"Don't you know dungeons and secret realms keep popping up everywhere to merge with our world? From there, many other intelligent races—dwarves, mermen, sex—cough."

He glanced at Lily and leaned closer to Leo, lowering his voice.

"Sexy elves, and whatnot, get rescued on a regular basis. And as decreed by our mighty Emperor, they're turned into slaves. Whoever rescues them gets the chance to keep them or sell them for credits."

"In that way, territories have more than just students," Brok continued. "I've even heard of a territory that's half-filled with elven slaves."

Leo nodded in understanding.

Soon, the towering silhouette of the academy came into view, rising majestically against the horizon.

They landed inside the academy grounds. Leo purchased a simple mana contract for 1000 AC and signed it with Brok, after which they exchanged contact details.

A simple mana contract is, as the name suggests, simple. If broken, it informs the other party immediately, reveals the violator's location, and induces a mild mana backlash—leaving the offender weakened for a few hours. More than enough time for the other party to catch them and thoroughly talk things out.

Brok was visibly excited as he signed the contract. To him, this meant stability—a reliable way to earn a living. From what he could tell, Leo was strong, and there would likely be many calls to pick them up from the wild. Not to mention, the prices had doubled. He could now comfortably send money back to his family outside the academy.

And the price for all of this?

Just a simple non-disclosure contract.

Nothing to fret about.

Before going to an analyst, they decided to attend the first lecture on rank advancement, which was scheduled for 2 PM. Until then, Lily took Miho to a class that taught basic reading and writing, while Leo once again got busy gathering information about the academy's structure, skimming notices and overhearing snippets of conversation as he walked through the corridors.

Since a new batch of students had just arrived, the academy's basic classes would continue for at least a month. The same lessons were repeated again and again, not only to drill the information into the students' minds, but also to ensure that everyone attended at least one lecture on each topic. If someone failed to show up, it was simply assumed that they already knew the material.

Of course, if a student wanted to study a subject at an advanced level, they could enroll in advanced classes. At that point, attendance became mandatory, and skipping was no longer tolerated.

When they finally gathered in front of the lecture room where the rank advancement class would be held, they were surprised by the sheer number of people waiting outside. Almost a hundred students had already assembled, voices overlapping in low chatter.

"It seems a lot of people are confused about advancement," Leo muttered as they stepped inside.

The room opened up before them, wide and tiered. The front benches were almost completely empty, while the middle and back rows were crowded. Taking advantage of the situation, they moved forward and sat in the front, immediately drawing several curious glances.

"Are they from some big-shot family?"

"They must be. Don't you see how beautiful that pink-haired girl is? Damn… if only I could get a girlfriend like that."

"Know your limits, fool. You wouldn't even get that black-haired girl."

"Tch, who's that lucky guy? Looks kind of average, to be honest…"

"Shut up, idiots," a man hissed under his breath. "If they hear us, we're dead."

The murmurs died down almost instantly.

Soon, the room filled completely, the number of students nearing one hundred and fifty. Leo quietly observed the crowd. Most of the front-row seats were now occupied by people who carried themselves with a certain refined air—clearly nobles. Even though nearly half of the front benches were still empty, not a single student from the back dared to move forward. It was as if an unspoken rule hung in the air, declaring that only those of high status were allowed to sit there. Many front benchers shot a curious glance towards Leo's group.

Lily frowned slightly when she noticed this, her brows knitting together. Miho, on the other hand, looked visibly nervous. As a servant, her status was technically at the very bottom, and the attention made her shoulders stiffen.

The person who arrived to give the lecture was an instructor. His sharp eyes swept across the room and lingered on Leo's group for a brief moment, as though he were trying to recognize them. Without bothering with pleasantries, he began immediately.

"I am Olex, an instructor," he said, his voice firm and carrying easily through the hall. "Let's begin the lecture. Rank advancement."

He paced slowly at the front as he spoke.

"For living beings, there are five factors that determine their rank under specific criteria of talent. Vitality, strength, agility, stamina, and intelligence. These are what we commonly refer to as stats."

He continued without pause.

"There are certain measurement units that help determine whether a person qualifies for a particular rank. After extensive research, we discovered the thresholds. A person is considered Peak 1-star if their stats reach 10. Peak 2-star requires 50. Peak 3-star requires 500. Peak 4-star—5,000…"

… … …

"Now," Olex said, his tone shifting slightly, "you might ask—if a person has a talent that makes him a fire mage, why would he need points in strength when he can simply stand back and throw fireballs?"

A few students nodded unconsciously.

"And you would be correct," he continued. "He doesn't need it."

He resumed pacing.

"When people began to be born with talents that didn't require physical strength—that is, power exerted by the body—to be strong, our understanding had to change. The knowledge was rewritten. For individuals whose talents make them mages, only two stats are taken into consideration: agility and intelligence."

His voice remained calm.

"Let such a person be frail, with low vitality. Let him lack the strength to even lift a glass of water or the stamina to run. As long as he has the agility to cast spells quickly and the intelligence to power those spells with mana, he can still be classified at a certain rank."

After what felt like more than an hour, the lecture finally came to an end, and the class was dismissed. Chairs scraped softly against the floor as students began to leave in clusters, still discussing what they had heard.

From what Leo understood, non–Beast Masters only needed to increase localised stats(singular or double stat in particular) to be recognised as having reached the next rank. To break through bottlenecks, they had to consume treasures themselves and achieve a certain level of comprehension over their talents.

It was as if talent holders other than beast taming(Or similar talents like spirit caller), were themselves a beast requiring personal effort to rise in ranks.

Beast Masters, however, were entirely different monsters.

Their strength was directly tied to their beasts. As long as their beasts grew stronger, the Beast Masters themselves would rise alongside them through their soul connection—and in accordance with their soul rank—they would gain stats across all criteria. Of course, certain stats could end up higher depending on training methods or the specific treasures consumed, but overall, their growth followed a completely different path.

This was the reason the world favoured more beast masters to date.

"So in order for Miho to rank up, she will need to do a whole lot more effort than us? Is that correct, Leo?" Lily asked.

"I guess so, since she doesn't have a tamed beast, it would be that case. But I am curious as to what elemental crystal or whatever she will require to rank up, since her talent is spirit-related."

Both Leo and Lily talked to themselves as Miho listened to them nervously. She could only tell that she needed to work harder in order to gain strength, and she was ready.

With that, they turned towards the building of the analyst.

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