"That's right… and you are?" Lynn asked politely.
"Call me senior," the middle-aged man bellowed. He pulled a bottle of liquor from his belt and tossed it to Lynn. "A gift for you… Remember, it's from your senior, Martin."
Martin glanced at the now-empty hall and shook his head lazily.
"Looks like I'm late. No matter. Come on, junior! Your senior will take you to the Red Tree Inn for some fun."
Lynn quickly pieced together who this was.
Brue had mentioned before that two members in the Gold Shadow Society shared his background; they were both former preparatory apprentices expelled from the academy.
It seemed the man before him was one of them.
"Senior Martin," Lynn said after a moment's thought, "thank you for the invitation and the gift, but it's already late. I still need to visit the Society's library to purchase spells.
"Also, I've been studying a spell recently, so I might not have much time for leisure."
Martin frowned and shot him a sidelong glance, muttering,
"Boring. Just another fool like Lucas… Kicked out of the academy and still doesn't know what he's worth… Boring, so boring!"
Lynn only smiled without answering, continuing,
"If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way."
"Wait, judging by the timing, you're staying in the Ninth Preparatory Apprentice Dormitory area?" Martin suddenly asked.
"That's right," Lynn nodded lightly.
"I left the mountain eighteen years ago, exactly two cycles before you," Martin said, taking a swig from his bottle before perching himself on the wooden table by the door. Casually, he asked,
"That tall silver cassia tree in the center of the dormitory area is still there?"
"It's still there."
"Ever climbed it?"
"No," Lynn shook his head after thinking it over. "The instructors strictly forbid climbing it."
Martin froze for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"Must be because Lucas almost broke his neck climbing it back in the day, and the academy decided to add a new rule!"
He laughed for a long while, until tears welled up at the corners of his eyes.
"A shame. Since you've never climbed it, you haven't seen the names we carved up there.
"Eighteen years… I wonder if those marks are still there."
He tipped back the bottle, took a long gulp, then staggered to his feet and wandered out, his figure quickly disappearing.
By his count, it had been eighteen years since he last returned to that childhood home.
In the end, there was no going back.
"This is the complete list of knowledge available for exchange to third-tier members. Please review it."
Gold Shadow Society headquarters, first basement level.
Lynn took the crystal of knowledge from the apprentice at the front desk and pressed it to his forehead.
Now that the initiation ceremony was over and he had officially received his third-tier membership badge, he could finally come to the library to purchase knowledge.
This was an important matter, important enough that Lynn had come here immediately after the ceremony ended.
At present, he had the realm of a third-tier apprentice but not a single spell under his belt. That wouldn't do at all.
For close combat, I have the White Crow Sword Technique. What I lack most is a long-range attack spell, and second, a movement-type spell…
With that goal in mind, he quickly found a few suitable options.
Movement spells for a third-tier apprentice were limited. After weighing them, Lynn chose one called Lesser Tailwind.
Tailwind was a classic spell, and its influence could be seen in many flying spells.
Its main effect was to greatly reduce air resistance, allowing the caster to move faster.
Of course, due to his current rank, Lynn could only use the weaker variant, Lesser Tailwind.
The cost: 12 primary-grade magic stones.
Compared to movement spells, long-range attack spells offered far more variety.
Since he already had the White Crow Mana Cluster, Lynn originally wanted to focus on airflow-control spells.
However, airflow or water-based spells tended to serve as support; with the same complexity and mana cost, they were generally weaker in raw power.
After careful consideration, he opted for the most versatile choice, the one most third-tier apprentices favored as their primary attack spell: Lesser Fireball.
Its price: 15 primary-grade magic stones.
Back to square one overnight…
After buying his academy meditation method, he had about thirty magic stones left. Now, just purchasing these two spells would cost him twenty-seven.
I do need to find more ways to make money…
Lynn shook his head, then suddenly thought of something and checked how much it would cost to purchase a meditation method from the Gold Shadow Society.
The Society offered five apprentice-level meditation methods, but only two of them included a portion of the formal wizard-stage techniques. The cheapest of these was called the Circular Ring meditation method, priced at 650 primary-grade magic stones.
By comparison, the Hossens Apprentice Meditation Method he had bought from the academy had only cost 260 primary-grade magic stones.
The academy is a better deal…
Lynn shook his head again, but then a thought struck him: if he were still up on the mountain, the follow-up meditation methods would cost him nothing. That thought left a dull ache in his chest.
He turned to check the basic knowledge of magic arrays.
The full set of foundational knowledge was priced at 500 primary-grade magic stones…
Lynn's lips curved faintly. He didn't know exactly how much of that knowledge the Society would provide for his job, but if it was enough to allow someone to maintain a magic array, it had to be worth at least 300 magic stones.
Without lingering further, Lynn paid for his spells and headed home, looking forward to the day after tomorrow when he could officially start… freeload, ahem, working.
Blue Bridge Street, No. 74 – Study room.
"…A total of 278 gifts from third-tier members, and 3 from second-tier members. The list has been compiled, please have a look, Master," Carter said respectfully, holding out the list with both hands.
"Mm… just call me Lynn, Carter," Lynn said casually as he took the list.
"Apologies, Master. The past is the past, but now that I'm your maid, many rules must be followed as a maid."
Carter stood straight before him, her neatly combed silver hair gleaming, her maid uniform perfectly in order. Behind her stood two young maids he had just purchased.
Lynn paused briefly, then nodded lightly. "You're right."
He continued scanning the list Carter had prepared.
The Gold Shadow Society had a large membership, but the third-tier members numbered in the hundreds.
Everyone couldn't attend yesterday's welcome banquet; only seventy or eighty people had shown up in person, while the rest had sent gifts instead.
Though there were many gifts, by custom, most were inexpensive trinkets worth anywhere from a few silver wolves to a few dozen, nothing more than a token of goodwill.
Notably, however, Frankei's parting gift had been a crystal containing the Mind Shock spell worth about one lesser magic stone on the market, making it the most valuable gift from a third-tier member.
As for the second-tier members…
Moroe: one bottle of Twinflower Potion, effect beautifies the complexion, enhances charm…
Joy: one bottle of Clear Mind Potion, effect removes worries, leaves mind and body in a serene state…
What are these things… Lynn thought wryly and moved on to the third entry.
Lucas Moen: the spell "Mind Shock."
"Carter, you're sure about this one?" Lynn asked, momentarily stunned.
"Yes, Master. That gift has been carefully stored in your desk drawer."
Lynn pulled open the drawer and found a crystal in a wooden box, just as she'd said.
It was like getting a pillow just when you're sleepy. His eyes lit up, grateful he hadn't had enough magic stones to buy it himself.
After all, Mind Shock was a must-learn for any wizard, second only to Fireball in importance!
Aside from creatures with strong innate resistance to mental attacks, anything that had not yet crossed into the transcendent realm would have little defense against it.
Even with the White Crow Sword Technique maxed out to its peak, most of the strengthening was physical, with only a slight improvement to mental defenses.
When facing this spell, the difference between such a fighter and an ordinary person was no more than withstanding one hit instead of half.
Lucas Moen… Lynn repeated the name in his mind. Lucas…
This must be the "fool" Martin had mentioned the other expelled apprentice in the Gold Shadow Society.
Committing this generous senior to memory, Lynn gestured for Carter to withdraw.
Giggs stepped in from outside.
"Everything goes smoothly, Giggs?" Lynn asked, looking over at him.
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