A loud explosion resounded from within Ron's lab. Ron stared at the smoking vial in his hands with indifference before throwing it into the trash. 

It had been over 2 months since Ron's advancement to rank 3, and to be honest, the days all passed by in a blur for him.

He really enjoyed what he did, and there was never any time in which he wasn't doing something. 6 days a week, he would learn or experiment with his professor, doing all sorts of things, ranging from attempting to breed a four-eyed, 6-meter tall monkey with a dog the size of a horse to gardening for precious plants.

Then, in his free days and during the night, he would usually carefully work on his potions, trying his hand at hundreds of different recipes.

While he wasn't quite at the level of being able to make up his own recipes, he had definitely become much, much better after almost two thousand attempts, regardless if they failed or succeeded. 

Ron shook his head in disappointment before cleaning up and heading back to his room. There, he crouched next to his bed and pulled out a crate filled with neatly lined up potions.

He'd arranged them by type, hence, strength potions were on one side, speed potions on another side, etc. Ron hummed a little tune to himself as he carefully checked over everything just to make sure there were no problems before storing them away once more.

'I'll go sell them all tomorrow. My work of over 3 months... I wonder how much I'll end up making?' Ron looked forward to it. Despite him not truly needing any cash with everything he had access to for free, he still felt happy about the prospect of getting his own money. Well, crystals, in this case.

He'd even ended up buying some crystals off of his teacher in exchange for some of his potions, which he then used to buy more materials. His teacher had looked at him humorously when he'd asked to do so, knowing full well that his student could have just gone to the market and sold them at a higher price there.

But that was not Ron's plan. After all, if he was going to be hailed as a potioneering genius as well, as his teacher had once commented, then he was going to do so in style. And what better way to do so than to start off with a bang?

Perhaps it was misplaced pride, but Ron really didn't see much problem with it. Ron visited the market once every two weeks, give or take a few days, and he'd usually buy his ingredients at that time. 

Apparently, he'd become infamous through the entirety of the mausoleum. Whenever he was away from the safety of his room or lab, people would be watching him like hawks, observing his every move. He'd even spotted some official magi eyeing him as of late, but they would always quickly leave.

Actually, Ron suspected that his teacher had done something to cause most official magi to avoid him. He was quite thankful for that, as he had little wish to speak to such people without the safety of a clear and stable relationship like the one he had with his teacher.

Ron's cheeks reddened at the thought, quickly discarding the thought. He and his teacher's relationship was purely a student-teacher one, and nothing more... Which was a real shame, Ron thought, wistfully.

'Get your head out of your ass, you slut. You've got more important things to worry about than your little crush.' Ron mocked himself with a wry smile before beginning his meditation for the day.

His sea of consciousness was growing along nicely, getting bigger and purer each day. After having formed his pseudo-flame as well as a small lake in it, his rate of cultivation had greatly increased, now being able to attract many more energy particles and much more quickly. Furthermore, the purity of the particles after being chewed on by the ever-growing flame was also much better than before.

An hour later, Ron was finished with his meditation, feeling quite tired. Still, seeing that he still had some time before his self-set bedtime, he decided to do some knight training, something that he'd been doing less and less lately.

After all, while the stronger body and sheer strength and speed his Grand Knight rank gave him were great, it wasn't as important as his magus realm was.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

After doing some light exercise and cultivating his breathing technique, Ron was finally ready to sleep, which he promptly did.

The next day, as planned, he made his way over to the acolyte market, carrying a large chest with him. Ignoring the usual looks he received from the swarm of bootlickers surrounding him, he looked around before finding his favorite stall.

Walking up to him, he saw the bored acolyte manning it perk up when he saw Ron coming, and with some goodies in his hands, too. Unlike Ron, these acolytes lived and died for magic crystals, as without them, they would have no future.

Hence, for profits, these acolytes wouldn't hesitate to slash each other's throats. Honestly, had Ron been any less pampered than he was, even he would likely not have been so uncaring regarding his crystals, or rather, his lack of thereof.

"Good morning, princess! Have you come to do business at my stall? Come, come! I am very happy to see you here!" The acolyte, a thin man who must have at least been in his thirties, quickly and politely allowed Ron to drop his crate on the stall's counter.

"Yes, yes. Give it a look and tell me how much you can give me." Ron said, not bothering to pay the acolyte too much attention, instead taking his time to glare at anyone who'd been watching him like he was some sort of TV show star.

The acolyte's eyes were shining, and drool almost seemed to be coming out of his mouth as he opened the crate and stared inside. He gulped down his saliva before carefully picking up one of the vials and examining it. 

"These... So many of them! And they're so well done! I don't think I can even afford this many..." The acolyte's face scrunched up, obviously unhappy at the prospect. Ron just raised an eyebrow at him, looking at him weirdly as he muttered things to himself, giggling like a man possessed.

'Weirdo...' Ron thought, but he didn't actually feel too unhappy. The man had become his to-go person for his potioneering ingredients, seeing as he was a rank 3 acolyte as well, and a rather strong one at that. Hence, he was more appropriate to trade with than the weaker acolytes, since they would often lack what he needed.

"I'll accept payment in shipment. I just want this off my hands so I have more space to work with." Ron said casually, causing the acolyte in front of him to grin widely.

"Great! If you weren't such a celebrity, I'd ask to marry you, but unfortunately, I'd probably get executed if I did! Haha... That was a joke, please don't kill me." The man said jokingly, and Ron could tell from his tone that he was lying through his teeth. He rolled his eyes internally, having known the man for some time now, he could tell that the man wasn't at all interested in Ron, but rather, his sweet, sweet money.

"How about this, princess. I'll hand over all of my crystals to you, and in a month, you can come back to pick up the rest I owe you. As an apology, any ingredients in this shop are 50% off for you. How about it?" The man offered, to which Ron just shrugged. He treated potions as a hobby, and maybe as something that could make him money. He didn't really care that much in the end.

"Sure. Whatever. Oh, by the way, have you found any of those things I've asked for?" The man's face scrunched up at Ron's words, and with an apologetic look, he shook his head.

"My apologies, princess. I asked all my contacts, and they asked all of theirs, but unfortunately, the feathers of a Flaming Flamingo are simply too rare. Even with the rewards you promised, it's not something acolytes can obtain this easily." The man explained, cold sweat forming on his back.

Thankfully, Ron didn't look offended. Instead, he just shrugged. "Oh, well. I knew I was unlikely to obtain any. What a shame. They would have been quite helpful to my cultivation. I guess I'll just buy them off of teacher for a higher price." Ron said, murmuring the last part to himself, although the man likely still heard him.

After completing the transactions and receiving all of the acolyte's magic crystals, Ron made his way to his teacher's lab. In there, Ron found the sexy man tinkering with some sort of scalding metal, holding the thing up using his spiritual force.

"Oh, good. You're here. I suppose you didn't find what you were looking for?" His teacher asked, and Ron had to tear his eyes away from the man's bare chest to redirect them at his eyes, and even then, he struggled not to take little peeks.

"O-oh, yes! I mean, no! I didn't find it. Do you... have it?" Ron asked, stuttering a bit as his cheeks reddened. The man rolled his eyes, albeit good-naturedly, and replied with a 'duh' tone. "Of course. A friend of mine had some in stock, and I bought them off of him. Although you're my student, I do not wish to spoil you too much, hence, you'll need to pay me an equivalent price, but I'm going to guess that's not a problem anymore, is it?" Loki asked, a slight smile forming on his face.

"Yeah. I'm rich now." Ron joked, showing his teacher his 30 medium-grade magic crystals, which in total amounted to 3000 common ones. The man nodded and plucked 12 of them away, causing Ron's face to dim a bit.

The man snorted when he saw this, and after a moment of thought, he sighed and handed back two of the crystals he'd taken. "Fine... You've been very diligent all this time, so I suppose I'll allow you some leeway. I already had the feathers delivered to your room." Loki said.

"N-no need, teacher! I'm already very glad that you've taken the time to help me!" Ron quickly denied. He liked his crystals, but not so much as to make his teacher unhappy. Besides, although the amount was likely not even pittance in Loki's eyes, Ron wanted to somehow repay the man for his efforts in nurturing him, even if it was in little things like this.

"Haha... Well then, I won't hold back." Loki said, taking back the two crystals before retreating.

"Well, let's begin. I'm looking forward to the day you shock the world." Loki casually said, causing Ron's cheeks to turn blazing red once more.