Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 276: Plotting With Song Junlang

Song Junlang gave Xiao Lin a brief overview of the situation. Dawn Academy Evening News might be an official news source, but even on Planet Norma, there were not usually that many things to report. A lot of the news was actually gossip, such as love rumors about high-ranked colonists.

Usually, the new students would focus on any news regarding the monthly examinations in the papers, but this monthly examination was highly sensitive, and under the orders of some higher ups, the paper did not report anything on it. That was why the gambling pool became the topic of focus instead.

“You might not know this, but the higher the years you go, the more redemption points you need!” Song Junlang sighed as he furrowed his eyebrows.

“I feel like you’re the one who needs redemption points.” Xiao Lin’s eyes twitched. After interacting with Song Junlang for so long, he knew what the guy’s temperament was like.

“Ahem, I’ll admit to that, but what I want to say is, with so many people participating, the rewards are getting better and better.”

Xiao Lin opened the forums to take a look, and just like Song Junlang said, he got quite a shock, especially after two days ignoring the forums since he was busy with training.

The bets had increased from the few hundred first years to several thousand people, and the odds had gone up according. Originally, even though Xiao Lin was not regarded as having any chance to win, the compensation was only around seven or eight times, but now it had risen all the way to 20.

It looked like someone had invested a lot, which became a hot topic on the forums. There was a lot of discussion around the identity of the mysterious investor. Some believed they were a graduate–a very distinguished one at that.

That kind of person would not lack New Dollars. With their skill, they would have earned quite a bit in their four years in the academy, but redemption points were useless for them after graduation. Being able to invest in the gambling pool meant that they would stand a chance to earn quite a bit, but it was no issue at all if they lost anyway.

The odds and the scale of the gambling pool caused Xiao Lin quite a bit of surprise. He peeled his gaze off the computer before looking toward Song Junlang. “So, you want to place your bets on me? Do you really believe in me that much?”

“No, based on normal speeds, there’s no way you will be the first to reach Black Iron-rank.”

Xiao Lin took offense to that, retorting, “You know how fast my attributes rise, why do you think I don’t have a chance?”

Song Junlang waved, scribbling on a notebook before showing it to Xiao Lin, earnestly saying, “Look, this is a general growth graph I made for you. It’s true that your attributes go up faster than others, even if I don’t know why. However, your foundations are regretfully weaker than everyone else, you’ll likely need to wait until after Black Iron to overcome that natural deficiency.”

Xiao Lin thought to himself in silence. Song Junlang’s words were reasonable. His SS-rank talent allowed him to speed up his training, and in three months he managed to climb out from the last place in total attribute scores to the average line. The speed was astounding, but he was still quite a bit away from the other monitors, especially Chen Dao and Cheng Ming. Based on his understanding, their total attribute scores were at least 10 to 20 points higher than his.

Academic Genius was really good for the long term. If he had enough time he would be able to surpass anyone, but it was definitely not at that moment.

Song Junlang paused before a sly smile appeared on his face, “Of course, it’s only impossible if I don’t lend you a hand.”

Xiao Lin processed that quickly, furrowing his eyebrows before saying, “Do you mean you have a way to help me exceed everyone else? I guess you mean your special food? That would probably be hard; those things might be able to increase my attributes, but it’s full of uncertainty and slow to boot. Every time I eat them, there are always side effects, so it’s definitely not a reasonable solution.”

With those words, Xiao Lin seemed to remember something before furiously asking, “I actually have something to ask you. That dragon blood you made me drink, what sort of side effects does it have? I suddenly lost my consciousness during the monthly examination and started attacking my own allies. What happened?!”

Song Junlang jumped back in shock before recovering. “Huh? Attacking your allies? That definitely has nothing to do with me.”

“I can’t think of any reason other than your dragon blood.”

“Ahem, let’s get to the main topic. Do you want to reach Black Iron-rank in half a month?” Song Junlang changed the topic abruptly, but it was enough to surprise Xiao Lin.

“Half a month?”

“That’s right!”

“You’re not joking?”

“I don’t really have the time to joke with you!”

Xiao Lin went deep into thought, rapidly counting in his head. He currently had a total attribute score of 61, and needed 39 more to reach 100. If he were to ignore night and day and frantically train, it would take him more than a month, even if he were to increase his attributes by one a day.

Chen Dao and the rest needed maybe two or three days to gain one attribute point, but they only had ten to twenty odd points to go, so their speed would still exceed Xiao Lin’s.

After some thought, Xiao Lin once again raised his head, asking, “What do you need?”

Even though he had a decent relationship with Song Junlang, he did not think that man would do anything for free. Song Junlang lowered his voice and said, “Very simple, we split everything in half after the matter!”

“What?”

Xiao Lin gaped, not knowing what to say before finally retorting, “So you basically aren’t planning on spending anything, but want me to use my redemption points for you instead!”

“I’m using my expertise here, and I really don’t have anything on me.” Song Junlang smiled bitterly. “You know as well that my research is not supported by the student union due to safety concerns. Even though I’m a department head, the school still won’t support me financially. I’ve been getting by using my savings from the past, but it will run out soon.”

Xiao Lin could not help but think about Department Head Song’s past as a genius graduate. Being relegated to a logistics department head that no one respected was quite tragic. He clenched his teeth, saying, “We’re splitting it three to seven!”

“Four to six! No lower!”

“Then I’m the six!” Xiao Lin said decisively.

“Fine, but you’ll pay the taxes!”

“What? There are taxes?!”

“Of course, the academies are basically countries in the New World. How would a country function without taxes?”