Let's Get Started

Each Low-Grade Yellow Magic Stone was just three Universal Credits outside the academy, so one could only imagine how cheap it was inside the Academy itself, which usually had lower prices. Of course, those prices were charged in Academy Credits, the academy's own currency.

There were rules, though. To prevent students from taking advantage of this system, all the training resources acquired in the Academy can only be used by the Academy Students and inside the Academy Grounds. For example, Alvin didn't bring a single Low-Grade Yellow Magic when he visited his father. Instead, when he tested Linfel's ability, he used his father's Magic Stones.

The Low-Grade Yellow Magic Stones were truly cheap, costing just a single Academy Credit each. That was another reason for all new Maguses to join it. Even if you were for a famous family or some other organization, you still wanted to take advantage of the academy's several benefits.

*plin, plin, plin, plin...*

Suddenly, hundreds of Low-Grade Yellow Magic Stones fell to the ground. There was one thing different about these ones compared to those outside. They all had the academy's mark inside them. It was pretty much impossible to sell them outside without anyone knowing. Obviously, another security measure so no one would take advantage of the academy's rules.

"That's quite a lot," Linfel couldn't help but comment.

Alvin nodded without caring much. "As little as the payments for menial tasks are, they are still big enough so you can afford Low-Grade or maybe even some Medium-Grade Yellow Magic Stones. I accumulated a lot of them so I can use these stones for a long time. There are more if you want too."

Linfel didn't waste time and immediately took ten of those stones, absorbing all their Low-Grade Yellow Magic Energy. The cleaning process lasted only a few seconds. Alvin looked at Linfel's core, and it was easy to see a lot of Yellow-Magic Energy escaping his body, just like the last time. That was all the impure Magic Energy, which even Linfel didn't have much use for.

Linfel then took another ten and repeated the process. This continued a few times until he spent a total of forty-seven Low-Grade Yellow Magic Stones. "Alright, seems like this is the number."

"Number of what?" Alvin and Felia asked.

"Regarding concentration. I needed to use forty-seven of these yellow stones to accumulate the same amount of Low-Grade Red Magic Energy," Linfel explained.

"Forty-Seven!" Alvin and Felia were delighted. "That's the same as forty-seven Academy Credits! This is the greatest bargain of all times!"

Only now, Linfel thought about it. "By the way, I saw the price of Low-Grade Red Magic Stones outside the academy with those Universal Credits. But how much does a Low-Grade Red Magic Stone cost in the academy itself?" He still remembers the cheapest Alvin showed him was 1352 Universal Credits.

"Here? 500 exactly. Outside, the price of the Magic Stones varies according to the market fluctuations. However, the academy always keeps the prices static inside its grounds," Felia spoke. "By the way, Medium-Grade Yellows are 35 Academy Credits, while High-Grade yellows go for 125."

Linfel was surprised. "So you will be able to get a 90% discount from now on with me here. Hahaha!" Right after, Linfel connected with Alvin. "Alright, let's use the Master Familiar Connection. That is the best way I can share this Red Magic Energy without wasting anything."

It was then that Alvin remembered something. "Right! What about Felia? You can't use Master Familiar Connection with her, so how will you give Red Magic Energy to her core?"

"It will need to be the normal process. Linfel will release his Red Magic while I absorb as much as I can before it completely dissipates," Felia explained. 

Linfel found that option terrible, though. "Why go through so much pain? Let's both just use Master Familiar Connection with Alvin. That way, the Red Magic Energy I send into his Core can be taken into your core while the connection is active. See? No wastage... Well, there will probably be some waste of energy since you can't reach a 100% MFC with Alvin, but it will be several times better than if I just release the energy in the air."

Unfortunately, Alvin shook his head. "It doesn't work. A Magus can't connect to more than one Familiar at once. The burden to the soul is tremendous. That's why you won't see any maguses, at least none lower than Level Six Maguses, using more than one Master Familiar Connection at once. Even those at Level Six and above will refrain from doing so unless it is absolutely necessary. The risks of damaging the soul and even dying are too high."

"Even less of a problem, then," Linfel crossed his arms, feeling confident. "After all, I'm not a Familiar. Our connection isn't a real connection to start with. With you and Felia, you truly achieve a synergy between each other, a kind of merging property. In my case, however, I'm basically matching Alvin's Soul and Magic Energy Frequencies. Your soul shouldn't even notice I'm there while you still gain all the benefits of a Master Familiar Connection."

"This..." Alvin didn't know what to say.

"Master, the implications of something like this are..." Felia was just as shocked.

Linfel wanted to start. "Stop wasting time already. You need to sleep, but I don't. Once you two go to bed, I'm going out to explore, so let's get over with it."

Felia and Alvin felt a chill in their souls with Linfel's words. Perhaps the world would be over once they woke up the next day. "Please don't! I still wish to live!" Alvin pleaded.

"Where is your trust in me?" Linfel asked, feeling wronged.

"It has never existed to start with," Felia and Alvin spoke at the same time.

Linfel was speechless. "H-Hmph! I didn't need it anyway." He then approached Felia and Alvin. "Come on, let's get started."

Alvin and Felia could only hope things wouldn't go too bad.