Life in the academy was not what Arthur expected, it was cultivation for most of the day and taking a free class whenever he got the chance.
Also living in the outer section of the academy grounds, prevented him from seeing the grandiose of the interior, after all, he barely enters the academy, going into a small section to the side for the free classes, and other than that and the exchange and mission hall, he wasn't allowed to go anywhere else.
Arthur heard from his neighbors that inside the academy, there was a whole other world, a town, official wizard market and so on, they said that they heard this from an official apprentice, which at first they didn't believe, but after barely seeing an official apprentice since joining, they started to believe it, after all, who in their right mind would leave a cultivation heavenly land?
"I also heard that the spirit vein inside is 10 times denser, purer, and of better quality.. I bet cultivating there would be amazing!" A boy with childish face and a red set of hair spoke, he had a mole on the side of his neck, and his name was Joshua, and another boy, nodding to his words, wearing a large bracelet that covered his forearm, dark blond hair and deep blue eyes, was standing next to him, named Kogo.
"We need to reach the 2nd rank to become official apprentices, right now, all we can do is cultivate most of the time, or go on missions to earn some spirit stones, so that we can purchase some meager resources!" Kogo said.
Arthur, standing with them, nodded. Although he did not like interacting with others much, he still found these two tolerable, and they were his main source of gossip.
"Arthur, I've never seen you take any mission, aren't you out of spirit stones yet?" Kogo asked.
"I am, but I don't think fighting over mediocre missions in the outer town with other apprentices is worth the hassle for a few spirit stones, I would rather spend that time cultivating!" Arthur answered with a smile. After becoming a 1st rank apprentice, he couldn't share his progress yet, for fear of being seen as an anomaly, which in this world, was not a good thing, so, his idea was very simple. 'Act as a hard working apprentice, for when the time comes and my rank is revealed, It could garner some attention, but not too much' He thought.
"You've been cultivating non-stop since we got here, only leaving to go to classes" Joshua said. "But resources are needed Arthor, although you can absorb spirit energy and refine it yourself, but the inscription of the meditation technique will not be easy, and even after doing it, you would need to keep absorbing and refining energy until you have enough for a breakthrough, and to breakthrough the first realm, from what I heard, you can either brute force it if you absorb enough spirit energy, or use the breakthrough elixir for 1st rand apprentices, I heard it provides enough pure spirit energy to push you through the realm even if you only have 70% filled"
"We were planning on taking missions outside.. The breakthrough potion, even one for the first realm, costs 50 spirit stones" Kogo spoke. "Would you like to join us? We got our hands on a mission in a nearby town, apparently they have a magical beast in their surrounding forest that keeps killing all of their prey, and I heard it even killed a few hunters and injured some of their guards when they tried to hunt it down"
"Join us man, we heard you're an Official Knight, with you, and our runes, this will be an easy mission, and it's for 20 spirit stones" Joshua was trying to convince Arthur, as having an Official Knight as a teammate would be very useful, especially when they have to look for the beast in a forest, prone to sneak attacks and the like. "We will split the 20 evenly amongst us, and getting more missions of that caliber would be much easier if you join our team, since they don't give them away if the team is too weak.."
Arthur, hearing them out, started thinking to himself. 'A breakthrough elixir would be very useful.. I heard some of the rich apprentices, most likely from wizard families, already used them to enter the 1st realm, and some are using them to boost their absorption, planning on breaking into the 2nd realm quicker' He sighed. 'Most apprentices are still not even close to entering the first realm, taking on dangerous missions to get the simplest resources, while the rich are already so far ahead! But, this would be a useful way to fake my breakthroughs, now, and in the future!'
"Okay, I'm in!" Arthur agreed, surprising the other two.
"Haha I guess you're really out of spirit stones" Kogo chuckled. "I guess the hermit is leaving his cave"
"The hermit?" Arthur asked, smiling.
"Yes, that's what the other apprentices are calling you, since you never joined us in any of the get togethers, parties and so on, always training in your cabin" Joshua explained.
"Haha, ok then" Arthur chuckled with the others.
***
They went to the mission hall, a vast area the size of a football stadium, with countless apprentices going back and forth. Of course, the missions for the outer apprentices were near the door they entered from, while the other areas, with other doorways, were most likely belonging to the official apprentices.
"Hello sir" Joshua took the lead and spoke to the man at the counter, he was another old apprentice, a 2nd rank one. "We would like to add another teammate to our mission!" Joshua said, handing over a badge and a paper.
"You heeded my advice, good" The man nodded, took both items and looked towards Arthur. "Hand me your academy badge and give me a basic idea of your combat power.. No need to go into the details.. If you are already a a first realm apprentice, let me know, if you learned any spells, say yes, no need to tell me which spell or how many, and if you did neither, then make sure you have runic stones"
Arthur politely nodded, and spoke. "Ok sir, I am an official Knight and have a couple runic stones"
"Hmm.. Good" The man nodded, and wrote something in his book, then took Arthur's badge, did something else which Arthur couldn't make up, then handed everything back. "You all are now a part of the same team 'The Hydra', named by your friend before"
They all nodded, thanked the man, and left.
Arthur and other others said their goodbyes after agreeing on a day to leave, which was 2 days from now, Joshua said that he will take care of the carriage and fees, since those only cost gold coins.
"What should I do now?" Arthur sat in his cabin, thinking. "I have no runic stones, I said I did to cover my usage of Mage Hand if push came to shove in the future, but I might really need Runic Stones just in case anything happens" He sighed, looking at his 11 Spirit Stones, grabbed them and left for the exchange hall..
2 hours later, he returned, his hand over his pouch.
"10 Spirit Stones for a single use level 0 runic stone.. What a scam!" Arthur sighed again. "With this Firebolt stone, I should be able to do some damage if I use it correctly" Arthur then proceeded to clean his armor, sword and other equipment, grabbed all of the Gold coins he had, and left for the outer town. "I'll check if I can get a better sword and Armor, and also buy other equipment.. Maybe poison, bandages, and anything I might need in case of an emergency"
Arthur never went to the outer town before, only barely going in and out for food and water. Now, walking around the market, checking every shop and store, he noticed that the citizens around him kept their distance.
"Is it my robe and badge? Are these people that afraid of apprentices? Even outer ones?" Arthur wondered in confusion!