared on the Duchess’s face. “Since you say so, I won’t say more. Anyway, you must be hiding some secrets from me.”
“Oh, right.” The Duchess searched in her bosom for a moment before pulling out a ring and throwing it to Du Fan. “This is a space ring I used when I was young. Although the space inside isn’t very large, it has some auxiliary effects for mages. It should work well for you. Consider it a gift from your mother.”
Du Fan took the ring and grinned without hesitation. “Then thank you, Mom.”
As he reached into the ring with his mental power, he couldn’t help but laugh. Besides storing items and recognizing its master, the best feature of this ring was its ability to sharpen focus—something truly useful for mages.

After leaving an imprint of his mental energy inside the ring, Du Fan put the other two space rings in as well before saying, “Alright, Mom. I’m going to take the admission exam at Roland Academy next. Do you have any comments?”