It seemed that Eddie and Douglas had already found a place for us to stay. A very nice accommodation that had recently been abandoned by its rich former owner.

Harold didn't give me much time to look around the city as a whole. I would have to take my time later on to explore it properly.

The place they had taken over was far nicer than anywhere I had ever stayed before in my life. A large structure that had an ornate and well-curated garden surrounding it. The large runed walls stopped anyone from looking in.

It was a fortress by itself. The fact that it had been abandoned so callously was concerning.

Both Eddie and Douglas were waiting for us in the dining hall of the building. It seemed empty with only the four of us. As the place would have still been comfortable with ten times that number.

"It's worse than we thought. Anyone with a little bit of knowledge is long gone. Even most of the adepts have left. It is only a matter of time before the runes fail and the walls become worthless."

That didn't sound good. I had to wonder how the common people were reacting.

"Most of the city folk don't know the extent of it yet. So everything is still relatively calm. But that will change quickly over the coming days."

"How many people would we need to keep the city operational until the time of the true invasion."

Eddie seemed to think over that for a few moments.

"The three of us will be able to cover a lot of the shortcomings. But we would still need close to forty mages to keep the walls at full power over the coming weeks."

That was a lot of mages. While I didn't think that would be a problem if it was adepts. I would need to get my second year up and running quickly to be able to meet the demand.

"How many high-rank Cores do we have in our possession?"

I was a little worried about how much capital we would have. After all even with a few days of hunting. Harold hadn't been able to pick up many more cores. If I wanted to obtain a consistent number of mage graduates, I would have to get as many APs as possible.

Eddie did give a slight smile after my question. I was worried he was going to bring up his oath once again.

He reached his hand into one of his jacket pockets and brought out a small pouch. Even though I hadn't seen one in person before. I knew exactly what it was. A spatial pouch.

He opened it up and began to spill cores out on the table. Most of them were Rank 3's, but I could see more than a few Rank 4's and even some Rank 5's.

The Rank 5 cores almost had me salivating. That was surely quite a few hundred points by themselves.

"I'm glad to see that we are thinking the same. But even with the cores I have, we will only be able to keep the walls powered for an extra few weeks."

We weren't thinking the same. But it was good to know that the cores could also be used to power the walls.

The Rank 3 cores would hopefully be enough to keep them running. As I certainly didn't want to waste any of the more powerful cores.

With the cores we had. I knew that there was a chance to get the Academy to the point where it would have no problem supplying the mages.

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I was more than looking forward to the next day. While it would be the last day I would be able to focus fully on the spirit realm. I hoped that I would be able to lay the foundation for the future.

With the protection of the villa, I wasn't worried about my body for the next few hours. Reaching the city had left me exhausted.

Fortunately, no one was waiting for me in my room this time around. So I could fall asleep without any issues.

With nothing to worry about with my sister around, I could head straight back into the spirit world the next morning. More than a little excited.

I was glad that Eddie had left his spatial pouch behind as he went out to inspect the city. I did feel a little bad about taking them. But it would be far easier to show him the results of my purchases.

[Congratulations. Thirty-one students have passed the year and graduated from their first year.]

I was very happy to see that number. It was an equal split between each of the classes this time around. With only the three teachers of the Mana Academy allowing a few more to graduate. There were also two genius-level students.

They were a bit more straightforward this time around.

[Mage Woodard:

Skills: Magus Core, Earth Magic, Fire Magic]

[Knight Abbot:

Skills: Aura Core, Bronze Skin, Heavy Slash]

Both were impressive students.

There were no genius healing students. But they were a little interesting.

[2★ Healer Gill,

Skills: Light Healing(2★), Minor Heal]

Gill was the most talented healer. Quite an impressive healer from the looks of things. I would have to see how capable they were.

I had over fifty students now on the list. Which made me a little curious about using them to increase my chances of drawing an elite teacher.

Without having tested what the second year was. It still seemed like quite a waste. For now, I would check to see how much I could earn from the Rank 5 Cores. There were only five of them. So I wouldn't be able to keep up the spending for long. But for now, I could deposit two.

[+ 1000 AP]

I nearly fell off my chair after seeing the amount. It would allow me to afford four elite teachers as well as all the classes I would need for the next first year.

I had to check the shop to see if there was anything else I could even think about buying. I simply couldn't avoid the allure of the Elite Teachers.

[Elite Teacher Le,

Speciality: Crafting(Alchemy),

Secondary Skills: Battle Alchemy,

Teaching Ability: Low]

That wasn't what I wanted from my second elite teacher. I didn't even have an Alchemy Teacher in my first year yet.

I would have to hope the next few were a little better.

[Elite Teacher Duke,

Speciality: Mana(Skill),

Secondary Skills: Magic Research,

Teaching Ability: Adequate]

That did make me feel a lot better. I immediately moved her into place in the second-year slots. While I wasn't sure how helpful her secondary skill would be. I knew that for the moment all I needed was Mages on my side.

[Elite Teacher Barrera,

Speciality: Mana(Power),

Secondary Skills: Enhancement Magic,

Teaching Ability: High]

I nearly jumped with joy seeing the third teacher I had managed to draw.

With two Mana teachers in the second year, I would have no problems answering Eddie about using his Cores.

Now I was left with a dilemma.

I could afford to buy a Time Skip or another Elite Teacher. But not both. With the two Mana teachers already in place. I decided to invest in the time skip. Buying myself two, to save one for the future.

It also left quite a few points to gamble with the common teachers. I hoped that I would be able to fill out the full faculty soon.

I nearly pulled my hair out of my head when my random teacher was a crafting Teacher with a Speciality in Enchanting. I couldn't place them in the academy.

I had placed the Elite Teacher in the first-year slot. I didn't know what to do with the extra Teacher.

It only took looking at the teacher list screen to find what I could use them for. Another option had appeared called teacher draw.

I had to sacrifice three common teachers to spin it. But It had a sixty per cent chance of earning a common Teacher. Thirty-five per cent chance of getting an Elite Teacher, and finally a five per cent chance of earning a profound teacher.

I was glad to see that there was an option to use the excess teachers. But I left them alone for now.

I created another first year, this time selecting two mana-inclined classes.

I decided to forgo more healers for the moment. I was sure that their time would come.

Then I moved on to the second-year selection.

I had to select at least twenty students from the list to begin the second year. I was glad that I had a little over twenty mana students available.

I didn't want to waste any of the other talents while I didn't have the teachers in place.

With my heart in my stomach. I began my first second year at Gaia's Academy.