Chapter 60: Chapter 60 Academy Rewards
The magic stones kept accumulating, soon forming a small pile.
The Flame Giant halted its steps as a wave of mental fluctuation was sent toward Richard.
“A penalty of 10,000 magic stones for breach of contract, 5,000 magic stones to establish the contract, and 100 magic stones each month, with a minimum contract duration of twenty years. Throughout the contract period, all of my magic power consumption is your responsibility, and I may opt not to execute orders that would lead to certain death.”
Richard’s expression stiffened, the figure was a bit beyond his acceptance range.
But he immediately thought of a method.
“I won’t pay you the breach-of-contract penalty, but I can spend a thousand magic stones to hire you to go easy in the upcoming battle, and then use this condition to hire you.”
The Flame Giant pondered for a few seconds, during which time Holder kept issuing mental commands for it to attack, making it somewhat irritated.
Its contract with Holder wasn’t a Slave Contract either, but a Hiring Contract.
It was a subject of Flame Lord Field, not a servant of wizards.
“Human, I want you to make a contract.”
Without another word, Richard pulled out a contract template from his pocket and quickly wrote down the terms.
In this contract, Richard would pay a thousand magic stones to the Flame Giant after Holder’s death and employ the Flame Giant for the cost of 5,000 magic stones to establish the contract, 100 magic stones each month, for a duration of twenty years.
The contract didn’t explicitly state that the Flame Giant had to go easy, but both sides knew what was to their advantage.
“Philster, I command you to attack!”
Holder issued the command again, but this time, the Flame Giant obeyed the order, albeit… very slowly.
Holder’s face turned ashen as he witnessed the scene; he didn’t know what exactly Richard had done to Philster, but the Flame Giant’s current actions were undoubtedly disadvantageous to him.
Richard gave him a radiant smile.
This was the consequence of trying to outsmart the system.
Normally, when wizards contract with elemental creatures, they use Slave Contracts, which require the elemental creatures to execute the wizard’s commands fully; if they disobey, the wizard can end their life with a single thought.
But the prerequisite for signing a Slave Contract is that the wizard must be stronger than the elemental creature, capable of making the elemental creature choose between signing the contract or dying immediately.
However, Holder, being only an Intermediate Apprentice, didn’t possess the strength to do so. Moreover, if Holder used a wizard’s power to sign a Slave Contract, then the Flame Giant couldn’t be brought into the examination room.
The items allowed into the exam must either be made by the Wizard Apprentice themselves or purchased through legitimate means with magic stones.
If not for this rule, Richard could easily ask Jolod to give him a wizard-level combat beast to bring into the exam room.
But that would defeat the purpose of the exam.
Therefore, the only type of contract Holder could sign was a Hiring Contract.
As is well known, mercenaries are mostly creatures of opportunity.
With a better offer from Richard, there was no reason for the Flame Giant to refuse.
Ali was somewhat confused at the moment, but she could still see that the Flame Giant was holding back.
Without the Flame Giant’s obstruction, she and Richard would be sufficient to kill Holder.
“Richard, the old method.”
Richard understood instantly and immediately stepped forward to engage Holder while the Flame Giant ‘swiftly’ pursued behind Richard.
Seeing the situation go beyond his expectations, Holder quickly pulled out a scroll from his pocket, deciding… to run away.
Better to preserve the green mountains than worry about not having firewood to burn.
But before he could activate the scroll, a loud explosion caused his arm to tremble.
His magic barrier was nearly cloven by Richard’s Black Sword, and the dark flames spread rapidly along the barrier, his magic power plummeting swiftly.
He glanced at Ali and noticed that she too was brewing a spell.
As for the Flame Giant, the Flame Giant was still ‘hastily pursuing’ Richard.
Holder clenched his teeth and immediately tore open the scroll in his hands. The next moment, he vanished into a beam of light.
“So quick to chicken out.”
Richard let out a cold laugh, then switched his view to Wuni.
“Five hundred meters east, Ali, let’s go!”
Five days later, Holder watched in despair as a terrifying fireball flew towards him. Without the Flame Giant, he was just a slightly stronger Intermediate Apprentice, not much different from Richard and Ali.
As Holder turned to ash, his contract with the Flame Giant also came to an end.
Richard, according to the contract, paid the Magic Stone to the Flame Giant and signed a twenty-year Mercenary Contract with him.
Thanks to Holder and the blind Apprentice’s suicidal actions, Richard and Ali’s points soared. Richard, having killed the blind Apprentice and Koguk, firmly topped the leaderboard, while Ali, having killed Holder, climbed to seventh.
The initial Mosquito Monster, due to their pursuit of Holder, was unknowingly picked off by some Apprentice. If they could have also killed that Mosquito Monster, Ali’s points could have reached the top three.
However, Ali had no complaints about this.
Getting into the top ten had already fulfilled her goal.
The five-day chase left both of them exhausted, both physically and mentally. No apprentice of a Wizard was mediocre, and the Wizards’ methods were manifold and varied. If they couldn’t win a fight, they always had a way to escape.
“Let’s rest for a couple of days; it will all be over soon,” Richard suggested.
Ali, also weary, agreed:
Nine days later, the examination ended.
As the Magic Airship descended onto the center of the exam field, the surviving Apprentices were in tears.
It was over; they were still alive.
Back at the Academy, the first thing done was to tally the marks.
More than four thousand Apprentices participated in the exam, but only over a thousand survived.
More than half of the Wizard Apprentices became the stepping stones for other Apprentices and Wizards’ paths.
Richard had sixty-two marks, which equated to six thousand two hundred Magic Stones. Including the Magic Stones, materials, and Magic Equipment obtained from killing others, Richard’s earnings from this exam were close to ten thousand Magic Stones.
But Richard was quite calm about it.
The reward for the leaderboard was soon announced to the top ten Apprentices, as mentioned before, the reward was to explore the Great Wizard’s Secret Realm.
However, due to some urgent matters of the Great Wizard, the time to enter the Secret Realm was postponed by two years, which caused Richard some disappointment.
Ninety-ninth floor of the Central Black Tower.
“The Great Wizard’s Secret Realm is really a great place,” Jolod handed the Magic Stone reward distributed by the Academy to Richard. “Though the Great Wizard’s Secret Realm is not as vast as those from the old Academies, it is still a Secret Realm that has separated from the Wizard World, and it is definitely a blessing for you.”
Beside him, Chax, who also finished the exam, looked enviously at Richard.
He was just short of points from making the top ten, and thus he missed out on exploring the Secret Realm.
“Teacher, what exactly is this Secret Realm?” Richard asked in confusion.
He had checked many books in the library, but the explanations about the Secret Realm were fragmented and hazy, leaving him puzzled.
Jolod cleared his throat and explained:
“Richard, the planes we usually talk about can fragment into some Space Fragments at certain moments. Most of these fragments disappear shortly after they split, but a small portion will continue to exist for a long time after the split.
These fragments are what we call the Secret Realms.
The eras of these fragments often differ from the current era of the plane, the environment likewise. For example, we are now in the Pioneering Age, but inside a Space Fragment that has separated from the Wizard World, it might be the Enlightenment Age, or even the Dark Age of the Wizard World.”
As he spoke, Jolod’s eyes flashed with fervor.
“Can you imagine, in some Great Wizard’s Secret Realm, some creatures that have gone extinct in the current Wizard World might still exist. These creatures went extinct before we were born, but we can still find them in the Secret Realm. To understand their habits, structure, and even their effects.
That kind of experience is something you can’t buy with any amount of Magic Stones.”