Full-Time Magister: I Had No Intention of Reaching the Dimensional Throne

"Master Li."

Upon hearing this, Bai Mo greeted him with a sudden realization, recalling that there seemed to be such a person there.

He casually found a place to sit down and asked, "I wonder what Patriarch Li wants with me?"

"Hehe, Bai Mo, the doubling magic artifact you contributed a while ago was very useful. It greatly improved the combat capabilities of mages below the super-rank level. It's in high demand all over the country..."

The head of the Li family stroked his beard and continued:

"This was originally a good thing, but unfortunately our ancient capital wanted to produce this magical artifact, but couldn't find a way to do so, so that this magical artifact could only be bought at a high price at auction."

"Huh?" Bai Mo was taken aback. The materials and steps for making magical artifacts were available on the official website of the Starfire Trial Network, and everyone had the opportunity to learn and use them.

How could it be impossible to make? The ingredients aren't scarce; it's just that two of them need to be found by the sea. So how can there be a supply shortage?!

"Patriarch Li, as far as I know, producing this isn't difficult. Why can't you find a way in? Elder Han mentioned this to me a few days ago. Aren't the various families in the Central Plains discussing doubling the amount of raw materials for the vessels with the coastal families?"

Upon hearing this, the head of the Li family sighed, his face showing a mixture of confusion and resentment.

"That's the reason! We've been discussing the sunken silver in that doubled vessel and another marine material with the coastal families, mainly the Bai family."

The problem is, we've been negotiating this for almost a month now, and there's still no progress. We thought it was because the price wasn't enough, so we raised it, but it still didn't work. I don't really understand this!

At this point, the Li family head sighed again and said:

"This isn't just one or two companies; almost all the coastal powers that control those two materials have similar attitudes. At first, things were alright, but the further things went, the less room there was for negotiation!"

"Therefore, I heard that you've been in the ancient capital these past few days, so I wanted to use my connections to ask how we can produce this doubling magic artifact?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Mo's expression also turned sour. He immediately suspected that someone was hindering the widespread adoption of the doubling magic device technology and preventing this product from penetrating the market.

Then he wondered, who was it?!

Who has such power and such audacity?

It's unlikely to be a powerful family. It's easy to say if it's just one or two families, or one or two places, that they might have lost their minds. But if everyone does this, then there's something fishy going on.

Then he became suspicious of Gu Changying, who was the Minister of Coast Guard and had that authority. If the Gu family was eyeing this opportunity, they had a motive.

But then he realized it didn't seem so. Both Gu Changying and the Gu family were on Speaker Shao Zheng's side.

Their core members are still serving as secretaries to the Grand Speaker; the likelihood of them being driven by greed is extremely small.

But if it's not them, then who could it be?

Despite the doubts in his heart, Bai Mo's expression remained unchanged; he simply addressed the Li family head with a serious expression:

"Grandpa Li, don't worry, I will get to the bottom of this. There shouldn't be any oversights in something that benefits the country, the family, and the people. There might be some misunderstanding."

"Haha, you're right, young friend. With your words, this old man can finally rest easy."

The head of the Li family laughed loudly, his two white beards twitching. "I believe that with the help of these magical artifacts, our ancient capital will be safer and will be able to develop better."

Bai Mo remained silent upon hearing this, only offering a slight smile. Han Ji, however, echoed his sentiments, clearly agreeing with him.

The head of the Li family chuckled twice and immediately stood up.

"What business do you have with Old Man Han? I won't linger any longer. I await your good news, young friend."

After saying that, he left. Once the door closed, Bai Mo looked at Han Ji and asked directly:

"Old Han, you said last time that you would introduce me to a senior from the Bureau of Ancient Cultural Relics to ask me about some matters concerning the Star Tokens."

"Ah, yes, I'll take you to see him now. He should be at home."

Han Ji immediately remembered, and without further ado, he hurriedly led Bai Mo outside, saying as they went:

"If you go now, you can still make it in time for dinner. Don't feel embarrassed; that old man, I told him about how you found the totem beast using the token, and he was incredibly excited, insisting on meeting you!"

Bai Mo naturally had no objections. The old man's house was not close to the clock tower. Han Ji pointed out the direction, and the two of them teleported there instantly.

To be precise, it's not that it's not close, it's very far; this is already in the suburbs.

A small courtyard appeared before him, and Han Ji pushed the door open and entered without knocking.

"Hey, Lao Xu, look what kind of people I brought you!!"

Bai Mo followed Han Ji in and saw an elderly man with gray hair and a strong scholarly air sitting under a jujube tree in the courtyard.

The old man had a delicate face and bright eyes, clearly well-maintained. Several servants of average age were attending to him.

"Old Han, what brings you here?"

He noticed that Han Ji wasn't the only one who came, so he looked up and looked over.

"Oh, what a handsome young man! What brings you here?"

"He's the one you've been chanting these past two days, like reciting scriptures. How come you don't recognize the real Buddha when he comes?"

Han Ji didn't care about his form of address. He walked over and sat down opposite him with practiced ease. He glanced at the table and saw a tablet on it, displaying an online chess match.

"Old Xu, you're going to lose!"

Hearing this, Old Xu ignored him, his eyes widening with excitement as he looked at Bai Mo. He then turned off the tablet and said:

"No wonder the wind felt so nice tonight. It turns out it's young friend Bai. Tell me about the totem."

"This old man has no other hobbies in his life except studying ancient artifacts and historical events."

"Tch~, you don't have any other hobbies? You just can't bring yourself to like them, right? Everyone knows Xu Sanlang from Cuiyufang back in the day." Han Ji bluntly exposed him, completely lacking his usual composed and mature demeanor.

"Go! Go! Go!"

Old Xu waved his hand as if shooing away flies, took a few steps forward, grabbed Bai Mo's hand, and asked urgently:

"That token, is it really related to the constellations? How did you discover it! How did you find that totem?"

Bai Mo was a bit confused, but there was nothing he could do. He still needed to learn something from others.

"Speaking of which, this..."

He had barely uttered a few words when the old man in front of him raised his hand, interrupting him though he still seemed very anxious.

"Don't panic. I'll have the kitchen prepare a few side dishes and a couple of bottles of wine. We can eat and chat!"

Finally, he glanced at Bai Mo again, seemingly feeling it wasn't right to let himself enjoy it alone, and added once more.

"Young man, do you like watching girls dance? My son is already married, but he still spends all his time looking at other girls on his phone. There happens to be a dance troupe around here, full of pretty young girls. I'll go and have someone invite them over."

You're so skilled, sir!

Bai Mo's expression froze slightly, his face completely blank. He felt deceived by the aura emanating from him.

Seeing the smug smile on Old Master Xu's face, he seemed to understand what Han Ji had just said about what this man's hobby was in his youth.

As the moon rose high in the sky, after several rounds of drinks and dishes, Bai Mo had finished explaining the story of the totem.

The dancing girls, receiving the payment they usually earned from a night of singing and dancing, left satisfied.

Bai Mo then took the opportunity to ask about the totem token.

"Old Master Xu, to be honest, the reason I came here today is because I heard you know something about these tokens. I wanted to ask if you have any information about any other tokens besides the Di token?"

"Yes! It must be there, it definitely is!"

Old Master Xu hadn't experienced the atmosphere of singing and dancing, with storytelling in front of him, in a long time, and he was a bit tipsy this time. Hearing this, he repeatedly affirmed before continuing:

"I haven't seen anything like this again, but I have seen something similar in Guangzhou!"

"Where is the Demon Capital?"

"That was a few years ago. A young guy asked me to appraise an item. It was a token that looked like a feather, with a star on the back. I felt it was similar to this token from the ancient capital in some ways, so I took a closer look."

After Old Xu finished speaking slowly, Bai Mo felt both happy and worried, and couldn't help but ask:

"I don't know who has that token, but I'm willing to pay a high price for it. In fact, I'm currently on the Grand Speaker's orders to find the totem beast, and obtaining this token would greatly speed up the process."

"Let me think, let me think," Old Xu said, squinting his eyes as he slowly recalled.

"That person was probably a mage from the Demon Capital Magic Association named Zhou Yuanshan. I don't know if he's still around, but he should be from the Zhou family in Demon Capital. Xiao Mo, go and find out more."

As Old Xu spoke, seemingly worried that Bai Mo might not be able to find him or might lose confidence, he even joked:

"I think you're destined to find the totem!"

"Old Xu is right. If all else fails, I'll put up a bounty for you," Han Ji said. "You pay the bounty."

Bai Mo was amused by the two of them, but learning about the Star Sun Horse Token was indeed a delightful thing.

Compared to the Zhenling, which has a specific token but still takes some time to sort out, the Xingling, which has a more precise location according to Nan Jue, is obviously easier to find.

The next day, the three left the ancient capital and boarded a flight to the demon capital.

"I investigated and found that Zhou Yuanshan is a member of the Yaodu Magic Association, or a former member of the Yaodu Magic Association."

On the plane, Lingling was busy with her own things on her laptop while saying:

"There are four people named Zhou Yuanshan. Three of them died in the line of duty for various reasons in the past twenty years. The last one is still working at the Yaodu Magic Association and holds a high position."

As Lingling spoke, she handed Zhou Yuanshan's information to Bai Mo.

Bai Mo played with Ding Yumin's palm with one hand, took it with the other, and glanced down at it.

Zhou Yuanshan, male, 35 years old.

Chairman of the Family Council of the Demon Capital Magic Association, a super-level mage, specializing in water, ice, lightning, and shadow magic.

Unmarried, enjoys gambling, and is not interested in women.

Bai Mo glanced at it twice and got a general idea of ​​the situation.

However, upon seeing that this person named Zhou Yuanshan did not possess the fire element, he couldn't help but feel a little worried.

"Lingling, is the token on Zhou Yuanshan still there?"

"He's most likely gone."

"Huh?!" Bai Mo was taken aback and turned to look at Lingling, only to see her browsing an auction list on the computer.

"Yesterday, a large auction was held in the city of Yao. One of the items up for auction was a token, which was sold for 150 million yuan."

I just found out about this myself. This large auction only shows the items to the participants, and the list of items is only made public after the auction. The computer system just detected this information.

Lingling also frowned, feeling quite unhappy about unexpectedly falling behind.

Although it was entirely due to luck.

Bai Mo was initially flustered, but he quickly calmed down. He wasn't a reasonable person; since it had been sold, he could just find someone to buy it back.

"Since Zhou Yuanshan has already sold the token, we don't need to look for him anymore. We can investigate the list of people who attended the auction that day, as well as the venue surveillance footage, to see who bought the item."

"Yes, I need some time. This auction is jointly organized by two major domestic conglomerates, the Lin and Zhao families, and the level of confidentiality is very high. There is no video recording inside the venue."

Finding out who attended the meeting isn't too difficult, but figuring out who took the items is a bit more complicated.

Lingling clicked rapidly on the computer, even using Old Man Bao's account to check some records. She also accessed Bai Mo's account to retrieve the surveillance footage from the Demon Capital Magic Association's mage tower that day.

Then, her expression became somewhat strange.

Shanghai, Qingtian Hunting Grounds.

"Senior Sister, look what this is?! Hehe~."

A handsome man walked into the hunting lodge, went straight to the bar, sat down, and placed something on the table.

Leng Qing returned to the hunting lodge after hearing that Mo Fan had something to do. Upon hearing this, she casually poured him a glass of iced cola and then looked down at him.

A reddish-gold token, two fingers wide and resembling a feather, was placed on the table.

On the surface of the token, an ancient oracle bone script character for "star" was engraved in bold, powerful strokes. A look of surprise flashed in Leng Qing's eyes; she recognized it too.

"Star Token, where did you get this?"

"That's a long story. I bought it at an auction."

Leng Qing thought there would be some dramatic story, but it turned out to be so simple. She was speechless. What was so complicated about this?

Mo Fan had already displayed his map of the Yan Kingdom, revealing his true intentions:

"This thing is really expensive, it cost me 500 million. Senior Sister Leng Qing, you have to reimburse me. All my hard work these past few days has gone into it."

Mo Fan actually had another goal, and he also knew that Bai Mo was looking for these star totems.

Therefore, I don't want to find out about this token myself. If I really need it, I can just shamelessly participate myself.

In short, he just wanted to pull off a resale scheme; after all, the organization had plenty of money.

The search for totems is ultimately for the sake of Kyushu and coastal defense.

Some minor wear and tear and expenses are unavoidable.

"Oh, really?"

Leng Qing didn't open her mouth, but her voice suddenly appeared. Mo Fan was looking down and playing with the token, so he didn't see this strange scene.

He looked up confidently and gazed at Leng Qing with sincere eyes.

"Yes, Senior Sister, Zhao Manyan can vouch for me, I went to buy it with him! If the organization doesn't reimburse, why don't you ask Senior Brother Mo to pay for it in advance? I'm almost out of food!"

"How come I heard it was 150 million? Also, who is your senior brother? I don't have a baby as big as you."

A clear, gentle male voice suddenly appeared beside Mo Fan, followed by Lingling's voice.

"What a coincidence, haha!"

Mo Fan's body stiffened. At that moment, he felt as if many black lines were drawn around him, and an ugly crow flew overhead, leaving six dots.

"Hehehe. What a coincidence, huh? I was just joking. How come you guys suddenly came back? Anyway, I don't know who your baby is, but if you want, I could."

He said with a smirk, then added with a wink.

Bai Mo rubbed his forehead. "No need, but you were a huge help in bidding for the Star Sun Horse token. Have Lingling transfer the money for the token to your account."

After Lingling discovered that two familiar faces were also attending the auction, she used her phone's location tracking to find Mo Fan's location and immediately brought the two back with her.

And so we witnessed this touching scene.

Although Mo Fan's behavior was baffling, it was fortunate that he was the one who obtained the Star Token.

Therefore, Bai Mo thought that simply returning his principal was not enough.

He pondered, released his aura, and probed Mo Fan's realm, and couldn't help but be slightly surprised.

This guy's revealed lightning-type realm is already at the advanced level two, which is much faster than when he was in the original story.

It seems he has indeed made some gains during this period.

"Don't hold back. I was thinking of giving you some reward. If you keep it to yourself, I'll just have to give you a sparring match as a reward."

Mo Fan shrugged. Since there were no outsiders present, he simply gave a report on his cultivation level, which could also be considered an update on his information in the hunting camp.

It's definitely not because I don't want to get beaten up.

"Thunder and Fire are already at the advanced level 2, while the other elements are still at the advanced level 1. Little Flame Princess has entered her advancement stage, that's all."

Upon hearing this, Bai Mo nodded slightly, recalling Yue'ehuang, who was about to be reincarnated.

In the original story, before Yue'ehuang was reincarnated, she gave Mo Fan some totem source power. A portion of it was absorbed by the little mudfish, while the other portion helped him advance to the second level of the high-level lightning element.

It's clear that this amount of energy is insufficient, and keeping it for oneself now wouldn't be of much use.

It can only help a high-level mage advance to high-level level two, and it probably won't even fill up his current high-level level three Chaos mage experience bar.

"Go to Xiaoshan to find me later. I'll take you to see a totem. It's about to be reincarnated, and before it dies, it might be able to leave you something."

"Really?! I had this stuff hidden away! I knew five hundred million was a bit too little," Mo Fan exclaimed excitedly. "But what kind of place is Xiaoshan?"

Bai Mo shook his head, somewhat too lazy to explain.

"I have some things to do. I'll have Lingling take you there. Yumin, what are you planning to do?"

"I want to go back to school to see Bai Ze, and then I'll go to your manor later."

Ding Yumin spoke with a smile, glancing at Lingling, but Yu Shishi didn't know Lingling. So she continued:

"But let's go with Lingling now."

"Thank you so much, sister-in-law!" Mo Fan said loudly.

Ding Yumin didn't speak, only chuckled softly. Leng Qing glanced at him quietly.

Mo Fan felt a chill on his scalp for no apparent reason. He wondered if the hairdresser hadn't cut his hair properly.

The group immediately parted ways at the Azure Sky Hunting Grounds. Before leaving, Bai Mo handed the Star Token to Lingling and told her about Nan Jue.

From now on, I'll leave this matter to the little girl.

He, on the other hand, headed to Dingshan Baizhen, intending to return to the Bai family and ask the Bai family head about the situation.

He hadn't forgotten what the Li family head had told him; he needed to find out why this doubling magic artifact couldn't be transmitted to the inland areas.

Does anyone actually think they're too strong?

Having only been in Baizhen for a few years, it has already become quite prosperous. The entire town stretches along the mountainside towards the foot of the mountain, but the most prosperous area is not on the mountain itself, but rather the area near Dinghu Lake.

Seeing this, Bai Mo's lips twitched. It's fine to like places with beautiful mountains and rivers, but when the water rises, that place will be flooded.

However, these are not things to consider now. By the time that time comes, Lujiazui will be submerged.

What does this place even amount to?

Arriving at a Bai family-owned magic item store, Bai Mo went straight inside, intending to visit incognito and check out the market for doubling magic items.

It's worth noting that the Bai family also possesses numerous marine mines containing materials for crafting multiplier magic items.

As soon as I walked in, I was recognized.

There's no need for a private visit now.

"Young master, is there anything I can help you with?" the shopkeeper asked solicitously.

"Give me one of the doubling magic items."

The store manager was taken aback and looked at Bai Mo with some confusion.

"Young Master, the magical artifact family you mentioned has been producing them, but demand exceeds supply. Currently, they are not available through retail channels..."

Bai Mo didn't press him further, but simply asked, "How much does a multiplier magic item cost on the market?"

"Our initial suggested retail price was 100,000," the store manager said, glancing at Bai Mo's expression as he continued.

"However, retail channels were only available for a short period at the beginning, and they were all removed later. Occasionally, one would be sold at an auction house, and the price was about the same as a slave-level spirit."

Upon hearing this, Bai Mo frowned. "If there's nothing left to sell at retail, where did it all go?"

"I heard it's the Magic Association, and the military too. That's all I know."

The store manager could tell that Bai Mo seemed to be investigating something, but since it was none of his business, he breathed a sigh of relief and answered easily.

Upon hearing this, Bai Mo's heart was not so bright.

Providing supplies to the Magic Association and military mages as soon as possible is understandable, but that's all they can offer.

This only indicates a problem with production capacity.

However, we would need to ask the Bai family head to find out the answers to these questions.

It was as if silver snakes were swimming around him; a flash of light, and they disappeared immediately.

The Bai family's residence is located halfway up Dingshan Mountain, and there's not much scenery there. However, it's impossible to teleport inside instantly.

Upon finding the Bai family head, he immediately inquired about the shortage of doubled magic artifacts.

"The reason isn't anything else, but rather the unrest at the mine," Bai Yuanzhi sighed softly.

(End of this chapter)