Azrael turned around to leave after obtaining the skill crystals, but he suddenly paused as a thought crossed his mind.
"The Essentia Arts… If I need low-level Essentia Arts, they should also be available here, right?" He asked the male receptionist.
"Yes," The man nodded. "Do you want to see the list of available Essentia Arts?"
Azrael thought for a moment before asking,
"What is the minimum price of a low-level Essentia Art?"
"Even among Essentia Arts, the price varies depending on their usage," The man explained. "For example, the most expensive low-level Essentia Arts can reach up to three or even four thousand credits, while some are only worth a few hundred credits."
"I see." Azrael nodded, but he didn't look at the available Essentia Arts for now, as he was still in the process of learning Skyrift Slash.
"Can you tell me how difficult it is to earn academic credits? For instance, how much does a normal mission usually provide?"
The man smiled warily and shook his head."I honestly don't know. I'l am just a normal staff member here, so I've never been to the academy's mission hall. But…" He paused before adding,
"From what I have heard from some students, normal tasks in the academy usually provide around three to five academic credits. You must have come across some students when you first entered the academy, right?"
Azrael recalled the students who had guided him and the other newcomers upon their arrival and nodded.
"Those students had actually taken a task to guide the new arrivals. For each day of work, they could earn three to five academic credits."
Azrael frowned slightly when he heard how little a task that consumed an entire day could provide. But he also understood that the payment was low because the task itself was simple. Students who accepted such jobs didn't need to leave the academy or face powerful enemies that could endanger their lives.
Most of the students who accepted such tasks came from the Normal Class, as Elite Class students would never bother with such missions.
Although he didn't get a perfectly clear answer about the exact value of academic credits, Azrael could still assume that earning them was not an easy matter.
As such, the forty credits that Ronald promised to give to rank one student each month was actually a very generous benefit.
'No matter where you are, if you don't have enough strength, it's never easy to obtain the resources needed to improve yourself,' Azrael thought inwardly and after thanking the man, he left the building.
'Even some of the low-level Essentia Arts require thousands of credits. I wonder how much a good Rune, Substance, or other similar things would cost.'
As that thought crossed his mind, Azrael couldn't help but sigh in relief that he didn't have to worry about Rune and Attribute for now. He already possessed his natural Attribute and had also obtained the Spirit Rune in the Eonrift.
'Now, only the Substance is left…' He narrowed his eyes slightly. 'I hope the things they have collected will be good enough. If not, I'll either have to wait for them to find more or obtain the Substance myself.'
Lost in thought, Azrael returned to his mansion. However, instead of going inside, he walked toward the side garage, where a hover car was parked.
Without hesitation, he entered the hover car and sat inside as if it belonged to him. The academy provided a private hover car for the top three students, as the campus was vast and moving everywhere on foot wasn't always convenient.
After sitting down, he entered his destination into the system, and the hover car began to move on its own.
As the vehicle glided forward, Azrael used his smart band to reply to the message he had received earlier when he was in the skill building.
(I will be there in one hour.)
Not even five seconds later, a reply came.
Closing his smart band, Azrael began to practicing Skyrift Slash using both of his consciousnesses.
Honestly, splitting his focus in such a way was extremely demanding, and he could even feel a wave of mental exhaustion press down on him along with piercing pain in head.
However, Azrael had far too much on his plate, and he needed to tackle everything as quickly as possible if he wanted to keep progressing. So, despite the strain, he didn't stop.
'I also need to start practicing the Meditation Technique that Mom gave me if I want to improve my spiritual power and fully utilize the Tyrant's Intent.'
Azrael sighed at the sheer weight of his busy schedule and decided that once he finished dealing with the matter of the Substance, he would focus solely on clearing the rest of the tasks piled up before him.
The hover car soon left the academy grounds and entered the bustling roads of the Academy City.
Since most of the planet Arkanis was occupied by the academy, there were only a few cities here, and the Academy City was the largest of them all.
It was also home to the most prosperous market in the entire Stardust Galaxy—the galaxy where planet Arkanis was located.
In the academy city, one could find almost anything: rare materials, Runes, Substances, and countless other items.
Of course, the Runes, Substances, and other essential resources sold here were not the finest quality. Most of the goods available were meant for students or individuals who either lacked sufficient academic credits to purchase items directly from the academy or whose financial conditions made it impossible to afford higher-grade ones.
As the hover car moved smoothly through the busy streets, Azrael continued to deepen his understanding of the Skyrift Slash.
Even while learning the Essentia Art, Azrael couldn't help but look at the beautiful city from the car window.
Towering spires of living metal reoriented themselves at subtle angles, their surfaces gleaming under the galaxy's fractured starlight. Transparent bridges connected one skyscraper to another, and streams of students and people zipped across on hoverboards and crafts as if the sky itself were a marketplace.
Holographic billboards floated midair, projecting academy duels and the names of ranked prodigies, their images visible for kilometers. The entire city pulsed with a steady hum of energy, as though the very streets were alive.
Beneath the high lanes, the true chaos of the city thrived. Endless markets sprawled across the ground level, where stalls overflowed with impossible goods: crystalline weapons that thrummed like hearts, fruits preserved in floating stasis fields, powders glowing faintly with cosmic radiation.
Azrael looked at the bustling city for some time before closing his eyes.
Around fifty minutes later, the AI of the hover car notified him that they were nearing their destination.
Taking a deep breath, Azrael stopped using his main consciousness for the Essentia Art and slowly opened his eyes.
As he did, a grand building came into view, bustling with people moving in and out of its massive entrance.