As such, Dragon People Magicians held an overwhelming advantage among Magicians of the same grade. Meng Lei didn’t want to lose to those Dragon People of the same grade as him!
Thus, he needed to improve his physical body constitution as soon as possible!
“Damn! It’s my turn!”
Just as Meng Lei was quietly making his own plans, the little fatty suddenly let out a low howl and interrupted Meng Lei’s contemplation. It was now Hart’s turn to be assessed!
“Go, Fatty, you can do it!”
Meng Lei patted him on the shoulder and added with a smile, “If both of you can successfully pass the exam, it’ll be my treat tonight! Let’s go out of the school to have a good meal!”
“Okay!”
Hart nodded heavily and strode toward the teachers.
“Fatty, go for it!”
Daniel held his fists up and cheered for the little fatty.
The results of Hart’s assessment came out in no time.
His spiritual power had increased by 28 points, and he successfully passed the test!
His magic power reserves were comparable to a Third-Grade Magician’s, and he successfully passed the test!
During the spell release segment, Hart used three types of spells—Water Mirror, a water-elemental spell, Wind Guardian, a wind-elemental spell, and Giant Rock, an earth-elemental spell. These also successfully passed the test!
“Haha, I passed!”
Hart scurried over to Meng Lei, so excited that he was almost jumping up and down. He was simply too overwhelmed! One must know that as of now, he and Meng Lei were the only ones that had made the mark! How could he not be worked up?
“Impressive, kid!” praised Meng Lei, who was also very astonished. Then, he said, “You’ve actually reached Third-Grade Magician level for all your elements when you’re cultivating three types of elements at the same time? Aren’t you too good at pretending?”
The look in Meng Lei’s eyes was rather hostile. He felt like the little fatty had duped him!
“Hehe, how can I compare to you?”
Hart scratched his head and said, “I was initiated into magic at the age of 5, and it has already been close to two years since I had started to officially learn and study magic. I can’t compare to you at all, old bro!”
“...”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. As expected, with comparison came frustration. Children from Magical Beast Village had to spend all the savings their families had just to take part in the magic assessment, yet Hart had already been initiated into magic at the age of 5. This was truly...
The mid-term examination was still ongoing!
In the next hour and a little more, the remaining students completed their assessment one after the other. However, the results were unpromising—including Meng Lei and Hart, only a measly seven people met the mark!
These seven people included Meng Lei, Hart, Daniel, Meng Lei’s housemate Abbe, Tanna Airam from the Frost Kingdom, a human commoner, and a Dragon Person commoner!
All of the other 42 people... were completely wiped out!
This outcome infuriated their head teacher, Dirk Norway, and he gave the whole class a terrible scolding. Even their senior and class guide, Jenny, wasn’t spared!
After the examination was over, Meng Lei, Hart, and Daniel went out of school together. They headed to the best restaurant nearby, intending to have a good celebration!
After the three of them got a private dining room, Meng Lei tossed the menu over to Hart and Daniel, and said with a smile, “Feel free to order whatever you’d like to eat. It’s my treat today!”
“Hehe, I know you’ve earned a big sum of money today, old bro, so we won’t stand on ceremony with you!
“We’ll start with a serving of Stir-Fried Golden-Armored Lizard Meat!”
“And a Poached Blood Mantis next!”
“Magical Whale Liver With Preserved Vegetables sounds pretty good too!”
“And this! Stir-Fried Ice Toad!”
“Spicy Jade-Heart Bird is my favorite!”
The corners of Meng Lei’s mouth spasmed non-stop upon hearing Hart’s and Daniel’s continuous food orders.
Damn you, a dish alone costs almost 100 gold coins. Are the two of you trying to bankrupt me?
However, what he had said, and the posturing that he had done, must be completed, even if he had to swallow his tears while doing it!
“Big Brother Colin, us brothers congratulate you for your 20 consecutive victories in the arena and successfully leveling up to a Silver-Medal Fighter!”
“Not at all, not at all. It’s all just luck! Luck, haha!”
“Say, Big Brother Colin, you’re already a Silver-Medal Fighter now, so your appearance fee must be very high, right?”
“It’s just ordinary! Just 10,000 gold coins per session!”
“10,000 gold coins per session?”
“Damn! Big Brother Colin, you’re seriously too impressive!”
“At this rate, with dozens of sessions more, the riches you accumulate will be enough for you to buy a plot of land and become an overlord yourself!”
“Hahaha, it’s all just luck...”
Sounds of conversation suddenly drifted over from the neighboring private room and attracted Meng Lei’s attention. He asked, “Silver-Medal Fighter?”
He had heard of the battle arena. Together with the beast colosseum, they were two of the capital city’s biggest entertainment spots. They were highly popular and received great support from the nobility and the wealthy. It was an activity similar to illegal underground fighting!
Fighters battled ferociously in the arena for customers’ viewing pleasure and betting. It was a kind of entertainment filled with blood and violence, and was passionate and feral!
Although the arena enjoyed extreme popularity in the Fire Dragon Kingdom and even the whole empire, as a decent and proper person, Meng Lei instinctively rejected something like that.
As such, he didn’t bother to understand how it worked.
However, what Meng Lei didn’t expect was that fighters could actually earn that much. A Silver-Medal Fighter’s appearance fee actually went as high as 10,000 gold coins!
,000 gold coins!
If he were to use that to redeem Stat Attribute Points, he could get a whole 1,000 points!
That was 1,000 Attribute Points into his account with just one session!
It was tons faster than picking up light balls and meditation!
“Even the amount of 10,000 gold coins is considered low!”
After Hart was done ordering, he said cheerfully, “What’s high is the Gold-Medal Fighters’ appearance fee! Which one of their appearance fees doesn’t start from tens of thousands of gold coins?”
“Is it that exaggerated?!”
Meng Lei’s eyes were already widened big and round!
“Every Gold-Medal Fighter is the arena’s goose that lays golden eggs. Their appearance fee isn’t something that a Silver-Medal Fighter’s can compare with!”
Daniel also added with a smile, “Each and every one of those fellows enjoy considerably high popularity and have an enormous fan base. Earning money is just like committing robbery for them!”
“So, there are groupies here too!”
“Groupies?”
“Nah, it’s nothing! Since it’s so easy for fighters to earn money, how does one become one?”
Chapter 35: Expensive Magic Cores, Rich Magicians
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Having lived two lifetimes, Meng Lei knew very well the importance of being diligent!
Meng Lei had indeed been very hardworking ever since he had come to Fire Dragon Magic Academy. He listened seriously in class, studied spells intensively after class, and meditated non-stop at night!
Of course, Meng Lei didn’t forget to use the system, either. Simply just picking up items... couldn’t satisfy him anymore. Meng Lei wanted the system to work at maximum efficiency!
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Gold coins can be used to redeem Stat Attribute Points!
I can start from this aspect. It’s just that buying “credit”... requires gold coins after all!
And here came the problem—where was he going to get the gold coins from?
Now, this was where earning money came into play!
Meng Lei had also thought of earning money—loads and loads of them—in the past.
Be a plagiarist and publish entertainment works? Become a real estate developer? Set up the Internet? Sell weapon munitions?
Ha! Just take a bath and go to bed!
These highly lucrative professions on Earth didn’t work at all in Heaven’s Vault Continent. Over the long course of time, Heaven’s Vault Continent had already formed its own unique trade model. Earth’s ways didn’t work here!
In that case, what kind of professions were there in Heaven’s Vault Continent?
The steadiest, and most popular, was to buy plots of land to make it one’s territory!
As long as one had sufficient funds, anyone could buy a plot of unowned land and become an area’s overlord. The commoners, Magical Beasts, mines, forests, and rivers within the territory... All of these were the overlord’s property!
To sum it up into one sentence, the overlord was the local emperor of the territory!
Next were the magic device manufacturing industry, magic core industry, gold-mining industry, slave trading industry, battle arenas, beast colosseums, and so on!
These industries were extremely lucrative and had created a great number of giant chambers of commerce and tycoons. Take the magic device manufacturing industry, for example. Magic devices were just like Earth’s cell phones, computers, televisions, electrical lightings, cars... Their penetration rate reached deep into tens of thousands of households, and the industry could be said to produce extravagant profits!
The magic core industry was also very lucrative!
This was because an overwhelming majority of magic devices’ energy source was... exactly magic cores. Magic cores were like the fossil oils of Earth. Just think of those tycoons in Dubai, and one would know whether dealing in magic cores was lucrative or not!
The other professions didn’t need much elaboration. Each and every one of them was an industry that brought in huge profits. Meng Lei often daydreamed about how awesome it would be if he also had a chamber of commerce and could monopolize an industry.
It probably wouldn’t take even a few days for him to become a Saint Domain?
It was just a shame that his daydreams might be beautiful, but reality was just too brutal!
The current him was purely just a plebeian. He didn’t even have anything to his name, much less a chamber of commerce. Wishing of vast wealth and marrying a beautiful and rich woman? Dream on, stinky plebeian!
What was he to do?
Doing business and whatnot was too distant a concept for him. Choosing a proper job seemed more reliable. For example, becoming a fighter?
“Becoming a fighter isn’t hard. As long as you have the battle capabilities of a Fifth-Grade Warrior or a Fourth-Grade Magician, you’ll be able to join the arena and become a fighter!”
Hart chuckled and added, “However, it’s very dangerous to be a fighter. In order to ensure the realness and viewing quality of the battle, the battles between fighters are real, actual battles to the death. No one shows any mercy at all!”
“Indeed, although being a fighter can earn you a lot of money, it is a high-risk job!” Daniel shook his head and said, “Because they frequently hover over the boundary between life and death, the mortality rate of fighters is extremely high. It is very rare for anyone to survive till the end! Thus, it really isn’t easy to earn this money!”
“Old bro, it can’t be that you’re thinking of becoming a fighter, right?” asked the little fatty with a merry laugh, as he raised his eyebrows and looked at Meng Lei.
“It sounds very dangerous, but it really does earn you a lot!” replied Meng Lei ambiguously with a smile.
He neither admitted to it nor denied it. However, he was weighing the pros and cons inwardly.
“Old bro, you’re a noble Magician, you know. How can you lower your own status to become a fighter or whatever?”
Hart rolled his eyes and added, “Although one can qualify to be a fighter after they become a Fourth-Grade Magician, go and ask around—in the huge arena, how many magician fighters are there?”
“Aren’t there any?”
Meng Lei was stunned!
“Only very, very few!”
A smiling Daniel shook his head and said, “The Magician is a noble and honorable job class, and also one where money comes very quickly. I don’t know if you’ve heard this saying or not, but it goes like this, ‘The richest people in Heaven’s Vault Continent are not the kings, but the Magicians’!
“Although this is just said in jest, it also indirectly shows that it is indeed very easy for a Magician to earn money if they want to. At least, it is much easier for them than fighters of the same grade!”
“Money... comes to Magicians very quickly?”
Meng Lei’s eyes widened dramatically, his expression one of bewilderment!
“Of course!”
As though this was natural and right, Hart went on and said, “As Magicians are rare, they receive a lot of support from all parties. Manufacturing magic devices, drawing magic circles, mining magic cores, manufacturing magic scrolls—which of these doesn’t require Magicians? And which of these isn’t lucrative?
“Putting the others aside and just taking the mining of magic cores, for example, do you know how much the acquisition value of a single magic core is?”
Meng Lei shook his head.
“All the magic cores on the market now are sold at clearly marked prices!”
Hart continued the introduction of the magic cores and said, “Low-grade magic cores aren’t worth much, and range from dozens to a few hundred gold coins. Mid-grade magic cores go slightly higher and range from a few thousand to ten thousand gold coins!
“But the ones that are truly valuable are the high-grade magic cores!
“The price of a single seventh-grade magic core starts at 100,000 gold coins!
“The value of an eighth-grade magic core is ten times that of a seventh-grade one, and starts at 1,000,000 gold coins!
“As for ninth-grade magic cores?
“Hurhur, sorry, but they are priceless despite having a market for them!
“I remember that the Lawson Auction House auctioned off a ninth-grade magic core—a Great Earth Bear’s magic core—half a year ago. Do you know how much it ended at?”
“Ten million gold coins?” asked Meng Lei tentatively.
“Wrong! It ended at the whopping price of 37.8 million gold coins!”
A smiling Hart continued and said, “A great Ninth-Grade Earth Magician won this particular magic core in the end! Tsk, tsk, Ninth-Grade Magicians are truly wealthy. That’s nearly 40 million gold coins, and yet he doesn’t even bat a single eyelid!”
“Damn, he’s too rich!”
Meng Lei’s eyes practically bore right into Hart upon hearing what he had said, and his features became distorted from his envy. If only he was that rich!
“Hurhur, that’s nothing!”
With a shake of his head, Hart smiled and added, “During the annual magic conference, Magicians would buy and sell among themselves. Transactions easily go up to millions, even ten million, gold coins. Now, that’s what you call rich!”
“Rich! Really too rich!” Meng Lei licked his chapped lips and said, “What a pity that I’m just a pauper! I’m probably the poorest Magician in this world?”
“Hehe, don’t say that, old bro!”
Hart chuckled and said, “You may not have any money now, but you have great magic talent. When you become a high-level Magician, you can go to the Magical Beast Forest and casually hunt a Magical Beast or two. Isn’t that the same as picking up money?”
“High-level Magician?” Meng Lei sighed and added, “I’d need to become at least a Seventh-Grade Magician before that would work!”
“I believe that with your talent, it won’t take you more than a few years!”
“Yes, you’ve already become a Third-Grade Magician within a short three months. Is becoming a Seventh-Grade Magician that far off?”
“Good day, sirs. May I know if we can serve the food now?”
“Serve it, serve it! I’m already hungry!”
Delicious food was then laid out on the table. Meng Lei was chewing on his food, but his mind was on how he could earn money. Classes were still in progress now, so going to the Magical Beast Forest to hunt Magical Beasts was evidently not a practical option. He couldn’t possibly leave the academy to go to the Magical Beast Forest!
Since that was the case, then being a fighter seemed like a pretty good option!
Firstly, there were a lot of people in the arena, and battles also took place often. The chances of picking up dropped items would definitely be high, so Meng Lei could totally pick up dropped items to his heart’s content and upgrade himself!
Secondly, he could earn money!
Fighters’ appearance fees were seriously too high. Should he exchange all of the appearance fees into Attribute Points, it would speed up Meng Lei’s upgrade tremendously!
This could be said to be killing two birds with one stone!
It is certainly a bit riskier! But compared to the rewards received, this bit of risk is worth taking!
Chapter 36: The Battle For The Title Of King of Fighters, Becoming A Fighter
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The mid-term examination brought about a huge influence!
Or at least, that was Meng Lei’s opinion.
This was because the atmosphere in the academy had completely changed!
The usually laughing and bantering Dragon People nobility had disappeared, the indolent and romantic young masters and playboys were gone, and the couples hiding in the corners were also missing in action.
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