Patti Isa

Inside Aurelian Academy's dormitory.

The Academy dorms housed two students each and came fully furnished, but at the moment, Locke was the only one inside.

The other student was also from Anjou, the son of an Anjou Kingdom count. He had already dropped out early and left due to financial pressure.

The dormitory was silent, which made things convenient for Locke.

Locke took out a level-two synthesized item from the Horadric Cube. With a grasp in the air, the Horadric Cube began rotating on its own, sparks flying like a burst galaxy, dazzlingly beautiful.

Then, several rays of light gathered in his hand, forming a fist-sized sapphire.

A description of the sapphire appeared before Locke's eyes—

[Level 2 Item: Sapphire. Velvet-blue in color with medium saturation, rippling like water in sunlight. One of the luxuries favored by nobles, it can be made into valuable accessories, rings, and jewelry. Estimated value: 10–30 gold coins.]

Locke's expression turned subtle. Earlier, he had merely placed three sapphire fragments into the Horadric Cube. Those fragments had been part of a bag of cheap trinkets he bought at the market for three gold coins.

Even gem artisans couldn't be bothered to set them into jewelry.

Yet after being synthesized by the Horadric Cube, their value had increased dozens of times over.

The Horadric Cube truly deserved its reputation as a supreme artifact capable of transforming low-level resources into high-level ones in his previous life's game.

In his previous life's game, he had only just obtained the Horadric Cube and hadn't even finished reading the Synthesis Cube guide and recipes.

But even if he had studied them back then, they wouldn't have been of much use now.

After all, this was another world, not a game.

So he would have to carefully research how to make the best use of Synthesis Magic.

With the Horadric Cube, at least I have a way to solve my financial crisis. The problem is, it won't help with the immediate need.

I still need to establish myself in this Academy first, so I must secure that Outstanding Graduate spot. Only then can I put an end to Professor Alder's intentions.

A trace of confusion crossed Locke's face. But why would copying textbooks for that old man Alder cause the original owner to die? During the week before his death, he felt physically exhausted, utterly drained, growing more tired by the day.

How exactly did he do it?

Locke had observed that neither Aurelian Academy nor this continent—Corfu Continent—possessed any supernatural powers.

This was simply an ordinary medieval world.

There wasn't even such a thing as knightly breathing techniques.

Locke decided to continue synthesizing, this time with a different recipe.

Instead of using three sapphires of the same level, he used one level-two sapphire, a gold ring evaluated by the Horadric Cube as a level-two-quality synthesized item, and a natural ruby of level-two synthesized-item quality.

The Synthesis Cube could synthesize identical items of the same level, or items of different types but the same level.

The only issue was that no one could say what would come out of the latter combination.

That was why players had to explore synthesis recipes themselves in the game.

The Synthesis Cube before Locke informed him that he still had to wait two hours.

In other words, he would have to wait two hours before receiving a level-three synthesized item.

The best use of the Synthesis Cube I can think of right now... Locke thought. Is to synthesize high-quality gemstone jewelry, sell it outside as a genius jewelry designer, and use the money to cover my tuition.

I'll take it one step at a time.

Maybe I'll find a better use for it later.

Locke looked at the assignment notebook Tungus had given him. Flipping through it, he found that the questions were several times more difficult than the previous homework assignment.

At his current level, he had no chance of completing it.

Locke checked the assignment again and found nothing unusual. He turned to the first page. What was Mr. Tungus's purpose in giving me this assignment?

Was he simply asking me to finish it? But the difficulty is far beyond the current course progress, so his purpose must be to make me study on my own.

Locke flipped through the thick textbook in front of him.

But history class is in two days. I definitely don't have time to teach myself. If Mr. Tungus is testing my self-study ability and expects me to finish his assignment, there's no way I can do it in two days.

But that doesn't mean there isn't a shortcut.

If one path doesn't work, I'll take another.

Locke rose and left his dormitory, heading for the dormitory's common lounge.

Inside the dormitory common lounge.

Patti Isa stood with her arms crossed, leaning against a lounge pillar. She raised an eyebrow at the Runes textbook Locke held out to her.

"Locke Augustine, we've never been friends, and we've never even spoken. Why did you come to me?"

"To get tutoring from you!"

Locke looked at the blonde girl before him and rubbed his nose. Patti Isa was a commoner student at the Academy and one of the most outstanding students in language class.

Unlike him, she had a good relationship with Dean Tungus, who often gave her private lessons. Rumor had it that she had already finished all of this semester's ancient language courses ahead of schedule.

There was absolutely no way he could complete that assignment in two days. But if he took another route and sought someone else's help, that was a different matter.

He could have someone proficient in the subject explain the key textbook material based on the knowledge covered in the assignment. That way, he could "learn the language" in the shortest possible time and at least pass the assessment.

Locke wasn't the rigid type. He had chosen Patti Isa partly because she was an excellent student with a good relationship with Dean Tungus, and partly because she came from a commoner background and was relatively short on money.

The Academy had merely waived their tuition.

But if there was an opportunity to make money, they certainly wouldn't turn it down.

The wealthy students at the Academy had very low graduation requirements, though, so they barely paid attention in class. Naturally, they wouldn't seek out commoner students and pay extra for tutoring.

"I can pay for the tutoring," Locke said.

"I really hope I can complete the assignment Professor Tungus gave me in class."

Patti Isa nodded. After thinking it over, she said, "Fine. Money from nobles like you is money either way."

"I want two hundred gold coins. That's not expensive."

"If I tutor you, I'll be sacrificing my own time. I won't be able to use that time to study."

"Fine," Locke said. "I'll pay you after the tutoring is done."

After all, he already had plenty of debt. A little more wouldn't matter.

If he could stay, he would definitely find a way to pay those two hundred gold coins.

Patti Isa looked at Locke with a strange smile. "Let's make this clear in advance. I'll tutor you, but if you still can't learn it, don't blame me."