“There are only nine levels?” Illyan asked as he took the tool into his hand carefully.

“From what I heard, those are the most common levels of talent. However, there are always exceptions,” Korin replied.

After saying that, he pointed at the sharp tip that looked like a needle.

“You only need to prick your finger with this to draw blood. Then, based on the affinity, the liquid inside, acting as a reagent, should start to luminesce with a light blue color. The better the talent, the more the liquid would shine. Then, based on the measurement scale, we can deduce the affinity you have towards the mana.”

“Hmmm….” Illyan looked at the needle and felt the need to ask.

“Is it disinfected?”

Korin was at first surprised that Illyan asked this kind of question, but then he realized the reason and burst into laughter.

“I almost forgot that you are not majoring in mathematics but in medicine! What a shame!”

He took a moment to calm himself a little and then he put his monocle, which almost fell off, properly on his eye.

“Do not worry, I would not make such a mistake.”

“Alright then.” Illyan nodded and without any delay, he pricked his finger. Despite not showing any emotions, there was kind of anticipation deep in his heart. Nobody wanted to be ordinary.

A tiny droplet of blood showed up on his finger and stained the needle. It didn’t take long before the droplet was sucked upward through some unknown means and disappeared into the middle part of the tool, which was covered by a metallic part.

For a moment, nothing happened, which made Illyan unnerved, but seeing that Korin still waited, he didn’t assume anything yet.

After a while, something started happening. The liquid inside started to bubble as if it reached boiling point. Slowly, the liquid started to luminesce from the lowest point, slowly budding its way through.

It went slowly but surely.

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

It was only after it reached 0.3, not even one full level, before the boiling started to calm down.

“Sigh…” Korin was visibly disappointed. Illyan also felt a tinge of disappointment but quickly erased it from his mind. At least, there was no chance that someone would be interested in his talent.

“I guess this means I am not talented, huh. Is it impossible to use mana with this?” What he was really interested in was whether he could use this mana. If it was really zero talent then it would be hopeless, but if talent of 0.3 was enough to make slow progress then he didn’t mind.

Korin visibly hesitated before trying to formulate an answer.

“It is not like it is impossible. Although negligible, you still have affinity. Slightly lower than the average person who has around 0.5 on the scale. Some magisters don’t depend only on their affinity towards the mana and use other methods to control it. However, with such affinity, you would need years before being able to even feel the mana let alone control it. I apologize, Kaoran. I really hoped you would have at least level 3…”

Looking at his visage, Illyan just shook his head.

“No matter. It is not like I planned to become a magister. I was just curious.”

That was a lie. This was the profession he was looking for. However, he didn’t have a reason to tell this to Korin.

“I’m relieved then. It would be too bad if you became dejected and then missed your chance and failed the examination a few months later.”

Korin sighed in relief. He didn’t want to shake Illyan’s mind. In truth, he always felt that Illyan was special. That’s why he didn’t waste his time walking around circles before letting him measure his affinity.

Fortunately, Illyan wasn’t like other children his age. Even if they didn’t plan on becoming magisters, there would still be a gloomy atmosphere around them whenever he measured their affinity.

“By the way, what are the other ways to control that mana?” Illyan asked with a curious glance.

Korin looked at him worriedly, which made him crack a small smile.

“You can’t just say all of this without satisfying my curiosity, Mr. Korin.”

That made the old gentleman feel awkward for a second. Unconsciously, he touched his mustache again as he kneaded it.

“I don’t know much about the details but I heard that some of them are using only the power of their mind to control mana. Others could use some kind of runes or incantations. That’s what I heard only. But what I know for sure is that some of them use mathematical formulas to help themselves.” After saying that, Korin looked a little taller as he puffed up his chest.

Mathematics was his strongest ability after all.

“Huh? How can this knowledge help at all?” This made Illyan confused.

“Well… I don’t know. But since you read the ‘basics of mathematics’ book then you should know how useful math is in so many fields. In most fields, actually. It is like the universal language of this world. I can’t say for sure how they use it, but that is because I have no deeper knowledge about magisters. In truth, the only way I found out about all of this was because one of the Magisters of Magic Engineering Department of the Royal Family of Arkravav Empire discussed mathematics with me in hope of finding inspiration over 30 years ago.”

He didn’t know much. Only the basic things that were once said in front of him by those behemoths…

“To tell you the truth, I think you have great potential in this field. That’s why I wanted to test you as soon as possible. Unfortunately…” Korin shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter. If you will be as diligent as you are now then in a few decades you will be able to reach the position of Chief Academic like me. You would then have a smooth sailing life in front of you. Why won’t you consider a change of fields? I know that as an academic with several specializations myself, you could learn several fields over years but mathematics and medicine aren't going well hand in hand…”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Korin changed the topic while also giving Illyan an image of what he could accomplish even if he wasn’t talented in mana…

He also wanted to entice Illyan to become a mathematician instead of a physician. He was still a beginner, but the questions he was giving Korin showed that he actually knew what he was learning, which would normally take a long time for people to learn. No matter how difficult formulas you could calculate, if you couldn’t put it into a real-life scenario then it was useless knowledge of theory.

But Illyan learned math for this exact reason. If it was useless to him then he wouldn’t learn it with such passion.

And this made Korin admire him a little. Even he wasn’t so passionate in his younger years. He would still strive to enjoy his life with friends most of the time instead of hiding in the library all day.

Hearing this all, Illyan just shook his head.

“Thank you for the compliment. However, I have been learning medicine for almost ten years now. On the other hand, math is something I started learning just a month ago. The disparity is too high. If I choose the latter then I wouldn’t become academic any time soon. I want to get my residence as soon as possible.”

“Oh? Why the need?” Korin asked curiously.

“I need the land to grow the herbs and I need the lab to create my medicine. While I can get my office inside, I still prefer to have my privacy.”

To that, Illyan only shrugged. What he said was the truth albeit not the entire one. There were wild ideas as to what to do in that residence once he gets hands on one.

“Hmmm…. I guess I can sympathize with that. Back in the years I also immediately bought the residence once I saved up the money. In the end, I had to move into the capital only after a few months of living inside of it. I still feel bitter thinking about it.”

Although he said that, his face showed more wrinkles as he laughed.

“How about this Kaoran? I still own the residency. Back in the day, it cost me around 30 gold coins to buy it. Its price should have been raised during this time, but since I left and didn’t leave anyone to take care of it then it remained in horrible state. But… Otherwise the quality of this residence is higher than those available nowadays. It is on the outskirts of the town on the western mountain slope. I bought it from one small noble who was given an official position by the King. Little did we know that half a year later we would meet again as colleagues, heh…”

Korin laughed as he remembered the good old memories.

“What I wanted to say is this: I can sell you the residency for ten gold coins. I am aware that now it would be too much for you, so you would pay it off to me gradually.”

After saying that, Illyan narrowed his eyes. Ten golds were a lot of money to him, but he was aware that it was only a matter of time before he managed to get that much. He was also aware that normal residences cost even more, so he was sure that Korin wasn’t after money. While he didn’t think that Korin was a bad person, he wasn’t too keen to believe someone would be so willing to help him.

“What are the conditions?” So he asked the obvious.

Korin, who heard that, took out some kind of parchment, took a quill, and started scribbling something on it before he gave it to Illyan.

“The only condition is for you to not give up on mathematics and once you reach a higher level then help me out with one mathematical problem that I have had difficulties with for a long time. It means a lot to me. This is the contract between us with the stamp of the kingdom and the institution which would give it legitimacy. Nothing too serious. Only that you will not give up on mathematics and will continue in studying it until you reach a certain point where you would be able to assist me…”

Illyan looked at the contract and there were the same words on it. The main condition, however, was to reach a theoretical level of at least a senior academic in ten years…

“You mentioned it before but there are divisions between academics?” Illyan asked with sincere curiosity.

“Of course. There are differences between the depth of knowledge of academics and the difference in the number of fields they are specialized in after all.”

Korin immediately nodded as he explained.

“When you first come here you would become an Apprentice Academic. Those are unofficial ones who are basically just students or some low-level assistants. Then you become a Junior Academic who is specialized in at least one field. After that, there is Associate Academic, Senior Academic, Chief Academic, and at last Court Scholar who works for the King. The higher position the deeper level of the knowledge you have to master…”

After explaining that, Illyan frowned.

“Wouldn’t that be hard?”

He was just a beginner in the field and was nowhere close to becoming a junior, let alone senior academic.

“That is true. It would be impossible for normal people who are self-studying. However, since I have this request, I would not shy away from helping you. Not only can you come to my office as often as you need to ask about anything, you can also take my personal books about mathematics. There are some rare pieces that are not accessible to the public even in the Arkravav Empire!”

“That sounds tempting. But what if I won’t reach that level in ten years? Also, why didn’t you give this opportunity to other people? You have the residency for years after all…”

Illyan sounded only curious but in truth he started becoming more than wary. This kind of deal sounded too beneficial to him.

“Hohohoh~” However, Korin just chuckled.

“I almost forgot to write that. Give me the parchment. Hmmm… How about this?”

He showed two fingers while continuing.

“Every year after the first ten years your interest will be raised by 20%. This increase will last for another ten years.”

Illyan thought about it. It sounded like a lot of money he didn't really care for as ten years was enough to reach a senior's knowledge level in his opinion and so he nodded.

“Alright. As for your second question… I made the same contract with others. Many of them were those who I tested for their talent too. However, everyone is interested in different things. There is a reason why most academics are hidden inside of the institution’s walls.”

Illyan nodded. It made sense if he said it like that. But Illyan still felt something was fishy. Not to mention…

‘This parchment is weird…’

The parchment they wrote the contract on was different. He didn’t see anything weird with his eyes of truth at the start but the more he looked at it the more dissonant it felt from normal parchments. It wasn’t the quality. That was definitely better but not so much to result in this feeling.

“So? If you agree with the deal you only need to write down your name here. Then you will have a long time to deepen your knowledge to the requested height.”

It was at that moment when Illyan heard, with his acute Korin’s heart beating slightly quicker through the distance. The only time he had such a quick beating of his heart was when he anticipated the results of Illyan’s test.

And this was the last straw that broke Illyan’s slowly raised trust in this man. He didn’t know what he was planning, but he could guess that it was nothing good.

However, Illyan wasn’t too disappointed as he was always guarded around new relationships. Even with his new group, they looked like good friends.

He didn’t have time to make friends. He needed to get stronger before someone killed him.

‘Hmmm?’ However, he suddenly realized something weird.

‘Why would I think someone wants to kill me? H-Hmmm?! Wait, why am I in such a hurry to get stronger anyway since I have a long lifespan anyway?’

Suddenly, a long-forgotten memory ran through his mind. It was the fragment of truth he saw when he was pinned to the Frozen Worm…

‘How could I forget something like this?!’

He was alarmed when he realized this. Illyan quickly looked up to Korin who was still waiting for his answer eagerly and immediately dismissed him as the culprit.

This was some different problem altogether.

However, when he realized that Korin was waiting, he forced a smile and agreed.

“Sure, I will agree to it. The house is exactly what I need.”

“Oh? That’s great! Do you want to visit the residence before finalizing the contract?” Korin asked kindly.

“There is no need. I believe in Mr. Korin’s upbringing. I am also not demanding regarding this.” While the first sentence was a complete lie, the second one was true. He was in dire need of a private residence, but it didn’t need to be luxurious. He lived almost a decade in a tent and was used to discomfort after all.

As for the contract itself… The words written on the surface were just about paying little money so he didn’t have a problem with it. As for the deeper meaning, he had one simple countermeasure against it.

And so, he didn’t hesitate and started scribbling the name on the contract.

There were no suspicious words on it so if there was something wrong with it then it had to be on some more profound level. He heard that you could, for example, form contracts with spirits or beasts. Swearing to heavens was also a form of contract. Not feeble contracts based on mutual agreement that normal people use and that Korin made him believe this one was.

He also heard that there could be hidden clauses in it that could cause big problems to those who wrote their names on it.

Illyan smirked in his heart.

“Done.”

He gave the parchment to Korin who seemed to be heartened.

“Alright! I will make sure to change the ownership to you as soon as possible. There are some legal procedures so you will need to wait for a bit. I think you could have it by the time your examination begins…” When he checked that there was properly written ‘Kaoran’ on the contract he was satisfied.

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Korin.”

Illyan made a happy expression as he showed his gratitude to Korin.

After that, they talked a little about the details of the deal before Illyan excused himself.

However, the moment he left the room his happy expression disappeared and in its left stayed only cold visage.

‘Hmph… If you think you can swindle me then you should be prepared to be swindled yourself.’