Chatting

In the end, Elan followed this person who called herself Fran, but looked completely different.

It was also because ' Fran ' could reveal many things that only they knew, including how much money Fran received in total after the first transaction.

And after Fran, how many of her 'friends' joined this business of reselling Energy Potion?

Elan had asked Fran to confirm how many finished potions Fran could produce, and Fran had simply made up a number on the spot.

Although Fran hadn't significantly improved her mental attributes at the time, her memory would undoubtedly be much better given her innate Talent for Mental Power.

After a brief moment of recollection, Fran still managed to give the exact number, exactly as Elan remembered it.

Are you really Fran?

Elan looked at Fran's entire body again, but no matter what, he couldn't understand what was going on.

Based on the most basic appearance, this person is clearly not the same person as the Fran he remembered.

However, judging from the tone of his voice and what he knew, Elan had another feeling: this person seemed to resemble Fran.

"I already said that I was just passing through here to conceal my identity. Many people know that a mage named Fran passed through here, and they all recognize me. If I don't change my appearance, someone might come looking for trouble tomorrow."

Fran said irritably, which made Elan vaguely believe in his heart that the other person was really the Fran remembered.

"You really are Fran, then you..."

Elan suddenly stopped speaking. He had been focused on the other person's appearance, but in fact, the moment the other person spoke, he could match the image to his own memory.

But now, setting aside the issue of appearance, he discovered a problem he hadn't noticed before: he could no longer sense Fran's mental fluctuations.

It's the kind of feeling that you can't perceive even the slightest bit.

Elan wanted to talk to Fran about the promotion.

He knew that Fran had been Formal Mage for less than a year, so even though Fran had become Formal Mage very quickly, Elan only thought that Fran was still at the Order of First Order Mage.

Furthermore, Fran was following a path he was familiar with—a mage path where further advancement would largely depend on one's own abilities. Therefore, Elan never imagined that he wouldn't be able to sense Fran's mental fluctuations.

He wanted to talk to Fran about something that all First Order Mage care about: how to advance to Second Order Mage.

He had already contributed to the return of the Law School to the City of Apprentices by cooperating with Harbos, which also earned him a lot of learning materials from the academy. However, he was not able to join the academies that offered Promotion Method.

Elan originally planned to stay with Harbos for another two or three years before returning to the Law School, since his mage Order was still Law, and staying with Harbos wouldn't be of much use.

However, after Harbos became famous, it directly disrupted his plans. Celine visited him every day, just to keep in touch with Harbos.

Of course, this also had its benefits for him. Celine directly provided him with an Promotion Method that required his personal intervention to unlock, as well as a large number of First Order spells.

That's why he dares to talk about promotion now; otherwise, he would have been completely ignorant before, and the knowledge he possessed might not have been as reliable as what Harbos casually mentioned.

Under his questioning gaze, a terrifying yet somewhat reasonable guess appeared in his mind— Fran had already reached the second tier.

But the thought only flashed through his mind for a moment before he dismissed it, because it was too illogical.

Logically speaking, if Fran had attended a School with ample examples of successful promotions, things would have been fine; but if we disregard other factors, she could still have been promoted in such a short time.

But Fran happens to be a mage of the Forge School, Elan even thinks that it may not have been three years since Harbos submitted his application to establish the School.

On the entire continent, even advancing from apprentice to Second Order Profession User within three years is enough to astound people.

Moreover, this is an unpaved road ahead, one that Fran must explore on her own. All these factors combined are simply terrifying.

Fran smiled gently. After seeing the shocked look in Elan, she knew what Elan had thought of.

Although a Order mage can prevent a Order mage from seeing their mental fluctuations, in many cases, this invisibility itself is a form of information.

Especially since Elan knew that Fran was definitely a mage, it became even easier to guess.

Fran had already prepared her explanation for this matter.

"Don't overthink it. I haven't advanced to the second tier yet. This is from the Northern Lands Society... The Society President there knows my mentor, and the changes in me are all her doing."

Fran blamed all the changes in herself on Iris, since she figured Elan would never meet Iris in her lifetime anyway.

Moreover, even if they did run into each other, given Elan's level as First Order Mage, it's unlikely he'd have a chance to have a meaningful conversation with Iris.

Therefore, Fran felt perfectly justified in shifting the blame onto Iris.

After hearing this reason, Elan didn't think it made much of a difference. A friend of Harbos's must be at least a third-tier mage, right?

Therefore, Elan found it normal and nothing strange that Fran had the ability to help Fran conceal her identity.

Elan did not continue on this topic, but instead changed the subject.

"Why are you in Antir, Fran? It's not to retrieve the goods that were intercepted by the Pharmacist Association, is it?"

Elan made a little joke, knowing that even the current Marquis Crawford might not be able to recover those goods, as they had been mostly bought up by the Alliance merchants and converted into Gold Coin in another form.

In the Antir Region, where war is still raging, those Gold Coin would likely have already been exchanged for weapons and equipment.

Fran replied casually:

"An experiment in preparation for promotion."

Elan became interested in this; he had been quite puzzled to begin with, and later he learned what kind of society the Northern Lands Society actually was.

Although he still wondered why Fran didn't go to the Yobner Society but instead came to the Northern Lands Society.

But he could understand it, since Harbos ' Paper was published in the Northern Lands Society, and there might be something about it that he didn't understand.

Furthermore, as Fran just mentioned, there's a friend of Harbos's there, so perhaps Fran went there to consult this friend.

But now he had another question: why did Fran leave the Northern Lands Society and come to Antir? Was there gold to dig up here?

Elan believed that this was probably not the case, because Gold Coin, no matter where on the continent, could be considered a form of currency with purchasing power.

If a gold mine were discovered in a place like Antir, which is close to the Alliance, it might not be taken seriously by the Alliance because of its small reserves.

However, mages below the third rank, or even Third Order Mage, would definitely value it highly. A gold mine is enough for them to make a fortune, and without the help of others, Fran would probably not be able to keep it.

This was clearly too far-fetched, so Elan shook his head and didn't think about it any further.

"In order to advance, you've found the path to becoming Second Order Mage."

"Yes, I exchanged a method for advancing to a Second Order Mage at the Northern Lands Society. This method actually allows you to advance as long as the spells you've learned are used in combination, without needing to put in much more effort within your current School..."

Fran shared this valuable knowledge without reservation; she did the same with Maeve and with Elan.

She never considered keeping this knowledge secret, or using it to gain greater benefits.

This is because she received one million Gold Coin from the Alliance. Even if she only took 20% of those Gold Coin, it would probably be enough for her to continue developing as Third Order Mage, and she might even be able to reach the Fourth Order level.

Now that she has no shortage of money, she's indifferent to this kind of knowledge; she'll share it with anyone who happens to be interested.

Furthermore, she already suffered greatly from the difficulty of acquiring knowledge during her apprenticeship; if she continues in that manner now, wouldn't her promotion be a waste?

When Fran was speaking, Elan originally wanted to interrupt Fran, because he also knew that this was valuable knowledge and not something that could be easily shared with others.

However, upon hearing the word "promotion," Elan immediately stopped thinking about it. If it were anything else, Elan might have offered some advice, but this was about promotion... So, with a touch of guilt, Elan listened to this valuable knowledge.

Behind the two, the three apprentices all pricked up their ears, wishing they could press their ears right up to them.

Although this knowledge seems completely useless to them now, they also know that if they were to advance to Formal Rank, they would most likely have to consider how to advance to the second rank.

Moreover, this knowledge sounds very valuable, so they naturally wouldn't want to let this opportunity slip by.

The Black Horse beneath Fran let out a frustrated sigh. Normally it would gallop swiftly along this road, but now...

It glanced sideways at the horse beneath Elan and the three horses beneath the three apprentices; it was going to be tough for it to travel with these slow horses.

Why are you chatting for no reason?! Can't we talk when we get there? After becoming Magic Creature, the Black Horse can basically understand human speech, but its vocal cords are completely incapable of producing human-like sounds, rendering it unable to speak at all. If Fran were to replace its vocal organs...

Just as the Black Horse was lost in thought, Fran suddenly stopped speaking. With a smile on her face, she said to the three apprentices behind her:

"Have you learned anything from what I've said?"