Early the next morning.
Mason hurried to the Magic Academy, cradling a flowerpot in his hands.
Last night, he had tossed and turned in bed, his emotions swinging like a rollercoaster—excited one moment, dejected the next.
On the one hand, he kept imagining he might finally break through his bottleneck and successfully advance to a Tier 4 mage. On the other hand, he couldn't shake the fear that it might all be a dream—one that would end in bitter disappointment.
There was no guarantee that this single Nether Orchid he bought would actually help him break through.
But it was the last straw he had left to grasp.
So much so that he hadn't even gone to the Radiant Mercenary Corps' office to verify whether anything the flower shop owner said was true.
Maybe he was just afraid.
Afraid that everything he hoped for would turn out to be an illusion.
So at five in the morning, he climbed out of bed without even eating breakfast and rushed to the magic tower on the southeastern slope of the Academy.
Only when he got there did he remember—Old White, the goblin in charge of managing the tower, would still be asleep in the staff room at this hour. The tower wouldn't officially open until six.
So Mason stood outside the tower entrance, pacing restlessly as he waited for time to pass.
He did his best to calm himself. If this were the day he'd attempt advancement, he needed to be in the right state of mind.
Six o'clock.
Old White still hadn't shown up.
Mason stamped his foot impatiently and glanced at the notice posted on the door:
Opening Hours: 6 AM to 10 PM.
He wasn't going to wait anymore. He ran straight to the staff room next to the magic tower and started pounding on the door.
BANG BANG BANG!
"Who the hell's making all that noise this early in the morning!?"
A sharp, ear-piercing screech came from inside, followed by the sound of rustling.
The door swung open.
Old White was the textbook image of a goblin: green skin, huge ears, hooked nose, sharp-tongued, and stingy. He looked Mason dead in the eye and scowled. "What, sleepwalked all the way here? Want me to prescribe you some sleeping potion!?"
Though Mason prided himself on being a calm and composed mage, he still had that dwarfish bluntness and fiery temper. "It's already six. That's the Academy's official tower opening time. The one sleepwalking here is you. This is a dereliction of duty!"
"What kind of lunatic comes to the magic tower this early?" Old White rolled his eyes. "Only a weirdo dwarf like you would pull something like this."
"Just open the damn door!" Mason snapped, clearly running out of patience. "I've booked the Earth-Elemental Meditation Room with the Elemental Gathering Array, and I need it now. As the tower's manager, do your job!"
"I am the officially contracted manager of this tower! Not your doorman!" Old White exploded as someone stepped on his tail. "Damn it! You talentless dwarf mage—you're just wasting perfect elemental stones!"
"As a teaching assistant at the Academy, I have the right to use the tower's meditation rooms five times per month. This is my entitlement!" Mason fired back without hesitation.
"And a guy who's failed to advance to Tier 4 four times is trying again? What a joke." Old White grabbed the keys and stormed out of the staff room, grumbling.
"Well, even if I fail, I'm still a Tier 3 mage. What about you? A Tier 2 loser forever—stuck guarding a door!" Mason shot back.
The two of them argued all the way to the tower entrance—it was a full-blown shouting match.
"I've worked here for twenty years! I've watched countless mages crash and burn—you're just one more failure waiting to happen, you mediocre dwarf!" Old White unlocked the tower door, slumped into a lounge chair beside it, and sneered with disdain.
Mason marched into the tower with his Nether Orchid in hand, not wanting to waste another breath on the damn goblin. He scoffed coldly, "Just watch me!"
—
Ruby District, Aikley Street.
In the morning light, Ron was doing his routine training in the courtyard, continuing his practice of the Light Sword Codex(Sword Canon of Light).
Thanks to the Natural Meditation Method and the power of the Nether Orchid, he had become a Tier 1 mage in just ten days.
But when it came to progressing through the Light Sword Codex, things weren't moving nearly as fast.
Still, Ron possessed the bloodline of Andre, and his talent in this field wasn't bad. By his estimate, a month of training should be enough for him to start forming a Battle Aura Whirlpool—the mark of a Tier 1 warrior.
He followed the Codex's training methods, performing all sorts of high-difficulty movements in the courtyard. These were meant to push his physical potential to the limit and give rise to something called "Qi."
That was the embryonic form of Battle Aura.
Once he could produce a sufficient quantity of Qi in a single session, he could begin forming a whirlpool—a sort of "engine" that would continuously generate Battle Aura.
At that point, he'd officially be dual-cultivating both magic and martial arts.
Yesterday, after becoming a Tier 1 mage, he'd had a pretty full day—first dealing with the grumpy dwarf Mason and selling his first Nether Orchid, then inviting Lyle over for dinner and selling him the sauce recipes.
As a result, he'd spent the entire evening teaching Lyle how to make the sauces. By the time they finished, it was so late he passed out the moment he hit the bed—he didn't even get to meditate.
So even now, he hadn't had a chance to truly experience what it felt like to be a mage.
After his morning training, he didn't go back inside immediately. Instead, he activated his magic seed.
A trickle of magic energy began to seep out… and then, Ron suddenly realized—
He didn't know a single spell.
"…"
Ron looked down, silent, as the magic dissipated into the air.
Aside from making the air a little more humid and loosening the soil under his feet… There was zero noticeable effect.
Utterly embarrassing.
[Shop]
[Seed Acceleration Spell]: 100 Wealth Points
Sensing his embarrassment, the system oh-so-helpfully" listed a new product.
"Wow, thanks so much," Ron muttered sarcastically, glaring at his measly 21 Wealth Points.
20 of those came from Mason's orchid purchase. The other 1 gold coin came from Lyle buying the sauce recipes.
"You must be holding back a ton of great stuff. Why don't you just put it all on display, huh? Not like I can afford it anyway," Ron grumbled.
System: "[The store updates in real time based on the host's capabilities. Items beyond your usable range will not be listed.]"
"So, being able to lift an elf girl's skirt with a light breeze is within my usable range?" Ron sneered.
System: "[Temporary items do not follow this standard.]"
Ron rolled his eyes, then headed back into the shop and entered the dimensional pocket realm, where he spent the whole morning growing another dozen Nether Orchids.
After a simple lunch and consuming a Nether Orchid fruit to aid meditation, he opened the shop for business in the afternoon.
His shop hours ran from about 1 PM to 5 PM each day.
You could say it was a pretty chill lifestyle.
The only thing he was wondering now was—how's that dwarf mage, Mason, doing?
If the Nether Orchid worked and word got around the Magic Academy, then he'd never have to worry about sales again.
That thought lingered in Ron's mind as, far away in the Magic Tower, Mason approached a critical moment in his advancement attempt.