"It's much bigger than it looks outside" That was Mane's first thought when he got past the curtain. The room behind the curtain was at least two times bigger than the reception area outside. And that was a bit strange considering that the shop looked smaller from the outside.
"This place reeks of Space Laws," Hildegarde who was seated on Mane's shoulder stated. She sniffled cutely as if she could actually smell the laws of space.
Mane could only nod his head in response to her words. Since there were others here, he couldn't respond to her statement. Besides, there was very little he could say in response to her words. He was a Time Law practitioner, but was unfamiliar with Space Laws, despite the fact that his ring had the ability to teleport him to other realms. But that was the closest he could say he was to the Space Laws. So although he could feel a strange force flooding the area, he wasn't able to feel the Space Laws like Hildegarde could since he was unfamiliar with them.
Hildegarde on the other hand was a fairy of the Dreamworld Universe. Although she wasn't a frequent visitor of the True Universe, she shuttled between the realms of the Dreamworld with testeds to help them complete their quests. And it was also because of Space Laws that she could be present in a world, yet no one other than the tested would be able to perceive her. Although it was an ability bestowed by the Dreamworld Universe's system, Hildegarde herself was a fairy, and fairies were talented leaners. As someone who had spent several years being teleported between realms, she had developed the ability to use some Space Laws herself. And as a result of her talent, she had gone pretty far in studying Space Laws. As such, she was able to tell that this place had been touched by a similar power once she stepped into the place.
"And by the looks of it, he has comprehended it quite deeply. His Space Laws must be at the advanced level at least to manipulate space on such a grand scale." Hildegarde was quick to add.
Her words were like a reminder to Mane that he shouldn't let his guard down. Space Laws weren't stronger than Time Laws, but Mane had barely breached the surface of Time Laws, and even now he couldn't easily use Self-Time Acceleration. However, from Hildegarde's words, Ivor was someone who had reached the advanced stages of the Space Law, which was strange considering that the people of this village knew next to nothing about Edict, let alone start comprehending laws. Even Dan who was chock-full of Edict had no idea how it worked, and what it was. In fact the man had clearly comprehended the Law of Wind but had no idea that he had. He was unlike Ivor here who was a guru in Space Law. Which could only mean that…
"He isn't from this village," Mane quickly realised. It wasn't strange, given that Ivor was an information broker, and definitely had to move around to get the information he wanted to peddle. But from the fact that the twins were so close to him, Mane thought that he was a fellow villager. However, he obviously wasn't. Mane was curious about the man's origin, yet cautious of him at the same time. After all, this was a mysterious Space User who didn't belong to the village and was clearly very powerful.
Mane could tell how powerful he was from the brief handshake they shared. His senses that had been stretched out to the maximum picked out powerful strums of Edict from the soul of the big man when they shook hands. The man's Edict was so powerful that Mane could feel his soul tremble when the man held his hand, and if it wasn't for the fact that he couldn't easily use True Eyes due to the huge toll it took on him, he would have activated it. But Mane was certain of one thing:
This man was stronger than Dan! And by a sizable margin!
"How long have you known the twins?" Mane asked as Ivor led them to a large table in the middle of the room. The large man smiled briefly and spoke with pride,
"I have known the little prince and princess since they were children"
"Why do you keep calling us that?" Lam smiled bitterly and complained. But Lily didn't particularly mind the title. She actually looked pleased to be called by that title.
"Because that is what you are. Your souls are so noble that only those titles are fitting for you." Ivor lifted his hands and waved them around with a passionate expression. Seeing him like this, Lam could only smile bitterly at the man whilst Lily's eyebrows twitched discretely.
"What a people pleaser!" Hildegarde snorted in displeasure hearing the man's praises, but it didn't seem like she thought ill of the man.
"Then you have known them a very long time," Mane smiled and said.
"I have," Ivor the Tattler assented.
"So what were they like as kids," Mane asked, curious to know more about his new friends.
"Well, they were a mischievo…mmph" Ivor had only began to speak when Lily stuffed a giant orange into his mouth, with a slightly annoyed expression.
"Didn't you come for something else?" She turned to face her twin brother and asked with a smile.
"Ah yes we did," Lam stuttered as sweat poured down his face. Although his sister was smiling, he didn't feel any warmth from her smile. For the first time in his life he felt that his shy and adorable sister who always hid behind him was gone. In her place was a hungry wolf who was ready to tear him down if he didn't say the right words.
Mane looked puzzled by the strange chain of events. He only wanted to know what they were like as children. Wasn't that reaction a bit too exaggerated for such information? How was he supposed to know that it was wrong to ask about a girl's mischievous years if she was interested in him?
"Silly me. That information is worth several gold coins and isn't that easy to procure," Ivor who was quick to recover himself announced. Upon saying his piece, he turned to Lily and gave her a cheeky wink.
Mane almost rolled his eyes when he heard the man's words. He was truly an information peddler. Even this was something he wanted to use to cheat some coins out of him.
"Never mind then," Mane waved his hand and put the matter to a close whilst thinking that he would ask the twins when they left. Unfortunately for him, there was no way he was going to get an answer.
"Can we see the information on the remaining competitors of the Grand Tourney?" Lam asked impatiently once he confirmed that Mane wasn't going to ask any more questions.
Ivor smiled at the boy's words and extended his fat palm with a large grin on his face. "3 coppers," he said jovially. "It's meant to be four but because of our dear relationship I am only taking 3," he quickly added with a saddened expression. Unfortunately, he picked the wrong opponents today.
"You say we are close yet only deduct a single copper coin?" Lam sighed in disappointment with a face that was filled with pain. His expression greatly surprised Mane.
"Indeed. We thought we were so close that we were like family, but apparently that was only our wishful thinking," Lily said with tears in her eyes, stunning Mane who was seated next to them.
"Fine. 2 copper coins, but not a copper less," Ivor gritted his teeth and conceded.
"Deal!" Lam smirked playfully and fetched out two copper coins from his pocket. He handed them over to Ivor quickly before the man could say anything more. Lily also had a broad smile on her face, and the tears that threatened to spill over were no longer there. She didn't look forlorn in any way.
"Who knew that the young twins had such black hearts underneath their naïve exteriors?" Hildegarde exclaimed from Mane's above shoulder, and the young Supreme was inclined to agree.
"I must never mess with these two," he vowed to himself.
"Here's the information you seek. But I'd tell you this beforehand, this year's competition is much better than it was in the past. You are in for a treat." Ivor had a mysterious smile on his face as he handed over a small stone to Lam and tossed the coins into a pouch around his waist. Mane had almost missed it because his (Ivor's) belly fat covered the little thing.
Lam showed the stone to Mane and said, "This is a Record Stone. It is used to keep images of events for later viewing. It is very costly."
Mane looked at him as if to say, "If it is so costly, how come it is only 2 coppers?" Lam seeing his friend's expression hurriedly explained that he would hand it back to Ivor once he was done viewing it. Then he displayed its contents for all to see.