The new shack was about the same size, just over ten square meters, in a similar neighborhood, even slightly closer to the northern part of the academy.
Yet the rent was only 8 silver wolves, nearly half of what Dor had quoted them earlier.
"Lynn, how did you know Dor was trying to scam us?"
Standing in front of the shack, Leona looked at him with admiration.
While reviewing the contract handed to him by the manager, Lynn casually replied,
"I wasn't sure. But Dor was too enthusiastic. That made me suspicious."
"I see." Leona nodded and tried to mimic Lynn by reading over the contract himself. Then he sighed,
"I wonder how Ant is doing."
"He probably won't be in any real danger, but he might lose some money," Lynn guessed.
Since Dor chose to deceive rather than rob, chances are Ant would come to no real harm.
And even if he did… There was nothing Lynn could do about it. He had no time to worry about others right now; he needed to take care of himself first.
After confirming there were no problems with the rental agreement, Lynn signed his name.
Giggs followed suit, signing and handing the contract to the manager. Then he patted Lynn on the shoulder and said sincerely,
"Whatever happens, thank you, Lynn."
"Yeah, it's all thanks to you. We would've been scammed for sure otherwise," Leona added as he handed over his contract.
It wasn't just about the silver wolves, even if the amount wasn't huge; just like Dor had said, they were already carrying heavy debts. No one could say whether a small loss might become the final straw.
Before Lynn could respond, the manager, while sorting the contracts, interjected curiously,
"Someone tried to take you somewhere else to rent a place? How much were they charging?"
"15 silver wolves a month," Leona answered.
"For the same kind of shack?"
"Yeah."
"Sheesh, that's daylight robbery." The manager shook his head. "These shacks usually go for 10 silver wolves tops. Lately, the prices have even gone down a bit. And that guy still had the nerve to charge you 15? Tch."
Lynn frowned slightly and looked at the man.
"Rent prices went down recently? Why?"
"You haven't heard?" the manager raised a brow.
"A strange bird showed up in Emeraldwood City not long ago. No bigger than a head, but fast as lightning and tough as steel. Killed a bunch of people just by crashing into them, leaving nothing but a pile of minced meat. A lot of homes were left empty, so rents dropped a little."
Leona shivered.
"So… it's not safe here?"
The manager scoffed.
"Tell me what part of Emeraldwood City is safe, other than the big gangs' headquarters?
"Don't worry. Something like that bird doesn't show up more than once every few years. At least this area is safer than the outskirts… and it's under the Iron Claw Gang's protection."
As he said that, he suddenly paused, as if realizing something. Squinting at the boys, he asked,
"You kids from that mountaintop academy? The ones who got kicked out?"
Lynn was just about to deny it, but Leona had already nodded instinctively.
The manager groaned and shook his head, muttering,
"No wonder they tried to fleece you. Should've guessed..."
Seeing the greedy glint in his eyes, Lynn felt a cold weight settle in his chest.
He glanced at the Iron Claw tattoo on the man's neck, then looked around at the cluttered, run-down shacks. An oppressive feeling washed over him.
What kind of world have I ended up in...?
...
By the time they finished settling in, night had already fallen.
"You won't sleep well without some straw for bedding."
A frail old woman said to the group with a kind smile, standing just outside their shack.
This was Mrs. Carter, their next-door neighbor, a widow living on her own.
The shack they had rented was almost completely bare. Aside from a wooden plank that served as a bed, there was nothing else inside.
Mrs. Carter seemed to know this well. When she noticed they were new, she took the initiative to bring over some dry straw for bedding.
"Thank you, Mrs. Carter."
Lynn took a bundle of straw from her and, while expressing his gratitude, reached into his pocket for a few copper hawks.
At first, he'd been just as wary of this old lady, but later realized she was simply a kind neighbor with no ulterior motives.
Beside him, Giggs and Leona followed his lead and pulled out some copper coins.
"Oh no, no, don't bother with that."
Mrs. Carter quickly waved them off, pushing the coins back into their hands.
"It's just some straw, nothing valuable. Think of it as a housewarming gift from your neighbor."
Lynn tried again to insist, but Mrs. Carter was adamant. In the end, he had no choice but to give up, thanking her repeatedly along with Giggs and Leona.
The kind, wrinkled face of the old woman somehow reminded Lynn of his late grandmother.
He looked up at the unfamiliar stars overhead, a trace of melancholy welling up in his heart.
Home...
Who knew how far away that was now?
"Have you eaten yet?" Mrs. Carter asked again.
"Not yet, Mrs. Carter," Leona replied, rubbing his stomach with a sigh. "Is there anywhere nearby we can buy some bread?"
"There's no bread in the shantytown. You'll have to go all the way to Red Citrus Market," the old woman shook her head, then hesitated before continuing, "But I can make you some oat porridge if you don't mind."
"Oats...?" Leona blinked. "Isn't that... livestock feed?"
"Of course, we don't mind, Mrs. Carter," Lynn said quickly.
In this world, just like in the medieval period of his previous life, oats were mainly used as horse feed. Only the poor treated it as food.
"I have some rye as well..." Mrs. Carter added.
"Rye, huh. No wheat? Barley would work too…" Leona mumbled.
"Leona!" Giggs scolded sharply.
...
In the end, Mrs. Carter cooked them a pot of thin porridge made from a mixture of rye and oats.
Despite her protests, Lynn insisted, and the three of them gave her six copper hawks as thanks.
"When it gets dark, make sure to keep your door shut and brace it with something, just in case. No matter who knocks, don't open it.
"And if you have to go out during the day, keep your valuables hidden. Don't carry everything on you, but don't hide it all in one place either, spread it around."
Night had fallen completely by the time Lynn bid the old woman farewell and returned to their shack.
Her well-meaning, rambling warnings lingered in his mind alongside the warm, if barely palatable, porridge softening some of the tension that had gripped him since his arrival in this strange world.
It had been a long time since he felt such simple, genuine neighborly kindness.
Creak
Lynn pushed open the wooden door, a little more relaxed than before
Squelch.
And stepped right into a puddle of mud.
Filthy black water splashed up, soaking into his deerskin boots. A cold, clammy dampness crept in; some had leaked through.
Lynn's face darkened.
Expressionless, he raised his head and stared at the thatched roof above him, one that let in not just moonlight, but rainwater too. Then he looked at the dirt-and-straw walls around him, no windows, no insulation, and felt a surge of frustration.
He tossed the straw onto the dilapidated wooden bed, then immediately lit the oil lamp and pulled out a stack of coarse white paper and a quill from his pack. Squatting beside the bed, he began writing.
He was copying down the arcane knowledge the original owner of this body had learned about how to advance to a wizard apprentice.
"Even if he couldn't succeed, I might. We're not the same person. And besides, I have the Insight talent!"
But as he continued to write, Lynn's expression grew darker. Barely two hours later, he set the quill aside in frustration.
[Prerequisite Knowledge for Advancing to Apprentice - Hossens School (Fragmented)]
[Requires mixed source energy for Insight]
The knowledge was extremely obscure and difficult to grasp. Worse still, the original owner hadn't fully understood it; he hadn't even memorized it completely.
And now, the academy had already reclaimed all its textbooks…
Lynn sighed, then pulled out a few more blank sheets and began copying:
[Hossens Apprentice Meditation Method (Fragmented)]
Although this, too, was marked as "fragmented," the initial portion, the part about constructing the meditation sigil and advancing to a third-rank apprentice, was intact.
In both his previous life and here at the academy, you had to master the basics before you could move on to advanced knowledge. But here, it was even stricter.
Back then, even a middle schooler could access high school material if they wanted to.
But at the academy, until one formally advanced, prep apprentices like them were limited to foundational knowledge only.
Lynn picked up the meditation manuscript and tried to read it, but soon gave up in frustration.
This wasn't some martial arts fantasy where an ordinary person finds a secret manual and instantly becomes a master.
The reality was: without enough foundational knowledge, meditation manuals were no different from cryptic nonsense. Let alone trying to meditate.
The path from mortal to wizard apprentice was the first major threshold of the entire wizardry system.
The original owner had studied day and night for nine years up on the mountain and still hadn't fully understood Hossen's meditation method. And Lynn wanted to master it just by skimming it for a few minutes?
Wishful thinking.
"What if I use my Insight talent directly on the meditation method?" Lynn wondered.
"In theory, it should work… but it'll consume a lot of source energy."
He reached into his robe and took out a small leather pouch, about palm-sized.
Pouring the contents into his hand, Lynn stared at the single Lesser magic stone nestled among a few coins, hesitation flickering in his eyes.
Due to various circumstances, the original owner hadn't left behind much wealth. Even after inheriting a portion of Galito's estate, aside from this one Lesser magic stone, there were only 8 gold dragons and 20 silver wolves.
1 Lesser magic stone was roughly worth 10 gold dragons,
1 gold dragon = 100 silver wolves = 1,000 copper hawks.
If it were just for rent, this money would last a while. But if he included the academy's debt, this little bit meant next to nothing.
"If I use it for Insight..." Lynn hesitated.
After a moment of silent deliberation, he reached into his pack and pulled out the pale green book, the one that had almost gotten him killed.