NOVEL NEXT Chapter 90: The behind the scene.
Not long after, Xane saw his ID start flashing in blue light.
He wasted no time and placed his finger on the symbol with the brightest light.
Soon, he saw a blue screen with 5 circles present at the corners. He saw that each circle had a name below it.
Not wasting any time, he first opened the one with Auren Paarkis on it.
Soon, a big panel opened before him with all of Auren's details.
The first thing he focused on was Auren's potential, and he saw low gold potential.
Zayn said in frustration. [Damn, even though it was the lowest possible potential, this guy is still part of the upper batch.]
Xane frowned and checked the other stuff.
The report even mentioned that Auren's main path was Art of Hex Invocation, but there were multiple question marks around it.
Also, the good thing about this report was that there was even a mention of a few possible hex arts Auren might have learned.
Xane found this report really impressive. Spending 1 point for such a detailed report was really worth it.
As Xane looked through the list of hex arts, he saw a couple of 1-star hex arts that actually matched the last incident.
He could not help but ask Zayn. <How the hell did Marcin even learn about so many hex arts?>
Zayn said in a calm tone. [He must have seen Auren use the hex arts somewhere. I remember that in the library, there was an option to find hex art from the description of what you want that hex art to do.]
Xane nodded his head and continued to scan the report.
He saw a limit to this report, as there was no mention of which hex master Auren selected.
There was speculation that it was likely a level three hex master who worked with the Paarkis family. Except for that, there was nothing else.
Also, not only that, he saw that Auren had also used multiple physical hex arts during recent weeks, so Marcin even wrote the possibility that Auren's hex master might be leaning toward the physical path.
This must be why there were those question marks.
As he looked at the big list of hex arts, he could not help but ask Zayn, <Hey, are these hex arts dirt cheap?>
Zayn shook his head. [Just tap on the last symbol. Or maybe the second-last one with your second finger, I believe one of those is also used to see basic library prices with a couple of dummy hex arts.]
Xane followed Zayn's direction and placed his other finger on different symbols. Soon, multiple panels appeared before him.
He already saw Zayn use it, so he said, <Oh, so that's how you summon multiple panels.>
[Yeah, now you can use your thumb to shift and interact with different panels.]
Xane swiped his thumb and, sure enough, he felt like he was operating on a massive screen.
It was a bit confusing at first, as some random stuff opened that he still did not understand the operation of. But with a bit of practice, he got the hang of it.
The last symbol was actually the quest panel, which was still empty. Though the second-last symbol did take him to this virtual library. What shocked him was that even in this dummy library, he saw more than 1000 different hex arts.
It was just too bad that they were of random core and element types.
Zayn said to him. [We have to synchronize our IDs when we go to the library, which would allow us to see the latest hex arts limited to our types.]
Xane nodded his head and just focused on the price.
While most of the 1-star hex arts actually went between 10 points and 30 points, the 2-star hex arts, even the lowest of those, started from 50 points and went up to a couple of thousand points.
He soon realized that for a gold potential who got 20 points a week, having a couple of 1-star hex arts by now wouldn't be a problem, but for 2-star hex arts, it was a different game altogether.
Heck, it was hard to say if even the likes of Liam and Samule would have sufficient points to buy even one of those hex arts.
He then shifted back to Auren's report and saw not only that this guy had shown dozens of 1-star hex arts, but there was even mention of a couple of 2-star hex arts.
Xane squinted his eyes and thought about how the Paarkis family was extremely rich.
A new possibility emerged in his head as he asked, <Don't tell me his hex master gave him these hex arts?>
Zayn said with a smile. [Nah, a hex master can only teach their students a limited number of hex arts. The academy is very strict regarding this.]
Xane rubbed his chin. <Oh, then was it the Paarkis family? >
[You can say that. But Xane, do you remember the contract signing ceremony? The elder at that point said that the family would provide support to each family member.]
Xane looked wide-eyed. <Oh yeah. Wait, can the House of Zenaris give us points? I thought he was talking about outside support. >
Zayn mentally nodded. [Yup. So the academy has a rule of 1 in 10. From what I read, at the start of the academy year, every noble family in the Ashen Pact provides resources to each academy.]
[Now it was not just charity, as the academy provides reward points with a value of a tenth of the resources provided back to the family. It is in the family's hands on how to distribute these points among the children they support.]
As he heard it, Xane instantly realized this method of providing points was super wasteful.
But then he also understood it must be done to stop the misuse of this method. After all, no matter how corrupt the academy could be, that did not change the fact that it was the filter layer for hex masters of the Ashen Pact.
In the end, they didn't want to have incompetent hex masters, as that might lead them to doom. After all, a dumb ally was much more harmful than a smart enemy.