Falling Stardust

"Did you hear? King Fitzroy's court mage's only son will be transferred to the Academy today."

"You mean the legendary Flame Emperor Saxon Von Crieg? He's my hero."

"Too bad his son ended up with such a useless talent."

"Yeah. His father is the greatest combat mage in our continent's recent history and while Xasha's magic talent is high, even higher than his father's. He has no talent for combat magic."

"The apple sure does fall far from the tree."

"But he is an S rank. That means he has three unique talents while his father is only an A rank with 2."

"Two pieces of gold is always better than three pieces of copper."

"Yeah, but none of his skills are combat-based. Eye of truth? What's the use of something like that?"

"Hahaha."

A group of friends was sitting under a tree having lunch in the B class social garden, they were discussing the latest gossip of the day.

In a spacious corridor a ways away, a young man around 16 years old was walking slowly behind a green-haired girl. She was around his age and she was enthusiastically introducing every square inch of the school to the new S class student Xasha Von Crieg.

Xasha was not the least bit interested in any of this. Back in the capital, he saw architecture much more artistic, eye-catching, and luxurious than anything in this Academy.

He was completely fine learning at home from his parents. They knew more about magic than any of these so-called experts at this Academy. "Go out into the world, he says. "Meet new people, he says. "This place is lame," Xasha was muttering under his breath.

"What was that?" Asked Verra.

"Nothing," said Xasha. "How much longer is this going to take, I'm tired."

Verra looked disappointed hearing this. If he wasn't happy she won't get a tip, "well you have seen all the important parts of the Academy. You've already completed your paperwork and your student ID will be ready in a few days. I guess I'll take you to where you will be staying for the next four years," Said Verra with a pleasant smile on her face.

Xasha's ears perked up at this, "so is there a dorm or something?"

Verra smiled, "well, there is a dorm but you don't have to stay there, as a member of the S class you get your own private property. You can even get your maids to take care of your daily needs."

"And all this is provided by the school?" Asked Xasha suspiciously.

Verra covered her mouth and laughed, "No, you will have to pay out-of-pocket for everything you need. Libras do the talking here, anything you need you have to pay. But, as the grand court mage's son, I'm sure you can afford it."

Xasha narrowed his brows, "you would think. Cheap bastard," he said the last part to himself.

"How many Libras do you have with you now?" Verra asked.

"Around 2 million," Xasha said nonchalantly.

Gasp. "Wow! That's the grand court mage's son for you. You have enough money to pay for classes and living expenses for 20 S class students for an entire year," Verra said smiling. There was a special meaning behind her smile and the more her evil plan formed in her head, the brighter her smile became.

"Oh, guess the old man wasn't so stingy after all," Xasha said, nodding his head. A smile also blossomed on his face, but for a different reason.

"So, what can I get with the money I have, I need a decent enough place to fit my needs, with lots of space and lots of privacy."

"Privacy, huh? Well, one place comes to mind, I'll take you there so you can take a look for yourself," Verra said confidently.

"Okay, sounds good. Lead the way," Xasha sounded interested.

They picked up the pace and headed east for about half an hour. They passed hundreds of students and buildings while walking. Verra continued to introduce the school to Xasha. He would ask questions from time to time, and she would answer them patiently. Turns out Verra was from a small community in the Vinci province. Her parents were Herbalists and were B ranks with talents related to nature and the growing of plants.

When she did the talent test it turned out she was an S rank built for combat. All her talents were high-powered lightning attacks. Her family was pretty well off. They were Herbalists that grew the ingredients needed for potions used in everyday life. They had a supply contract with a local Alchemy Guild in the Vinci province.

As well-off as they were, they only made around 250 thousand Libras a year, 100 thousand of which go towards Verra's school expenses. Being an S class student, she needs a lot of resources, so she does various jobs and missions for the school to earn extra money, one of which is being a tour guide for new students. She also makes commissions for getting students to make purchases and upgrades from businesses around the campus, both student-owned and Academy-owned.

While they were talking, they made it to a stone path alongside an enormous lake. The lake's water was clear as day and Xasha could see fishes of all shapes and sizes swimming beneath the surface and Crayfish eating the plants on the lake's floor. 

Verra stopped, "look there, that's your new home." pointed at the center of the lake, there Xasha could see a large shadow that looked like an island.

"Is that an island?" Asked Xasha.

"Yes!, that's DenoVega island, it's famous because the founder of the DenoVega province, Carlos DenoVaga, lived on that island when he studied here," Verra informed Xasha with pride In her voice.

In response, Xasha Narrowed his brows and asked, "if this island is so famous why is it available now? In fact, it seems like that island hasn't been lived on in over 50 years."

"Over 100 years, actually. You see, this island has thousands of ivory bamboo trees growing on it. As a result, the magic energy concentration on the island is the highest in the school that's available to students."

"But?"

"But what?" Verra asked innocently.

"There is always a but."

Verra smiled, "the magic energy concentration is so high that most students can't handle it. The grade of energy chambers that would be needed to make this mana usable would be too expensive for students to afford and also this island costs 1 million Libras to buy."

The words 'high energy concentration' piqued Xasha's interest to no end. "1 million huh... well let's go take a look," With a smile on his face. Xasha walked on the surface of the water, heading towards the island. 

"Yes! Cha-ching!" Verra shouted under her breath while she pumped her fist in the air and quickly followed Xasha by skipping happily on the lake's surface.

The island was a few kilometers from the coast, and after about 15 minutes of walking, they made it to the island. The first thing Xasha noticed was how big it was. It was about 18 square kilometers. The next thing was how rich the air on the island was, Verra was right about the magic energy concentration on the island. It was about 3 times more concentrated here than it was on the rest of the campus he had seen so far.

Flying into the air to get a better view, he saw a decrepit mansion in the middle of the island surrounded by overgrown grass, weeds, and trees. Small energy beasts were running throughout the overgrowth. The entire island needed some work, but with the energy concentration being so high here, Xasha thought it was worth the price.

He landed on the ground beside Verra, "I'll take it," he said confidently.

"That's great!" Verra said excitedly. She was thinking about her 10% commission. She had just made all her living expenses for the year in one day, and she couldn't stop a wide grin from forming on her face.

"This place needs some work though, and I'd like to tear down that mansion and put up a new one. I'd also like to add a few more facilities to make this place livable," Xasha said all this while not even looking at Verra, just staring at the island with wild passion in his eyes.

"What do you have in mind?" Verra stared at him curiously. Hearing this, Xasha quickly sat on the floor, took out a feather pen, ink, and some paper, and started drawing.

After an hour, he handed a stack of papers to Verra. She took them and started going through them one by one. He had drawn the entire island. On each paper was the design of different facilities and where they should be, including a new mansion in the center.

It was a U shaped mansion with a giant fountain in the middle. To the left and right there were square courtyards with a martial arts training arena, research lab, enchantment workshop, Alchemist workshop, multiple high-quality energy chambers, greenhouses, and other such buildings. There were plans for roads connecting each building and going around the island.

There were also plans for a sewage and fresh running water delivery system from the lake to be cleaned and purified in purification rune houses and fed into a 100-thousand-gallon water storage facility. All the facilities were state-of-the-art and well-designed. The jottings were all the high-quality materials needed; the amount needed for each building along with calculations of the size of each building.

"Everything that you've requested, including all the rare materials, high-quality equipment, and labor the price comes up to a whopping 45 million Libras... can you afford it?"



"Oh? Only that much?" Xasha took out a black card. Handed it to Verra and said, "Can you arrange everything for me, just show them this card, and they will send the bill to my father, I'm sure it won't be a problem." Xasha said while smiling.

Taking the card carefully in hand, Verra bowed slightly, "I won't let you down."

"How long will all the construction take?"

"About 6 weeks, you can stay at my place until then."

"Sounds good, I'm pretty tired and need some rest anyway, so lead the way."