*Ding*

{New Quest Available}

[Quest: Find Your Own Labyrinth]

[Description: Labyrinths are the backbone of every White Zone. If your plan of starting a new Magic Academy is going to come to fruition, then you will need to tame one for yourself.]

[Reward: 1,000 Experience, 1,000,000 Store Credits]

The quest notification from the Magic System was surprising. Damion had not been expecting to receive two new quests in a day. The experience for the quest was about what he expected, but seeing the store credit reward, that was an eye opener. With that many credits, it would be a big step forward to getting the Anti-Regression Potion.

"Is there a way I can work for the Crimson Order without being a member?" Damion suddenly asked. He was trying to think of a way he could make money, but still be free to find a labyrinth. Especially since if he did find one, he would need to leave the Order to pursue this school founding idea.

"The Crimson Order is not picky about their members. If you asked to cooperate with them on missions when you are available, but not officially join, they will let you. The downside is you won't be selected for choice assignments. And, if you decline too many assignments, they will just stop contacting you at all."

"In that case, I think I have an idea of what to do once I graduate. But I'm going to need to build another artifact."

Both women in the ground car looked at Damion, but when he did not elaborate, they let it be. Whatever he was planning, he obviously wanted to make it a surprise for them.

As Damion and Elicia were approaching their dormitory, Phil swooped down to join them as they went in. He had let the Snow Hawk roam free for the day, but now that they were back, the Ferocious Beast wanted to rest indoors.

Elicia started work on dinner, while Damion retreated to his study to work on his idea for a new artifact. Before he started though, he put in a new mission request with the Adventurer Association. He had not thought of it when he was at the Association earlier, but now that he was looking at the 20 gold he spent on test subjects, Damion decided to put some of his money to use buying magic cores.

The 100,000,000 credit price tag of the Anti-Regression Potion seemed a lot more manageable if he could trade in high-ranking cores. Of course, he did not have the money to purchase a ton of cores, but he needed to start somewhere. If he could buy A Rank cores at the cheapest market price, 500 gold, he would only need to buy 20,000 to be able to have the Magic System convert them to credits. B Rank at the cheapest market price of 50 gold would mean he would need 100,000. However, as Damion did the math, he quickly found just A Rank cores would cost him 10,000,000 gold, B Rank would come out cheaper at 5,000,000, but C Rank he would only need to spend 2,000,000. However, at D Rank, the price rose back to 5,000,000 and the total cost, if buying E and F Rank cores, continued to go up.

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C Rank cores were within his reach, if he offered slightly above market value for common cores, he could likely pick up quite a few with the funds he had. Not the 200,000 cores he needed, but his 29 platinum would get him started. Once he left school and could go hunting for a labyrinth on his own, he would have plenty of time to earn money and keep purchasing cores.

When Damion finally took a break from designing his next artifact, Elicia had dinner ready and was looking rather sullen. He had an idea of why she was feeling down, in the last week, between testing his artifact and designing a new one, he had revealed a number of things about himself that she had not known. Because of that, she was beginning to wonder what else she did not know about him.

"Copper for your thoughts," Damion said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"About your affinities? Or your plan to start a rival school? Or your weird ability to instantly learn magic seals? That is why you wanted Arica to come visit right? So, you could trick her into showing you her magic seals? I remember your scan. I saw you had a Spatial affinity glyph there."

"Well, I gained my additional affinities not too long ago, after an experiment. The idea of starting a school, just popped into my head today, and obviously is a farfetched idea right now. But yes, I did invite Arica to come visit in hopes I could learn her spells."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to know more spells? Isn't it obvious? Besides she got something in return. By examining that spatial artifact, her and her master will likely announce a breakthrough in spatial artifact construction in the next few days."

"Yes, speaking of that artifact, that was not one of the ones you took from the Fontane brothers."

"No. I got that one from a member of the Iblis race, in that Unstable Breach from the Wilderness Survival course exam."

Elicia was shocked for a moment. The questions had been piling up in her mind for a while now, but Damion had always been so secretive in the past. Now he was just spewing them out like they were nothing. It made her wonder if he was finally being honest, or if he was lying to cover something else up.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you asked. And I think it is important to be honest with those you love."

Elicia's face went red, and it took her a moment to stammer out a response.

"You love me?"

"Yes."

Elicia practically flew across the table, knocking plates and glasses out of her way to kiss Damion before pulling him into a tight embrace.

"Easy there, Wind Wolf," Damion joked.

"Sorry. I was just… really happy."

"I could tell. How about we clean this up," Damion said. His drink had been knocked in his lap and most of the rest of the food on the table had been knocked to the floor as well.

"Oh. Right," Elicia said, releasing Damion. She started cleaning up and then thought of a question for Damion. "Why did you choose the new affinities you did?"

"I wouldn't say I chose them. They were the ones I happened to get."

"Could you get more?"

"Yes, but I'm waiting until I leave school, no sense in risking exposure here."

"Can you give me another affinity?"

"Your affinity is inside your core. I don't think my method would work for you, since it applies the affinity to the outside of my core. And If you had a second one in your core, it would split your mana. The reason I can have so many is because my mana is neutral. When I cast a spell it goes through the corresponding affinity to become the right type of mana and then into the magic seal and the spell is cast."

"Oh. I was just hoping…"

"I know. But the issue isn't with your affinity, it's A Rank. If anything, your magic talent would need a boost. I'm afraid I don't have a way to do that. But remember what Mage Teft has said time and time again, hard work trumps talent."

"You are right. I will get there on my own."

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