"So, are you giving us the points?" I ask them.

"Yes, of course. Alice…" she says to her colleague, signaling her out of the room.

Alice nods and hurries out.

"Fifty sacks, that's five times the quest. That's two point five times ten times five, one hundred twenty-five points. To be split, sixty-two each. Congratulations, nobody's gotten that many so far."

Oh, really? That's awesome. Because after yesterday, I was already bracing myself to be at the bottom of the list.

"So, do we get extra points then?"

"Those will be calculated and awarded at the end of the trials."

"Okay. We have more stuff besides the hides, like flasks of troll blood. Can we sell that here, or do we have to go to the city?"

"Well…" the assistant professor hesitates, not knowing what to tell us.

Then her colleague enters, along with Catrina, who she went to get.

"So, fifty sacks?" she says, patting me on the back. "Well done, guys. I expected no less from you, Bianca. And you, Ronan, if you keep this up, I'll end up accepting you into my Wednesday classes. Who would've thought a scrawny mage could be so persistent training with a sword and mace…?"

"Professor, they want to sell more loot they brought back. Can they?"

"Loot?"

"Wolf hides, troll hides, and troll blood," I say.

We're not selling everything, just some of it. I mainly want the goblins to benefit from the troll leather for making armor.

Hearing that, Catrina nods appreciatively.

"Very good, I see you've done your research and even brought flasks to collect the blood. And you've got guts; not everyone's capable of getting materials from a corpse."

Hearing her, I nod and try not to let on that I, for one, definitely don't have guts. Ronan, though, I can totally see him knife in hand, butchering a corpse. I mean, Bob, Tom, and Joe do it, but he could definitely do it too.

"I'll send a couple of assistants to where you have it. You give it to them, and we'll appraise it and give you the money. These materials are extras, so obviously I'm not going to rip you off by giving you points. The price, though, will be a bit lower than what you can get in the city, but you'll also save yourselves the trip and the time."

"Sounds fair, thank you very much," I tell her.

Ronan nods, also in agreement.

They only give us fifty more sacks. Even with Catrina there, I can't get them to give us more, not even by explaining that I think we can now clear four or five villages per dungeon trip.

"No. Fifty, and those are the last ones we're giving you because otherwise we'll have too many eggs, more than what we've been commissioned for. There are a few left that we're saving for Octavius's group. Honestly, this is a quest we've never managed to complete; there were always alchemists wanting to buy more eggs. And Octavius's group, what did you do to them?" She lets out a laugh. "He came in almost whimpering and complaining. I had to talk to his sister to get anything clear. Apparently, they've broken up the group. She got tired of the guy's snubs."

"Us? Nothing. They attacked Ronan's undead, and they just defended themselves minimally."

"If one of your skeletons knocked out Octavius when he tried to attack you, I would've loved to see it. That kid is the fire magic professor's favorite. I find it refreshing that someone knocked him down a peg. Well done, Ronan," she says with a smile.

Hmm… rivalry between professors?

Because I think I'm like Catrina's favorite student, at least among the first-years, with her taking me on as a special student. Though the fire magic professor, who I see on Tuesdays, also treats me like I'm his star student. Do they get extra pay if their students excel?

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We'll see what happens when private lessons resume. He might treat me worse because of the Octavius incident.

We say goodbye to the professor and her two assistants and go to buy mana potions with the points. The shop isn't in the auditorium itself, but near the academy's storage rooms. We have to go out into the gardens and courtyard to get there. Once there, a middle-aged clerk, balding at the temples, helps us.

He's not one of the assistant professors I saw the other day. Maybe they fill in for the vendor during certain shifts.

"Mana potions?" he says, narrowing his eyes at Ronan. "A student with dark magic affinity… That's you, isn't it? The one who cleared out Solstar's potions."

"Cleared out?" I stare at Ronan, surprised.

Well, yeah, he spent a ton of money, but I didn't think a shop would have so little in stock.

"I cannot meditate. I need mana to raise my new friends."

"Yes, that's you…" he mutters, bringing his fingers to his chin in a thoughtful gesture. "Well, to be honest, I was expecting you. I ordered more potions from the capital because I figured if a powerful mage bought a lot, he'd earn points in the trials to buy more."

"Thanks, that was very considerate of you," Ronan replies. "With 62 points, I should be able to buy six, correct?"

The man laughs.

"You already have sixty-two points? Indeed, sixty points are six medium mana potions."

The ones that give fifteen mana points and cost 4 gold coins in Solstar. A bit pricey in points, but better than nothing.

"Even if you need more, I can't sell them to you for money," he said, and I think he's anticipating what Ronan is about to ask him. "But I imagine Solstar will have restocked by now."

I'm going to have to tell Ronan to stop raising skeletons and zombies like this, or he's going to go broke. Plus, he just got six medium ones, no less. With that, he should be able to raise hordes of undead.

"And do you have anything with a socket slot for a gem?" I ask.

The man whistles.

"You're not asking for little. I have a +1 Strength ring. That would be 50 points."

Wow, if they were surprised we had 62, I figure that ring must be what a student buys after 15 days if they're lucky.

"And anything that gives constitution?"

"A pair of leather bracers, 39 points."

"Can you combine points with your party to buy something more valuable?"

"Not that you need it now," he replies thoughtfully. "Though it's true I get asked that every year. Yes, if you two come to an agreement, no problem."

"Thanks."

"So, you want me to show you the most expensive items I have?"

Uh. I think my eyes must be lighting up at the idea. But it also scares me; what if I see something I love, something that screams it's made for me, and then it turns out I can't buy it?

"Okay. For now, I'll take the ring, and please hold the bracers for me; I'll be back for them as soon as I have the points."

"No problem," he says, handing me the ring.

By the way, the points aren't tokens they've given us like coins that I'm now handing back to the vendor. Rather, the academy has a parchment for this. Our names and our point balance are there. The assistant professor changed it when we handed in the egg sacks, and now the vendor is taking out a copy of that parchment. With a quill, he crosses out my 62 points, which vanish, and then writes 12.

Master-level air magic, Ronan whispers in my mind. I asked about it when I took my money to the bank and saw they had this same method for keeping accounts.

Curious. Since I don't think there are many mages with a spell at that level, I don't think this is very common.

Do you know who created these parchments? I ask him mentally as I put the ring on my finger and feel a little stronger.

I'll go to my room later to get the gem and socket it.

Possibly the Rector; he has air magic.

"By the way, I see you owe us 3 points for some arrows. If you want, I can take them off your account," the vendor notes.

"Sure, of course."

I watch as he picks up the pen again and changes the 12 to a 9. Good thing I know the teachers keep track of the total points we've earned, or right now I'd be freaking out about my ranking points.

"Now, if you'll give me a moment," he tells us and heads towards an adjoining room.

That is, there's the counter they've set up, the shelves behind the clerk with merchandise for sale, and next to those shelves, a door that possibly connects to one of the academy's storage rooms.

He returns shortly, carrying several items.

"The most expensive goods we have range from 200 to 300 points. That includes everything from a carriage with horses to the use of a mansion with its servants for a vacation after classes end. The latter, valued at 300 points, is quite popular when many students decide to pool their points to go have fun for a few weeks. Of course, assistant professors accompany them."

Interesting. I can understand that. If they go with their friends to their dad's manor, they have adults all over them. This, however, would be like a college study trip.

Though, honestly, there's no way I'd spend my points on that.

"These are grimoires, from 250 to 300 points each," the vendor says, indicating three books he's placed on the table. "As you can see, I've brought the ones I have for your magic types: darkness and earth."

"May I?" I ask, reaching out my hand.

"Go ahead."

There are two for earth. One seems to be for studying, practicing, and learning the stone shield spell, and the other, for the creation of an earth golem. Very interesting. The darkness one teaches a curse: drought.

Judging by Ronan's disappointment when he sees it, especially after I tell him it's a curse, I imagine he's looking for something more powerful, like a plague or a pestilence. But of course, they're not going to give that to a student with a dark affinity who could use it for harm. Drought is bad for fields and animals, but at least it doesn't make a city's population gravely ill.

Yes, I think the two earth grimoires are better. A dome-like defensive shield and a golem. I wouldn't pay for the first one; I don't think it would be too hard to learn it myself once my earth control improves. But the second one? Definitely yes. I doubt you'd start by making something as massive and deadly as the desert dungeon's boss, but it would still be a great starting point.

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