Chương 128: Portal

Damion signed the documents closing the sale on his family home and ground car. Arica, Ethan and Mage Teft left shortly after. They sensed he wanted to be alone but promised to come and say goodbye in the morning. Once they were gone, Damion gathered the few belongings he had that were not part of his adventurer kit and separated them into boxes. Clothing and other daily necessities, he packed into one overstuffed box and stored it in the Magic System's inventory.

That night Damion took the rest of his personal items, a few childhood toys and books given to him by his parents, and stored in the large storage container sitting in his house's driveway. After double checking that no one was around watching him, Damion pulled the entire storage container into the Magic System's Inventory. He was a bit surprised it worked, but he was glad it did.

Taking anything out of the container would require taking the entire container out to get that one item and he would have to make sure no one was around, but this way Damion could keep it all with him and not have to pay a fee to store it somewhere else. Damion paused to look at the Magic System Inventory, it was quickly filling up. His sword, his adventurer pack, the C Rank Health Potion, his box of clothes and now the storage container. He only had 20 slots to begin with and now he only had 15 free.

He briefly considered buying the upgrade that would give him 10 more slots, but that would cut his credits down by a third.

'Perhaps in the future, when I complete my next quest, but not now,' Damion told himself. He did not currently need the extra spaces, but he never knew when he might need those 100 credits. In the morning Mage Teft arrived shortly after Damion finished his breakfast which was a ration pack from his adventurer kit. Arica and Ethan showed up a few minutes later offering him good luck and safe travels.

After a brief walk through the house, to make sure he had not forgotten anything Damion walked out of the house and closed the door. He knew nothing of the people who were buying his home, probably someone from nearby that lost their house during the beast wave. He just hoped they would be as happy here as he once was.

On his back Damion had his adventurer backpack, stuffed with his gear and a few personal items to make it appear he had packed for his move, but most of Damion's possessions were stored safely in the Magic System's inventory.

"So how do we get to Argentum?" Damion asked as he and his teacher walked through the streets of Saung. He was sure Mage Teft could fly an air car, but he did not know if they would instead travel by ground, allowing him to see the countryside.

"Since Saung is considered a major city, it has what every city wants, a teleportation relay."

"Really?" Damion questioned. Arica had once mentioned before about Spatial mages being able to create portals to send people over vast distances, but he had no idea that Saung was a hub.

"Don't get used to traveling this way," Mage Teft warned.

"Even S Ranks only use the platforms when speed is essential."

"Then why don't we travel by ground car or air car to Argentum?"

"We could, but that takes time we may not have. Any delays on the road and you would be late for enrollment." Mage Teft's explanation sounded plausible, and Damion was looking forward to being teleported for the first time, but something sounded off to him. What he did not know was that Silver Spire Magic Academy insisted he was teleported to Argentum.

Word of Damion's talent had spread from each of the White Zones and while the common masses saw hope in an S+ Rank talent, the old mage families saw someone they needed to control. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. For some of the old families if they could not control something, they considered it a threat. Damion had managed a sweetheart deal with Silver Spire Magic Academy and many of the old families were not satisfied.

The families in Viridis and Rubrum both were upset he had chosen Silver Spire over their academies, but when they learned the details of his school curriculum, they realized Argentum would not have much of a hold over Damion in the long run. Even some of the families in Argentum were dissatisfied and that meant unpredictable things could happen. Headmaster Sorin was afraid that other families would put into motion plans to rope Damion in, before he could implement his own.

If Damion traveled by land or air to Silver Spire, there was a good chance one of the noble families would arrange an ambush, just to rescue him to try and put him in their debt. Mage Teft led Damion to a large round looking building near the center of Saung, not far from the onyx building that housed the city's ruling council. When they walked in the building, Damion was surprised that they continued straight through.

As it turned out the building was not just round looking but was a giant circle with an enormous open-air courtyard in its center. In the center of the courtyard was a raised platform and Damion guessed that platform was the teleportation platform. The area surrounding it were lavish decorative gardens, leaving Damion to wonder why they would spend, what had to be a fortune, to make the place look like a resort when people seldom used the teleportation platform.

"It's all about presentation," Mage Teft said when she realized what Damion was thinking as he looked around the area.

"Presentation?"

"The people that use the teleportation platforms the most are either important or rich. Making the area around the platform as luxurious as possible is to impress the people coming in."

"It seems like a waste," Damion said as he climbed the steps with Mage Teft to the platform.

"Do those rich and important people really fall for such a simple ploy?"

"It isn't meant to trick them. It is meant to make them feel at home. Without this," Mage Teft waved her hand around at the scenery, "those rich and important people would consider Saung just another backwater provincial town, unworthy of their time or notice."

"Would that be a bad thing?"

"Yes. Because if they don't think we are important, then when alerts go out about an S Rank beast wave, they are less inclined to send reinforcements."

"Oh." Damion said as he thought about what his teacher was saying. This whole place around the teleportation platform, was to impress and make sure the old families in Argentum, Viridis and Rubrum remembered that Saung was a nice place and worthy of their help, should the need ever arise. Damion and Mage Teft finished climbing the stairs and were met with by a person holding a tablet. He could tell from True Sight the person was B Rank and judging from their pristine clothes and soft looking hands, a mage.

"Teft and Wells?" the mage asked after looking at his tablet.

"Yes. One-way to Argentum," Mage Teft said. While the mage updated something on his tablet Damion turned to question his teacher.

"One-way?"

"A portal can be opened one-way or two-way, to allow travel in just one direction or both."

"I got that, but what is the real difference? Why choose one or the other?"

"A two-way portal requires more mana to open for one thing. And has to be maintained for longer, since things are going both ways. But one-way portals are the most common, especially if you are teleporting someone into a danger zone. You wouldn't want anything coming back through the portal before you can close it."

"I see your point," Damion said. Being able to make portals and send himself wherever he wanted sounded quite exciting. He was quite happy with his Ice affinity, but he thought Spatial would have been quite wonderful to have and he wondered what his chances were of getting it if he started buying random affinities from the Magic System Shop.

"Please step through the portal as soon as it opens," the mage attendant said. A moment later the air in front of them began to shimmer and an orange whirlpool appeared and then calmed becoming like a window looking through to another world.