After checking his affinities, Nick went to his dorm room and took a shower to get the dirt and stink from the five days of exploration off of him. After that, Nick didn't waste any time and set his cell phone's alarm before going to bed eagerly since he hadn't gotten a good night's sleep since the exam started. Before Nick fell asleep, he had a few thoughts lingering in his weary brain:

(Now that I think about it, although I hadn't had a good night's sleep in a while, I wasn't really slowed down by that during the exam. That must be a side effect of nurturing my mindscape. When I get to higher ranks, will I even need to sleep?)

Nick thought about it but couldn't come up with an answer.

(Well, anyway, tomorrow I have a meeting with the people from the animal store. That should be interesting...)

Nick finally fell asleep.

.........................

RING RING RING RING

Nick's alarm went off at 5 am and he got out of bed with his body feeling sore in several places. Nick gritted his teeth and took a shower before getting dressed and leaving his room, heading to the cafeteria. When Nick got to the cafeteria, there weren't many students to be seen. Most of them were probably still recovering from from the psychological and/or physical stress of the end of year exam.

Before ordering breakfast Nick politely asked the cashier:

"Good morning, do you cook certain foods upon request?"

The male cashier wasn't too bothered by the question and replied:

"Actually, we don't to special requests but It wouldn't be too hard to find restaurants on campus that do or if you have some skills, you could always visit the academy's culinary building and get some space to cook your own food."

Nick nodded his head in understanding.

(I'm not giving up on the ghastly serpent meat that I have left.)

"I'd like two egg and cheese sandwiches with an orange juice, please."

Nick made his order, collected his food and sat at a table in the corner of the cafeteria to enjoy it. While he was eating, Nick's phone rang to indicate that he was getting a call; looking at the phone, Nick saw that it was Marsha calling him. Nick wanted to let the call hang but taking into consideration that Marsha was the first customer for his scrolls, he decided against that and answered the phone.

"Good morning, Marsha. What's up?"

"Nothing much babe. I want to meet up with you to discuss the exam, is that possible for today?"

Nick wasn't surprised at the request because when he was in high school, the students would always be itching to discuss how they performed after every major exam with each other. It seemed to Nick that the same mentality applied here but in order to mess with Marsha a little bit, he decided to play oblivious.

"Huh, discuss the exam? What for and stop calling me babe, it's creepy?"

Marsha didn't seem too pleased with Nick's resistance but tried to sound polite anyway:

"Don't play dumb with me, Nick. You obtained some benefits from the realm right, like that corpse that you brought out for inspection and don't you dare try to bullshit me? There is no way that was an ordinary corpse if you went through the trouble of bringing it outside of the realm."

"My dear Marsha, I think that you are pondering too much on other people's business but since we're apparently 'best friends', I'll tell you what, do something for me and I'll meet up with you tomorrow to discuss the exam as well as some other things that I have in mind..."

Marsha's interest was slightly piqued, not expecting Nick to want her to do something for him.

(What could little Nick want from me, more money?)

"What do you want?"

Nick has been feeling a strong urge ever since his interaction with Cindy last night and thought of a way that he could easily solve it without getting into too much trouble.

"That girl that I saw you with in your room the last time that we met before the exam, could you send her to my room tonight, making a similar deal with her again but for dealing with me instead of you?"

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Marsha stared blankly for a moment after Nick finished speaking and then came to a realization; she smiled and spoke with a pseudo-sweet tone:

"Oh, I get it now, so that's what you want. Well...I can arrange a meeting with you and my little pixie but what's in it for me? Do you think that just a meeting with you is worth so much effort? Don't get cocky Nick."

Nick squinted his eyes and spoke:

"Inheritance."

"What?"

Marsha was confused at what Nick meant by that until she remembered what Rebecca had suggested last night in front of all of the students. It was that Nick might have gotten a Magician's inheritance from the corpse.

"You mean to say..."

Nick interrupted her and pretended like he was busy.

"Sorry Marsha, something important just came up, I've got to go. Send the young woman over tonight to the River-Run dorm, room 32 and make sure that she knows what she's getting into."

After saying that, Nick hung up the phone and finished his breakfast. Slade asked with an uninterested tone:

[What are you planning? I can read your thoughts but I want to hear your intentions spoken directly.]

(It's nothing that you need to worry about. I just need to scratch an itch and I saw a way of getting it done. Oh, and don't worry, I'm not going to actually tell Marsha anything about the benefits that I gained within the realm.)

[Then I can be at ease.]

Nick threw away his trash and headed to the General Beast Store where he was set to have a meeting with the operator of the store. After thirty minutes, Nick got to the store and walked in. As soon as he walked in, he was spotted by Marshall, the clerk that had introduced him to his boss Carla the last time that Nick was here. Marshall came from behind his desk and walked up to Nick with a smile.

"Nick, I hope you've been well since the last time that we met. I won't waste any of your time with chit-chat, let's go to boss Carla's office and get things started."

Nick nodded and Marshall silently led him up the stairs to Carla's office where he knocked the door and waited about thirty seconds before someone opened the door. Nick looked on as Marshall greeted his boss, Carla Jenner. She was a lady that looked to be in her early thirties, she had dark brown hair that reached all the way down to her lower back, she had a white complexion, a slim build and she was wearing a pants suit. She greeted Marshall and then looked at Nick with a plain expression and said:

"Good morning, Nick Capitol. Come into my office so we can sort things out. Marshall you come too, you'll mostly be the one interacting with Nick for future transactions."

Marshall looked ecstatic as he and Nick were led into the office where a man that seemed to be in his fifties was sitting at a table sifting through documents. There were three seats at the table, one for the middle aged man, one where Carla sat beside him and one where Carla motioned Nick to sit opposite them; Marshall was told to stand at the side. Carla spoke strictly:

"Nick, this gentleman beside me is Howard Marks and he is my lawyer. Now, we have already drawn up a basic contract where in seven and a half months, you are to deliver 20,000 of your animal holding scrolls to my business where we will pay £11,000 for each one assuming that they are the same quality as the previous one that I was shown. Here, read through the contract and then if you are satisfied, please sign the document."

Carla motioned and Howard handed Nick a set of documents that were about ten pages long. Nick felt a slight headache looking a the legal jargon but took his time reading through each page carefully. Nick spent about the next two hours reading and re-reading the documents before he was satisfied but no one rushed him the entire time because they could understand what signing a contract of that size must have meant to a man as young as Nick. In fact, Carla internally commended him for being so careful; cautious business partners were more useful to her than reckless ones.

After two hours of reading and not finding any problems, Nick was ready to sign the contract.

(I know that you must have been paying attention, Slade, any thoughts.)

Slade scoffed:

[This is a business arrangement and has nothing to do with my goal. I will not interfere.]

(That's cold, man. Sigh, I didn't expect much help from you anyway.)

Nick signed the document and its copy which he kept. Carla smiled and stood up, saying:

"Although there are no penalties for you failing to complete the contract, be sure not to let me down Nick Capitol. If you have anymore questions, please feel free to come by and ask Marshall and if I need to get involved, he will find me. You can go now."

Nick held his contract with slightly shaky hands and then placed it into his backpack. Speaking of his backpack, it still contained his beast capture scroll with the animal that Nick had bought from the store a couple of days ago. Nick had bought the wild animal assuming that he may have needed a little 'help' during the exam dealing with magic beasts but with Slade's appearance, that became unnecessary. Marshall led Nick out of Carla's office and to the front door of the store. Nick left the store and at that time Slade decided to speak.

[Listen to me kid, it seems that you have an interesting hobby. Scroll writing...there was a fair bit of that where I came from but it was thought of as an archaic art form but still loved by many Magicians. It just might be what you need to address your current lack of ability to use most types of magic energy. I want you to show me one of your scrolls in action.]

Nick was surprised by Slade's interest at first but soon understood. Slade knew that Nick's current state made him weaker than other Magicians in an important aspect and so he would need to compensate for that if he wanted any chance of completing Slade's ultimate mission.

(Sure thing...)

When Nick was about to speak more with Slade, his phone started ringing, indicating that he was getting a call. Nick looked at the holographic screen and saw that the number was unknown to him. He answered the phone so that he could move on with his day:

"Hello, who is this?"

The person on the other end sounded serious.

"Good day, is this Nick Capitol?"

"Yes it is."

"This is Gregory Justeen of the enforcement office. You are being instructed to report to our offices immediately for questioning regarding some data that we have processed from the space band that you used in the exam."

Nick instantly felt annoyed, knowing that he might have to explain some of the crazy stuff that the space band might have recorded.

"Sigh, I will go there immediately."