Chapter 133 - 132: Jelica and the Opportunity

Chapter 133: Chapter 132: Jelica and the Opportunity

Because he had drunk the "Leakless Water," Gaode’s hunger had decreased significantly, to the point where he hadn’t even eaten breakfast today. However, no matter how miraculous the "Leakless Water" was, it couldn’t completely free him from the need for food. After a busy morning, Gaode still felt a bit ravenous.

"Ninety-one Gold Coins and six silver coins. My savings are already running dangerously low... From now on, I can’t afford to spend too much money on food. Eating just enough to fill my stomach will have to do," Gaode inwardly told himself on his way to the academy cafeteria.

A short while later.

At the entrance of the cafeteria, Gaode habitually glanced at the menu board placed to the side as he stepped through the door. It listed the special dishes the cafeteria was offering for the day.

"Today’s Special: Vulture-Stuffed Rice, 10 silver per serving."

Five minutes later.

"Sir, your Vulture-Stuffed Rice, carefully prepared. Please enjoy!" The cafeteria staff brought the mysterious dish to Gaode’s table.

"I shouldn’t spend too much money on food. But this is a vulture! I’ve rarely even seen one, let alone eaten one," Gaode justified to himself while examining this incredibly bizarre special dish.

The so-called "Vulture-Stuffed Rice" was actually somewhat similar to the chicken-stuffed rice from his previous life, where a staple food was stuffed into the belly of poultry and cooked together. Only here, they used a vulture. And what was stuffed inside its belly wasn’t white rice, but husked wheat and saffron, with the surface covered in a spicy seasoning similar to chili peppers.

Gaode took a deep breath. He first scooped up a spoonful of the steamed, soft, and sweet wheat grains from the vulture’s belly and put it into his mouth. The sweetness of the wheat, the fragrance of the saffron, the spiciness of the seasoning, and the indescribable meaty aroma of the vulture itself intertwined, instantly bringing an unprecedented experience to his taste buds.

"You’re brilliant!" Gaode fiercely praised the cafeteria’s head chef in his heart, completely convinced despite his coin pouch deflating by another layer.

After finishing lunch, Gaode’s next destination was the academy’s Library. He had actually wanted to go there for a long time. However, before completing his enrollment task, he wasn’t considered a formal student of the academy. Without being a formal student, he couldn’t enjoy the privileges that came with the status, including borrowing books from the Library.

The Library of Cyrus Academy was an ancient stone building. It was also one of the earliest structures built in the academy, boasting a history of over a thousand years. Through thousands of years of accumulation, it was said that the Library now held a total collection of over eight thousand volumes. This number might not sound like much. After all, in his previous life, any ordinary middle school library could easily house tens or even hundreds of thousands of books. But in this world, books were true luxury items, not everyday commodities. A Library possessing over eight thousand volumes was entirely unique; one couldn’t find a second one in the entire Sean Duchy.

Walking through the doors of the Library, the distinct, familiar scent of a "library" rushed toward him. The Library had only two floors in total, and with Gaode’s clearance, all the books on the first floor were available to him for free.

Gaode’s gaze swept over the books displayed on the first-floor shelves. These books ranged from ancient parchment scrolls to exquisite hardcovers, possessing an obvious historical charm at first glance. However, just as Commissioner Lael had introduced before, although most of the books here were free for Gaode to access, they were mostly general knowledge books or theoretical experiences left behind by predecessors. Truly valuable knowledge required even students to pay to purchase it, rather than allowing them to borrow it from the Library for free.

It might seem like Cyrus Academy was too stingy with its students, but in reality, this wasn’t the case. In this world, due to the monopoly on knowledge, the High-Ring Mages or factions that possessed it usually kept it strictly hidden. Ordinary people couldn’t buy it even if they had the money. Being able to pay for knowledge was, in many cases, already a massive privilege.

Gaode didn’t overthink it, because to him, even those general knowledge books held immense value. He had never denied his identity as a country bumpkin.

As a student admitted with the highest privileges, Gaode was entitled to borrow up to ten books and one handwritten copy of a predecessor’s collection of theoretical experiences at a time, entirely for free. Furthermore, his borrowing period was extended from the standard half-month given to regular students to a full two months.

He didn’t hesitate to use his privileges. After some selection, he chose ten books covering multiple fields. These included books on the history and laws of the Sean Duchy, as well as general texts on finance, agriculture, and etiquette: *Sean Comprehensive History*, *Sean Duchy Legal Compilation*, *Sean Humanistic Overview*, *Etiquette and Social Norms*, *Agriculture and Weather*...

Finally, Gaode also noticed an article authored by Bjorn Ottero titled "A Few Conjectures on Specialty Awakening," which seemed to be his graduation thesis. Regardless of who this Bjorn Ottero was, or whether this article contained any real substance, the title at least caught Gaode’s attention. Therefore, he used his quota for borrowing a handwritten copy of a predecessor’s theoretical experiences on it.

After swiping his identity nameplate and checking out the thick stack of books from the Library, Gaode hurried back toward his dormitory. He needed to drop these books off at Building Thirty in the First District first. If any books borrowed from the Library were lost or damaged, he would have to compensate them at full price. And in this world, even the average price of general books was upwards of two Gold Coins.

To his surprise, Gaode ran into Jelica on the path leading to the entrance of Building Thirty.

Since Jelica had also entered the academy with the highest privileges just like him, her dormitory was naturally in the First District as well. It was just that because Gaode and Jelica had taken different approaches for their enrollment task, their schedules had staggered accordingly, meaning they had never actually crossed paths in the First District. He hadn’t expected to bump into her here today.

After the provocation incident involving Gerry Harrell in the cafeteria half a month ago, Gaode had gradually come to understand what "highest privileges" represented in Cyrus Academy. Compared to his highest privileges, which were obtained purely through a recommendation letter, a small part of Jelica’s came from her background connections, but the vast majority stemmed from her own capabilities. From this, Gaode also understood just how outstanding Jelica’s talent as a Mage truly was. Setting everything else aside, one could get a glimpse of it just from the fact that three years ago, at the age of only thirteen, she had already reached the rank of Third-Class Mage Apprentice. One had to know that he was also thirteen now, yet he was still struggling bitterly in the realm of a Second-Class Mage Apprentice.

Looking at Jelica’s exhausted face, Gaode knew she had probably just returned from Kuli Cliff. Aside from him breaking the record with the Clam Collection Stream, the other five new students in their cohort were still struggling to mine ores, with their progress not even halfway complete.

After a brief hesitation, Gaode took the initiative to greet her. No matter what, he still owed Jelica a favor. It would be entirely unjustifiable to pretend not to know her after running into her now.

This was their first time meeting privately.

Faced with Gaode’s proactive greeting, Jelica’s eyes shifted, her thoughts unreadable.

"Should I address you as Master Google, or Gaode?" she asked indifferently.

Gaode found it somewhat amusing, figuring she must have been holding that in for a long time. When they first met at Kuli Cliff, he could tell that Jelica was full of doubts regarding his appearance at Cyrus Academy and the name "Gaode." He had planned to tell her the truth as long as she asked, but Jelica had stubbornly kept it to herself, never taking the initiative to approach him, acting as if she didn’t know him at all.

"I’m sorry. Because I offended some people and was worried about retaliation, I had to use a fake name back in Bremen," Gaode explained. "Now that I’ve left Bremen, I don’t have to worry about that anymore, so I’ve reverted to my real name. I didn’t mean to deceive you, Ms. Jelica," he apologized sincerely.

"Hmph..." Jelica snorted through her nose, letting the matter slide. It wasn’t a big deal to begin with. Now that Gaode had shown a proper attitude, she naturally no longer cared.

"I didn’t realize that apart from your superb restoration skills, you also had a unique clam collection technique." Jelica’s tone held a mix of praise, frustration, and envy. Clearly, the enrollment task had caused her quite a bit of trouble.

"How much progress have you made on your enrollment task, Ms. Jelica?" Gaode casually asked since the topic was brought up.

"Not even 1,300 kilograms." At the mention of this, Jelica looked even more exhausted.

"Then why...?" Gaode was puzzled. Since the task wasn’t finished yet, and it was barely past noon, why had Jelica knocked off early?

"I’m tired," Jelica replied expressionlessly.

Although with her family background, she had an uninterrupted supply of Physical Strength recovery Magic Potions over the past few days, the Magic Potions only restored physical stamina. The fatigue inflicted upon her Spirit by the day-after-day repetition of mining was something Magic Potions couldn’t cure. A proper balance between work and rest was undoubtedly necessary. Being too tense would drive her crazy sooner or later.

Gaode’s mind turned, and he realized what Jelica meant by "tired." He felt slightly embarrassed. Compared to the dull task of mining, an activity like clam collecting, which came with a built-in reward mechanism, obviously brought him very little fatigue. Therefore, throughout the entire enrollment task, Gaode’s Spirit had been highly stimulated; he only experienced physical fatigue. He couldn’t empathize with Jelica, because he hadn’t even mined a single piece of ore.

Moreover, regarding the enrollment task troubling Jelica, he was powerless to help even if he wanted to. The academy explicitly prohibited the use of outside help for the enrollment task.

Wait...

As his thoughts drifted, Gaode suddenly realized something.

"Ms. Jelica, wait here for me for a moment," he said.

"Hmm?"

Gaode didn’t bother explaining. He unlocked the door to Building Thirty and quickly walked inside. A short while later, he came back out, holding a small tin canteen in his hand.

"Here." Gaode handed the canteen to Jelica.

"What is this?" Jelica took the canteen, furrowing her brows.

"Something good. Drinking it can relieve fatigue," Gaode smiled.

Jelica suspiciously opened the canteen’s cap, then sniffed, already catching the peculiar fragrance inside.

"Leakless Water."

Such a pleasant scent; even she had never smelled anything like it before. Was it some sort of unique beverage?

After a slight hesitation, an extremely faint, imperceptible Spiritual Light flashed in Jelica’s eyes.

[Detect Poison].

After confirming it was non-toxic, Jelica placed the canteen to her lips and took a small, token sip.

Just that single sip made her beautiful eyes instantly light up. She had never drunk anything so delicious. Consequently, Jelica, who had only intended to take a small sip, ended up draining all the "Leakless Water" in the canteen in one gulp.

Looking at the empty tin canteen, Jelica felt a little embarrassed. This behavior was hardly ladylike.

"The taste is very good." She used the praise to cover up her awkwardness.

Gaode smiled slightly. "It’s not just the taste that’s good." He didn’t say anything more. Rather than explaining further, it would be much more direct to just let Jelica personally experience the specific effects of the "Leakless Water" in a moment.