"Wait a minute, rlin Clay!"
rlin and Luna flinched. They both turned and saw a beautiful red-haired girl approaching.
Luna recognized her imdiately—Crystal, the genius of the Magic Kingdom of Arcadia.
She was about to pull rlin back, but he moved first.
"What is it, Miss Crystal? Do you need sothing from ?" rlin asked, his tone indifferent.
Crystal felt a flicker of surprise. Until now, children had always looked at her with admiration and respect.
But rlin’s attitude was completely different, and it caught her off guard.
Regaining her composure, Crystal stopped a ter away and said, "I wanted to congratulate you. Your ability is evident from your incredible score. Do you have a special thod for achieving it?"
"A thod?" rlin smiled faintly. "Nothing special. You just need to defeat ten level-six monsters every day. That’s all."
Crystal went quiet. Defeating even one level-six monster was hard enough—ten every day?
She wanted to think rlin was joking, but she couldn’t.
After all, he had already proven himself with over 35,000 points on the previous test.
"I see. Thank you," she said politely. "By the way, are you free tonight? I—"
Before she could finish, rlin waved his right hand. "Sorry, I can’t. And we’re not exactly close, are we? So, I’m sorry."
Without waiting for a reply, he took Luna’s hand and walked away from the academy’s backyard, leaving Crystal flustered.
"rlin Clay..." She gritted her teeth in anger.
Feeling the gaze of the other students, she snorted coldly and turned toward her dormitory.
***
"rlin, earlier..." Luna started, but rlin quickly pressed his fingers to her lips.
"Shh! Don’t ask anymore, okay? I’m too lazy to talk about that girl," he said, his face serious.
Luna didn’t push any further. She simply nodded and moved on to another topic.
"So... where are we going?"
"Back to the dormitory. I’m exhausted. You too, right?"
Luna felt a pang of disappointnt. She had actually wanted rlin to invite her to play.
But he was right—she was tired. In the end, she let him lead her back to the dormitory before they parted ways.
rlin sighed deeply as he walked back.
"Crystal, huh? What a dangerous girl," he muttered.
He had ended the conversation earlier because he sensed Crystal’s hypnotic magic.
If he had stayed and talked to her, he might have fallen under her spell without realizing it.
Fortunately, his skill in magic was advanced enough to detect it quickly.
Still, the fact that Crystal tried that on him ant she had a specific plan.
What plan? He didn’t know.
But he suspected Crystal was the kind of arrogant girl who believed the world always favored her.
She must have been frustrated at being second, facing such a huge gap between them.
"By the way, system, where’s my reward?" rlin asked.
"[Ding! Congratulations on becoming number one in the test, Master! Reward: 50,000 system points and a Blackpox cure formula have been awarded!]"
rlin nodded in satisfaction. He opened his right palm, and a small box materialized in his hand.
He opened it and studied the contents carefully.
"So, this is the formula, huh?" His eyes narrowed slightly.
He hadn’t expected it to be so simple—it consisted of only ten basic herbal ingredients.
Even better, all of them were sold on the market, making them easy to obtain and inexpensive.
"With this, I can finally end the Blackpox epidemic that’s returned after decades," he whispered, delighted.
Blackpox was still a serious threat—even after hundreds of years.
Until now, no alchemist had been able to create an affordable redy for those affected.
If he gave this formula to Linda, he would surely earn both a huge reward and high praise among the continent’s alchemists.
"Hehehe..." rlin chuckled as he stored the formula back into the system.
At that mont, a familiar figure caught his eye in the distance.
"Isn’t that Lisa, the owner of the Thorn&Vine food shop? What’s she doing there?"
Lisa was surrounded by two burly, muscular n with nacing faces.
Though she tried to fight back, they were clearly stronger than her.
"I have to help her."
Without a second thought, rlin vanished from his spot.
...
"I’m sorry! Please give more ti! I swear I’ll pay you back!" Lisa begged, tears streaming down her face.
"Another promise? How many tis have you said that?" The burly man on the right snorted coldly. "Let’s take her!"
The other man nodded, and together they yanked Lisa forward by force.
Although Lisa possessed a Seventh Spirit Core, that didn’t make her particularly strong.
Her specialty was cooking, not combat, and in a fight, she was fairly weak.
anwhile, the two n were Fifth Awakening-level powerhouses—an extrely formidable level.
"Stop!" a voice called out from beside them.
The two n and Lisa froze. Turning toward the sound, they saw a tall, handso boy approaching.
The burly n didn’t recognize him, but Lisa did—he was the only custor who had ever eaten at her shop when everyone else avoided it.
"You..." Lisa began, but the n cut her off with scowls.
"Who are you, kid? New student? Get lost," the first one barked.
"Yeah, go away. This doesn’t concern you."
rlin, unfazed, stepped closer. His voice was calm but deadly. "Causing a disturbance on academy grounds is a serious offense. Punishnts range from imprisonnt to far worse. Are you aware of that?"
The two burly n froze. Fear flickered across their faces as they exchanged uneasy glances.
They quickly released Lisa, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief.
"So, what exactly happened? If you don’t explain clearly, I’ll report this to the academy head. By the way, I know her," rlin said, his tone indifferent.
The two burly n visibly shuddered. One hurriedly spoke, "Don’t get wrong, Young Master. My friend and I didn’t co here to cause trouble—we ca to collect a debt."
He pointed at Lisa, scowling. "She owes our boss five thousand gold coins! We’ve asked her politely to pay it back, but she keeps avoiding us. How could we not be angry?"
His companion nodded and added, "So please understand our situation, Young Master. We don’t want to do this either."
rlin didn’t imdiately believe them. He glanced at Lisa, who looked down in sha.
’Seems she really does owe money,’ he muttered.
The novel had ntioned Lisa’s debts briefly, but he hadn’t expected to witness sothing like this in person.
Taking a deep breath, he asked, "Is your boss from the Holy Kingdom of Aldoria?"
The question clearly surprised them. The burly man on the left answered earnestly, "Yes, Young Master. Our boss is indeed from the Holy Kingdom of Aldoria."
rlin gave a small nod. "The debt is five thousand gold coins, right? I’ll pay it."
Lisa froze, about to speak, but rlin gave her a gentle look that seed to tell her to stay quiet.
She could only swallow her words, lowering her head in sadness and sha.
rlin opened his left palm, and a pouch of gold coins appeared.
He tossed it to them. "Take it. There are about five thousand five hundred coins inside—keep the extra."
The burly man on the right caught the pouch. When he opened it, his eyes widened at the sight of the neatly stacked gold coins.
"T-Thank you, Young Master! Don’t worry, we’ll convey your regards to our boss," he said, bowing deeply.
The burly man on the left did the sa.
rlin nodded and waved his right hand.
The two imdiately turned and walked away.
Lisa looked at rlin, tears streaming down her face.
"Young Master... thank you! I don’t know how I could ever repay your kindness. Truly... thank you!"
She buried her face in her hands, her body trembling with sobs.
She had been trapped under that enormous interest-bearing debt for a long ti.
Her money was never for herself, only for her daughter’s dical treatnt.
Without it, her daughter would surely have died—and that was sothing she could never allow.
"It’s okay." rlin smiled gently and shook his head. "The important thing is that you’re safe."
Upon hearing that, Lisa felt relieved—but it would be a lie to say everything was fine.
Five thousand gold coins was an enormous sum. Even if she sold all her assets, it wouldn’t cover even ten percent.
She truly had no idea how she could ever repay it.
rlin, sensing her thoughts, imdiately reassured her. "Relax. That money ans nothing to . How about this—you give free als for a month?"
Lisa’s eyes lit up. "Sure! But... is a month enough? The value of what you gave far exceeds what I can offer."
"It’s fine. If you ever get the money, you can pay back later."
Five thousand gold coins was nothing to him.
But he knew that giving her everything for free outright would only embarrass her and make her refuse it.
So he deliberately gave her all the ti she needed, despite not needing the money.
"Thank you, Young Master! Thank you! I promise I’ll repay you soday!"
rlin simply nodded. As he was about to leave, a sound ca from his stomach.
Krr!
rlin: "..."
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