Chapter 301: Chapter 301: Nothing We Don’t Have Here

"Let’s go."

Ren’s voice came through. The Goddess of Magic and Book floating behind them began wandering around the city.

Just looking at Book’s color, you could imagine just how desperately he wanted to talk nonstop right now.

But as a magical creature who’d followed the Goddess of Magic for countless years, controlled Magic Net data, and possessed intelligence, he was very sensible. He didn’t make any sound—now wasn’t the time for him to talk.

Strolling through this twisted city, strange beams of light were everywhere, giving people a very... peculiar feeling, as if they weren’t in the real world.

Even in his past life, Ren had never seen such a bizarre world.

Many buildings were so twisted they seemed like hallucinations. Some buildings looked like many special shapes piled together.

For instance, right in front of them was a shop selling magic runes. The bottom half was actually spherical, while the top half was... bucket-shaped, like an elephant balancing on a ball in a cartoon.

Except the elephant became a bucket.

What kind of design was this?

Even Ren, who’d seen all kinds of weird things, just wanted to complain right now.

He really couldn’t hold it in anymore.

"Let’s go in and take a look."

Magic runes—the Goddess of Magic’s specialty. On the entire planet, all magic runes were theoretically controlled by the Goddess of Magic. But after entering such a fantastical place, she felt a bit uncertain.

She didn’t know if she really had mastered all the magic runes.

In such a place hidden between reality and illusion, existing with a whole group of legendary magicians who shouldn’t exist in this world, they might have lots of new discoveries. Maybe some things impossible to do in reality could be done here.

There might even be weird things entering this world due to influence from the world beyond the crack, causing some runes that shouldn’t appear in this world to show up.

The Goddess of Magic thought this way. If she could really find one or two different things, that would be a pretty good harvest.

Maybe she could be inspired by them to create some amazing things.

Ren didn’t hesitate at all, directly nodding in agreement.

They were looking for anomalies anyway. A magic rune shop seemed like it could indeed be a breakthrough.

The instant they entered the shop door, their concealment was canceled, while Book remained hidden.

The moment they appeared, they looked just like ordinary customers, no different.

Walking in, what they saw wasn’t a human but a magical creature in the form of a somewhat stiff puppet.

Pretty crudely made.

But having it work as a shop clerk seemed like a decent choice.

The Goddess of Magic just glanced at this magical creature once and stopped looking. This magical creature was made using the method she’d once taught mortals—the most ancient method, nothing special about it.

Whether materials, craftsmanship, or anything else, everything was from this world.

"Two unfamiliar guests, what magic runes would you like to purchase? We have the most complete magic rune supply in the entire Tulip Kingdom."

The moment the puppet spoke, the entire shop’s area seemed to expand infinitely. It was like they’d entered a new space—neatly arranged runes lined up orderly, endless. If such a shop appeared in the outside world, it would probably instantly attract countless magicians to visit.

"Why emphasize ’unfamiliar’?"

Ren looked at this puppet with some surprise.

Normally, no shop should greet people this way.

"In three thousand years, you two are only the second new customers to enter this shop."

The puppet seemed like an emotionless machine, stating this very plainly. But these words made them both frown slightly.

Over three thousand years, no magicians from outside entering here was one thing, but shouldn’t there at least be some people born internally?

Also, didn’t they say magicians entering from outside would survive and become a checkpoint resisting external enemies as long as they could be controlled?

"Does your shop have some kind of threshold? Otherwise, how could we be the only two unfamiliar customers?"

After a brief silence, Ren asked.

"The small shop only receives legendary-level powerhouses. Lower-level magicians don’t have the ability to enter here."

The puppet said without any emotional fluctuation. "What runes do you two want? As long as you know of it, there’s nothing we don’t have here. Even if you want dragon language runes from the dragon race, we can provide them."

"Only receives legendary powerhouses? Your shop is sustained by these sparse few dozen people? They don’t seem to have much demand in this area."

Ren didn’t answer his later words but continued asking.

"High-quality customers tend to have more consumption... especially in the Tulip Kingdom." The puppet showed a hint of a smile, but this smile was very stiff. "When facing external enemies, they need these runes—lots and lots of runes."

"So it sounds like your shop plays a crucial role in resisting external enemies almost every time?" Ren became interested.

"Of course."

"Then do you know how many times external enemies have invaded in the past three thousand years? How many wars have broken out? In the Tulip Kingdom, under normal circumstances, local supernatural beings should revive the next day after dying, right?"

If it were an ordinary human, they’d probably say "countless" when faced with this question. But as a being even more outdated than Book and Betty, such a puppet wouldn’t lie, and this information must all be in its intelligence core.

Ren figured this puppet would either refuse to answer or give a detailed number.

However, the reality was somewhat different.

After a brief silence, the puppet said, "Relevant information doesn’t exist in my intelligence core. I only know how many runes they purchased, but not how many times they came. As for the number of supernatural beings, there’s indeed been no change."

"No matter how many wars break out, the people who come to the small shop to purchase magic runes are always those same people, never changing."

Memories interfered with?

Was it the power of that pendulum clock? Or the power of this puppet’s master?

"Is your master one of the legendary magicians in this city?"

Just as Ren was pondering all this, the Goddess of Magic seemed to think of something and suddenly asked.

Ren was a bit puzzled. Then he showed a look of disbelief, glancing at the Goddess of Magic, then back at this puppet.

If it really was what he was thinking, then things just got interesting!