"Next time you stay this long, you must report it. If you weren't Kieran's student, I would have forced the door open."
Outside the Elemental Pool, a gray-robed Wizard was lecturing Ian.
Ian kept nodding. The man before him was a First Ring Wizard, after all, and this really was his responsibility.
The gray-robed Wizard looked at Ian's meek expression and continued, "By rights, twenty days should cost you ten thousand Magic Stones. But you stayed inside for twenty days without permission, causing excessive depletion of the Elemental Pool. That's another two thousand. Any objections?"
"Two thousand?"
Ian frowned.
It wasn't as if he had never used the Elemental Pool before. How had he never heard of depletion that severe?
"Do you have an objection?"
The gray-robed Wizard looked at Ian. His mental power seeped outward, the threat unmistakable.
"No."
Feeling the pressure of a First Ring Wizard, Ian nodded, handed over the Magic Stones, and quickly left.
There was nothing he could do about it right now.
And Kieran was unlikely to step in over something like this.
After Ian left, another Wizard turned to the gray-robed Wizard and asked worriedly, "Lord Leon, that man is Kieran's student. Could this cause trouble?"
"What trouble could it cause?"
The gray-robed Wizard sneered.
"He consumed a massive amount of magic power. With that much, he was probably trying to break through to First Ring. But his aura is still only Zero Ring, so he most likely failed. I'd wager his mental power may even have been injured. There's no need to worry about a Wizard like him."
"My lord is wise!" The Wizard beside him brightened.
That was true.
This time, the magic power consumed had nearly matched the amount needed to break through to First Ring. How had he failed