Ning left the academy, damn near sure that he would be selected. Although nothing was set in stone yet, so he had to wait a week for the results to be out.
There were thousands of people trying to get in and only a hundred or so would enter, so Ning still had chances of failure, however little they may be.
He returned back to the city to spend the next week on his own. He returned to his hotel and immediately went to sleep.
Not only was he tired, but he also needed to sleep so he could be awake at night when the moon was out. That was the only time he could absorb essence after all.
He woke up late at night and drank the juices from one of the few remaining fruits. Just 4 more and it was over.
As soon as he drank the juices, his hunger, and drowsiness all seemed to fade away immediately. Once his mind was refreshed, he started using his absorption technique by the window where the moonlight was brightest.
He continued with it overnight and only stopped in the morning when there was no longer any visible effect from the absorption technique.
He got up and stretched a little. "It feels like I'm close," he thought. "I wonder if I can do it in a few days."
In a month's time, he had started getting close to reaching the next rank in his Essence journey. The Essence Sense realm.
There wasn't any major improvement to his abilities in that rank, unfortunately, but he could start sensing Essence more clearly so that was a big help.
"I will be needing more materials once I run out of the fruits," Ning thought. "Will that be enough?"
He took the bag that was in the corner of his room and put it on the bed. He opened the bag and pulled out a few clothes and set it aside on the bed. Quite a bit deep in his bad was a pouch full of coins that he was given by Clara to pay for the academy.
He put that aside as well and reached for something that was below that.
He brought out a small box and opened it up to find a white crystal inside that was similar to the Essence that he and Carlos had brought over to Clara.
She had sent two of such crystals with him to use and absorb and had said that she would send 2 such crystals every month so he wouldn't have to worry about running out of Pure Essence at all.
His absorption technique wasn't the best at getting strong fast, so he had to use such crystals to make up for it.
"I'll use you guys once I'm done with the remaining 4 fruits," Ning spoke by himself and put everything back inside aside from the coin pouch.
He took the coin pouch and left his hotel room.
After learning about the cost of the academy, he realized that he would have quite a few coins still remaining, so he wanted to use the remaining coins to buy a proper sheath for himself.
The one he had been using was still working, but there were already way too many cuts and it was just one wrong move away from being cut open.
This time around, he wanted a sheath that was made using actual essence.
Ning walked around the city looking at the new stuff. There were so many things he could spend his money on, so many things he wanted to spend his money on. In the end, he was forced to stay his hand as he didn't have that much with him.
Hopefully, Clara would keep to her promise of sending him some pocket money starting next month, or he would be totally broke.
He arrived at what looked like the place where weapons were made per request. He walked up to someone who looked like a clerk and spoke, "hi, I'm looking to make something cheap. Do you happen to know the prices by any chance?"
"Price of any conversion depends on the object of conversion, the size of it, and the element behind it. May I ask what your criteria are on this aspect?" the clerk said.
"Hm, I need a sheath that I can keep my sword in. I don't have any requirements other than the fact that it has to be as cheap as possible while remaining moderately durable," Ning said.
"Hmm, then you should have one that is made with air. A room full of air should be enough for good durability too. Since it's just air, it is also very cheap. What do you think about it?" the clerk asked.
"That… sounds fine. May I know how much that will cost in… Water coins?" Ning asked.
"Water coins? Hmm, it should be around 40 water coins," the clerk said.
"40, huh? Can I have one made please," Ning said.
"Let me write up an order for you," the clerk said and quickly wrote a few words in a piece of paper and handed it to Ning. "Please take this to Converter Frey in room 14. He will do what is remaining and take the pay there."
"Thank you," Ning said and took the piece of paper with him.
'Converter, huh?' he thought. He hadn't realized that was what the artificers would be called in this world.
These people's job was to convert real-life materials into weapons and armor, which was why they were called Converters.
Ning didn't really like the name, but who was he to judge others' naming skills anyway. His cousins had made it pretty apparent that he wasn't the best at naming things.
Ning found the Converter Frey as mentioned and handed the paper. The old man that was working quickly read the paper and asked for the money.
Ning hesitated to pay before seeing the item but gave it to him in the end. "I will come later to pick it up then," he said.
"Later?" Converter Frey asked. "Just wait and watch. I'll be done in 10 minutes."
