They stepped out of the blacksmith shop. The heat of the forge faded, replaced by the dry, dusty wind of the Academy market.
Jin carried his new equipment. The heavy Silver Tier falchion rested comfortably against his shoulder. The dark, scale-reinforced leather vest was tucked under his left arm.
He stopped in the middle of the crowded dirt street. He untied the grey spatial pouch from his belt and opened it. He needed a strict accounting of his remaining resources.
He looked inside the folded pocket of space. Exactly ten glowing blue stones remained. Ten mid-grade Aether cores.
The massive pile of wealth he had looted from the bandit camp was almost entirely gone. Weapons, armor, and Luna's catalyst had drained his capital. But he did not regret the spending. Dead men do not need money.
"We need medical supplies," Jin said. He tied the pouch back onto his belt.
Luna nodded. They walked further down the busy street. They bypassed the stalls selling cheap, roasted beast meat and noisy merchants offering fake treasure maps.
They found a large, round stone building. Thick green smoke puffed steadily from a tall brick chimney on the roof. The smell of boiling roots, sharp chemicals, and crushed bone drifted out of the open doorway. It was a proper alchemy shop.
They walked inside. The shop was quiet and dimly lit.
The walls were completely covered in tall wooden shelves. The shelves held thousands of small glass vials, ceramic jars, and wooden pill boxes. Some of the liquids glowed with a faint, warm light. Others bubbled slowly inside their sealed containers.
Jin walked straight to the wooden counter. He did not browse. Browsing was dangerous when funds were low.
"Healing potions," Jin told the older student working behind the counter. "High grade. For severe bone fractures and deep lacerations."
The student nodded. He turned around and unlocked a small wooden cabinet. He pulled out two thick glass vials. The liquid inside was not a watery pink. It was a deep, rich crimson red. It looked as thick as tree sap.
"Two high-grade instant coagulants," the student said, placing them on the counter. "They will seal a torn artery in ten seconds and fuse a cracked rib in a minute. Two mid-grade Aether cores for the pair."
Jin placed two glowing blue stones on the wood. He took the two heavy glass vials and carefully secured them inside a padded pocket on his belt. He now had eight cores left.
He turned around and walked straight toward the door.
He completely ignored the rest of the shop. He did not look at the glowing green stamina pills. He did not look at the expensive serums designed to instantly refill an empty Aether core. Looking at them would only cause unnecessary frustration. He could not afford them. They left the alchemy shop and stepped back into the dirt street.
"One last stop," Jin said. "Runes."
Luna walked closely behind him. She knew about runes from her time working as a ledger keeper in the outer-rim town. They were highly prized items.
Runes were essentially single-use, pre-programmed spells. They were life-saving measures in a desperate fight.
Cultivators spent years learning how to shape Aether into physical attacks. A rune master bypassed that entire process. They carved the complex Aether pathways directly into a physical medium, like a piece of stone, a wooden tile, or thick parchment. When a user pushed a tiny drop of their own Aether into the carved lines, the spell activated instantly.
The Academy library recorded over a hundred thousand different types of runes.
The variations were endless. A Thunder rune could release a massive, blinding electrical discharge to stun a charging beast. A Fireball rune acted like a localized, highly destructive explosive. A Protective rune could project a temporary kinetic barrier to absorb a fatal blow.
The most famous and expensive type was the Teleportation rune. If a cultivator was trapped by an enemy they could not defeat, they simply crushed the rune. The carved magic would violently bend the surrounding space, instantly moving the user fifty kilometers away in a random direction. It was the ultimate contingency plan.
Jin needed a contingency plan. The jungle planet was filled with unknown variables.
They reached the end of the market district. The rune shop was small and completely silent. The heavy wooden door was closed.
Jin pushed the door open. A small brass bell rang softly.
The interior was completely different from the blacksmith and the alchemist. It was clean, cool, and smelled of dry paper and fresh ink. Glowing blue and gold symbols were etched directly into the dark wooden walls, providing a soft, steady light.
Jin walked to the main glass display case sitting in the center of the room.
He looked down through the clean glass. A single, perfectly smooth, golden stone rested on a piece of black velvet. Intricate, flawless lines were carved deeply into the gold. It was a high-grade Teleportation rune.
Jin looked at the small white paper tag resting next to the golden stone.
He read the neat, handwritten numbers.
Price: 100 Mid-Grade Aether Cores.
Jin stopped breathing for a full second.
His dark eyes widened slightly. His highly logical, corporate mind misfired. A sudden, sharp spike of pure panic hit his chest. It felt remarkably like a mild heart attack.
He had exactly eight cores in his pouch. The absolute cheapest escape route in the display case cost more than three times his entire original startup capital. He was completely, hopelessly priced out of survival.
"Beautiful piece of work, isn't it?" a quiet voice asked.
Jin looked up. The shopkeeper, a thin senior student with completely ink-stained fingers, walked out from a back room. He smiled at Jin's pale face.
"That is a masterpiece carved by a faculty elder," the shopkeeper explained, wiping his inky hands on a cloth. "It activates in a fraction of a millisecond. It is designed for high-level cultivators fighting in the deep void."
Jin slowly let out the breath he was holding. He forced his heart rate to slow down.
"It is too expensive," Jin stated flatly. His voice was slightly hoarse.
The shopkeeper chuckled warmly. He understood immediately. Freshmen never had any real money.
"The display case is only for high-grade, instant-cast artifacts," the shopkeeper said gently. He pointed a stained finger toward a row of simple wooden bins sitting against the far back wall of the shop.
"If you are looking for practical, disposable tools for the first-year jungle tournament," the shopkeeper continued, "you want the bargain bins. Low and mid-grade runes. They take an extra second to activate, and they are carved on cheap clay and thick paper instead of gold."
Jin looked at the wooden bins.
"How much?" Jin asked cautiously.
"They start at ten low-grade cores," the shopkeeper smiled. "Or roughly one-tenth of a single mid-grade core."
Jin closed his eyes. He let out a long, quiet sigh of profound relief. The sudden tension completely drained out of his tight shoulders.
His budget could survive this. He was not going to die because he lacked the funds for an escape route. He opened his eyes, nodded to the shopkeeper, and walked directly toward the cheap wooden bins to arm his team.