Bru Magic Academy

After handing the baby Slime over to the farmer, the four of them did not leave right away. Instead, they all focused their attention on the baby Slime.

Of course, the elderly farmer did not mind what these four novice adventurers were doing.

Under their watchful eyes, he carefully took out a scroll.

Kana looked at the scroll, her eyes faintly gleaming.

"Come on, little fellow!" The elderly farmer cheerfully unrolled the scroll and dripped a drop of his own blood onto it.

The baby Slime seemed to realize something. Looking a little reluctant, it hesitantly hopped onto the scroll.

In the blink of an eye, the inscriptions on the scroll lit up and imprinted themselves onto the baby Slime.

"That contract scroll is worth a whole Gold Coin. Even if it's only a beginner scroll, it's still something precious that only a Mage can make." Kana watched enviously, sneaking a glance at Dean.

But Dean's attention was entirely on the baby Slime. He had no time to pay any mind to Kana's glances.

"Too bad learning Contract Magic actually costs ten Gold Coins. How could my little savings ever be enough?" Dean could only look on with envy, too.

Dean already had one Gold Coin saved up. It had taken him an entire year to scrape together that enormous sum.

For a Level-One Magic Apprentice with a pitiful amount of mana, saving a Gold Coin in half a year after deducting everyday living expenses already meant being quite well-off.

As far as Dean knew, neither Kana, Yanxi, nor Lamore had as much saved as he did. They probably had only around fifty silver coins each, roughly half his savings.

The contract was completed quickly. The baby Slime hopped out and affectionately rubbed against the elderly farmer, its earlier reluctance vanishing without a trace.

A Beginner Familiar Contract allowed someone to form a one-sided contract with a baby magic beast. Of course, since it was only a beginner contract, it worked only on babies that had yet to reach maturity.

"Hoho, little fellow, I'll leave this new patch of farmland to you from now on. Start by sowing these seeds!"

The farmer chuckled cheerfully, and the baby Slime began hopping about as it got to work.

The four of them also took this opportunity to say goodbye to their client.

This job had been fairly simple, with no danger involved. The only tricky parts were that the target was difficult to find and could easily escape.

For the first problem, spending a few Copper Coins made it easy to gather information. As for the second, with the Magic Apprentice Dean around, a simple Binding Spell had taken care of it.

The payment was nothing out of the ordinary. Pleased with the high-quality baby Slime, the farmer had given them a few extras worth a silver coin, which the four had promptly divided among themselves.

To the farmer, a few silver coins were merely small change. If possible, he would rather have offered a few more silver coins as a reward for a high-quality baby Slime.

However, Guild regulations stipulated that the reward for a baby Slime could not exceed four silver coins. This was also meant to maintain order within the Guild.

Hence the practice of giving extras.

Once they returned to town, they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. They would meet again in two days to look for a suitable job.

After parting with the others, Dean looked at the twenty-odd extra Copper Coins in his hand and nearly cried with gratitude. These twenty-odd Copper Coins had come at exactly the right time.

Dean now had a total of one Gold Coin, one silver coin, and twenty-odd Copper Coins. The silver coin and Copper Coins were the payment he had just received for the job.

"Finally, I can finally buy an offensive spell," Dean thought, excitement stirring within him.

No matter what spell it was, it cost at least one Gold Coin, plus a magic lesson worth one silver coin.

That would practically empty Dean's purse. When they finished the job, he had still been wondering when to borrow a few Copper Coins from his three friends to get him through the next few days.

But with the farmer's gifts, there was no need to borrow any.

At the thought of the new spell he would soon possess, Dean could not help quickening his pace.

Thirty minutes later, Dean finally reached his destination.

Bru Magic Academy.

Dean was an apprentice at this Magic Academy, a newcomer who had enrolled only a year ago.

With no spare time to look around, Dean headed straight toward the academy's eastern side, where an enormous Magic Library stood.

It housed tens of thousands of books on magic.

Of course, Bru Magic Academy was only a small Magic Academy. Having over ten thousand books on magic was already its limit.

Dean made his way with practiced ease into the hall on the library's first floor. At that moment, only a handful of people were browsing the magic books.

This was already a familiar sight. After all, every complete magic book had to be purchased with Gold Coins.

In Brown Town, even level-three Mages were few and far between, while most people were poor adventurers like Dean.

Of course, complete magic books were not the only things in the library. There were also all sorts of miscellaneous books, such as an account of a particular expedition by some level-two Mage, probably worth a few silver coins.

That sort of account still had some value as a reference, so it was worth a little money.

Dean had even seen a few instruction manuals that barely qualified as books, yet they could still sell for several or even a dozen Copper Coins.

At the very center of the library, six enormous pillars supported the entire Magic Library.

The pillars stood far apart, and at one of them was the counter where magic books were sold.

At the moment, however, the only person at the counter was a girl slumped over it, dozing.

"They're going to dock your pay, Mousse. If you keep sleeping, you'll lose your entire month's wages," Dean whispered beside Mousse's ear.

"I wasn't sleeping. I was just thinking... Dean, you little rascal! How dare you disturb my beauty sleep!"

Mousse's slender frame jolted, and she instantly woke up. She had initially looked a little flustered, but when she saw Dean before her, that trace of panic instantly turned into embarrassed indignation.

"I'm not lying. If you keep sleeping, this month's wages really will be in danger," Dean said with a mischievous grin.

"Hmph! That's none of your concern." Having just woken up, Mousse hurriedly tidied her appearance before asking, "You've come to the magic library so many times. When are you finally going to save up enough gold to buy a magic book?"

"Isn't that why I'm here?" Dean proudly waved his gleaming Gold Coin in front of Mousse.

"Then why are we still chatting? Come on!" Before Dean could react, Mousse had already dragged him away.

Although Dean couldn't see her while being pulled along, he could tell that Mousse was genuinely happy. Selling a magic book would earn her a commission.

A magic book worth one Gold Coin could earn her a commission of up to five silver coins.

Those five silver coins amounted to roughly an extra half month's wages for Mousse.

(End of chapter)