Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Nicholas Scott, the receptionist and the one in charge of Novice Treasury allowed Eren to complete his transaction before continuing:

"Haha! My boy, even the most rich-ass kids would find it difficult to part with such an amount while maintaining a straight face. But you are different, aren't you? I see no fluctuation in your mana signature even when your account balance has come down by so much.

I've checked out the records of your Besanc missions and ranking war results so far. You are a capable lightning-element fighter who also has an unused affinity in the time element.

I think you can take on a Novice beast and force it to submit to your will. This Beast Contract spell was the right decision on your part.

The Beast Battle Arena is still yet to be opened for first-years. But LA has reared plenty of Novice mana beasts in advance. I'm sure there'd be a lot of lightning element beasts among them for you to tame. I can arrange someone for you to take a quick look. What do you say?"

Eren realized that the receptionist of the Novice Treasury was keeping tabs on him. But it couldn't be helped. The guy couldn't technically touch him on assumptions. But his and his teammates' wealth conversion to Merps was far too coincidental for Nicholas to ignore the event.

"Thank you, sir Nicholas. But I'd like to visit the Lionhearts Beast Sanctuary to tame my beast."

"Staying independent, huh? I don't dislike it. But there are many ways spell casting can go wrong. Are you sure you don't want it handled professionally in a controlled environment?"

"I'm sure. Good day, sir."

Eren quickly left the Novice Treasury after his work was done. He didn't feel any negative emotions for him from Nicholas. But that didn't mean he'd let down his guard. Especially when he had so many things to hide.

Next, he went to Besanc and accepted some random lucrative missions. He was going to visit the beast sanctuary tomorrow and meet with Marla. He might as well earn some Merps while he was on it.

*********************

"Hello, Adapt Marla. How have you been?"

Eren slightly bowed and greeted Marla with his signature boy-next-door smile. They were at the LA's border check-post where Marla was positioned.

"Eren! Glad to see you. I'm doing great, thanks to you. I scored a new D-Rank spell that I had been wanting to have from LA for years now."

"How did you find my ranking battles, Adapt Marla?"

"Hmm. Your performance was more than enough to state your exceptional skills as a close combat fighter. But my only concern is that…."

Marla was about to say that Eren's BTP and his progress in the ranking journey was still not enough for her to even think about offering an apprenticeship. But she was stopped midway when Eren spread his mana sense and imbued it with his mana signature.

Marla felt that Eren was about to enter mid-stage in the Novice rank. His BTP value must be close to 18 if that was the case. She was surprised but didn't lose her cool:

"How?"

She threw a question at Eren only using one word. The latter also replied concisely:

"I'll be disciplined by Adapt Levine de Montmorency soon."

Eren spoke vaguely on purpose. But Marla thought for a while and concluded by herself after hearing his reply, nodding at him in response.

'This is the beauty of speaking half-truths.' Eren thought to himself.

Levine was a highly capable potioneer. She was known for making potions in various fields and categories. But the most sought-after potion she was famous for making was Novice Elixir.

The potion had a high business value. It would sell like hot cakes within LA and outside it once Levine sold them through various channels.

But the potion was heavily dependent on a few rare ingredients that were limited in production. Plus, the potion's manufacturing process was tedious and time-consuming. Therefore, Levine only made a limited number of these potions each year. It was mainly done to boost her account balance so that she could invest money in research of her level.

Novice Elixir was widely popular for its effect of increasing a Novice ranker's body stat values without any major side effects. Of course, the increment had its limitations. It wouldn't allow a ranker to skip through stages within the rank. But it was very useful if a ranker had just crossed a stage within the Novice rank.

That's why Marla believed that Eren had used Novice Elixir to reach his current body stat values. The kid's increment stopped at the boundary between initial and mid-stage after all.

"How did you convince that stubborn vixen to take you as her disciple?"

Marla still asked the last doubt she had. As far she knew, Levine wouldn't take a disciple unless it was something major done by the kid in front of her.

"Well, let's just say that I have the means to offer her what she needs the most right now."

"Malva Hibiscus!"

Marla blurted out the name of the ingredient she knew Levine needed the most. Only that ingredient can convince the Adapt potioneer to even think about taking a disciple.

"Yes. But let's focus on our deal, shall we?"

Eren diverted the subject to his apprenticeship after confirming Marla's guess. He knew too much talk on that subject would expose his half-truth.

"Al… alright. Listen, Eren. The reason I wanted to take Ken as my apprentice was because he was already in the mid-stage of the Novice rank. His mana core had been liquified and his mana circuit was expanding steadily within him.

That is the bare-minimum criterion for me to teach and employ my apprentice with ease. The biggest difference between a Novice ranker in the initial stage and someone in the mid-stage is not the body stat values. It is the speed of mana recovery.

A Novice ranker in the mid-stage can recover their mana and thereby stamina more quickly than someone in the initial stage. You might think it is not as important as body stat values. But you need to consider the daily routine an apprentice needs to follow to understand its importance.

Doing an apprenticeship is no joke. You have to do everything a normal student has to do. Reserve a time for self-training. Then partake in the training scheduled by your master. And follow your master in their work.

Plus, you have to take part in mandatory ranking wars.

Even the most vibrant students would carry black eye bags when they start their apprenticeship. That's why it is not meant for first-year students. They need to get used to their current curriculum before pushing their bodies to the limit.

No matter how hardworking you are, the efforts I put in you will be wasted if your body is in a perpetual state of exhaustion. Furthermore, the practice of close combat style would drain the stamina out of you in a jiffy.

You'd have to face these problems even when your body stat values have shot up so much in such a short time. That's because you are close to breaking through into mid-stage but you are not there yet. And it might take a while for you to achieve this stage breakthrough.

And don't expect me to go easy on you because of your situation or your favour. Those are two distinct things. On the contrary, I might push you to your limits harder than I had initially planned just to make you cross that bridge of being a Novice ranker in the mid-stage.

So you tell me. Do you still want to continue after knowing these hardships are heading your way?"

Author's Note: 2! ;)