“Ivan junior brother, watch my back closely,” Gina turned around, exposing her fair back to Ivan’s eyes, “This is the insect nest used for breeding insects.”
Something special was bound to her back, resembling some kind of horn-like tube, coiling tightly round and round into an oval-shaped dish that clung fast to her back.
Only then did Ivan realize, he leaned in for a closer look, his fingers pinching something soft, “This wouldn’t be some creature’s shed skin, would it?”
“Exactly, this is crafted from the naturally shed skin of a swamp worm. Don’t be fooled by its ugly appearance, it’s a low-level magicalized item worth 500 magic stones. With it, the insects have a place to live, making it convenient to carry around.”
Gina suddenly turned back around.
What she turned brought nearly collided with Ivan’s face, but fortunately he stepped back in time.
“You be the judge, I say placing the insect nest like this is good, Mieyan says it’s better wrapped directly onto the body, and he doesn’t even find it disgusting, what do you think?” Gina said while gesturing on her body, her shapely figure accentuating the rhythm.
Ivan realized, this woman was definitely doing this on purpose, could it be she liked to tease her junior brothers? What an odd taste for mischief, and he was no greenhorn, the senior sister had clearly miscalculated.
“Hmm, I also agree with senior sister’s opinion.”
He simply indulged his senior sister’s fancy, openly appreciating her figure.
“Ivan, weren’t you supposed to be looking at the front?”
“But senior sister didn’t say I couldn’t look, right?”
“You lecherous little devil.”
Seeing his unabashed lechery, Gina understood this junior brother was not as fun to tease as Mieyan, so she put on her sorcerer robe with less enthusiasm.
She casually started talking about her own family, the other disciples under her mentor had died or left, or completely disappeared without a trace, and now only the four of them, mentor and apprentices, remained.
Gina herself had entered the mentor’s door two years before Mieyan, Mieyan one year more than Ivan.
“Within the academy, we belong to the Enchantment Group. The head of the Enchantment Group is Sorcerer Lidia, who is also one of the academy’s vice deans.”
“Lidia?”
Ivan felt a strong thump in his heart, that was Carmel’s surname, that guy really came from no ordinary background.
Gina nodded, “The Lidia family is a very influential sorcerer family in our academy. You must never provoke them. Besides them, there are the Steele family and the Watkin family—”
There are three deans at Mongna Ant Land Cottage, the head dean from the Watkin family and the two vice deans from Lidia and Steele families respectively. The head of the Talent Nurturing Team comes from the Watkin family, and the head of the apothecary group comes from the Steele family. These Three Great Families hold significant influence within the academy.
Ivan had not expected the academy’s situation to be so complicated. It seemed that no matter the world, one could not avoid these complex social networks.
He suddenly remembered the exchange of credits at the time of paying tuition fees. This rule was not in favor of new students from Tidal Island, but it provided convenience to those from sorcerer families.
“Don’t think too much, let’s focus on our training.”
“That’s true, haha. Once our power is sufficient, we can represent a major family ourselves.”
“Haha, ambitious,” Gina patted his back hard, “Got any more questions?”
Ivan was not about to hold back, “Where can I buy the mental power potion?”
“You want to ask about the mental power potion formula, right?” Seeing him nod, Gina continued, “Mental power potions can be bought from shops in the trade area, but those shops rarely have mental power potions. Mental power potion formulas are absolutely forbidden from being sold by the academy.
So, you can pretty much only exchange them with credits at the academy’s sale spot, or else you find someone to trade secretly, just don’t get caught by the Policing Team.”
In this regard, Ivan didn’t see anything particularly wrong. The academy always needed means to keep the apprentices in line. Mental power potion formulas were like the salt and iron of ancient times, necessary to maintain complete order.
“How are credits earned, then?”
“Fulfill our responsibilities.”
Ivan was startled for a moment, then quickly realized, “Enchantment?”
Gina nodded slightly, “The people in the Enchantment Group usually earn credits through enchantment.”
So that’s how it was, it was probably the meaning behind dividing into different groups. Unfortunately, newcomers couldn’t choose which group to join at will; learning enchantment and runes was imperative.
Having someone to clear his doubts, Ivan asked her many questions in succession. Gina displayed the patience of a good mentor and answered them one by one.
“Let’s leave it at that, walk around the academy more and have a look, other questions will naturally be answered by someone else.”
“Thank you for the guidance, senior.”
“No need to thank me, just don’t refuse next time I ask you for something,” she said.
Ivan didn’t know if she was joking or serious, and just nodded silently.
After saying goodbye to Gina, Ivan went to the academy’s exclusive selling area in the trading zone. Like the payment area he had previously visited, it only had an external window, behind which a white-haired apprentice sat.
“Senior brother, how can I exchange for a mental power potion formula?” empire
The old man gave him a sideways glance, “Who’s your senior brother, don’t call people randomly.”
Being polite really was the wrong move, the old man was quite grumpy. Ivan inwardly complained, rephrased his question, and asked again.
The old man said, “1st Class at 20 credits, 2nd Class at 100 credits, 3rd Class at 300 credits.”
That was too expensive, the price was exactly double that of the potions. Gina’s guess was correct.
Ivan thought about the mere 10 credits he had left, which was far from enough to exchange for a 2nd Class mental power potion formula.
“Too expensive for you? Want to see some cheaper ones?” Seeing his troubled expression, the old man knew he’d come across another pauper, but he couldn’t let a potential sale slip away.
“You have cheaper ones?”
“Take your pick, 10 credits each.”
The old man tossed out a booklet, Ivan rapidly flipped through it. It turned out to be a collection of incomplete formulas, like heart-corroding potions, Withering Potions, and not only were they incomplete but also seemed somewhat dishonest, mostly containing some kind of toxin that would bring great harm to the body.
“Magic Crystal Water?” Ivan kept flipping through the booklet, growing more disappointed as he went. He wasn’t foolish enough to choose incomplete formulas over complete ones. Unexpectedly, the last page recorded a complete formula.
“That formula is complete, it’s just that it’s widely circulated, so the price has always been low,” the old man explained upon hearing Ivan’s mutters, and asked expectantly, “So, do you want to buy it?”
“I’ll wait until I’ve earned more credits,” Ivan shook his head.
“You ask for something without credits, wasting my time. You must be a new apprentice in the apothecary store, so impolite. I’ll remember you,” the old man said habitually as he took back the booklet and cursed at Ivan’s retreating figure.
Ivan turned a deaf ear to the old man’s words. Gina had said that there were many old apprentices in the academy who had lost their potential to advance. Some among them had always been foul-tempered like this, unable to stand seeing apprentices with potential. They were always pulling long faces, and quarreling with them was purely a thankless task, and beneath his dignity.
This old man was certainly one of them.
“You already said it was widely circulated, why would I purchase it from you?”
Ivan chuckled to himself, credits were hard to come by, and there was no need to waste them here.
He then approached a row of low buildings in the trading area; about a dozen shops were connected here, not far off there were also people with stalls. He had glanced over earlier, the stalls had a hodgepodge of things, everything from animal horns and scales to blood jello, messy and disorderly.
This was a small marketplace for apprentices to trade, the shops were much more regular than the stalls. He picked an apothecary store and walked in.