Leo suddenly found himself walking with the granddaughter of the most powerful noble in Solhaven into the Noble District. He had hoped that the man would be able to convince her to not eat with him, but she was too strong-willed for that.
"So, are you a mage?" He asked her. He didn't want the entire ordeal to be filled with dreadful silence.
"Yes. I am an apprentice mage. My Grandfather said that you were an Aura Knight with a weird aura." She said.
Leo shook his head. "No, I'm just a normal Aura Knight. I am not even a 1st Circle Aura Knight like my friend. She was there the other day," he said.
Aurora smiled. "I want to meet her too. It's hard making friends my age because the kids in the Noble District are very arrogant."
They quickly reached the gate that separated the Noble District from the Commoner's District. A guard was at the gate and inspecting the people who were going in. There was a line full of workers who worked inside.
Aurora skipped the entire line and walked, so he just followed her. When she came close to the guard, the guard bowed to her.
"Good day, Lady Aurora. Is this your servant?" He asked.
Aurora shook her head. "He's my friend." She kept walking and Leo followed her.
"Am I also supposed to call you Lady Aurora?" He asked.
She shook her head. "I don't like formalities like that. So, when did you start training in Aura?"
"I started a wee- a year ago. I'm very slow at progressing." He almost gave away that he had only become an Aura Knight a few days ago. He quickly corrected himself. "What about you? When does a mage start training?"
"I started when I was 10 years old. I go to the Royal Academy in the Capital. It's been 4 years and I didn't even form my first Magic Circle. Compared to me, the people there are so much more talented." She sighed.
"The Royal Academy? What's that?" Leo asked. He was very intrigued by it.
"It's the best place to learn aura or magic. Only the most talented mages and aura knights go there. Even if you are a noble, you still have to pass a test to study there. It has the best teachers and the headmaster is a 6th Circle Mage." She started talking about the academy with fervor. She was very excited about the place.
"Are you here on a break, then?" He asked her. She nodded.
They went into a restaurant close to the gate and quickly got some food. While they were eating, they continued talking.
"Yes. I came for the New Year. I go back in a few days. I don't have any friends when I come here normally, so I wanted to make new ones." She said.
Leo nodded. "I agree with you. I don't have a lot of friends my age either. It's hard to find friends without going to an academy."
Aurora was shocked. "You guys aren't in any academy? Then did you learn to become Aura Knights by yourself? Isn't there an Academy in Solhaven? I think commoners are also allowed to join it. There should be an Aura Knight division there."
Leo shook his head. He knew that the academy existed, but they only took in students who could pay. Until a few months ago, he couldn't even afford to live in a proper house. Tuition for academies was in the hundreds of thousands of Starcoins each year.
"We couldn't afford it. Academies are for rich people and nobles. Not everyone can attend." He said.
"You and your friend should try to join the Royal Academy, then. They let new students in every year around August. You can try to apply. Since you are a commoner, it will be harder, but your friend can definitely get in. I know less than ten people in my grade that reached the Middle-Stage of a 1st Circle. She will easily get in. Best of all, the academy is completely free for commoners." She said.
Leo was blown away by this information. He didn't think that it would be this amazing of an opportunity.
"Thanks for telling me. I will check it out in August." He said.
They kept talking until Leo realized that he had to go.
"Well, it was very fun meeting you. Who knows, maybe I'll see you at the Royal Academy." He said.
She smiled. Throughout the entire conversation, her language and posture became more relaxed. "Of course, I am looking forward to it. It was very nice meeting you. I will consider you as one of my friends." She said.
Both of them stood up. She didn't bother paying the bill and no one asked about it, so he assumed that there was a running tab. They bid farewell to each other and Leo walked out of the gate.
As he was walking, he thought about the academy. It was such a good opportunity that he wanted to try it. Unfortunately for him, he would never actually attend the place. He knew that a powerful mage might detect that he had magic far too easily.
He couldn't risk it at all. However, that wasn't the case for Daphne. She was only 13 and she already became a 1st Circle Aura Knight. She would have a bright future if she went to the Royal Academy.
He was going to convince her that it was the best option for her. That was the best thing he could do. Traveling to the Capital wasn't that hard. There were multiple caravans that left each week. It would cost less than 10000 Starcoins to go there. If it didn't work out, he could just come back.
When he got back, he took out the book that contained all the objects that were up for auction from the dimensional ring. He started browsing through them to see if he could use anything.
As he was doing that, he thought about what he should actually focus on. He knew that he was primarily a mage. He innately liked magic more than aura. But, he would always have to train his aura to mask where his strength came from.
From his earlier training, he realized that he could only train aura if he used pills to supplement his training. So to train in aura, he would become a money-swallowing hole. He would constantly need to buy pills. He also noticed that the efficiency of the pills was going down after each pill that he took by just a little. It wouldn't make a difference for the first dozen pills, but he expected to see a difference after that.
As he was thinking, he suddenly stopped at an item that he knew was going to be perfect for him.
[Swift Ascension Pill]
[Helps in breaking through to 1st Circle Aura Knight. Improves chance of forming the first circle by 30%]
Below the information was a diagram of the pill. It was a light blue pill that had partial clouds on it. Below that was the starting price.
[500,000 Starcoins]
Now he knew why he had to show that he had at least 1 million Starcoins.
