They walked toward the center of the metal city.
The massive, glowing blue tower dominated the skyline of Iron-Spire. As they got closer, the noise of the industrial hammers faded. The thick, grey smoke of the foundries was pushed away by an invisible barrier.
Jin stopped at the base of the tower.
It was not made of stone or metal. It was grown from a single, colossal piece of pure Aether crystal. The surface was smooth and translucent. Deep inside the blue crystal, massive pulses of white energy moved slowly upward, like blood pumping through a giant vein.
The air around the tower was incredibly heavy. Jin felt a deep, vibrating hum in his teeth. His Foundation Level 4 bones ached slightly under the raw atmospheric pressure.
"The spatial array," Nyx stated in his mind. "It is highly active. There are powerful warding formations protecting the entrance. Keep your weapon sheathed."
Jin nodded. He did not plan on fighting. He planned on buying a ticket.
They walked through the massive, arched entrance.
The interior of the tower was a massive, circular hall. It looked completely different from the dirty, crowded markets outside. The floor was polished white marble. The walls glowed with a soft, clean light.
There were no beggars here. There were no cheap scavengers. The people standing in the hall wore fine silk robes and pristine, polished armor. They were wealthy merchants, high-ranking guild officers, and elite mercenaries. Teleportation was not for the working class. It was a luxury service for the elite.
Jin walked confidently across the marble floor.
He was a logistics manager. He understood transit hubs. Whether it was an airport on Earth or a magical crystal tower in a hostile alien universe, the basic structure was always the same. You find the counter, you state your destination, you pay the fee, and you board the transport.
He approached a long, curved desk made of polished black wood.
A woman stood behind the desk. She wore a crisp, tailored uniform of dark blue silk with silver thread. She had sharp, aristocratic features. Her eyes were a glowing, pale silver. She was a Core Formation expert, employed simply to handle customer transactions.
Jin stepped up to the smooth wooden counter. Luna and Nyx stood silently behind him.
The receptionist looked at Jin's rough, dusty brown cloak. She looked at his cheap leather boots. Her silver eyes narrowed slightly in judgment, but her posture remained professional.
"Welcome to the Iron-Spire Spatial Array," the woman said. Her voice was smooth and practiced. "State your cargo volume and your destination."
"No cargo," Jin stated plainly. "Just three passengers. We need to teleport to Zenith City."
The woman stopped moving.
She blinked her glowing silver eyes. She stared at Jin. Her professional demeanor cracked instantly. She looked at him as if he had just asked her to sprout wings and fly to the moon. She looked at him like he was a complete idiot.
The silence stretched for three uncomfortable seconds.
"Zenith City?" the receptionist repeated slowly. She spoke as if she were talking to a very slow, very confused child. "You want to open a direct spatial tear from the southern outer rim all the way to the central continent?"
Jin frowned behind his brown hood. He realized he had made a mistake. His inherited memories from the Trash Prince were mostly about palace politics and surviving beatings. The old Jin had never traveled outside the capital. He did not know how the public transit infrastructure actually worked.
"Yes," Jin said. He kept his voice flat, trying to hide his lack of data. "Is the gate closed?"
The receptionist let out a harsh, mocking laugh.
"The gate is not closed, scavenger," she said, her tone dripping with absolute condescension. "The laws of physical reality are closed. A spatial tear is incredibly heavy. The Aether required to fold space grows exponentially with distance. The absolute maximum range for a commercial Aether gate is one thousand kilometers. If we tried to open a direct tunnel to Zenith City, the spatial pressure would instantly crush your bodies into red paste."
Jin froze.
His corporate brain rapidly processed the information. It was a range limit. It was exactly like a cargo plane that needed to stop and refuel. You could not fly across the globe in one jump. You needed a hub-and-spoke transit network. You needed connecting flights.
He felt a sudden, sharp burn of embarrassment in his chest.
He was a master of logistics. He prided himself on preparation. He had just walked up to the counter and demanded an impossible route because he failed to research the basic operational limits of the local technology. It was a massive failure in his due diligence. He looked like a clueless country bumpkin in front of his own employees.
Jin did not blush. He forced his face to remain completely blank. He swallowed his pride instantly. Pride was useless. Correcting the error was all that mattered.
"I understand," Jin said smoothly. He did not apologize. He pivoted to the solution. "What is the correct routing sequence to reach the capital?"
The receptionist sighed loudly. She tapped a long, silver fingernail against a glowing crystal ledger on her desk.
"You must take the relay network," she explained, rolling her silver eyes. "First, you will teleport from here to Crimson-Rock City. From there, you must purchase a second transfer to Silver-Gate City. Only from Silver-Gate can you access a spatial tunnel stable enough to reach Zenith City."
Iron-Spire to Crimson-Rock. Crimson-Rock to Silver-Gate. Silver-Gate to Zenith.
Three separate jumps. Three separate tolls. It was a highly inefficient supply chain, but it was the only option available.
"Calculate the total routing fee," Jin commanded. He dropped the ignorant traveler persona and adopted his cold, executive tone. "I will pay for all three transfers for three passengers right now. I do not want to negotiate at the connecting hubs."
The receptionist paused. Her mocking smile faded. She recognized the sudden shift in his authority. He did not sound like a scavenger anymore.
She tapped the crystal ledger again.
"To secure a continuous, three-jump routing pass for three individuals," she said, her voice turning professional again, "the cost is astronomical. It will require three high-tier Aether cores. Pure density only. We do not accept bulk low-tier stones for relay transfers."
Luna gasped quietly behind him. Three high-tier cores was an insane amount of wealth. It could buy a small mansion in Cloud City.
Jin did not flinch.
He reached under his heavy brown cloak. He untied the small grey spatial pouch from his belt. He pushed a thread of Aether into the bag. He bypassed the hundreds of mid-tier crystals they had acquired from the merchants earlier today. He went straight for the absolute best loot they stole from the dead bandit boss's private stash.
Jin pulled his hand out of the pouch.
He placed three massive, perfectly smooth Aether cores onto the polished black wood of the counter.
They were high-tier. They glowed with a blinding, deep violet light. The pure energy radiating from the stones was so dense it made the air above the counter ripple. They were flawless.
The receptionist stared at the violet stones. Her jaw literally dropped.
She looked up at Jin's hooded face. The disrespect and mockery in her silver eyes completely vanished. It was instantly replaced by shock and deep, sudden fear. A man dressed in cheap rags casually dropping three high-tier cores on a desk was not a beggar. He was someone incredibly dangerous who was hiding his true identity.
"Is the payment sufficient?" Jin asked coldly.
"Yes," the receptionist stammered. Her hands shook slightly as she quickly swept the three glowing cores off the counter and into a secure lockbox. "Yes, My Lord. It is exactly exact."
She reached under the desk. She pulled out three thick, rectangular tokens made of glowing blue crystal. She slid them across the polished wood to Jin.
"These are your relay passes," she said quickly, bowing her head. "They are keyed for priority transit. You will not have to wait in the civilian queues at Crimson-Rock or Silver-Gate. Please proceed to Platform Four. The gate technician will initiate your first jump immediately."
"Thank you," Jin said flatly.
He picked up the three blue tokens. He handed one to Nyx and one to Luna. He turned his back on the trembling receptionist.
He walked away from the counter. The embarrassment from his earlier mistake was completely erased by the transaction. He had paid a massive premium, but he had purchased time and priority access.
"Platform Four," Jin ordered.
Nyx and Luna followed him closely. They walked past the crowds of wealthy merchants. The merchants stared at the glowing blue priority tokens in Jin's hand with open envy.
Jin ignored them. He walked toward a massive, circular platform at the back of the hall. The platform was surrounded by towering pillars of humming white light. The air above the stone circle was violently distorting, tearing open a hole in the fabric of the universe.
The first leg of their long journey was ready. The sanctuary of the Academy was waiting at the end of the line. Jin stepped up onto the glowing platform, ready to leave the outer territories behind.