2, Month Fall-Quatre, Year Elizabeth 402

07:10, Claude Mansion

 

Duke Ryan and duchess Marine’s faces were filled with shock after heard the entire story from their daughter.

“To think that such a reason exists.” Marine exclaimed. She then hugged Alice tightly again. “You had suffered so much for that.”

“Mom! Please stop hugging me already!” Alice complained, but she did not struggle at all. Rather, she seemed to enjoy it. Marine also sensed that and smiled warmly. She hugged her daughter even more tightly until Alice’s face buried in her bosom.

During the past three months, the relationship in the family had become strained. After Alice failed more and more, she became even more obsessed with breaking through. She talked less and no longer participate in the family meal. Marine tried to advise her to stopped the cultivation but that would only serve to make Alice felt more miserable. After that, Marine felt like she was such an incompetent mother, not only did she fail to provide her daughter warmth, she even made her felt more pathetic.

This is the first time in months that both of them could genuinely hug each other with happiness.

Duke Ryan watched his wife and daughter with warmth in his eyes for a while. He then asked what was on his mind.

“So, where is the sage now? I would like to offer my gratitude to him If possible.”

“Ah!”

It was only then that Alice remembered that she had not reported the result to sage Khun yet. She quickly rushed back to where she had put the tablet.

Luckily the session did not seem to end yet. Sage Khun right now was still answering another question from his follower. Alice then sent her report after making sure not to interrupt him.

“Great sage Khun, Thank to your guidance, I have already completed my breakthrough process.”

After her texts were sent and showed on the screen, a round of congratulation was then sent from everyone in the session.

[EmperorOfYellowKingdom: Good]

[Roboto_1291: good going, you magic girl]

[Mizao: Good]

[Animeboyforlife641: pog]

“Good.”

Reading the responses from everyone making Alice’s heart grew warm again. These people did not know who she was at all. They probably congratulated her because they really felt happy for her. And while sage Khun’s respond was also very short, it was actually made her felt happiest.

Then, Alice sensed her parent’s intense gaze as they were watching the interaction curiously. She smiled slightly and pass the tablet to them.

Ryan took the tablet from his daughter, surprised as the item was lighter than he thought it would be. First, he lightly touched the screen then the backside. The smooth feeling of glass made the artifact felt like it was a luxurious item, but the color it used was only white, resulting in a minimalist yet high-class artifact.

“What an interesting artifact!” Ryan exclaimed after examined the tablet, his eyes filled with interest in contrast to the usual stoic appearance.

“Hmm... I could not sense any magic from it at all.” Marine said after look over the tablet, amazed.

“It was probably created with the law of the world.” the duke said after some consideration. While he was more powerful than his wife as he was a nonagon level mage, he did not sense any magic from it either. This probably meant that this artifact was created by a much more powerful being than him—a sage.

While sage and mage seemed to have little difference between them. It was—in fact—very vast. To become a sage, one had to truly comprehend the law of the world and be able to utilize it. Only then would one be able to break free from the shackle of the world and transcended to a higher level being.

They looked at the device again, this time, their faces were filled with respect. Except for Alice, her face was filled adoration.

“Great sage, I knew this is preposterous of me to ask but is there anything I can do for you? I really want to repay you.” she then said to the tablet.

Receiving the message, sage Khun read it expressionlessly.

“Don’t mind it. What would I want from a girl like you?” He answered while shaking his head slightly. “Just focus on study, okay?”

After getting that answer from him, Alice also could not help but felt insignificant. Her problem, to him, was probably just a trivial matter. She turned to look at her mother, asking if there was any way to compensate sage Khun after all. Sadly, Marine could only shake her head at her daughter’s non-verbal inquiry.

“As a sage, the thing that he wants is probably much more valuable than what mage like us could offer.” she said. Alice could accept with a nod reluctantly.

“Wait!” Only then did duke Ryan stopped them. He then took a look at the tablet once more and spotted something in the “description”.

[Support my magic journey here: XXX]

Others followed his eyes and spotted the same thing. They exchanged gaze first and then Ryan reached his hand out to touch it. What followed after was a white page, which one could make a “donation” to sage Khun. The duke looked blankly for a moment before tried playing around with it.

It seemed that one could make a payment here—to donate—and could even send some text to accompany the donation.

“But why would sage Khun required money, father?” Alice asked, confused. Money was after all just a mundane thing. In her mind, a powerful being like him would probably live his life above mortal. How he possibly required money?

“Of course, a person likes him couldn’t possibly require some little money.” He answered, gaze profound. It was like he understood what sage Khun’s thought perfectly.

“It’s likely for his followers, Alice.”

“His followers…?” Alice confusedly cocked her head to the side.

“If he truly wanted the money, he could just outright charge before he gave guidance. Wouldn’t that be more effective? You had received his guidance for free, wasn’t that right?”

“Yes.” Alice nodded. She knew personally how valuable his guidance was. Before this, she had tried several methods to breakthrough before. Costly as they were, they still could not help her at all. Yet, sage Khun could and still helped her for free.

“And how did you feel about that?”

“…!”

Only after listened to her father did she understand everything. Sage Khun knew that some person would feel bad, receiving help without ever being able to repay. He then set this donation system up, to let those people at least be able to give something in return.

“Father…”

“It is too bad that I did not grab money that much before leaving.” Duke Ryan sighed. This morning, he received a report that his daughter was missing while was still in his bed. All of it happened so suddenly, so he did not bring many items with him. Marine also shake her head slightly after got a questioning stare from her daughter. As this was indirectly her fault, Alice felt even more heartbroken.

“Let’s just donate with what we have for now first then. We could still repay him more in the future.” sensing his daughter’s melancholy, Ryan patted her head lightly to comfort then continued. “Next time, you could even repay him with your own money. Isn’t that even better, Alice?”

“Yes!” Alice nodded resolutely. As a mage herself, she could not possibly rely on her family for her entire life. Maybe I should go on an adventure after I graduated. She thought to herself all while looking at the donation page on the tablet.

“Alright. This session is kind of long already.” After finished up the last question that he was answering, sage Khun then said that. It looked like he was going to warp up for today. So, Alice quickly nudged her father.

“Father…”

“Um.” Ryan nodded. He flicked his right hand, which then materialized a glistening white coin on his palm. Duke Ryan disliked the feeling of getting caught unprepared, so he always had a little of everything stored on himself all the time. This would—of course—required the help of an artifact he had, a spatial ring.

The coin was his emergency fund, which he always kept to himself. The value of it was 1 white gold coin, which could last an entire family of commoners for decades. This quantity compared to the Claude family’s entire fund, however, would be insignificant. Needlessly to say, it was probably worthless in the eyes of a sage. He did not know if sage Khun would be offended by this or not but this was his the only money had on him right now.

He did not know how to actually donate the coin through a tablet, so he just put the money down beside to tablet. After pondering for a moment, he decided on the accompanying text and touch the donate button on the screen.

Voom! The coin shone brightly and then slowly disappeared inside the tablet. The traces of it were all gone as if it had never existed in the first place. Instead, lines of text appeared on the screen, floating beside sage Khun, accompanied by a sound of applause.

“I will end it here today. Thank—”

[LittleSnow’s father have supported my journey for 10,000 USD! Thank you!]

[I sincerely apologize for the little amount that I have sent to you but this is the only fund I have on myself at the moment. I hope this would be able to repay the favor you did for my daughter today even if slightly. I will try to get more fund to support you in the future. If great sage ever wants anything more, please do not hesitate to ask for my service.]

“—you all for coming—...WAIT! WHAT!!!”