Luther rested for a while, then moved toward the Department of Missions.
This department was responsible for organizing tasks, evaluating them, and issuing them to suitable mages.
Missions that require official mages will have to be approved by at least the deputy chair of the department, which is a rank two mage.
However, tasks that only require an apprentice are handled by rank-and-file mage apprentices in the department.
Luther entered, took the device that displayed tasks, and began scrolling down and looking for a suitable task.
Rachel saw this and thought the device looked like a smartphone on Earth.
"help master Obrien clean his old laboratory; reward: 5 magic crystals, expected time:7 days"
"traveling to Wade forest and hunting fire rabbits, reward:15 magic crystal, expected time:30 days."
"traveling to Salas empire and acting as a protector, reward:1000 magic crystals, expected time 365 days."
He looked at a few tasks and shook his head.
These tasks are not suitable.
The department would check the qualifications of the person who takes the task.
His qualification is low, no matter which aspect you looked at!
Luther ignored every task that paid well and looked complicated.
He scrolled down until he saw a task and then smiled!
"operate artificial sunlight formation for earl Evan Cherry, reward: 5 magic crystals/year, duration: +1000 days"
The tasks are from various sources, including the academy itself, mages from the academy, mages from outside, kingdoms, and various nobels.
Each task is vetted thoroughly, and anything that might harm blue light academy will not be posted.
The academy would determine minimum pay for tasks requiring a rank one official mage; however, tasks below the official mage level don't have any minimum pay requirement.
As for tasks that require higher rank mages, those are only approved in exceptional circumstances.
"This is what I was looking for! A very long-term task with low risk that is far away from mages!" he didn't hesitate, registered his name, and requested to take the task.
It was all done remotely by that device.
It's said that the academy was in the process of mass-production of this kind of device and selling it to all mages, but until then, one had to come personally to the department to use it.
As the task is only operating a formation, even third-grade apprentice mages like him can do it.
After 20 minutes, the task was confirmed, and he was given the date and location.
The academy would cover all travel costs to the destination.
Luther went back to his room and got prepared.
The set-off day was in 3 days, and the airship wouldn't wait for him, so he had to get ready by then.
He took all his spell books and the things that could help, and after a day worth of hard work, he scrambled a big bag that had his most valuable stuff.
Then he went to sleep.
…
The next day he opened the pill container and saw another pill in it!
It appears that nothing like moonlight or other ingredients is required to produce pills.
As for why it didn't produce any pill before that night, he didn't know.
He happily closed the box and went to say goodbye to his friends.
Luther didn't have many close friends, but he decided to keep his relationships as much as possible so nobody would get suspicious.
…
Soon, three days time passed.
Luther started moving to the airship station.
The station is on the south side of the academy, a two-hour walk.
In the academy, there are faster transportation methods than walking, but they all cost subscription fees.
Luther didn't have the money to pay for these kinds of stuff, So he had no choice but to walk on his two feet.
After a while, he reached the station and sat down.
Everyone here was a mage, and almost everyone was an apprentice mage.
Official mages usually have private airships or rent the entire airship ship for themselves. Very rarely one can see an official mage waiting here.
Luther looked around and saw many boys and girls, mostly young, and none looked to be official mages.
Once in a while, someone would talk on a loudspeaker and inform everyone that an airship was ready to move.
"airship number L-662 is ready to move. All authorized persons move to the right boarding area."
Luther stood up and went there.
Soon, he showed his document and, without problem, sent in and sat on his seat.
Near him sat a girl that had sharp ears.
"half-elf, huh? It's quite rare." he thought.
The blue light academy only accepted the human race.
However, half of humans are considered human if compatible with the human race.
For example, half-human and half-demons are not allowed to join, as the demon's nature makes them incompatible with the academy's values.
Some academies accept from every race, but those are almost always evil forces.
The reason is simple; one can't be a righteous force and accept demons.
Demons enjoyed seeing others suffer and would be upset by others' happiness; it was utterly incompatible with a righteous force.
The girl who had blue hair and was beautiful noticed Luther looked and looked at him.
He turned around and took out a book to read like it wasn't him who was looking.
The girl sighed, and she, too, started reading a book.
…
After around 10 hours, the airship landed, and the loudspeaker announced that people who wanted to land on Gilbert Island could now leave.
The girl who sat near Luther stood up and left.
Luther was going to Earl Evan Cherry's territory in Cherry City, so he continued reading his book.
The airship would drop him off exactly in cherry city, so it's not like he would have to get off in a major city and go the rest of the way by himself.
He waited six more hours, and finally, the loudspeaker stated," Individuals whose destination is the cherry city can now leave."
Luther was surprised at how comfortable the airship was.
He didn't notice any vibration when it landed.
This airship had a capacity of 100 people, but except him, nobody else from more than 20 remaining stood up.
It can be said that cherry city was not a popular destination.
He stood up and left the airship.
The air Ship landed right in the castle.
He got out, looked around, and saw a few people waiting to greet him.
There were a total of 10 people waiting there.
Six of them had strong aura and probably were knights.
Knight was another path one could take, but they were no match for mages.
It had four levels in total.
Knight attendant, that was barely stronger than the average adult.
A formal knight that was inhumanly strong and could defeat mage apprentices if they didn't get the chance to cast a spell.
Grand knights are monstrously strong and can even resist some spells from mage apprentices.
And lastly, legendary knights.
They can kill mage apprentices quickly but are like an ant when they face an official mage.
That's because official mages have quick minds and keen senses and can cast spells almost instantly.
When legendary knights face a rank one spell, they can only die with no chance of resistance.
And it's just official mages that are ranked 1!
Mages have ten ranks, each incomparably stronger than the previous rank.
Of the remaining four people, three were ordinary people, and at the head of the group was a man dressed in very luxurious clothes looking at him.
The man smiled and said," Hello, mage Robles! I am Earl Cherry, the one who requested your help."
He pointed to his right and said," he is my eldest son, Dale, who is very interested in mages; unfortunately, he has no mage talent."
Then he introduced two girls behind him" These two are my twin daughters, Gina and Myla."
The two girls were looking at him with a smile.
Luther said," Happy to meet you, Earl! Looking forward to being your guest and helping with the formation's operation!"
The Earl had the strongest aura and probably was a legendary knight.
They all smiled and started moving to the farming ground.
The Earl introduced everything and told him critical points about the formation.
The formation was created 100 years ago.
Usually, an apprentice mage was present to operate the formation; however, recently, that apprentice mange died of old age.
Now, they had nobody who could operate the formation, and they had no choice but to ask the academy for help.
Soon, they reached the place where the formation was located.
It was in the center of a farming area.
The farming area was big, and only very expensive trees and plants were cultivated here.
A large mansion was built in the center.
The formation core was in the mansion.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that the mansion was built around the formation core.
After explaining all this, the Earl and his children left, and one of the knights remained and started introducing him to the mansion's servants.
Luther nodded all the way, and after getting familiar, he sent the knight away.
The mansion had ten servants.
Six women and four men.
They were only responsible for the mansion's operation and had nothing to do with the farming area or the formation.
Luther took a mental note to be careful and not let the servants get close to him, so he summoned the chief servant, a man in his forties, and ordered that his room was the forbidden area and nobody was allowed to enter.
Afterward, he entered the main bedroom, put down his stuff, and settled.
Off course, the pill container was too valuable, so he always kept it on his person.
After resting for a while, it was already late at night.
The formation had to be operated at night, which wasn't difficult.
It consumed one magic crystal per month and didn't need any mana from him. he only needed to sense the mana and let it circulate normally.
More advanced formations can operate by themselves.
But this is a cheap formation that must be supervised.
The Earl provided the magic crystals, so Luther wasn't worried about that.
He moved to the formation area and operated it for a few hours.
When the formation was activated, the farmland outside was bright, like it was the day.
Soon it was morning, and after eating breakfast, Luther dropped into his bed and slept!
He was too tired after all of the traveling!
…
After a few hours, he woke up and looked at the pill container.
It had several pills in it.
This sight made him smile!
He sat and started to meditate and put one pill in his mouth!
The root mana started to spread throughout his body, gathering below his stomach, and after 10 hours, it was absorbed completely.
"It will probably take a few months before I can reach 2nd rank mage apprentice! It's so easy to advance with pills!" he looked thrilled.
Rachel sighed in her heart and cursed when she saw how trashy his talent was.
Talent was the absolute endpoint.
A rank two talent means you can not exceed a 2nd rank mage in your lifetime.
A rank two talent does not guarantee reaching rank 2; it means you can't go higher!
Actually, most people with rank two talent get stuck in grade 1 mage apprentice their entire lives!
Geniuses are all ranked 8 and 9 talents; some even have rank ten talent!
As far as Luther knows, no mage has ever reached rank 10, but some people were born with the potential to achieve it.
It was a legend that rank 10 was invincibility, but of course, Luther didn't have any way of knowing whether it was true or not.
…
the sixth day of the fourth month of year 989952
Luther is very excited!
"I will try to reach the rank two apprentice mage tonight!"