On the 5th day of the week, Nico skipped anatomy and physics like usual.

Nico preferred the Anatomy and Physic books over the lectures, as it was basically all memorization. Once he understood the technical names of the parts in Kelseran, he didn't care much about the classes.

He also had an avatar box that was more thorough and accurate than anything that existed in Kelsera and Earth.

Nico met up with Easton and Yuri before they returned to Rinlin the next morning. They were stuck in Launtel for several days since many caravan companies were booked by the mass exodus of parents and failed applicants.

Yuri was on the alternate list, but he didn't make it into the Academy. Yuri looked the same as usual, but Easton looked like he had lost 10 years of his life.

"It's okay Mister Easton, there's next year," said Nico. "I'll stop by to see you and Yuri in Rinlin when I get the chance."

"Thank you Nico, Rinlin is proud to have another Academy member, that is always a good thing." Easton recited a blanket statement.

Easton was still lifeless, and Nico doubt anything will uplift his spirit.

"I have some dried steak for you and Yuri to bring home." Nico had packed a couple of things for Easton and Yuri.

He also had other packages that were officially given to the Lunpin Caravan Company for transport.

The packages contained some healing balm jars he had completed for Shirley to stock up at Ollie's and the talismans for Rooster.

After saying goodbye, Nico walked into the Fenrir Shop. He wanted to sell five healing balm jars. The effects were amazing, even though they were ranked F. The healing balm were on par with many high end potions at Fenrir Shop.

Manager Bosin at the Fenrir Shop examined Nico's concoction.

"Uh..." The manager was trying to remember Nico's name.

"Nico." Nico was sure he had told manager Bosin his name three times already, today was the fourth. No matter how many people goes in an out, the most basic skill of the merchant was people skill.

"Yes, young Nico, so you're telling me this healing balm can heal a wound in an hour?"

"Yes, it also has great moisturizing effects!" said Nico.

"You don't have any talismans today?"

"Not today." Nico sent most of it to Rooster and he kept the remaining.

"Can you hold on for a moment? I need to test this out."

Manager Bosin went upstairs, and came back down ten minutes later.

The Fenrir Shop was willing to pay him 4 gold pieces per jar. Nico was surprised they didn't plan to bargain for it. He was expecting them to offer 2 gold pieces. They were already selling hi-potions for 3 gold pieces.

Nico exchanged the healing balm for 20 gold pieces and left toward his next destination. He didn't have much time before his next lesson with Professor Quin, and wanted to complete all the errand runs in Launtel City.

"Ho ho ho, the boy looks a little shocked," a lady in finely threaded silk dress headed down from the 2nd floor of Fenrir Shop.

"Miss Merci, why are we offering so much for a healing balm?" asked one of the manager. "We still don't know how effective it is."

"He's the same boy that has been selling the talismans to you?" Merci took one of the healing balm jars.

They had already tested whether it was safe, but she needed to test it out on herself if she wanted to know the effectiveness. Merci smelled the balm, it had a light floral scent. She then smeared it on her wrist.

"Yes miss, but he didn't sell any talismans today."

"Keep an eye on him, he may have more in the future," said Merci.

Merci had received many positive feedback from customers regarding the talismans. Customers who could buy talismans were all capable people, so if they ranked a particular product highly, she would be an idiot not to make note of it.

Although she was curious, she didn't realized how unusual the talismans were until her meeting with Gafney, the leader of the Marsien Mercenary Group.

"An honor as always to see the beautiful Miss Merci," said Gafney, a man in his early thirties as he walked up to the second floor guest room.

Merci only meet with important guests on the 2nd floor of the Fenrir Shop, and Gafney was one of them.

"I can't say the same about you," Merci bowed slightly to greet her guest. "Have a seat."

Gafney took his seat.

"What do you need?" Merci asked sharply.

"You don't have to be so prickly."

Merci frowned and sat down across from him.

"I need to order some high grade weapons and antidotes," said Gafney.

"Antidote?" Merci frowned again. "That's quite vague. What type?"

"Against insects."

"That's going to be expensive."

"We can work that out."

Merci quickly drafted up the contract. "I'll have my men deliver it in a week."

"Already trying to kick me out?"

Merci ignored him and gave him the contract.

"Oh yeah, your firebolt talismans have been especially powerful lately." Gafney commented while scanning through the contract. "I was surprised it had worked against the manajaguar during one of our hunts."

"I am more surprised you need to buy talismans at all."

"We have a new healer on our team and needed some talismans to protect her. When we went hunting, we were ambushed by a pack of three manajaguars. Luckily, we bought a batch of five firebolt talismans for our hunt. The first time Lissi used the talisman, it had severely damaged the manajaguar. We thought it was a lucky draw, but the following two talismans had the same effect."

Merci wasn't surprised before, but she was after he mentioned that the three talismans were high grade.

Talismans were known to have varying strengths and power. A talisman maker could make a poor F-ranked talisman one day and a excellent B-ranked talisman the next. An F-ranked level 1 firebolt could shoot out a golf-ball sized core fireball at 10 meters/second. A B-ranked fireball was the size of a baseball.

"How big was it?" Asked Merci.

"About this big." Gafney put his fingertips together to form a ball between his palms.

Gafney's hands were bigger than an average person.

"That's an A-ranked firebolt, and you bought three of them from our shop!?" Merci couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Five."

"Give me back the two," Merci demanded.

Gafney signed the contract. "Have a good day Merci."

Gafney left happily knowing he had just pissed off Merci.

Merci immediately investigated the source and was surprised to learn that the shop manager Bosin had bought several dozens from a Windel Academy student. At first, the managers didn't think too much about it since Academy students regularly sold talismans to the shop. Once they tested the talisman authenticity with the Darbi Scale, they displayed the product on the shelf. There was no way to test the rank and efficiency unless they used it themselves, but then it would be a waste of a talisman.

If Miss Merci had not asked, they wouldn't have noticed any differences in the talismans sold by Nico.

Merci wanted to test Nico's talisman herself. However, it was difficult to tell which talismans already on display belonged to Nico's, so Merci asked Bosin to keep track of Nico's talismans.

Even more than the talisman, a good talisman maker was a good acquaintance to make. If Merci could verify his talent, adding him into the Fenrir clan was worth more than the small Fenrir shop. Too bad she couldn't verify it today.

"A young boy exchanged with you dozens of talismans, and you didn't think it was unusual?" queried an irate Merci.

Manager Bosin and the other managers lowered their heads. Fenrir Shop was one of the busiest shops in Launtel. The fast pace style of every transactions made it difficult to keep track of all the customers and suppliers. There were also too many unusual people in Launtel already.

They could make many excuses, but Merci wasn't an easy woman. Her name was Merci, but she was known as the Viper.

Luckily for the managers, Merci was distracted. She felt the mana from the healing balm seeping into her skin. She smiled.

The managers shivered in fear. They didn't know if the smile was a good sign.

"This is definitely a profitable trade. Place it on the shelf for 7 gold pieces and call it the Healing Beauty Lotion. If the boy comes again, let me know."

"Yes miss!" The managers responded in relief.

Nico sneezed unexpectedly as he walked into the Kelseran Empire Union Bank, or the KEU.

Banking had been a part of Kelsera for over 200 years, backed by the Kelseran Empire. All transactions needed 7-15 days to process, but it was better than carrying a large amount of gold pieces around.

There was a small outlet of the KEU in Rinlin, but it was very small and managed by three clerks. The KEU in Launtel was a large complex. They even had a separate wing exclusively for members of the merchant guild.

The KEU also doubled as a postal carrier service. Although caravan companies also had postal service, it was cheaper with the KEU.

Nico stored all of his gold in the bank and wrote a promissory note for Shirley to begin renovation on the Ollie Shop.

Nico ripped open a letter from his mailbox and scanned through a scribbled note written by Rooster. "Farming chores, all good. But what the f*** is wrong with your managoats?!"

Nico rolled his eyes and placed the letter in his breast pocket.

After finishing his errands, Nico arrived to Professor Quin class at 4:15pm.

The twenty green-robed students in the small courtyard inspected Nico as he entered. The students had all trained together for the past seven to eight years, so they all knew each other. It was unusual to see a new student in their class.

"Who's the new guy?" they whispered to each other.

"Don't know, have you heard about him?"

"No, not at all. There's only one well-known new student in our age group, and I'm sure he is in the elite class with Professor Aseroth."

"But he gotta have some type of talent to be in our class, we aren't the elite class, but we are still the ranked A class."

Their voices gradually increased into a full blown conversation.

"He's still wearing the blue robe, a gathering staged students in our class?" One of the students standing with a couple of boys sneered.

"Come on now Corby, you're not afraid of the new kid?" asked Badan, a flat faced boy.

"I'm not afraid, just disappointed by the incoming selection this year," Corby responded. "The Academy reputation is going to drop if they continue to admit students with such low standards."

"I've heard they accepted more commoners this year."

Nico wanted to know why they chattered so much when he could hear them.

Professor Quin walked onto the courtyard.

"Is that our new professor?" The students whispered again.

"He looks scary."

"And ugly."

"Why is his face so boxy?"

Well, at least they didn't call me ugly. Nico glanced at Professor Quin, who looked immune to the insult.

Professor Quin waited until everyone settled down before he began his lesson. "All of you should have a cultivation method based on your potential. As your assigned professor for this year, I will do my best to answer any questions or assist you when are stuck on a particular section. I am available on most days, so simply schedule a time at the registration hall to meet with me. We will not meet regularly as a class, but check the announcement board every week to see if a class is scheduled.

Today, we will have a tournament to see what you have learned so far."

The students buzzed up with excitement.

"I'll send out a critique sheet to everyone based on today's results," Professor Quin explained. "Cultivation is about enhancing our bodies, but to what end? The goal is to survive or win against the wilderness. If you're strong but can't keep yourself alive in a fight, it is meaningless. A knight stage cultivator can still lose to a condensation stage assassin if they are careless. Combat and awareness are very important to this year training.

There are twenty-one of you, so we will draw straws to see the match order, with one person having a free pass."

The students drew the numbered straws.

"For today spar, we will only use bamboo sticks." Professor Quin pointed to the rack of bamboo sticks. "Be careful with these sticks and don't underestimate them. With the right amount of spirit force, it can still be a deadly weapon. You may also elect to use the battle gloves. The fight will end when the winner breaks the opponent's first force barrier."

Professor Quin looked at Nico. "Have you completed the force barrier?"

"Yes sir!" Nico responded.

Professor Quin had half expected it, but still surprised. "Explain to me what a force barrier is."

"A force barrier is a body forming type cultivation technique. It is the most basic technique a cultivator must learn if they consider themselves a cultivator. The technique draws spirit throughout the skin of the body. Since it isn't released from the body, it doesn't require a lot of energy. Gathering staged expert can form half a layer, condensation staged expert can form a layer, and foundation staged expert can form three layers.

If the opponent attacked with enough force, the barrier would break and the spirit would scatter. The physical body would remain fine without a single scratch or physical trauma. However, the scattered spirit would take some time to recover before it could be reused."

Whew, that was a mouthful, thought Nico. He had read it three days ago with Ashe's help, so it was still fresh in his head.

At first, Nico had asked Jack since they were both required to learn force barrier.

"What is congeal?" asked Nico.

"Congeal is congeal, you know, congeal," Jack explained crunching his hands together.

Ashe overheard Jack's explanation from his desk and shook his head in annoyance. He was going to lose a couple of brain cells.

Nico decided to skip the word and continued reading. "How about this word, how do you pronounce it?" asked Nico.

Jack looked at the word. "I think it's coat-clock-gu-late-tion."

Eh??? Nico stared blankly at Jack.

"I'm not even from Kelsera and can explain it better than you," Ashe felt exasperated.

"Well, you have a funny accent!" Jack harrumphed.

"At least I speak three different languages and you can barely explain one!"

Nico lit up. "Ashe, help me with this manual!"

"5 manacores," Ashe offered.

"Fine," said Nico, he still had plenty of manacores he had collected from Lindan Peak. The effects were waning and he mainly used them to feed Junior and Snowy.

Ashe helped Nico to read some terms from the Force Barrier manual.

"So it's similar to the robe we wear?" Nico inquired.

Ashe nodded. "Yes, but your blue robe is slightly weaker than a force barrier. The robe could protect the body from regular attacks, but it is not as effective against other practitioners."

"So can magicians use force barrier?"

"Magicians can also use force barrier, but their barriers are generally weaker and required less force to break. Magicians prefer to use Body Aura."

Body Aura? Nico and Jack both stared blankly at Ashe.