A New Sword

After leaving the weapon building, William walked slowly to Baldur's house.

He also wanted to move into such a house, but without being the silver level it was impossible.

The academy only gave a house to a bronze level. It was a small one-story house behind the dormitories. It also had a garden, but it couldn't be compared to the villa Baldur lived in.

He knocked on the door and Baldur opened it. He had taken off the leather armor he had been wearing and had changed into long, comfortable mage robes.

William always admired his tailor. The golden stripes of his blue robes, the patterns resembling an island in the middle of the ocean, gave Baldur an even more serious aura.

"I have been waiting for you." He said, motioning for William to sit down.

As William sat down, he began to speak. "I will make the potions in a week. After that, I will try to become both a bronze-level warrior and a second-level mage. Come to me in exactly one week and get your potions," he said.

Then he wrote something on a piece of paper on his desk, sealed it, and gave it to William.

"This is what's left after I take my share. For someone just starting in the academy, you're super rich." He smiled.

William took the paper with great pleasure. After all the money he had spent on the weapon, he definitely needed this mission reward.

If other people had that much money, they would definitely run out to buy potions. But he refused to use the potion that could cause any side effects after what his father told him.

If he wanted to break through the silver level, it would have to be a completely pure qi pool.

The only thing William wanted to get was Baldur's bloodline power.

The idea of having a bloodline fascinated him.

That's why he wanted to ask Baldur when he had the chance to clear all his doubts.

"Baldur, how sure are you about this blood business?"

Baldur was surprised by William's question. He had never expected such a question from him. He answered seriously.

"One hundred percent, if I can work with ten liters of blood from a platinum-level creature. Gold, fifty percent... It decreases exponentially like that. Right now, with this bronze-level blood, I can turn myself into a bronze-level warrior. But because of my age, I took the side effects. Worms are the best choice for me."

Shaking his head, William replied. "I understand, I wanted to use it too, but I can't handle the side effects." He said.

He promised himself that he wouldn't get involved in this blood business unless it was over fifty percent.

"Then I'll go. Take care of yourself. Don't rush into any potions or advancement. I'm sure you'll make it."

After leaving his words of encouragement, William left for the Mission Building.

He estimated that he would need to get at least eighty-five Soul Stones from the paper in his hand.

When he arrived at the mission building, it was packed to the brim. He had to wait in line for nearly half an hour to hand in his own mission.

As he handed over his mission, he looked at the young William who was in charge of handing out the missions, and was taken aback. He remembered that it was the boy who had taken the Earthworm mission the last time.

Since he had completed two missions in such a short time, he couldn't help but be surprised to see that one of them had the blood of a bronze-level creature.

He made a mental note to report this to the teacher in charge of the mission building. Nevertheless, he gave him the mission reward.

William was happy that he had risen to over a hundred soul stones again. After that, he just wanted to go to his room and get a good night's sleep.

He left the Mission Building and returned to his room. He met no one he knew on the way.

When he entered his room, he realized that he missed his bed. He took off his clothes and lay down on the bed. Then he began to think about what he would do tomorrow. The first thing he would do in the morning was to go to the cultivation building. Since money was not an issue at the moment, he wanted to reach the bronze level as soon as possible. The cultivation building was perfect for that.

His body was already filled with the metal element. All he needed to do was to increase and combine three drops of qi. He planned to stay in the cultivation building for tomorrow and the next two days.

Three days later he would receive his sword, and four days after that he would go to Baldur for potions.

He was also excited about the potions. These potions, which increased his soul power, might allow him to become a mage before he was sixteen. It might even be effective in repairing the system.

William fell asleep with beautiful dreams and happy thoughts.

...

William awoke to a beautiful day. As he opened his window, he saw the birds singing to him, the sun smiling on his face, and a clear, cloudless sky.

On such good days in his old world, he would always start the day by humming a song. It was the same today. His smiling lips turned into a whistling sound. He began to hum one of the few songs he could remember.

"When you laugh, look what happened... At the end of my heart, it caught fire... Look at the state of this world. x2"

He wanted to start the day early, but he was late. He quickly went to the dining hall and made himself a nice breakfast with tiger milk.

He met no one in the dining hall. He also wondered about the silence. He hadn't encountered clichés in these days. Normally today, a bully would come and try to beat up a weak kid. William would have come out like a hero and saved the boy. Then the boy would become a great hero and help William.

These were good thoughts to pass the time. After all, there was no newspaper or social media to read while having breakfast in this world.

He quickly finished his breakfast and headed towards the Cultivation Building.

The cultivation building was the largest building in the academy after the large dormitory where they lived. It was three stories high, but enormously wide.

The first floor was for iron level and below. Only bronze levels could enter its second floor. There was no problem entering these two floors, one could easily enter after paying the fee, but things were a bit difficult for the third floor.

There was no fee for the third floor. The third floor required direct contact!

To enter this place, one had to be at the silver level and be a teacher of the academy.

William thought about this idea for a long time. Then he decided that since he wasn't even at a bronze level yet, he would have to think about it when the time came.

William walked up to the teacher, who was sitting at a table in the middle of the first floor. There was no line. Even those waiting in the seats at the entrance tried to speak extremely quietly.

The teacher was a woman. This was the first time William had met a female teacher.

The woman had short black hair, a perfectly formed body, white skin, and a face that shone like the moon.

She was definitely every student's dream teacher. William especially liked her short hair, but he couldn't show his greedy thoughts to the teacher. He remained calm and stepped forward. "I want a room," he said in a quiet voice. It was as if he was renting a hotel room.

The teacher opened her eyes and looked at him. She had a face as if she didn't like him interrupting her meditation.

"What element?" she asked. She had a bored look on her face even as she asked.

"Metal." He said, placing a spirit stone on the table.

The teacher rose from her chair and yawned. She put her hands up in the air and stretched far back.

Then she took a deep breath and said, "Follow me."

As she yawned, William fell in love with the teacher again. She was not very tall, but her physique was exactly what he wanted. Unfortunately, his age was too young for such a thing at the moment, and the teacher could return him to his god in one punch.

He stayed calm and followed her.

They arrived at the room in the far corner of the cultivation building. The room number was 33.

The Teacher took what looked like a seal from her dimensional bag and handed it to him.

"This is your key." She said and turned to leave.

As the Teacher was about to leave, William stopped her.

"Teacher, how is this used?" William saw for the first time that this seal-like thing could be used as a key. So it was normal that he didn't know.

"Is this your first time?" She asked.

"Yes." He shook his head.

"All right, see the circle in the middle of the door? Pass the seal there and direct your qi toward it. The door will open. If you do the same from the inside, the door will be locked," She said.

"Thank you Teacher!" said William, bowing slightly.

"No problem." The teacher started to yawn again and left.

William did as the teacher said and sent Qi into the seal, pointing it at the ring on the door.

The circle on the door seemed to move. With a "kacha" sound, the door is angled.

William found this very helpful. It was like a steel safe in the old world, but the locking function was done by magic.

He walked in and immediately closed the door. He did not want the spiritual energy inside to leak out.

In fact, both elements suited William. All he needed at the moment was spiritual energy. Not elements. But since his method of meditation belonged to the metal element, such a room might be a little more beneficial to his development.

The interior of the room was very simple, just like the dormitories.

There were no windows, as he could see from the outside. It was only lit by the moonstone at the top.

There was a single bed, a desk, and a cushion.

William had only rented the room for one day. So he would stay here until this time tomorrow. He wasn't worried about hunger. He could last a day.

He sat down on the cushion and immediately began to meditate.

It really was as they said. As soon as he started meditating, he felt the difference between his room and here.

There was at least five times more spiritual energy.

William estimated that if he meditated here every day, he could certainly cut the time in half.

So now he could reach the bronze level in a month and a half. Of course, it would take a little longer since he would go hunting with Baldur from time to time. He thought he would advance in two months as a final estimate.

He even set himself a goal. He would not go out hunting unnecessarily. Just hunting with Baldur was enough for him.

...

The next morning, William opened his eyes. He felt extremely satisfied.

Since he wasn't silver level yet, he needed to eat. So he got up and walked out of the room. At the entrance, he returned the seal to the meditating teacher.

After that, he had a nice breakfast in the dining hall. Thanks to his meditation, he was still not sleepy. So it was time to buy a dimensional bag. There was a building at the Academy that was reserved for this purpose. It was called 'Hundred Treasures'. Not to be confused with the Treasury building. One was for buying, the other for selling.

When he arrived at the Hundred Treasures Building, he saw that it was not very crowded. It was still early morning. William really thought that the morning hours were the most effective to avoid clichés.

As he entered, there was a female student who greeted him again. She treated him with the utmost respect. There was nothing that William wanted too much. All he wanted was a dimensional bag.

He was amazed when he looked at the shelves. There were weapons, armor and even seals whose function he did not know.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to something that looked like a seal.

The attendant answered his question respectfully.

"This is a communication seal. Sold in pairs, you give one to a friend. When you send your qi into it, it can transmit sound up to ten kilometers." He said.

William was incredibly surprised by the function of this device. It was a magic-powered radio!

But when he saw the price, he immediately lost what he wanted. He could run ten kilometers in a few minutes. There was no need to spend extra money on this tool.

Seeing that William was losing interest, the attendant asked.

"What would you like?" With a smile on her face.

William snapped out of his thoughts and answered.

"I want a dimensional bag."

"Have you decided on the size?"

"No. What do you have? And the price?" He said with a hand on his jaw.

The woman answered patiently.

"Sir, one cubic meter of ten soul stones, two cubic meters of twenty soul stones. Such a price is constantly increasing." She said.

William thought that made sense.

"Can I have a ten cubic meter dimensional bag?" he said.

The woman immediately grew a bigger smile on her face and went to get the dimensional bag.

When she came back after a while, she had a bag in her hand. It even had a price tag on it.

It was the same size as his. Since the man who made it and the leather materials used were the same, they all looked like copies of each other, but the spaces inside were different.

William took it and looked inside. He couldn't help but rejoice when he saw the huge space.

He immediately took out a hundred soul stones and gave them to the woman. Then he asked.

"What if I want to sell my old bag? Will you buy it?"

The woman replied after putting the soul stones into her own dimensional bag.

"Of course, sir. If it is not broken or cracked, we will take it. But we get two soul stone commissions." She said.

William thought that was appropriate. After all, they had to make a profit.

He immediately emptied his own dimensional bag and placed it in the larger one. Then he handed the smaller one to the woman.

After taking a good look inside, she saw no problem and handed the eighteen soul stones to William.

The only thing that interested him in this shop was the armors. But when he saw the price tag, he immediately gave up. Armor was definitely more expensive than weapons. At the beginning of the iron level, even armor strong enough to withstand a creature's full blow would start at a thousand soul stones. He wasn't that rich yet, so he threw it into the deepest corner of his mind.

Finally, an idea came to him, just as it had with the weapons, and he asked the woman before he left.

"If I provide the materials myself, will you make me armor? What's the price?"

Her eyes immediately began to shine. The young man in front of her could have been a greedy customer. After all, she received a commission from the sales she made in the meantime.

"Sir, it depends on the hide you bring. Each level of leather processing has a different price. It is five hundred soul stones for the iron level, one thousand soul stones for the bronze level, and five thousand soul stones for the silver level. Strengthenings are not included in these prices. It is the strengthenings that determines the actual price. An armor can get more strengthening than a weapon, and we're working with metals, not just leather. But the price will still change. If you provide all the materials yourself, we will only charge for the basic tailoring and blacksmithing."

William lost interest after the woman said, "Five hundred soul stones for iron level," but he listened anyway because he might need it in the future.

Defensive items always seemed to cost more than weapons. After he reached Bronze, he would have to hunt and save money for a long time.

For now, he relied on metal skin. If his element wasn't metal, he would definitely suffer a lot.

Now it was clear why there weren't so many students at the academy. Most likely, the death rate was higher than he had expected.

He didn't want to prolong the conversation because he didn't have the money. "Thank you." He said and left.

The attendant pursed her lips in disappointment as she stared at his back.

It didn't look like she was going to get a commission today either.

After leaving the Hundred Treasures Building, William returned to the Cultivation Building and began to meditate.

This time, he had paid for two soul stones. When he realized that he could handle hunger after his meditation yesterday, he decided to stay for two days. When he came out, he wanted to get his sword right away.

...