Fortunately, there was a clear menu and only certain dishes would damage Leon's purse.  Jin Li liked food and had little care of money, but on seeing the 'Swan swims over a fish filled lake' seemed actually just to be a pot roasted chicken sitting in soup made of fish and shrimp, he lost interest in the elaborately named dishes.  And so Leon gained the freedom to chose a few dishes to share between them without worrying about the silver he'd have to pay out later.  He did make sure that three of the five dishes were meat and the soup also was meat based.

As they were waiting for their dishes, Leon attempted to sate his curiosity; he couldn't help thinking about that ring.  "What is a intersp-s.p.a.cial ring?  Is it l-like a b-bag?"

"Yes and no," Jin Li replied.  His sharp vision had caught side of the small silver ring with scroll like detailing, but the distance had been too great to be able to judge the quality of it.  Considering that it had not originally been on display and had actually been brought out on request, he a.s.sumed that it couldn't be that bad.  "Inters.p.a.cial bags and chests use a material called Void stone in their creation.  As it sounds, it's a type of rock.  Crafters use it when making the bags and chests."

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Void stone was deep grey in colour and without much sheen. The surface of the stone was almost as soft as gold and just as the latter could be melted, shaped and moulded into thin bars or even thinner threads. In the case of the inters.p.a.cial bag, Leon would learn later as his curiosity would not be stated by Jin Li today, the thin threads would be sewn inside the bag in certain patterns known to enchanters and powered by tiny mage stones. This would warp the s.p.a.ce inside the bag, make it several times larger than it should be.

"As I understand it," Jin Li continued, after thinking more on his meagre knowledge about the subject, "void stone naturally warps the s.p.a.ce around it.  Makes mining it a pain."

Jin Li was a martial arts fanatic, his knowledge built after the foundation of other important subjects heavily leaned towards martial arts. What was not martial arts, he was not really interested in so didn't go out of his way to learn. But Jin Li knew somewhat about void stone and its uses as his eldest brother had managed to obtain a mine through some means or other. The mine did not seem to have many decent cl.u.s.ters of the rock left, though Jin Sha had always claimed there was enough to create a modest profit.  As it happened, two rival Cultivators happened to cross paths violently in the nearby area, killing a few of the minors due to cave ins caused by their disruptions.   During the clean up after the fight, a fresh source of the stone was uncovered and this vein was abundant.  It also hid even purer treasures in its depths.

"Rings and bracelets are not made of the stone," Jin Li told him. "To make these, one needs Void Gems. These are harder to find, because they can only be found inside very few Void stones."

Oh and how Jin Sha had bragged however subtly about the void gems discovered in his cheap mine.  Even forgetting the ones used to create a ring for the Emperor's birthday and a bracelet for their mother, these could ensure the Jin's family wealth continued for several generations.  So long as they were able to protect them and the mine, that was, but doubts of inability never once formed in Jin Li's mind.  His family would not be worthy of the surname Jin if they were incapable.

"Void Gems carry with them small pocket dimensions many times larger than an inters.p.a.cial bag and things contained within them are as unaffected by time as when using an inter-dimensional container. Still can't put a live thing inside though."

Leon had once been interesting in purchasing an inter-dimensional bag, that held timeless s.p.a.ce within, but had decided it was a pipe dream.  A single bag could cost several gold pieces and that was a low quality one with not a great deal of s.p.a.ce inside.  Thinking of this, he could just imagine how costly that tiny ring could potentially be.  The gold required must be more than an entire village would be able to gather in two hundred years!  If not reaching into jade coin figures!  He was not wrong, but would have been closer if he tripled his estimates.

He sighed and put away his interest for a few moments as their dishes were placed before them with clean chopsticks.

Glaring at the tools of torture, he picked them up only to find that a piece of soy-braised carrot had been placed before his lips.  "Well, open your mouth," Jin Li ordered him, causing him to blush profusely.  He did indeed open his mouth to protest, but couldn't as the vegetable was pushed inside.  Having no choice but to chew, he bowed his head, listening to the sound of those chopsticks clicking over the meat dishes, at a rapid pace.

Leon slowly managed to use his own chopsticks to save himself some face, but it was ripped away a few times with Jin Li's insistence that he feed his small alchemist, otherwise the meat he'd ensured had formed upon the youth's body would surely be lost. Jin Li didn't want to the person in his embrace to be an uncomfortable sack of bones. Not attractive at all!

After finis.h.i.+ng the soup and rinsing their mouths a little with refres.h.i.+ng tea (this was naturally supplied by Leon, the restaurant was only asked for hot water), the pair asked for the bill. Leon felt his heart ache a little when handing over the silver, even after bracing himself and they left the place soon after.

The sky had darkened, becoming a tarnished silver-grey and although the snow had not amounted to much, a cold wind brushed past them and swept the remnant white dusting of it along the ground. Fortunately, the soup had been a warming sort and left a glow in both their bellies, so once the winds died down, Leon did not feel too abused by the turn in the weather. And besides, with Jin Li walking so close beside him, sharing his natural warmth, how could he feel cold for long?

In their personal bubble, they walked down the street in the direction of the Ramas palace, while others slowly abandoned their own shopping trips wanting to escape the dropping temperatures within their carriages and eventually their own homes.