"Mana potion infused with ice magic can cure the poison from mana turbulence…"
Baston was dumbfounded because the reward was just a piece of information from the old book. At first, he thought there would be no reward at all since he failed the quest. Even though the result was bad, the old book seemed giving the reward on different kind.
When he got the excellent result, the reward was ice element on his magic. The perfect result was the best since it gave a puppet which he could control freely. This time, the bad performance just gave one piece of
information and he himself didn't know what it meant.
"What is this? What should I do with it?"
Baston was confused, but since this was the reward, then he better took it for granted. Anyway, there wasn't much to do and the class would be held soon. He also already summoned back the puppet because there wasn't much information he could get anymore. Basically, after the conversation turned into the matter with the family, he was bored to listen it. When Baston reached the class, everyone stared at him strangely.
The noble boys thought he had an appointment with Alicia today, yet they were stopped by the pressure of the mysterious person who invited Baston. Judging by the area of effect, it was clearly stronger than
what they could think. They knew in this academy, having a connection with strong
people would already indicate there was a strong background behind Baston. Still, they couldn't guess why the fat boy could have connection with the mysterious person. Such a poor boy was the worst and they were better by large margin.
Baston was in limelight, but he felt it was troublesome for him. The classmates wanted to approach him, but their pride stopped them. He could see there was still hesitation in their eyes and hopefully, they would hold back so he didn't need to greet them one by one. Right now, he rather
chose to live alone and peacefully without having much connection.
Lesson was boring and Baston's mind wasn't in focus. Even though it was one of popular studies, he was busy thinking about what he should do if he met the same case like Angus one. He knew he couldn't convince everyone since there was a limit to his image told by himself. Therefore, he had to find another way to increase his performance if some variables popped up.
Baston had a thorough plan this time. He had to spread his image for the beginning, preferably on certain people to have the best effect. Panto and Alicia were the best examples since they knew about him, yet they kept it for themselves. This situation would make his little drama could be kept secretly. If he chose the chatter-box person, he believed he would soon meet many troubles in the future.
"Everyone, I have good news!" the teacher suddenly exclaimed before taking a break, "In the afternoon, the great wizard Angus will come as a guest to our classroom. He will teach one or two about his experiences, so be sure don't be too late later."
The teacher quickly fled away before the students could proceed what he said. After a few seconds, there was suddenly an uproar in the classroom. The name of great wizard Angus was very effective, even the poor one
had already heard about him. Only Baston who was calm enough since he didn't know how great Angus was. Alicia also only looked casual considering Angus was his uncle and she sometimes met with him.
"Am I dreaming?" one of students pinched his cheek, "The great wizard Angus finally comes to our academy!"
"I wonder why he comes here? Is there anything importance around here?"
"Who knows? Whether he has one or not, it doesn't matter. The most important thing is we must be ready when he visits the class."
"I will change my clothes first. I don't want to look dirty in front of great wizard."
"It's better you don't do it. If you go, your seat will be taken by someone."
"Yes, it's true…" the boy then kept his seat without leaving, "Then, I won't be going anywhere..."
The noble and merchant students suddenly stayed at their seats. It seemed when they realized more and more people still wouldn't leave, they thought they wanted to keep their places here so it wouldn't get taken. As for the poor and commoner, they didn't care too much since they would have to take the furthest seat anyway. One thing funny was since many students couldn't leave their seats, they asked for meal to other students. Of course, they gave the money and the rest of change would be given to them. This time, everyone was really eager to benefit from this. What was lacking was only the fact that
the noble students could only buy the food from outside, which they thought it was less attractive than their own personal cafeteria.
Baston wanted to earn some money too, but he didn't need too much now since someone was paying for it. Everyday, he only needed to go to the small restaurant and he could eat whatever he ordered. Even though life was
good, he wondered how much the cost. He worried if it went on like this, sooner or later, the money would run out. There was a feeling of wanting to help his kind savior, but he didn't know what he could do. His capital was only his ice magic and nothing else.
As usual, after having a hearty meal at the small restaurant, Baston went back to the class and it was incredulous to see that it
was really packed to the brim. Many students from other class came, even the
senior also waited here. He was lucky since his seat was the furthest from the front of class, his seat wasn't too attractive. Some people might take it, but it was the last option so until the best seat had been already taken, they then would look for Baston.
Most students from other class would give money to a certain student if they finally chose to take the seat. They first just sat on it and waited until the person came to them. They would then discuss about the money
so that the real student from this class wouldn't make a trouble for them if the teacher confronted them. The real student would then explain to everyone so there wouldn't be such a misunderstanding. Unfortunately, there was a rare case when some arrogant one just took the seat without paying. Right at the moment, a certain noble boy approached Baston with cocky attitude.
"Hey, you…" the noble boy pointed, "Get out of your seat! Rather than having a lesson with great wizard Angus, you better scurry off somewhere!"
"Yes, I see you have an old book," his friend sneered, "This type of book can only be meant that you're a poor boy."
"Then, it will be more useless for you to attend this class since you don't have a talent of magic."
"True… true…"
"Hey, at least just pay some money to him…" the other noble commented from besides, "I also took the seat and pay it with my money. It will be win-win resolution."
"Why I should pay it?" the boy scoffed, thinking that Baston should be thankful because his seat was useful for noble like him, "He should be happy I took fancy of this poor location. Since every seat has been taken, I can only go with this one."
The boy didn't give any clear threat. He just said that if he helped him now, there would be benefit at later time. As for what was the
benefit, he didn't explain it much. From the conversation before, this noble insisted on his seat because the other one had been claimed. It would be impossible to fight with the same noble student, but it was different if the status was lower than him. The noble boy actually could force his way, but it was stupid since the teacher would kick him out of the class then.
While the arrogant noble was waiting for Baston's answer, the fat boy pondered what he should do. It was his unfortunate moment to meet the unreasonable one like this. Instead of paying, he would just take his seat
with empty words. Deep inside his heart, Baston truly wanted to fight back. However, the thing could only be in his imagination since his days would be in difficulty after today. He stood up and let the boy took his seat while he stood at further back.
The noble boy was feeling triumphant, even though everyone could see it was just an act of bullying. Despite some noble students despised this kind of doing, they wouldn't go and make hard for him. At least, just waited until the class finished to reprimand him. It was done so because they didn't want the reputation of nobles worsened. Doing it just once or twice was fine in a while, but not if every time.
On the other hand, Baston wondered how great the reputation of Angus here. Looking at everyone's reaction, they seemed to know him better and recognized his strength. Just a few minutes ago, the class was already
crowded enough with many students standing at the back and the side. The
popularity of this man brought some prestige to the academy. Too bad Baston didn't have clear vision about how much the popularity that Angus had. He only knew that this Alicia's uncle was stronger than him by many times. As for the exact difference, he didn't know and no one could tell him except Angus himself.
Everyone still had a chat and suddenly, when Angus himself came to the podium, all students closed their mouths. They didn't want to disturb such a great wizard that already provide his free time in order to go
to this classroom. Every one of them focused their sights on the man, but only
Baston who was lacking of interest. It was because this man still suspected him, giving a bad performance for his result.
"Good afternoon, everyone!"
"Good afternoon, great wizard Angus!" every student greeted him enthusiastically.
"I'm happy to have this opportunity to share my experience today…"
Agnus didn't talk much about any certain knowledge since the academy must have its own teaching. He only shared his own experience regarding his journey to seek more powerful magic. Sometimes, he met with the end but he still insisted on his own way until he finally could have epiphany. This kind of enlightenment would be different for each person, but it was exciting to hear it from Angus himself. Because in this case, to make a breakthrough, they needed more than the resources provided to them.
"Any job, class, or anything else is not depending on how much resources you can afford…" Angus explained, "But it depends on how much effort you have to put to improve yourself. If you only take the resources, but you don't face the hardship, then it will be meaningless. It's just like a fat
man who kept bloating after eating many food, but with no exercises."
"Ha… ha… ha…" the students laughed.
Everyone seemed to have a good time, even the one who was still standing until now was glad they decided to come up to this class. It was rare to meet the great wizard, so they really cherished this opportunity in their lifetimes. Baston looked at everyone and he pondered was there any level system to differentiate their own strength? He wanted to know how much stronger to be called a great wizard.
Baston didn't know that Angus noticed him from far. It wasn't because he was interested on this fat boy, but it was more because only
him that didn't pay attention to him. Even Alicia always looked at him seriously in order to know better about his teaching. On the other hand, Baston seemed to ponder something, so whenever everyone got surprised by his sharing lecture, the boy just stayed silent and showing no expression to him.