Although Tang Yue resolved the issue, Tang Miao had no intention of letting her leave.
He insisted on keeping her by his side for three full days.
After three days, Tang Yue eventually had to depart.
After all, she still had tasks to complete. As for the Totem matter, Tang Yue advised Tang Miao that with his current strength, he wasn't ready to delve into it and should focus on cultivating.
Tang Miao agreed; he knew his limits. While the Black Snake could follow him, there were numerous demon lords in this world's monster territories, and he couldn't necessarily soar through the world with just one Black Snake.
In the following days, besides cultivating, Tang Miao spent his time researching information about Totems. Unfortunately, the information available was scarce.
He also tried to communicate with the jade, but it didn't seem to have any effect.
A month passed in a flash, and after his cultivation ended, the Stardust Magic Tool was due to be returned to Dongfang Hui.
As he handed it to her, Tang Miao asked, a little puzzled, "Does your Dongfang family still lack this kind of Stardust Magic Tool?"
After their brief conversation that day, Dongfang Hui had always thought Tang Miao was playing hard to get, trying to get her attention.
However, a month later, she realized she might have been overthinking it; he clearly had no such intentions!
It was rare for Tang Miao to speak first, so Dongfang Hui replied, "No, we don't lack them, but I don't like to rely on family resources."
"Oh?"
Tang Miao found it amusing; he didn't expect this girl to be so independent.
"Being born into the Dongfang family must be a dream for many."
Dongfang Hui said calmly, "That's for others. If I could, I'd rather be born into an ordinary family."
Seemingly unwilling to continue the topic, Dongfang Hui added, "What realm are you in now?"
"You're a girl, why are you so competitive?"
Dongfang Hui snorted lightly, turned, and, with a swish of her perky bottom, left, saying, "Never mind if you won't tell me."
Tang Miao shrugged. While her round bottom was nice, her personality was a bit off-putting to him.
After returning the Stardust Magic Tool, Tang Miao left the school.
Joining the academy was primarily for resources; there wasn't much to learn in terms of actual studies.
And these resources, frankly, were quite meager. Even with his extremely fast cultivation speed, Tang Miao would still need at least one, or even two, years to break through to the intermediate level with just these resources!
This was assuming he only cultivated and did nothing else.
Therefore, to rapidly increase his cultivation, he needed money. But then again, to earn money, he needed strength.
After all, the demon hunting squads in the Magic City only accepted intermediate-level mages.
Not only are there demons in this world, but also other creatures. They have to face these beings, whose strength is no less than that of demons. So, without intermediate-level strength, one would be completely useless.
Despite this, Tang Miao still arrived at a small Hunter's Alliance hall.
After all, while he could do jobs like washing dishes, scrubbing floors, or delivering food, what good would that meager pay do?
Even though it was a small Hunter's Alliance in the Magic City, the crowd was still considerable. There were thousands of people coming and going throughout the building, including those leaving and those just arriving.
Looking at the bounties in the hall, Tang Miao felt a bit helpless. Each bounty offered good money, and he felt he could handle some of them. But unfortunately, his rank wasn't high enough!
Even though his magic power wasn't weak, without a hunter rank, he couldn't join any team.
The various recruitment posters were dazzling, but after searching for a long time, he didn't find a single one that required a primary-level mage.
Of course, he still hadn't found a suitable bounty.
No money, not worth the risk!
Just as he had wandered around for another half-day, still without a suitable bounty, and was about to give up and leave, he heard a muscular man in the hall shouting, "Thunderbolt Squad, urgently recruiting one intermediate-level Fire Mage! Bounty accepted, 150,000 for bringing back the corpse of a warrior-level Sea Fish Demon. We already have intel, and it's a lone one…"
"150,000 bounty, that's a lot! And they already have coordinates. Too bad I'm not a Fire Mage…"
"The strength of a Sea Fish Demon is something even seven or eight intermediate mages might not be able to handle. What's the use of a high bounty?"
"Sigh~ Let's go… let's go…"
"..."
Tang Miao stood there, listening to the crowd's discussions, and then watched them disperse. After a moment of hesitation, he walked up to the shouting strong man and said, "I'm not an intermediate mage, but I'm a Lightning Mage. Can I join?"
The strong man saw the crowd dissipating and was about to move to another spot to recruit. Who knew Tang Miao would walk over? Looking at Tang Miao's clean-cut appearance, clearly a rookie fresh out of school, he originally couldn't be bothered to respond!
However, after hearing what Tang Miao said, the strong man paused. He turned to Tang Miao and asked, "Kid, what did you say? You're a Lightning Mage!?"
Tang Miao nodded, then added, "I'm already proficient in level two Lightning magic."
The strong man shook his head. His surprise just now was simply because he hadn't expected a Lightning Mage in the imperial capital to actually come and participate in a bounty hunt!
Especially with Tang Miao's young age, if he just said he was a Lightning Mage, he could surely get by anywhere, right?
The strong man paused, then said, "Ahem… Little brother, you're not messing with me, are you? We're going outside the safe zone to deal with demons. Demons kill without batting an eye; this isn't a game."
"I'm not joking; I'm serious."
As he spoke, Tang Miao's star-path emerged, and deep purple lightning instantly condensed.
"This… this lightning!?" The strong man was also an old hand who had been around for many years, so he naturally saw the extraordinary quality of this lightning at a glance. If he wasn't mistaken, this might even be a Spirit Seed!
But at the same time, he felt even stranger. How could someone like this be short on money and risk their life for a bounty?
"My lightning is a natural Spirit Seed." Tang Miao didn't reveal that his lightning was in the Soul Seed domain, as he was a low-key person.
"So, can I join you?"
The strong man hesitated for a moment, then said with a serious expression, "This is very dangerous. With your talent, you have a boundless future. And I think that as long as you join any force and receive training, you could become a powerful expert in just a few years!"
Seeing the future hope of the nation, he truly didn't want the other party to participate in such a dangerous bounty. Moreover, although this kid's lightning was fierce, he clearly looked like a novice who had never left the safe zone. If he went out and saw demons but dared not cast magic, wouldn't that just be putting himself in danger?
"I'm not interested in joining any force, and I won't joke with my life. If you're worried that I won't be able to cast magic when I see demons, then you can rest assured completely; I can cast a star-path in an instant!"