Most of the students of the Ernst Academy would stay at the Institute for decades, so usually by the time of graduation, fellow dormmates would be extremely close friends. Although Yale, Reynolds, Linley and George were all more mature than most others their age, at heart, they were still children.

After just chatting for a short period of time, the four of them immediately grew very close.

"Everyone, let's spend the day getting to know our campus better. Tonight, I'll treat you all to dinner!" Yale said enthusiastically.

"This guy even has a magic crystal card. If we don't take advantage of him, who else would we take advantage of?" Reynolds laughed.

George and Linley were both still children, and they immediately grinned evilly.

"Squeak squeak!" At this moment, the little Shadowmouse, 'Bebe', suddenly popped his head out from within Linley's clothes.

"Whoah, what's that?" Reynolds was so startled he jumped.

"Bebe, you woke up?" Linley laughed as he stroked Bebe's little head. Bebe closed his eyes in contentment, and then opened his little eyes and peered at Reynolds, Yale, and George. His little nose snorted three times, as though he looked down at them.

A little tick appeared on Reynold's head that soon disappeared.

They played around with Bebe for a while before George turned to all three of them.

"I bet everyone hasn't had a chance to get a good look at the campus yet, right? Let's go for a stroll and familiarise ourselves, shall we?" George smiled as he spoke. They roamed around for a while and ate dinner.

Of the four bros, George was the most amiable and steadiest boy. Reynolds was the most childish one of them. Linley was the most mysterious. And as for Yale....Yale was a rich kid who simply wanted to ensure his survival.

Everyone hit it off quite well and grew closer to each other in just one day.

From next day, the classes in Ernst Institute started. Although the next day was only meant to go and listen to the exhortations of school management to work hard, Yale and the rest went to the auditorium and listened to people encouraging them...

While listening to one of the old guys with pointed hat, a chime came from Yale's pocket that attracted the attention of Reynold sitting beside him.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"You know. The chime."

"What chime? Stop daydreaming and listen carefully."

Yale himself had been daydreaming so it was safe to say that Reynolds was probably daydreaming himself. Upon hearing Yale's answer, Reynolds became confused and focused back to the old man with pointy hat.

Yale carefully took out the smartphone and checked the contents of the unread message.

Surprisingly it was the quest from admin.

Yale grunted at the ill timed message and put the phone on silent before reading the quest description.

--Quest: Run 100 km in two days. Rewards: ??? Function unlocked--

Yale's eyes popped out of his sockets upon seeing the quest.

Did the admin want him to die?

Yale scoffed and wanted to reject the quest but when he saw ???, he remembered the rule 737.

'Fu**!

I need to find a way to do it.' Yale thought.

With his current stats, no matter how much he pushes himself, he won't be able to do it. Yale still remembered the day he ran for 10 kms. His body kept making noises even after two days. The occasional pangs of pain subsided only after the third day.

Thus, this task was completely impossible for the current him.

'What if I run for 50 km in one day and run the rest next day? Nah, that won't work either. Even if I somehow complete the first 50 km in one day, I am sure that I won't have ny strength left for the next day. And Its not like I have novelisque power of friendship either to keep me on my toes. I know myself, there is no way I can do this quest....'

Yale weighed all his options as he stared at the ??? function reward. No matter how bad it turns out, it would still be a new function of his golden finger. He had to do it somehow.

Thus he kept brainstorming.

Suddenly a bulb went off in his head and his grin widened.

"That'll be all."

As if on the queue, the dignitary addressing the new students concluded the function while the faces of children listening to him brightened up. They had long wanted to make him shut up. A few had even clapped mid speech to tell the old man on the stage to finish off his so called greeting but the old coot did not understand. Thus when he ended his greeting, children ran out of auditorium like prisoners.

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Yale came out of auditorium with his friends as well but parted with them midway telling them that he wanted to do something.

He went out of the institute and immediately set off to the headquarters of Dawson conglomerates in the capital, Fenlai city. The capital was around 20 kms away thus he hired a carriage.

On his way, he talked to the group members and started browsing the shop section. Browsing the shop has become a sort of daily ritual.

Upon entering the city, Yale headed directly to one of his clan's headquarters in Fenlai City.

This was a nine-floor building, a famous hotel in Fenlai City.

Behind the hotel, there were a number of small buildings that were not open to the public. Yale directly charged into a smaller, two-floor tall red building. As he did, five extravagantly dressed middle-aged men came out. Upon seeing Yale, they all respectfully called out in unison, "Young master Yale!"

Everyone knew that Yale was going to study in Ernst Institute and knew that they would have to occasionally cater his needs. But never would they have thought that the young master Yale would come here the day after his arrival to institute.

The clerks working behind the counter straightened up their backs as they greeted him with warm smiles.

Yale gave them a perfunctory glance as he called out to the manager.

"Walt, where is my Second Uncle?" Yale immediately asked.

Amongst the five middle-aged men, there was one named Walt. He was the only one of them dressed in long black robes. Walt respectfully replied, "His lordship returned to our main headquarters seven days ago. For now, the affairs in the Holy Union are under my management."

Walt knew very well that ever since this second young master became a pupil of the Ernst Institute, his position within the clan's hierarchy had skyrocketed.

Yale was not like one of the ordinary clan members, because Yale was in the direct line of descent. Even Walt's highest supervisor, the 'Second Uncle' in charge of all of the affairs of the Holy Union, wouldn't dare to be discourteous to Yale.

"Young master Yale, if you have anything you need handled, please just let me know." Walt said respectfully.

Yale was quiet for a moment, then gave direct instructions.

"I want you to immediately gather a hundred level 1 beasts and at least fifty level 2 magical beasts. Can you do it?"

"Yes, young master Yale." Walt smiled slightly. "They can be arranged in just a few minutes"

"Just round them up in a warehouse, I shall take them from there." (Yale)

"Yes Young master!"

Walt bowed and gave his subordinates quick instructions before inviting Yale for some snacks. Just a hundred and fifty something beasts were nothing. They can be gathered anytime.

Worthy of their reputation, the workers of Dawson conglomerates were able to gather these small amounts of beasts in just a few minutes and store them all up in a warehouse not far away.

Yale was swiftly brought to the warehouse and left alone as he instructed.

Yale went inside the Warehouse and saw different types of level 1 and level 2 beasts all caged in different cages.

"Alright! I hope this becomes a success."

While muttering, Yale took out a piece of equipment that has been sitting in the smartphone after he got it as a reward.

The sword artifact.

As he brandished the sword from an unknown location, he walked to the nearest magical beast. It was a rat type magical beast that wete too common in the forest of darkness.

The beast was sedated and knew nothing of Yale who walked towards itself with a sword in his hand.

Yale carefully pierced the magical beast with the artifact. It was surprisingly easy. The sword pierced the hide of the magical beast as if a hot knife on the butter.

Yale now experienced firsthand why artifacts were coveted. Its sharpness, durability and inherent qualities made it a hot item to possess.

As the sword pierced the beast, it died after wincing in pain.

Before the blood could drop on the floor, Yale put his hand on the dead yet warm body of the magical beast and activated the grandmist bead.

The body of magical beast was immediately covered up with a unique energy that turned its entire body into a puddle of viscous red blood. The viscous blood turned into a small drop blood that shot itself towards Yale's body.

"Aah!"

As the drop entered Yale's body, a euphoric moan escaped his mouth. His entire body immediately started absorbing the energy stored in the red blood drop as Yale felt his entire being evolving like a butterfly coming out of its cocoon.

When the energy was completely assimilated in his body, Yale felt power coursing through his veins. It was as if he had been reborn.

Yale immediately turned to the next beast with a renewed vigor and directly let the grandmist bead absorb the beast. As the beast did not struggle, grandmist bead converted the magical beast into the drop of viscous red blood.

As Yale absorbed more and more beasts, his entire body started transforming, thus increasing his strength, agility, senses, durability.

When Yale was done with all the level 1 beasts, he felt that his physical body was already comparable to that of a level 1 warrior that only trained his body.

And when Yale absorbed all the level 2 beasts, he felt that his strength was already equal to a level 2 warrior.

This new sudden change left Yale with mixed feelings.

His body was already comparable to a level 2 warrior but that was not all, Yale also felt that his connection with practically all kinds elements has drastically increased. Not to mention, his affinity with lightning element has soared to a level that made Yale's heart skip a beat or two.

This meant that Yale would be able to gather elemental essence and turn them into mageforce at a higher pace.

Although there was no visible increase in his spiritual energy, Yale was still very glad.

yale clenched his fists and walked out of the warehouse with the sword type artifact in his hands.

When Walt saw the artifact, his eyes popped out of his sockets.

"Yo..Young master!!"

But despite the surprise, he didn't dare ask Yale anything. But Yale understood what Walt wanted to ask.

"Oh! This is an artifact. No need to be surprised. Just arrange an auction after proper preparations and sell it at the highest price. I shall leave all the details to you."

Yale threw the sword towards Walt who jumped to grab it as if it was his own child.

Even though he had seen artifacts before, they were still something that held a lot of value. This branch of Dawson conglomerates would only auction artifacts in two or three years so one could image what kind of value these artifacts held.

He didn't dare to be careless.

"Rest assured young master! I shall auction it at the best price."

Yale went out of the headquarters and returned back to the academy, running the entire way.

Last time he ran 10 kms, his body hurt even after two days but now, he didn't even break a sweat. This change gladdened Yale.

A heightened sense of vigor coursed his entire body and Yale felt a need to vent this energy as soon as possible and get used to his newly found strength.

"I should complete the entire quest before returning to the dorm."

Thus, Yale decided to complete the quest first before going back to dorms.

*Ding*

As Yale completed the 100 km run, a chime rang out drawing his attention. When Yake looked at the new function, his eyes popped out of his sockets.