“Jonah, congratulations!”
Joseph and Andrew forcefully managed a slight smile and congratulated her!
“Eh, thanks!”
Jonah burst into tears of excitement as she nodded her little head rapidly. Joseph and Andrew had failed, and she thought she had no magic talent. Little did she expect that her fate would turn around!
How could she not be happy and excited?
“Another lucky person!”
“So jealous!”
The bystanders were commenting nonstop. Among them, there was no one who was not envious. One’s life would be very different if they had magic talent!
Even if one possessed an ordinary level of talent, it was enough to cause envy!
“Let’s go and enroll Jonah in a magic academy!” said Meng Lei. “Then, we’ll head out to find Captain Hudders!”
“Alright!”
...
Jonah had average talent and was a commoner. She ended up joining Douglas Magic Academy, becoming the second child from Magical Beast Village to be admitted into a magic academy!
After receiving the news, Captain Hudders exclaimed in excitement. Two of the four children he had brought with him possessed magic talent. This was too lucky and exhilarating!
In particular, Meng Lei, the one that he favored, possessed extraordinary talents. How could he not be pleasantly surprised?
“Meng Lei, good job, you are the pride of the village!”
Hudders slapped Meng Lei on the shoulder, speaking incoherently with excitement. “Jonah, well done as well. I can’t wait to return to the village and inform the village chief and everyone else!”
Meng Lei shook his head helplessly and glanced at the increasingly frustrated Joseph and Andrew. He then asked, “Captain Hudders, what should Joseph and Andrew do? Have they made a wasted trip coming along with us?”
“There’s nothing I can do! If they don’t have talent for magic, they can only return to the village!”
Captain Hudders’ face dimmed as he sighed. He didn’t say much, but the outcome was fixed. They would return to the village to be commoners, spending the rest of their lives in a small mountain village!
This was fate. No one could go against it!
Joseph and Andrew were shocked, and tears unwillingly rolled down their cheeks!
“Even without magic talent, you can still cultivate your Battle Aura!” Meng Lei frowned as he spoke. “There are so many warrior academies in the capital city, and some of them do recruit human commoners. They can enter a warrior academy and become Warriors!”
Upon hearing this, Joseph and Andrew were stunned, and a glimmer of hope appeared in their eyes!
“Yes, although you can’t enter a magic academy, entering a warrior academy is not a bad option!” Jonah added, “Since the four of us are staying in the capital city, we can take care of each other.”
“Talking is easy!” Captain Hades smiled bitterly. “Do you know how expensive the enrollment fee for a warrior academy is?”
“I have not considered this!”
“Even the worst third-rate academies have an annual enrollment fee of dozens of gold coins. Not to mention books, accommodation, food, clothing, expenses for materials, training fees...”
Captain Hudders shook his head. “Adding all these up, hundreds of gold coins are needed per year. How can the average family afford this?”
Upon hearing that, Joseph and Andrew’s expressions froze. It was difficult for their families to come up with 10 gold coins in a year, let alone hundreds of gold coins!
Their parents had gone through great difficulties in coming up with the 10 gold coins for this magic assessment. Where could they get hundreds of gold coins for them to enter a warrior academy for their training?
“Warrior training is only for the rich. This is not a joke!” Captain Hudders sighed. “The training of Magicians and Warriors is made possible with money, enough to suck dry a small bourgeoisie family. How can commoners like us afford it?”
After saying that, he glanced at Jonah as his eyes flashed with worry. It was a good thing to have magic talent, but entering the magic academy was the beginning of spending money!
Jonah was different from Meng Lei, who did not need to pay for any tuition or fees and had an attractive scholarship grant. Where would she find the money for the next few years of expenses?
Meng Lei was silent.
Jonah clenched her teeth and was pale with fright!
“Let’s go. You all must be tired after being in the line for the entire day. Let’s find a place to eat, and go back to the hotel to rest!”
Hudders waved his hand. “In two days’ time, after Meng Lei and Jonah enter the magic academy, I will take Joseph and Andrew back to the village. The expenses in the capital city are too high...”
“Return back to the village?”
Meng Lei fell into deep thought.
Chapter 23: A Long History, Ranked Ninth In The Continent
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Was Meng Lei rich?
No, not really!
As of now, his total assets came up to only 2,306 gold coins, as well as the 5,000 gold coins per year scholarship grant that hadn’t entered his pocket yet!
Although this bit of assets naturally couldn’t compare to the nobility and the filthy rich merchants, it was still far better than the commoner class that struggled to feed themselves.
This wasn’t the point, however!
The point was that money came to him fairly easily because he could pick it up at any time, anywhere!
Meng Lei had been picking up dropped items the whole time ever since he had arrived in the capital city. Gold coins, stats light balls, spells... In fact, he had even picked up... A grand total of three battle skills!
Additionally, the more crowded a place was, the more dropped items there would be!
As the capital of Fire Dragon Kingdom, what the capital city lacked the least was people, especially when the term was beginning for each of the major academies during this recent period. As such, a large number of people had entered the capital city!
With people around, things would naturally drop!
Naturally, this went to Meng Lei’s benefit!
And wasn’t that so? Because it hadn’t even been a day since he had arrived in the capital city, yet his pockets were already overflowing from the number of items he had picked up, and all of his various stats had undergone a tremendous change!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human
Wealth: 2,306 gold coins
Physical Body Constitution: Third-Grade Warrior (502/1,000)
Spirit: Second-Grade Magician (213/500)
Magic Power: First-Grade Magician (199/200)
Others: Some increase
The number of gold coins he possessed had doubled and a little more!
His body was comparable to a Third-Grade Warrior’s!
His spiritual power had entered the ranks of a Second-Grade Magician’s!
His magic power lacked only 1 point to become comparable to a Second-Grade Magician’s!
There were even quite a few more spells in his repertoire now, too!
As for battle skills... He had picked up three of them for some reason!
Tsk, tsk, the capital city certainly lives up to its name as the place where billionaires and experts congregate. It hasn’t even been a day, and I’ve already picked up this much. Can you imagine how it’ll be like in the future?
The capital city... I’ve certainly made the right choice in coming here!
Meng Lei was very satisfied with his rewards today, and he believed that there would only be more and more rewards in the future!
Therefore, could he use some of his gold coins to help two of his companions out financially, so that they could attend school here?
Meng Lei secretly mused over this. As long as Joseph and Andrew were a little more diligent and became Trainee Warriors within the first year, they
would become able to easily earn money at that point.
After that, they would be able to support themselves and successfully finish their studies. By the time they successfully graduated, no matter how poorly they did, they would also have become Fourth-Grade Warriors.
How could the riches that Fourth-Grade Warriors could create possibly be just 200 gold coins? There was no need to worry that they couldn’t pay him back!
In other words, as long as I loan out 200 gold coins, I can change two of my companions’ lives. That’s a pretty good deal!
However, when they heard Meng Lei’s thoughts, a huge jolt went through Hudders, Jonah, Joseph, and Andrew. All of them thought that they had misheard!
“Meng Lei, you’re not joking with us, are you?”
Hudders looked closely at Meng Lei and said, “I know that you have a scholarship grant of 5,000 gold coins per year, but magic cultivation has much higher expenses than Warriors’. The 5,000 gold coins grant may not even be enough for you to buy magic potions and magic materials!”
“Captain Hudders, you don’t need to say any more. I know what I’m doing!”
Meng Lei waved and looked at Joseph and Andrew. He said, “I’m also very poor, so I can only help you out financially for a year. You’ll have to depend on yourselves after the first year!
“If the two of you can become Trainee Warriors within a year, everything is still open for discussion!”
“Big Brother Meng Lei...”
Terribly touched, Joseph and Andrew burst into loud sobs. They couldn’t take the roller-coaster of events anymore!
“What are you crying for? Keep Meng Lei’s words in mind well. After you enter the academy, cultivate properly and strive to become Trainee Warriors within a year...”
...
With Meng Lei’s help, Joseph and Andrew successfully enrolled in warrior academies.
Although it was just an ordinary mid-range warrior academy, it was still enough to make Joseph and Andrew beyond touched. They promised right there and then that they would study properly from now on, and repay Meng Lei properly in the future!
During the next two days, the group of five had fun in the capital city and went sight-seeing. At the same time that Meng Lei picked up a large number of dropped items, he was also bedazzled by the capital city’s prosperity and extravagance!
He had initially thought that this world was very behind times and primitive because technology hadn’t developed here, but he was wrong!
Dragon God Empire’s civilization had tens of thousands of years of history. Although the main trend was the passing down of one’s personal battle strength, as well as the development and innovation of Battle Aura and magic, as an endless amount of time passed, a lot of derivatives had also developed.
Out of which, the most common was... Magic devices!
Poor commoners at the bottommost tier of social hierarchy naturally wouldn’t be able to come into contact with magic devices. However, these products of magic civilization had reached deeply into many upper society families. For example:
Storage magic devices such as spatial rings, spatial bangles, spatial belts, and so on!
Offensive magic devices such as magic cannons, magic guns, magic puppets, and so on!
Lifestyle magic devices such as magic lamps, magic carriages, magic carpets, and so on!
There was a dazzling array of products!
An endless number of products!
This was totally different from the style of civilization on Earth. While being a huge eye-opener for Meng Lei, it also provided him with a clearer understanding of this world at the same time.
But of course, what he felt the deepest was still a saying from his past life. “Meat and wine go to waste in the portals of the rich, while the frozen bones of the dead lie out on the road!”
This world had extremely serious social stratifications. The small group of people standing at the top of society hoarded an overwhelming majority of society’s resources and reveled in indulgence while enjoying life without restraint!
Conversely, more than 90% of the poor masses could only struggle at the bottom tiers of society, suffering to the fullest extent the upper class’ exploitation and oppression, dragging out their sad existences, and drifting about homeless and miserable.
After he got an understanding of all of these, Meng Lei, however, didn’t develop the great ambition of destroying the ruling class and liberating the toiling masses. The only thing that came to his mind was to continue to cowardly mature so that he could escape the exploited tier of people in the end and live on in a better and more enjoyable manner!
Of course, should he really become so strong as to possess the power to overthrow this world in the future, Meng Lei didn’t mind changing the world and cleansing the times, and return a beautiful world to Heaven’s Vault Continent!
...
Two days of free time passed in the blink of an eye. The term finally began at Fire Dragon Magic Academy. Meng Lei bade farewell to Hudders and the others and arrived at the Fire Dragon Magic Academy.
As the best magic academy in Fire Dragon Kingdom, Fire Dragon Magic Academy had a founding history of over 20,000 years. While it was already impossible to determine when exactly the school was founded, there were files that explicitly recorded that the earliest classes had been held 20,000 years ago!
In the 20,000 years that came after, Fire Dragon Magic Academy had received tremendous support from Fire Dragon Kingdom and Dragon God Empire. It had developed rapidly and become one of Heaven’s Vault Continent’s oldest magic academies.
Over the course of these long 20,000 years, Fire Dragon Magic Academy had produced innumerable Master Magicians and expert magic craftsmen, and also groomed a large number of Saint Domain experts, royalty, and nobility.
Out of which, there were 37 Fire Dragon Kingdom kings and 1,169 Saint Domain experts!
Fire Dragon Magic Academy ranked third among more than 20 magic academies in Dragon God Empire and ranked ninth among more than 100 magic academies in Heaven’s Vault Continent.
Yet it was exactly such a magic academy with a long history that, as of now, Year 44,781 of the Heaven’s Vault calendar, had only... 600 existing students!
With a total of six levels, there are less than 100 people in each level!
In other words, those that could enroll in Fire Dragon Magic Academy... Each and every one of them is a genius!
Chapter 24: Saint Domain Statues, Beating People Up In School
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Meng Lei was filled with emotion as he stood before the academy’s doors, gazing at the highest grand hall of magic filled with ancient civilization and a long history.
From history’s perspective, there wasn’t a single school on Earth that could be regarded in the same light as the academy in front of him right now. After all, even the oldest academy’s history on Earth didn’t go beyond 1,000 years, whereas there were already more than 20,000 years of history to the academy in front of him!
The settling of time could be seen in every corner!
Every little thing fully exhibited the many vicissitudes of life!
What a wonderful magic academy!
There were guards on duty at the school’s entrance. Each of them wore a suit of Fire Dragon armor and held flaming spears in their hands. With faces full of cold sternness, their sharp eagle-like eyes swept over all the passers-by!
New students reported today, and old students came back to school one after another!
There were joyous students, as well as agitated, proud parents!
It was extraordinarily bustling with activity outside the academy’s doors. However, only students wearing the academy’s badge could enter, while accompanying parents and other unrelated people were denied entrance at the doors.
One could tell from this just how strict Fire Dragon Magic Academy’s administration was!
Meng Lei took out the academy badge and pinned it at his che
st. Then, he followed the crowd and walked toward the academy entrance.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The guards’ sharp eyes shot toward him!
Then, an emotionless voice rang out. “New students reporting this year, please head to Saint Dragon Square to take part in the assessment for new students! Turn right after you enter, then go straight, and you’ll reach Saint Dragon Square!”
“Thanks!”
Meng Lei said his thanks and walked through the academy doors. He followed the tree-lined avenue on the right and made his way to the “Saint Dragon Square” mentioned by the guards.
Big and tall sycamore trees lined the sides neatly and provided shade from the sun.
He reached the end of the avenue after a brief moment. Several expanses of gigantic statues entered his sight. These statues had varying appearances and sizes, and they numbered dozens. The big ones were as tall as 100 meters, while the small ones were only two meters tall. With both big and small sizes, there were a lot of statues!
The workmanship was detailed and elaborate, delicate, and exquisite. The folds of the dragon scales... looked vivid and true to life!
There were mighty and ferocious Flaming Colossal Dragons!
There were Thunderbolt Dragon People with wings on their backs!
There was also no lack of small and short human elites!
Stone tablets with inscriptions stood at the bottom of every statue. Dense and packed tiny texts were inscribed on them, recording the statue subjects’ deeds and achievements from their whole lives!
“Isaac Flit, the 16th king of Fire Dragon Kingdom, the first president of Fire Dragon Magic Academy, and a great fire-elemental Colossal Dragon King!
“In Year 24,762 of the Heaven’s Vault calendar, the Three-Headed Chimera, one of the legendary rulers of Magical Beast Forest, led a beast tide to invade Fire Dragon Kingdom. The great His Majesty Isaac led the troops to fight the beast tide and successfully killed the Three-Headed Chimera, thereby ending the beast tide!
“In Year 24,792, a great war broke out between Dragon God Empire and the Titan Empire. His Majesty Isaac led the Fire Dragon Kingdom troops and traversed the Magical Beast Ridge to launch an ambush on the Titan Empire’s fortress in the north. They killed the East Tiger King, one of the twelve pillars of the Titan Empire, and made the first decisive strike for Dragon God Empire’s victory!
Picking Up Attributes From Today c1-406 Page 13