The teacher pavilion of the academy wasn't all that much different from what Layn could remember from his early days as a mage apprentice. Split between several huge rooms where massive classes could be conducted with a single teacher and many students at once, the pavilion still had more than enough room for several tens of silenced rooms, where private lessons could be conducted.
Gawking at the intricate atmosphere of this place, Layn didn't dare to utter a single word. Following after the girl to one of the small rooms, he could see how much work has been put into its details, even though many markings on the walls of the classrooms indicated that the lessons conducted here didn't belong to the peaceful group.
"Now, we can talk freely. Listen, I know you are hasty to try all sorts of things… But man, you stirred the pot back at the registration." Lowering her head as if under the potential burden that Layn's few careless words would put on her shoulders, Irea then looked scornfully at the archmage. "Do you want to bet how quickly the value of the magic stones will jump locally?"
Hearing the girl's words, Layn silently bit his lips. 'I fucked up.' Summing his actions in his mind, the archmage lowered his head. "I do apologise. For me, everyone in this city is a small fry, so I made the mistake of underestimating them. I sincerely apologise."
That was the truth of everything that Layn did so far. From the clash of words with Kerren, through the actual manslaughter with him later on, all the way to his behaviour in the mercenary guild and during the registration process. Ever since Layn appeared in this foreign world of the past, he failed to control his own ego, failing to respect the means of the locals.
'And it's not like they are incapable of great feats either…' The situation was simply too confusing for the archmage to just accept it as it was. Because it wasn't the first time he caught himself disregarding the means of the ancients!
'Is this some kind of curse? Trick?' Unable to find the answer on the spot, Layn ultimately only made a mental note of this problem for the latter before moving on.
"But now that I think about it…" With his thoughts returning to the problem of his carefree words, Layn's mind suddenly exploded with ideas. While there was no denying that the people of this time clearly had their own means to achieve great things, there were things that only modern society was capable of creating.
Namely, scams.
While something like those many financial manipulations that existed could be implemented on a smaller scale in a less interconnected world, without the shared marked for the entire world, it was hard for any swindler to get enough money and recognition for his method to grow popular enough. And without enough exposure, people wouldn't be any wiser about the giveaway points of the popular schemes.
And what was the better way to obtain the stones Layn desperately needed right now than making everyone disregard their value?
"Think about what?" Unable to tell what was going through the archmage's head, Irea looked at him with curiosity. But just as Layn directed his eyes on the girl's face, her cheeks turned red as a certain memory appeared in her head again.
"Ah, I didn't mean to…" Backing off a few steps, Irea was unable to stop her blush from exploding on her face, quickly giving away just what was going on through her head.
"Oh, right. There was a topic like that. But let's drop it for a moment." As alluring as the idea of sleeping or even cuddling with Irea was, Layn didn't reach his level of power, knowledge and status by focusing measly pleasures over the important topics.
Releasing a sigh of relief, Irea shook her head to get rid of those useless thoughts of hers before refocusing her sight on the man in front. Sitting down directly on the soft padding making up the floor, she gestured at Layn to do the same.
"Since you are accepted into the academy now, let's start our lessons. While this part might be boring to you given how I boosted you through those levels, you still need to understand what normally happens for the beginners." Starting her lecture, Irea instantly calmed down. Even though she was only at the starting levels as the academy teacher, it didn't change the fact that it was her passion to teach.
But contrary to the girl's expectations, Layn appeared to fully immerse in her words. It didn't matter to him whether she was giving him complex numbers to project the strength and requirements for each of the cultivation ranks or if she was bringing up some funny anecdote from her personal past. No matter what the girl would say, Layn appeared to just soak it all deep into his soul.
For a passionate teacher like Irea, this couldn't get any better. But Layn managed to prove that this lovely situation could quickly get way worse.
"I'm sorry for butting in, but didn't you just say that it's the greatest hurdle for the beginners to gather enough energy to break through the initial stage? In… Infusing energy was it?" Stopping the girl's lecture, Layn suddenly brought up a question, proving that he wasn't just passively listening to her wasting away her throat.
"The first stage is body cleansing. But given how most of the younglings can reach this stage all on their own, infusing energy is what others consider to be the true first stage of cultivation." Fixing Layn's little misunderstanding, Irea sighed. "And yeah, before you become at least a fourth stage cultivator of the first star, you don't really have any means to earn enough money. That's what most of the academies use to lure in potential talents."
Hearing those words, Layn's smile suddenly widened. But even after a moment, this motion didn't stop, quickly turning the happy expression on the archmage's lips into a creepy one.
"Let me ask you this one, then. How much would you assume to be a reasonable price to spend an hour in an energy-rich place?" With a plan already blossoming in his mind, a strange aura appeared all over the archmage.
As if his true self finally started to surface.
"Since you asked about the early breakthroughs… Normally it would take a grade one spirit stone to break through the energy infusion rank. Half of it would already be reasonable." Unsure how to answer, Irea connected her reply to the earlier question of her new yet uncommon student.
"Great. Now, do tell, how many magic stones would your entire hunting group be able to procure with all their savings and all they could borrow?"