Bang—
Closing the door, Cao Ye immediately took off his shirt and tossed it aside.
The temperature inside Tsubaki's workshop had been extremely high, so he had worked up quite a sweat. Now that he was back, he naturally wanted to take a proper bath and relax a little.
"Mmm~"
However, a voice suddenly sounded.
Cao Ye was startled at first, then froze.
Because not far away, Freya was sitting there, calmly observing him—her gaze lingering on Cao Ye's bare upper body.
"L-Lady Freya?"
Cao Ye was completely surprised.
Why was she in his room?
"You're back."
"Y-Yes… I'm back."
Facing Freya, Cao Ye replied somewhat awkwardly.
For some reason, whenever he stood in front of her, he always felt as if he was at a disadvantage.
"The ring you gave Haruhime today… that was a magic item, wasn't it?"
"Yes. It's a spatial ring. Inside is a tiny imaginary space—Haruhime's ring has a capacity of 10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm."
"A spatial ring? Imaginary space… so it's related to your skill."
"Yes."
Freya was still somewhat puzzled by Cao Ye's skill—especially [Imaginary Space].
Imaginary Space
The inner side of the world
Unobservable
Incomprehensible
Untouchable
The description was simply too strange.
Even Freya couldn't fully understand it. She had always assumed it was just some kind of special dimensional space, since Cao Ye could connect to it using Imaginary Magecraft.
What she hadn't expected was that his skill could actually create space-type magical items.
"You're quite impressive. To research something like this… the 20 million valis you borrowed from me before—was that used for this research?"
"Uh… yes."
Cao Ye answered with a guilty conscience.
The money hadn't originally been meant for spatial rings—it had been intended for creating cursed puppets.
But because he still hadn't fully mastered the formulas for puppet manipulation, the project had been temporarily shelved.
Only after obtaining Item Creation and the Mystery development ability did he start researching spatial rings.
Still, since Freya had misunderstood things this way, Cao Ye didn't bother correcting her.
After all, the original 20 million hadn't produced any results yet.
"What's the production efficiency of this spatial ring?"
"This morning I successfully made three rings. Haruhime's ring was the first prototype yesterday."
"This afternoon I also visited Tsubaki of the Hephaestus Familia to ask her to help sell them."
"Tsubaki? The 'One-Eyed Master', captain of the Hephaestus Familia?"
"That's her. According to her estimate, each ring could sell for around 5 million valis."
"And the production cost?"
"Less than 10,000 valis."
Cao Ye didn't hide anything.
He told Freya everything honestly.
Freya wasn't overly shocked by the answer—just slightly impressed.
After all, a Level 2 adventurer discovering such a profitable method was quite remarkable.
"You're bold. Going straight to another Familia for cooperation without consulting your own goddess."
"I didn't want to disturb you, Lady Freya."
"And I still owe 20 million valis, so I had to think of ways to repay it."
"Hmph. That sounds nicer than it really is."
Freya rolled her eyes slightly but didn't pursue the matter.
After all—
Those who are favored tend to act without fear.
Cao Ye was basically in that situation.
In the entire city of Orario, many people might catch Freya's interest.
But someone she personally dragged back and kept under her protection in public?
Cao Ye might be the only one.
With the way she had always indulged him, Cao Ye naturally had some understanding of his special position.
"Is the capacity of your spatial ring limited to this size?"
Freya finally asked the question that mattered most.
If the capacity remained 10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm, the value would be quite limited.
"Of course not. That's just the limit of what I can produce right now."
"What do you need?"
"Gemstones."
"If possible, magic stones would be even better."
"You're quite bold asking for that."
Freya raised an eyebrow.
"Do you know how expensive a magic stone is?"
"I know. That's why I haven't used them."
At this moment, Cao Ye was basically pitching to an investor.
Freya clearly had interest in the spatial rings.
So naturally, he would try to take advantage of the opportunity.
After all, he knew that from the Istar Familia incident, Freya had received not only Haruhime, but also two billion valis.
Meanwhile, he—the one who planned everything—had received nothing.
Not even one valis.
Thinking about it still made him feel annoyed.
Seeing Cao Ye's expression, Freya couldn't help but smile.
She could clearly tell he was subtly complaining about being poor—perhaps even hinting for funding.
"In the Familia warehouse, we still have four high-quality magic stones."
"I'll have Ottar deliver them to you later."
"And your cooperation with the Hephaestus Familia can proceed under the Freya Familia's name."
"Lady Freya… what's the price?"
"When your technique matures, I want two of your greatest creations."
"Lady Freya, you really know how to negotiate."
Two of his greatest creations.
That phrase was incredibly open-ended.
Who knew how powerful his future works might become?
"And in addition…"
Freya continued.
"The Familia will provide 200 million valis as support."
"Two hundred million?!"
Cao Ye was shocked.
Freya truly lived up to her reputation—casually offering hundreds of millions.
But then again, compared to the two billion she had just gained, two hundred million was only a tenth.
"This is only the first investment."
Freya smiled faintly.
"If you can prove that your achievements won't stop here… there will be more."
For Freya, money was never the problem.
Anything that could be solved with money was hardly worth worrying about.
"Alright."
Cao Ye nodded decisively.
"I accept."
"It's just two of my greatest creations. That's fine."
"Good."
Freya added another condition.
"From now on, your creations must prioritize supply to the Familia first."
"Of course, we will pay for them."
"That's acceptable."
Cao Ye had no objections.
After all, in Orario, the people closest to him were naturally the Freya Familia.
Freya smiled with satisfaction.
Although this had started as a spur-of-the-moment idea, Cao Ye had surprised her many times before.
And this time—
She believed he wouldn't disappoint her either.
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