Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)
chapter-46

Chapter 46: Trading Zone

Xiao Lin got up, brushed the dust off his pants, and bid goodbye to Wu Qin, Zhang Tingting, and the others happily before leaving. He had gotten substantial gains today; not only did he improve his Basic Meditation level, his hypothesis was proven as well. He had a new understanding of how to use the Academic Genius’ replication skill.

“Eh? You’re leaving?” Wu Qin was confused. Xiao Lin’s excited and relaxed disposition was different from what she had expected from him.

She estimated the freshman to be demotivated. It was inevitable; reaching the threshold for meditation required talent. Some people could never cross that threshold. It was not a problem that could be solved by coming to the sophomore meditation room. Wu Qin had come up with a speech in her head to comfort this adorable freshman.

“My problem has been resolved, so I won’t bother you all anymore,” Xiao Lin thanked everyone again.

“Solved?” Wu Qin had a slow reaction. Soon after, she thought of something, winked at him, and giggled. “Oh, don’t be shy, little boy. Don’t you want to stay with us longer? Why are you looking for excuses? You shouldn’t underestimate the power of meditation. Just because our results are… Ahem, in short, it took some time for us to get our XP up from 0 to 1.”

Xiao Lin said vaguely, “Uh, I think I’ve reached the threshold to practice meditation.”

“Haha, you’re funny. How could your XP have increased after just a few minutes of meditation?”

There were chuckles around him. In their experience, they knew how difficult it was to start meditating; they were not being cruel, but they thought that this freshman was a little full of himself.

“I think I should go.”

“No way!” Wu Qin blocked the door vigorously; she seemed like she was set on exposing Xiao Lin for his lie. She put her hand on her waist and said, “You have to explain this; we’re your seniors after all. I want to see your Basic Meditation level!”

“Sister Qin, forget it.” Zhang Tingting tugged on the woman’s top and whispered, “He’s the acting monitor.”

“And a freshman. He has to respect his seniors!”

It had been just a joke, but more people joined the clamor and got a little more serious as well.

Xiao Lin frowned, looked at Zhang Tingting, who looked to be in a dilemma, and sighed. He intended to keep a low profile; after all, he was only able to enter the sophomore training room as a freshman with Department Head Song’s help. Thinking back to the article attacking Song Junlang in the Dawn Academy Evening News two days ago, Xiao Lin felt that he should not cause too much trouble for the fairly kind department head.

Xiao Lin said with a straight face, “Fine, no harm telling you. Basic Meditation LV1.”

“I don’t believe you!” Wu Qin continued blocking the exit. Someone passed a laptop over, and she tossed it to Xiao Lin. “Show us! Otherwise, you can’t leave. Hmph, we may not know how a freshman got into a sophomore meditation room. If we investigate, we’ll definitely find something!”

Xiao Lin was a little unhappy. He waved the computer and asked, “How do I use it? I mean how do I show the level of an individual skill.” He did not want to expose his other attributes’ levels.

Wu Qin was obviously more familiar with the system than he was. She pointed out a few things and Xiao Lin logged onto the forum before entering his personal information. There was indeed an option to ‘show more’ under his LV1 Basic Meditation.

He clicked in and a virtual screen rose from the computer. All of the Academy’s equipment seemed to have the magic VR function. The words ‘Basic Meditation LV1’ were clearly displayed on the screen.

The meditation room quietened instantly.

Wu Qin’s eyes widened and she was stunned. Other people’s reactions were similar to hers; they rubbed their eyes vigorously to make sure that they were seeing right. They looked like they had met a ghost.

It was not that they had never seen anyone with a talent for meditation. It was that being able to go from Basic Meditation LV0 and 0 EXP to LV1 within three minutes seemed like a fantasy.

“You wanted to see for yourself!” Xiao Lin muttered. He expected this reaction; he was a little frightened by the efficiency himself, what more these seniors.

While Wu Qin remained in a daze, Xiao Lin fled.

After over ten seconds, Wu Qin finally snapped out of it. She yelled after Xiao Lin’s back, “*sshole! You came to show off, didn’t you!”

Wu Qin could not believe it. She thought that Xiao Lin had already reached Basic Meditation LV1, and that he was there to pretend and show off in front of the poor students. Everyone nodded in agreement; they thought that her explanation was more logical. Meanwhile, Zhang Tingting kept explaining that the freshman’s monitor was only at LV0 a few days ago. Obviously, no one believed her.

…

It was early on the weekend. Xiao Lin wanted to practice swordsmanship again, but he seemed to have thought of something. He first returned to the dorm, turned on his computer, entered the Academy’s forum, and clicked into the equipment trading zone.

It was similar to an online store. All transactions of weapons, equipment, and props in the academy were done there. The entire section even gave Xiao Lin the feeling that he was on Taobao. There was a huge promotional picture on the homepage, showing a giant golden sword with various peculiar runes carved into it. There was a note beside it that read, ‘The Best Choice for a Sword Saint. You’re worthy of the Golden Holy Sword!

Scrolling down, the page showed another promotional banner that read ‘Clearance Sale for All Magical Accessories! 50% Off Sale Price! You Won’t Regret These Purchases!’

Xiao Lin’s eyes twitched. In fact, there were two types of trading zones: one was the official store and the other was the personal store. The former was run by Dawn Academy. Its advantage was its fair prices; there was no need to worry about being cheated. However, the downside was that official merchandise was not that great in use. They were not horrible, but they were not great either.

Personal stores were mostly set up by seniors or graduates themselves. They sold a wide variety of things. The higher the year of the seller, the better the things were. However, their prices were uncertain; it was possible that you could be conned for a fortune.

This trading section was open to the whole Academy. Nonetheless, there were very few freshmen buyers. Xiao Lin casually clicked open a few stores and the things sold in them were worth tens of thousands of redemption points. It was not suitable for freshmen, nor could they afford such things.

Xiao Lin only had 800 redemption points. Since he wanted to practice both magic and martial arts, he first had to have a wand. This was also mentioned in the Basic Perception course; they were currently focusing on training one’s hit rate, so the teacher suggested that the recruits get wands.

The wand was not necessary for casting spells, but it could gather and arrange elements better and faster. For freshmen who were just starting out, the wand was essential.