Chapter 30: Departure 1

"Chaos Academy? Where is that supposed to be?"

After waking up and listening to Kweilin’s explanation, Kent couldn’t help asking in confusion.

Unlike yesterday, when Kweilin had been relaxed and cheerful, he now wore a troubled expression. He looked at Kent and explained:

"Chaos Academy is located in Chaos City, at the border where the Magical Beast Forest, the Alliance Empire, and the Dark Empire meet."

"That place is constantly attacked by magical beasts, so criminals from across the continent are often sent there as punishment. And Chaos Academy itself is located inside Chaos City."

"But that’s not even the worst part."

"Everything inside Chaos Academy requires gold coins. Housing, daily necessities, magical knowledge, even learning new spells—you have to pay for everything."

"On top of that, every six months the students must participate in a survival trial. The death rate is extremely high."

"However, the students who graduate from there are famous throughout the continent for their combat ability."

Kent listened carefully, then became even more confused.

"If it’s such a powerful place, why do you look so miserable? Isn’t studying anywhere going to cost money anyway?"

Hearing that, Kweilin shook his head.

"The problem is that students at Chaos Academy cannot graduate unless they reach seventh rank."

"Some people say there are students who spend their entire lives there and never graduate."

"For ordinary mages, that place is practically a nightmare."

"Of course, there are exceptions. Dual-profession practitioners only need to reach sixth rank before they can graduate."

"Like you—you are both a mage and an alchemist. Someone like you receives special treatment."

"But me..."

Kweilin sighed deeply.

Kent, however, felt relieved instead.

"That’s actually a good thing," he said with a smile. "No pressure means no motivation, right?"

Kent naturally had no reason to worry.

All he needed was enough magical power to increase his strength. As for being an alchemist, he actually enjoyed it. Alchemy was mysterious and fascinating, and it had completely captured his interest.

"You can still laugh?" Kweilin looked extremely depressed.

He had been living comfortably in Alliance City. If he hadn’t met this troublesome fellow, how would his family have sent him away?

Thinking about it, Kweilin almost wanted to slap himself.

Strictly speaking, Kweilin was a member of the imperial family.

The previous day, he had taken Kent’s ideas about dealing with the beastmen and casually told them to his father as an amusing story.

But before dawn the next morning, he suddenly received a notice from the Mage Guild.

Kweilin couldn’t believe it.

He immediately rushed to the guild to confirm the matter.

And when he discovered that Kent was involved, he instantly understood what had happened.

Originally, Kweilin had only wanted to build a good relationship with Kent.

But after witnessing Kent instantly kill a fifth-rank mage the previous day—although that mage had made the fatal mistake of underestimating him—it still proved Kent’s terrifying strength.

Then came the magical beast egg incident on the street.

That completely convinced Kweilin.

Kent wasn’t just lucky.

He truly possessed extraordinary abilities.

"Kent! Kent! Hurry, come and see!"

Alice rushed into Kent’s room, completely out of breath.

Actually, Alice and Delis lived in two rooms right next to Kent’s.

She had simply woken up early and decided to take a closer look around the Mage Guild.

But when she reached the main hall, she discovered something posted on the announcement board.

It was a message about Kent.

Kent and Kweilin hurried to the main hall.

When they arrived, they found the place packed with low-ranked mages. The moment those people saw Kent, they immediately stepped aside, making way for him.

Kent couldn’t help muttering to himself.

"What’s going on here?"

But when he approached the crowd, he finally understood.

His portrait was hanging on the announcement board.

The notice roughly stated:

Kent had violated the rules of the Mage Guild the previous day. In order to maintain harmony within the guild, he was being assigned to Chaos Academy for further study. Accompanying him would be Kweilin, who was considered an accomplice in the incident.

Both of them were required to leave the Mage Guild within three days and must arrive in time for the opening of Chaos Academy one and a half months later.

Failure to arrive on time would result in expulsion from the Mage Guild.

"Let’s go."

Kent looked at the strange gazes surrounding him, then glanced at the discouraged Kweilin and the worried expressions of Alice and Delis.

Without hesitation, he put an arm around Kweilin’s shoulder.

For Kent, this was actually a good thing.

He had too many secrets.

His ideas and way of thinking were also far ahead of the people in this world. If he stayed inside the Mage Guild for too long, there was no telling when he might accidentally expose something he shouldn’t.

Originally, Kent had been somewhat worried.

But now that he was being sent away, he actually felt relieved.

"Alright, little brother, before we leave today, you have to help me choose a magical pet."

Kweilin had thought about it and decided that leaving the guild wasn’t a big deal after all.

But then he remembered the magical beast eggs Kent had chosen the previous day, and his excitement immediately returned.

He urged Kent impatiently.

Kent, however, shook his head.

"The magical beast eggs in the imperial capital probably aren’t as numerous as those in Chaos City."

"We already visited several of the largest magical beast shops here yesterday. Instead of wasting time searching around Alliance City, we should wait until we reach Chaos City."

"That place is close to the Magical Beast Forest. There should be far more treasures there."

"That makes sense."

Kweilin glanced at Big Nose sleeping peacefully in Delis’s arms, then looked at the smooth red bracelet wrapped around Alice’s wrist.

Who would have thought that the little red vine was actually the terrifying Skeleton Vine?

And once they left the city, who knew how many people would secretly follow them?

After all, merchants always shared information.

Although the major merchant guilds competed with each other openly, they still exchanged intelligence privately.

"Then what should we do now?" Kweilin asked.

"I need to go to the guild and purchase some things," Kent replied. "You are responsible for finding a merchant caravan heading to Chaos City."

"Traveling there ourselves would be too dangerous. We’ll leave tomorrow."

"We need to remember that the journey to Chaos City takes more than a month."

Kent had already checked the map inside the Mage Guild.

From Alliance City to Chaos City, they had to cross most of the Alliance Direct Province, then pass through the Daxi Duchy and the Jersey Duchy before finally reaching Chaos City, which was located near the Magical Beast Forest.

The entire journey would take approximately one and a half months.

However, returning from Chaos City to Alliance City only required about ten days.

The reason was the Quin River.

The river originated deep within the Magical Beast Forest and flowed all the way toward the Alliance Province. Travelers could take ships downstream and greatly reduce travel time.

Unfortunately, because the river current was extremely rapid, most people still chose the land route to reach Chaos City. Traveling by water was not only slower but also more expensive.

The main reason was that ships traveling upstream through dangerous sections of the river had to rely on human labor to be pulled forward.

Kent couldn’t help thinking of the reservoirs from Earth.

With only two or three properly designed dams, the speed of river transportation could be increased by more than double.

But the people of this world simply had not reached that level of engineering thinking yet.

Kent’s first task was to purchase the tools that every low-rank alchemist needed.

Although he already had a set of equipment, it was far from complete. Besides that, he also needed to finalize the details regarding his inventions—the alchemy pen and the filter—and determine how the usage fees and royalties would be distributed.

After selecting the items he needed, the staff member calculated the total cost.

"Grinding machine, drying agents, alchemy pouch, alchemy gloves, alchemy mask, concentration tester..."

The list continued for quite a while.

"The total price is 57,000 gold coins."

Kent’s heart skipped a beat when he heard the number.

But the staff member continued calmly:

"Since you have B-tier privileges, you only need to pay the cost price, which is 23,000 gold coins."

"Because you are a first-rank alchemist, the Mage Guild will provide you with a reward of 10,000 gold coins."

"Your two inventions will receive an additional reward of 20,000 gold coins."

"That leaves you with only 7,000 gold coins to pay."

The staff member handed Kent a crystal card.

"This is your magic crystal card. All future patent royalties will be deposited into this card every month."

Kent stared at the documents in his hands, slightly overwhelmed.

Among all the equipment he had purchased, the most expensive item was the alchemy pouch.

It contained a seventh-rank spatial expansion magic array. Although the pouch itself was only about the size of a small bowl, its internal capacity was roughly one cubic meter. When opened, it unfolded like a large piece of leather. To retrieve items, one simply reached inside and searched manually.

It was different from a spatial ring, where items could be retrieved directly through mental power.

Originally, Kent had been shocked by the price of all these tools.

But he never expected the Mage Guild to actually give him money back through various benefits and rewards.

Only then did Kent realize something important.

He really needed to study the rules and regulations of the Mage Guild properly.

Otherwise, he might keep missing out on benefits he didn’t even know existed.