Chapter 77: New Business Partner?

  Dear Diary,

  It has been over three months since the end of the Crucible Convergence. On that fateful day, I had resolved to settle my monetary issues with the culprit of my devastation. However, he disappeared and has yet to be found.

  If only I had not borrowed essence stones from my colleagues, I would not be in this mess. I would not have ended up owing the Academy more than I had even won during the tournament. The monster known as greed swallowed my soul and spat it back out, covered in its slime. This may be the greatest mistake of my life.

  No. Wait. Why is it my fault? It isn’t my fault. It’s Damon’s fault. There is no way he should’ve lost to Claire. He ran out of arcane power? What kind of utter nonsense is that? He was definitely screwing with me. He somehow found out about my bet and made a deal with the underground betting house. He must have. That’s the only possible reason. Why did he give up at the end, otherwise? And where did he suddenly vanish? Everything is suspicious.

  Once I get my hands on that kid, I will wring every last bit of value from him. He received the third-place prize, so that is a start. Though it will be meaningless if he returns after using them already and his pockets are empty… Wait, he was only at the mid stage of Node Awakening, he wouldn’t have used the Elixirs yet! I still have hope!

  I can only pray to any deity that might exist that news of his return reaches me soon. At this rate, the Academy is going to coerce me to take a permanent position in an unwanted station. I can’t accept that. I would rather go into the Southern Wilderness and stake my life to find resources to pay back my debt rather than stay cooped up here in the Academy for the rest of my pitiful life.

  If Damon does not appear soon, I will meet with Principal Zoltan to discuss and potentially negotiate how to pay back what I owe. Surely he will be fair and allow me to leave and earn back the required amount. I have been serving the Assembly with utmost loyalty thus far.

  The only option left for me currently is to roam around the Runeology Hall and Damon’s villa as I dream of his return. I hope that my next update will be one of joy instead of despair.

  Alan, out.

  The frantic scratching of the quill stopped, and ink pooled on the page. Alan’s name disappeared beneath the blotting of the black liquid, as his face scrunched up in pain. His chest had been constantly aching since the semi-finals of the last Crucible Convergence. He had become so euphoric over his winnings that he borrowed from everyone he knew to place another bet on Damon. He had ridden the rapidly climbing dark horse off the edge of a cliff.

  Alan lifted the quill and placed it gently on his desk. Even though it was only a low-grade first-tier artifact, he had to be careful not to break it. He could not even buy a new one if he did. Tip-toeing around his room and the Academy in fear of losing more essence stones kept acid burning in his throat.

  He could not even wash it down with a refreshing drink or a nutritious meal at the Mess Hall. The only food he could eat now was either mortal meals or meals he cooked and packed for himself with whatever materials he could get his hands on. Even that was a pitiably small amount. Life had been too harsh in the past several months. He had nothing left but tears and regret.

  As he wept inwardly, his storage pouch began to vibrate with an intense urgency. He froze on the spot before jumping to his feet. In his rush, he knocked over both the chair and the desk. Even his diary flew across his room and struck the opposite wall. He did not notice any of this as he withdrew a communication orb with trembling hands. He channeled his arcane power into the orb as the light returned to his dead eyes.

  “He’s back. I saw movement in his villa. Damon is back.”

  The whispers that entered his ears were sweeter than anything he had heard in his entire life. A shiver ran down his spine as he jumped out of his wide-open window and erupted into flames. With an explosion, he soared into the sky in the direction of Damon’s villa.

  My dream came true!

  “Ahhh!” Dylan shrieked in a high-pitched voice. “He’s already here!”

  Damon glanced up at the ball of flames hurtling toward him. Alan’s usual smirk was gone, replaced by a sinister grin. The hairs on his arms rose as an overwhelming sensation of impending doom washed over him.

  Is it another blood seed disaster?

  He withdrew over a dozen spell scrolls and held them tightly in his left hand while his right hand clenched his two remaining second-tier essence stones. He stepped protectively in front of Dylan and raised the scrolls while circulating his arcane power. He prepared to use them at the first sign of an attack from Alan.

  Up above, Alan’s eyes locked on Damon. Specifically, the numerous scrolls in his grasp. Just as he arrived, he rapidly decelerated and landed on the ground with a few unsteady steps. He stopped a few feet away from Damon, and several expressions flashed across his face in the span of a second. Finally, his face settled into one expression, as though his emotions had calmed. It was his signature smirk.

  “Damon! What a surprise! What brings you here?” Alan laughed out loud as he approached in an overly friendly manner and slapped Damon’s shoulder a few times. While he did so, his gaze was solely fixated on the scrolls in his hand.

  Damon pulled back his shoulder while pushing Dylan into the open door of the villa. As he also retreated one step at a time, he responded. “This is my house, Senior.”

  “Ah, that’s right…” Alan froze for a second before his smirk grew even wider. “Yes, this is your house. My apologies for the intrusion. I heard that you had returned and came over to check on you. Do you know how worried I was? What happened to you? Actually, that’s not important. Those scrolls, did you craft them yourself?”

  “These?” Damon lifted the scrolls that had become crumpled due to how tightly he was clenching his left hand. Still wary, he loosened his grip when the ominous pressure faded. “Indeed. I crafted most of them.”

  “Hehe. Junior Brother Damon, why didn’t you tell me you could already craft second-tier scrolls? What an impressive feat for an Initiate! At the mid stage, no less.”

  “Junior Brother…? Never mind. Anyway, it’s still quite difficult for me to craft second-tier scrolls. I’ve only crafted one so far. I mainly focus on first-tier spells.”

  Alan’s grin vanished, replaced by a stern expression. With furrowed brows he said, “That’s no good, Junior Brother. First-tier scrolls aren’t worth much when you consider the material costs and the chances of failure during crafting. You must raise your proficiency with second-tier scrolls as soon as you can!”

  Damon stared at Alan, who was shaking his head and clicking his tongue in stupefaction. What was Senior Alan up to?

  “That… I can’t craft second-tier scrolls due to a lack of arcane power. My success rate for first-tier scrolls is about five or six in ten.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He heard a noise from behind him and quickly waved at Dylan behind his back to shut him up. After selling his scrolls for so long, Dylan would have a rough estimate of his success rate, and it was much higher than five or six out of ten. What he didn’t know was that Damon actually kept a portion from each batch in some storage pouches for emergencies. If he knew Damon had never failed when crafting scrolls, he would be shocked. In fact, the entire cultivation world would try to pry into his secret methods if the truth were revealed.

  Alan’s beady eyes opened so wide that they almost looked normal size. “Your success rate is that high? That’s incredible! You must have a lot of scrolls saved up then. How about you share some with me? I’ll help you sell them, and we can split the profits…”

  “Actually, Senior, I already have an established business that I run with Dylan over here…”

  Dylan peeked out from behind the doorframe, bowed slightly toward Alan, then slid back behind Damon.

  “You already have a business? Since when did that happen…?”

  “After I learned the runes for several of these spells. It was actually doing quite well before the Convergence, but I had to go on a mission for around three months.”

  “Yeah, it expanded considerably! But right now, I only run two restaurants instead, since I didn’t have my source of spell scrolls.” From behind him, Dylan nodded vigorously and added in a small voice.

  Both Damon and Alan turned to look at him in surprise.

  “You’re running two restaurants?” Damon asked.

  “Yep! During the Convergence, I made contact with several cultivators from the Materials Handling department who specialized in cooking. I rented some space in East Tradehaven, and with their help, I tried to sell food. Now, it’s doing pretty well…”

  Damon looked at Dylan in a new light. He had not imagined this little boy would be so business savvy. He patted Dylan’s shoulder in encouragement and pride.

  “Good job. You’ve grown a lot.”

  As Damon and Dylan smiled at each other, Alan could only stand there with a sour face. He looked at both of them with envy. He specialized in combat, so he had no special means of procuring wealth apart from taking missions or going out to hunt beasts or harvest materials.

  “You both are… Quite impressive. If only I possessed talent in other fields. However… Perhaps I could assist in your businesses?”

  “Assist us? How?” Dylan tilted his head as he looked at Alan. Once his businesses were mentioned, he stepped forward without hesitation and spoke to Alan directly.

  “Well, I mean, don’t you ever come across some tough customers in your restaurants? Or perhaps some rogues will try to ambush you and steal your shipment of scrolls or the stones after a trade… Logistics! That’s it, I’ll be in charge of logistics! We can share the profits three ways, how does that sound?”

  Alan forced his widest grin, trying to put on a friendly demeanor to help convince them.

  For Damon and Dylan, it looked like Alan was threatening them with a menacing scowl. They glanced at each other and nodded. They didn’t have a choice. If someone as powerful as Alan tried to get in their way, they wouldn’t be able to handle it. In fact, his offer was actually quite appealing. They could leave the deliveries and procurement to him, Dylan could focus on sales and expansion, and Damon just needed to continue crafting scrolls every day.

  “I am, after all, a powerful Disciple who is incredibly close to achieving the Circuit Completion realm! That gives you a protector. I have also been here for decades, meaning I have plentiful connections both in and out of the Academy. What do you say?”

  Alan continued pressing his case with reasonable arguments. Damon had already decided, but he was truly convinced at this point.

  “Senior Alan, we would be glad to partner up with you!”

  “Yeah!”

  They expressed their agreement with smiles and placed their hands out. Alan reached forward and shook their hands, one at a time, with the same intimidating scowl.

  “It’s good that we came to an agreement. Now, how is the business structured? What do I need to do, and how much are the profits?”

  Before they could reply, the sound of rushing winds rang out from a distance. A small blonde figure wearing black robes flew through the skies as they approached rapidly. Within only a few seconds, she arrived above them and dropped straight down to the ground, only slowing down at the very last second to land lightly on her feet.

  “Damon, you’re out! I mean… You’re back!” Claire ran to him with her arms wide open, but then faltered midway due to her mistake.

  “Out?” Dylan asked as he looked up at Damon.

  “Claire’s just being silly. Yes, I’m back. It’s good to finally see you again!” Damon smiled at her.

  Claire stuck her tongue out at Damon and no longer tried to hug him. She remembered that the last time she tackled him, she had broken several of his ribs. She opened her mouth to talk, but then glanced sideways toward Alan, standing awkwardly to the side.

  “Who?”

  “This is Senior Alan, our combat class teacher.”

  “Oh, okay. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Senior Alan.”

  “The pleasure is all mine, Miss Claire. I guess this is our first official meeting. But no need to call me senior, since you will join me in the Channel Weaving realm soon.” Alan bowed his head slightly toward her as a sign of respect. Then he turned back to Damon. “About what I said earlier…”

  “You should discuss those details with Dylan since he had managed all of that previously.” Damon gestured toward Dylan and then looked at Claire. “Why don’t you come in and take a seat?”

  Damon and Claire entered his villa while Dylan and Alan discussed the business details outside.

  “So, how did you find out I was allowed to leave the underground facility?”

  “Ah, Dad let me know last night, but I waited for the morning to come see you! I called over Thomas as well, so we can catch up! He should arrive any moment now.”

  “Why would you do that? It’s already difficult enough convincing one or two people that I was out on a mission…”

  “Exactly! So you can convince them at the same time. They’ll ask you when they see you anyway, so better to just get it over and done with! Besides, Thomas probably already knew about it.”

  Just as she said that, they heard another familiar voice outside.

  “Senior Alan, what brings you over to Damon’s place?”

  It seemed Thomas had arrived. Not long after, Thomas and Dylan both walked in, closing the door behind them.

  “Hey, Damon. Good to see you back.” Thomas gave him a nod. Then he raised his eyebrow at Claire. “Why did you call me here? Is there something going on?”

  “Nope, it’s so we can all catch up! Aren’t you guys curious what Damon’s been up to for three whole months?”

  Damon glared at Claire. Why was she bringing it up on her own? If they focused on his so-called mission, he would have to invent three months of adventures.

  “Not really.”

  “Nope.”

  Dylan and Thomas both shook their heads as though they truly did not care. Claire stared at them as if they were both insane.

  “The heck? Why aren’t you both curious?”

  “Well, he was on a mission. Since it was one where he disappeared suddenly, he probably can’t talk about his experiences. Better to just celebrate his return.” Thomas stated nonchalantly while Dylan nodded from next to him.

  Though Dylan looked sincere, Damon met eyes with Thomas. Thomas winked at him, as though he knew the real reason but was just pretending to tease Claire back.

  Claire’s shoulders drooped as she slumped back into her chair. She had been trying to tease Damon and put him in a hard spot, yet her ‘friends’ did not play along. All her energy vanished in an instant.

  The group chatted for a couple of hours to catch up before disbanding in the early afternoon.

  Damon stretched as he walked along the familiar path to the Legacy Hall. He had not been to the Hall since even before the Crucible Convergence began, so it had been almost half a year. He missed the musty smell of old tomes and the crunch of turning pages. His desire for knowledge was unabated, even after he had gained considerable strength compared to his peers.

  While thinking of the past and basking in the warm sunlight, he arrived at the Legacy Hall before he knew it. He took a deep breath before entering. He was greeted by the familiar sight of a disorganized mess. Actually, it had gotten even worse.

  Then he remembered something. He hurried to the second-floor corner where he had begun organizing. The area was in disarray once more.

  “That stupid mimic… I’d better catch that annoying creature first.”

  Heat rose on his face as he stared at the chaos in front of him.