"Well, there were various things, you family has never taken a martial art path nor cultivation, so you're a martial art so polished you have shown in the second trial and the past week didn't exactly made sense.
"This isn´t a real reason but when I started teaching you about the alchemist side job a few days ago, I accidently said to grab a Green Haze Stalk before I pointed out what it looked, and you grabbed the correct herb without blinking nor taking the time to scan all the different herb you near. When I asked about the pills you knew, you surprise with various pills, so I asked about if you had heard of some pills and what they did, I mixed some extravagant pills but you still knew about them. This made really you fishy." Zestari said raising an eyebrow.
"I guess I did mess up, but I could have read about alchemy and even had hired a martial artist as with the decline of my family leaving our comfort zone could help us regain glory." Richter replied with a poker face.
"Don���t give that excuses, I haven't finished those were what made seem strange. A few minutes ago when I ask you to sat in a lotus position, you assumed a perfect cultivation posture, when I mentioned meridians I intentionally waited some time and measured your reaction, normally a kid would ask right a way what are meridians. Your family hasn't anything to with cultivation so at least this term should have been completely new."
"Lastly, do you know how many times I have watched the meridian creation process, kids your age would yell in pain, flinch and contract from the pain. My own daughter that knew about the process and I have groomed since birth to endure the creation process, yelled at first, flinched and contorted various time, in the end she fell and I had to help lay her completely in the ground but you the moment I said the less you move the better meridians, you endured completely the pain as if you had felt worse, only flinching as the process started.
"I had students that due how they had grown had high pain tolerance, but everyone had yelled, contracted various times during the process." Zestari finished her explanation and raised an eyebrow.
"The first thing made you fishy, but this behavior completely flipped the alarm. As you are going to interact with my daughter as fellow disciples, I had to make sure you were trustworthy and not someone that wanted to bring harm to the academy or steal our secrets." Zestari added.
"I see that behavior was what gave me away completely." Richter nodded "You seem trustworthy as you have already shielded my consciousness, but I still don't like the feeling of stepping in a trap."
"Well I have been betrayed in the past and those close to me were deeply damaged, so I became cautious to stop it from happening again. If you had used a high-level disguise skill to pass as a kid and were slowly gaining my trust to get my cultivation techniques or other academy secret it would have be bad." Zestari send an apologetic smile and clasped his hand asking forgiveness.
Some images from the accident from 30 years ago appeared on Zestari mind, a man she hated to the bone and the figure of a woman who she missed. Soon a tear formed in her left eye and she quickly cleaned off.
"Teacher you –"
"Don't mind it some old memories just surfaced, for now lets return. I´ll me explain you some thing from the mana cultivator class once that's done. I also have some good news to you about the meridians you developed." Zestari said as her image started flicking signaling she was exiting the Richter´s mana pool.
###
"*Sighs*, I couldn't find a crafting recipe for the knife in none of the shops I visited, but at least I still got a knife, hopes Kingo can learn to craft just from it." Xol said with mixed feelings after exiting an auction hall, he had visited five stores but couldn't find a single knife nor recipe. In the end he got the knife but couldn't find a recipe.
[Basic Hunting Knife (Tool)
A knife that help the user increase the size of the drops from a monster. Added drop monsters´ meat.]
'I´ll give the knife first to Kingo so its in the best condition for him to learn.' Xol nodded and soon returned to the restaurant.
Xol asked the staff and soon Robert came by, behind him his friend curious at what would happen.
"So, did you get a Hunting knife?" Robert said with a furrowed brow not expecting he could get a knife.
"Un, here it is" Xol said taking the hunting knife.
"!!" Robert was surprised seeing he got a hunting knife. 'How did he got hunting knife in the imperial city. All the capital prefer buying the drops and meat from small towns that take the side job to survive instead of engaging in a side job that improve very little the drops and takes a long time to be profitable.'
"Don't get so full of yourself, return when you get the side job and maybe I can consider presenting you to chef Hao, now leave!" Robert roared swinging his hand in front of him. Xol was surprised and turned away.
"Little kid wait –" Robert's friend called Xol, but Robert grabbed his arm and glared.
Xol turned hearing they were calling for him.
"Nothing, good luck." The chef gave a thumb ups with poker face not wanting to make Robert mad.
"Un, thank you." Xol smiled and exited the restaurant. 'At least there a kind chef. I wonder why that chef is always angry.'
"What was that?!" Robert glared at the second chef, once they returned to the kitchen.
"Dude, he is a little kid don't take it out on him, moreover he is a student of the Mana Academy just tell him straight that chef Hao, don't want to train anyone." The chef said.
"So what if he of the Mana Academy even dragons has to coil if the restaurant says so, those of the Mana Academy are so high just because they allowed to use the word 'mana' in their name, they are more academies of magic, like the Transcending Magic School in the Thery city to the west of the country where I studied." Robert said.
"But the fact he got a hunting knife in the capital is already extraordinary, if he breaks that and don't get the side job, it be miracle if he can get another." The friend replied.
"Ha, that's the point, I´ll toy him until I´m satisfied before I tell him chef Hao didn't intends to train someone." Robert said as he walked off and glanced at some orders.
'I better let chef Hao know as soon as he finishes his rank up, for being the sous chef, Robert can be pretty unreasonable.' The other chef sighed and returned to work.
Xol soon retuned to the academy and entered his dormitory room. The only person in was Marcel who looked pretty depressed in the sofa.
"Uhm, senior is everything is all right?" Xol passed his hand in front of Marcel.
"Kingo became a disciple of teacher Aidan first… How? I been trying for almost a year and in less of a month he became his disciple." Marcel replied lifelessly.
"Uhm, senior didn´t you enter the wind class? Why should it matter becoming a disciple in the fire class now?" Xol asked with a confused gaze.
"Because teacher doesn't teach all his skills unless you´re his disciple, like the Create Fire Elemental skills I wanted to learn." Marcel replied.
"I see" Xol scratched his cheek and glanced to he side.
After that Xol sat in a desk and started visualizing the main gate of the school, before trying to recreate it with mana while he waited for Kingo to return. Richter was the first to return.
[Richter Mana Cultivator LVL 10 + 1]
"Oh, Richter congratulation on your class up. Why is say 10 +1 instead of 11 though?" Xol smiled and congratulated Richter, but soon was perplexed.
"Thanks. Uhm, it something unique of Mana Cultivator related classes. You know how some classes get some specific attributes added with the free points as they level up?" Richter smiled and crossed his arms trying to find a way to explain.
"Un."
"Well, to mana cultivators the +1 means you only have received this specific attributes for practicing mana cultivation and still missing the free point, once I kill some monsters and get the need exp to level up the +1 disappear and become 11, once this happen we say we successfully strength our foundation." Richter explained.
"So, it means you have some extra steps before you can level up?" Xol tilted his head.
"Yeah, let leave like that." Richter awkwardly smiled.
"Why is senior so down." Richter said in a faint voice.
"Well its like this…" Xol explained what happened.
"I see, so in the end he lost the friendly bet." Richter nodded.
Hearing this Marcel sank deeper in the sofa, almost sliding off.