Mutants cultivate their traits while becoming stronger, once their trait is strong enough they can advance to unlock more possibilities for them.
For example, if a mutant has a transformable type trait that lets them transform into a normal Tiger then after they reach Expert level in it and breakthrough, their trait will advance letting them transform into a different type of tigers like Azure Tiger or Three-Eyed Tiger.
‹Bone Manipulation› is an Augmenter Type trait so it isn't possible to measure its mastery with a body scanner, he had to figure it out on his own and push it to the limits to achieve the advancement result.
He switched off his phone and looked at his shoulder, the nurse had finished doing the stitches and arranging the things in the tray.
Before leaving she looked at Kale and decided to give an advice "Boy, painkillers can help you alleviate pain but using them too much isn't a good thing for your body even if you are a practitioner,"
Kale nodded in agreement, he understood what she was trying to say but didn't wish to waste time in argument.
Seeing that he understood, the nurse smiled faintly and left.
"You should buy defensive equipment," Layla said while resting her chin on her hands.
"Hmm…" Kale wore his shirt and prepared to head out.
Layla stopped pursuing the matter after seeing his reaction, she understood him more than others because of the time spend together, she could tell how unwilling he was to talk about this matter anymore so she changed the topic "I just got a message from Mike, his big brother is graduating from the Academy so he held a party in the city, he invited everyone in the group, declining the offer may look rude, so are you coming?"
Kale shook his head and rejected without thinking "Attending a party is waste of time, they invited us because they indirectly want to build connections with us, I will be taking a leave of about a week but I won't waste time at the party, just make a good excuse on my behalf,"
Layla wasn't surprise she expected it, according to her Kale was a straightforward type like her, he can give it a thought if someone wants to form connections with him from the front but loathes the ones that talks under the table. She thought of something and spoke "I was also thinking the same but I'm not too sure, you just said you were taking leave, right? So how about we go together, I was planning to visit the famous Black Market of Imperial City you should go too we may found something good there,"
Academy forbids bringing in things above Mortal-Rank but they can still use what they bought outside the Academy doing missions, and not all the things need to be carried outside the body, they can still buy pills and potion to enhance their bodies, Academy can't stop them from doing it.
Kale had just opened the door of the clinic to head out but her words made him halt his steps "You know where is the black market?"
Imperial City had Black Market, Kale already had this idea but he had no way of finding out where, there wasn't any information related to the location of the Black Market, meaning it was obviously deleted.
As for how the Imperial City of the Grand Kingdom like the Blazing Sun Kingdom had Black Market?
As a matter of fact, it wasn't in the least bit surprising. Having the Black Market is one thing and proving its existence was another.
It was like they had it but never accepted it.
It wasn't that they didn't wish to stop it but turned a blind eye to the matter.
Even the brightest torch has darkness below it.
Black Market had an indirect connection with the Aristocrats, it was also a way to make a big profit under the table, in some ways it was also beneficial for the kingdom to export some goods without getting a stain on its name.
Kale was sure that Riyan can easily find out about its location or may have already known it, but he never asked this from Riyan because how can a sweet and kind boy like Kale who is unaware of the darkness in the world know about the Black Market?
Layla patted her chest "Of course I know, it's near the western part of the city, so what do you think? Are you interested in tagging along?"
Kale nodded without hesitation, it was an opportunity for him. He could buy things that are not available legally easily.
Now that he had almost completed two tests of the academy, he was fine even if he fool around for a year, he had a whole lot of time on his hand.
"Yay! We can go together, and do you know of any good hotel or Inn in the city that we can stay in?" Layla excitedly said.
"You can discuss about it with Arlo, I have my home in the city to stay, luckily it's in the western-north part of the city," Kale said, he opened the door and headed out.
Layla hurriedly followed behind "So you live in Imperial City, then can't I stay at your house?"
Kale gave her a long look, he was wondering if his common sense couldn't keep up with times or the girls in this world are really that blunt, he didn't suggest it because asking a girl to live at his house when he knew her for less than a month isn't normal in his eyes. He pondered about it and came to a realization "My dad isn't at home right now so I live there alone, you understand now?"
"Great, then it means we don't need to worry about extra rooms or explaining something to your dad, you also don't have to live alone with my company," She said while making a fist in the air.
Kale was truly speechless. He decided to say directly "If you go with me then we will be alone together in the house, don't you think I can do something to you?"
Layla raised her eyebrow, she looked slightly amused by his words "Ever heard of police and law?"
Kale was taken back, her words seemed right, after living in the lawless lands for more than a hundred year, where there were judges but no justice, almost made him forget about these things.
The only way he could do something outrageous here would be when he had higher status and backing than Layla.
Although she didn't know about his backing she seemed confident in her self, her trust in him was another reason.
Seeing that he was seriously shocked, Layla laughed "Are you doing it on purpose? I never said I was going to live there for the whole vacation you know and I wasn't serious. It's fine I won't impose on you,"
Kale slowly nodded. He thought for a while then spoke "Actually, it's fine as long as you understand this, you can stay but I don't want annoying rumors to spread about me,"
"Huh? Really? Then it's decided, you can't change your mind now," Layla said with a smile. She didn't have any bad idea about Kale but wanted to see where he lives and acquire more information about his family.
Kale could guess that but he still chose to be ignorant of this because it was a shortcut to strengthen their friendship. The stronger she gets, the lesser help she would need especially when Kale planned to play as a Plant Mage so he wanted to build the friendship stronger as he could do in the early days.
After a brief talk, they decided to leave at next day afternoon.
The reason for the delay was that Kale still hadn't submitted his first mission, he needs to get his three spell mastery judged by Instructor Fina, or else when the ranking is announced, he may skip the first test as the reward of fox nest subjugation instead of the second test.
After saying goodbye to Layla, Kale went to the Imperial Plantation Store and spend half of his points on several books and encyclopedia related to fauna in the Blazing Sun Kingdom that isn't available on the Internet to the normal public. his shopping session didn't end there, he also went to Imperial Equipment Shop to retrieve his pre-order, by the time he came back to his room, his bag was full.
Arlo was already in the room, when he saw him coming in, he took out something and threw it at him.
Kale caught it and saw that it was a dark red round stone, without any explanation he could tell it was the beast core of Vanishing Lizard, the most important part of the beast was its core so Kale had informed him before to not exchange it for contribution. Although his cultivations technique doesn't support energy absorption from cores but he can still collect them as raw materials if he wants to order tailor-made equipment, providing materials himself would make the ordered equipment cheaper.
'The core of beasts here is similar to the Qi cores of Demonic Beasts from Kazeer, I wonder if they can also be used to make Ghost Beads,' Kale pondered about it then chose to keep it in the end.
He took out the things from his bag and packed them in a new bag for tomorrow.
Arlo saw him tacking out a thread roll and very thin transparent gloves and got curious, he picked the black ballast thread up and checked it, from the looks of it, it was a thin black thread, it was highly flexible but after trying to break it he realized that it was absurdly strong and coupled with its thinness, the thread felt sharp as a blade.
Kale saw him getting surprised and explained "It's a Black Plastic thread, it's worth is same as Elemental Mortal-Rank Common-Grade equipment, this can be used to set traps and can also replace the knife chain to some extent, unlike the chain it allows free flow of any kind of energy through it.
The transparent gloves are made of Synthetic White Plastic, their worth is same as Elemental Mortal-Rank Uncommon-Grade equipment, I need to wear them if I want to use it or else I can seriously hurt my fingers with the slightest carelessness or even lose them,"
Arlo nodded and gave it back "You should seriously buy defense equipment or magic wand instead, that aside Layla left something for you," He said while pointing at his shelf.
Kale scanned through his stuff on the shelf and saw a crystal plate with a spell formula on it. He recognized the spell formula at a glance, a faint smile appeared on his face 'It's ‹Fast Growth›, she kept her word,'
***
Next Morning…
Kale took long strides through the corridor as he hurriedly made his way to the W3 class, he expected the class to have already started but when he arrived in front of the door, he saw Instructor Fina alone sitting at her chair in the whole classroom.
She was reading a book, she heard his footsteps and raised her head to look at him "How unusual, the mass bunk starter himself has come to the class today,"
From her tone, it was evident that students haven't attended a class for a while now, but it was to be expected, they got such a hard task so most of them were simply practicing in their room instead of coming to class every day.
What Kale didn't know was that they had even exchanged the contact information and made plans of when to attend and when to bunk class but they had no way to contact him as he never came to class after the first day so he was left out.
And as the first bunker, he became the starter of the chain reaction.
Kale shook his head to clear the thought and walked in, instead of proving his innocence he chose to complete the test "I have mastered the three spells,"
Fina raised her eyebrow "Oh, show me,"
Kale raised his hand and activated ‹Camouflage› at Grand Master mastery level, Simon had already seen it so he decided to reveal it just in case.
While using it, he peeked at Fina from the corner of his eyes and observed her expressions. She looked slightly surprised but it was just that.
He thought about it and slightly changed his plans, he displayed ‹Life Sense› after it but this time too, he used it at the Grand Master mastery level.
Fina finally showed a genuinely surprised expression.
But Kale wasn't satisfied, still, he chose not to go too far.
He displayed ‹Wooden Thorn› at Master mastery level but after activating the spell he didn't release it so the magic circle was shining above his hand but no thorn came out. It was enough for Fina to see that he can use the spell.
Fina nodded in appreciation "You are more talented than I thought, I have read your aim-form, you want to become a Plant Mage right?"
Kale nodded.
"Hehe... You remind me of the famous Evergreen Tyrant, if you had managed to master all three spells to Grand Master mastery level then you may have been able to match her talent," Fina said in a nostalgic tone.
Kale raised his eyebrow, he had never heard of this Evergreen Tyrant.
Fina noticed his expression and her brows frowned "Don't tell me... You never heard of Evergreen Tyrant?"
Kale shook his head, there was no use lying when he didn't know a single thing about her.
"Then why do you want to become a Plant Mage?" Fina asked with a genuinely shocked expression.
Kale's lips twitched.
Is knowing that woman a requirement to become Plant Mage or something? He thought.