“Why is that?”
Ivan’s gaze fixed on her intently. A steward of a Hunting Team could not possibly spout nonsense without a reason. She must have her own agenda, and he was eager to hear what Steward Andaya wanted to express.
Andaya’s expression remained unchanged, still featuring a stern and beautiful face as she calmly said:
“Do you know what the main resources of the academy include?”
“Including the secret realm, magic stone mines, and territories.”
“Hehe, this is the abandoned Moon Pincer Peninsula after all. The magic stone mine has long been depleted, and if the territory had plentiful resources, our forebear sorcerers would not have needed to use their blood and lives to settle in a second line of residence.
Only the Purple Dew Garden Secret Realm remains with a stable output, but it is far from enough to support the cultivation of so many sorcerers.” Enjoy new adventures at empire
Upon hearing Andaya’s words, Ivan furrowed his brow.
He knew the resources on the Moon Pincer Peninsula were scarce, but her words suggested a greater scarcity than he had anticipated. This was not good news as his main area of activity for the near hundred years would be the Moon Pincer Peninsula.
He was now being told that this was an extremely barren land.
Before he could say anything, Andaya continued, “In fact, the resources we need are mainly obtained through trade with the powers of the Chanay Continent where the second line of sorcerers reside.
This is not the most important part.
The most important is that it isn’t actually the academy itself conducting these direct trades, nor the sorcerers affiliated with the academy, but rather some outsiders who are unrelated to us. This means that our lifeline is actually always in the hands of these outsiders.”
Outsiders?
Ivan shivered inwardly and couldn’t help but glance at Wolban.
Wolban nodded heavily at him, affirming the tutor’s statement.
Andaya then began to explain the meaning of ‘outsiders’: “It’s hard to understand, no worries, I will gradually tell you the true nature of the academy.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Watkin, Steele, Lidia, these three great sorcerer families, you must have heard of them. I hear you have a good relationship with people from the Lidia family?”
“For now, yes.”
“Then you haven’t seen their true colors. Whether it’s the Power of Flash Vortex, the Purple Dew Garden Secret Realm, or other important resources, they are mainly controlled by people from the Three Great Families. The resource trade channels as well.”
“Steward Andaya, aren’t they also part of the academy?”
Andaya said, “Not entirely. The Three Great Families actually have their own residences. Some of them joined the Mongna Ant Land Cottage, while others have always lived within their own family territories, completely unaffiliated with our academy. They remain outside our academy’s contracts, that’s the ‘outsiders’ I referred to.”
Ivan began to understand, “So, the academy’s trading partners are those outsiders. Those outsiders use the academy’s resources to trade with the powers of the second-line continent, right?”
This was akin to a shell game, and one could well imagine who would end up benefiting the most.
After all, it was their own affair entirely, and if they deigned to let a bit slip through the cracks for you, that’s all you’d get. Whether you feel grateful or not, they probably don’t care.
Andaya nodded, “Exactly. This is also the fundamental reason why, in the face of such a resource scarcity and without a clear external enemy, the academy forced us to sign that century-long contract. The Three Great Families use this method to keep us on the Moon Pincer Peninsula, forcing us to continually generate profits for them, thereby strengthening their family powers.”
Upon hearing this, Ivan was silent.
The tutor and apprentice duo would probably not fool him with a lie, at most slightly exaggerate the truth. This was something that could be verified; likely many sorcerers were aware of it.
To his surprise, having become an official sorcerer, he had also become a contract worker—a contract worker who had signed a century-long contract. That century-long contract had clear task requirements, requiring the completion of at least one specified task per year.
If the task reward was lower than expected, and resources were scarce, one task a year was definitely not enough.
Thinking about the value he had painstakingly created from completing tasks, which had to be exploited by the Three Great Families first, leaving only meager profits for him, Ivan felt at a loss for words.
After a moment, Steward Andaya revealed another piece of news, “For the past few centuries, the Dean and Vice Dean of the Mongna Ant Land Cottage always came from among those Three Great Families.”
“What else?”
“——“
Steward Andaya, knowing far more than Ivan, tried to make him fully understand the exploitative fate that awaited him.
Ivan wasn’t new to being exploited, and he quickly adjusted his mindset, “Steward Andaya, thank you for telling me this. What do you need me to do?”
Andaya said, “It’s simple. Stand with us, and when necessary, we’ll reclaim the benefits that should belong to us. In fact, I’ve said the same to your mentor, Randall; unfortunately, he seems to prefer studying insects.”
“Understood, I’ll consider it carefully. We need to wait for the right opportunity, right?”
“Remember, keep it secret.”
As he left Wolban’s residence, Ivan looked up at the gap in the middle of the top of the Ant Being barrier; upon closer inspection, it really was a big and bothersome flaw.
He wasn’t in a hurry to verify anything. Sorcerers had more time to observe slowly; there was no need to rush.
…
In a human settlement outside the Moon Pincer Peninsula, there was a medium-sized city built against a mountain at the base of the peak.
Above the mountain, there were several sorcerer towers, some three stories, some four, and some five. The tower with five stories was particularly eye-catching, emanating a unique elemental halo.
Among the many sorcerer towers, someone in one of them was at a critical moment of becoming a sorcerer.
In the center of the secret chamber, a young apprentice sat next to a stone platform engraved with densely packed runes, all of which had been lit.
If Ivan were here, he would have recognized the platform at once; it bore the “Black Magic Wind Array” that he had personally inscribed. He had initially traded it with Sorceress Madeline of the Lidia family, intended for Carmel and Heidi, but it was now being used on an unfamiliar youth.
A few hours later, the youth exited the chamber.
“Haha, Aaron, congratulations on becoming an official sorcerer. Our clan has gained another core elite,” an elder guarding the chamber said, his face full of smiles as the youth emerged.
“Elder, the family provided me with so many resources, and Aaron has finally lived up to the expectations,” the young man modestly said, yet a barely concealable smile played at the corners of his eyes, having made the significant leap from apprentice to sorcerer.
“The family can only give you a push; the main effort must come from yourself, and as a sorcerer, you shouldn’t be too modest.”
“What you teach is right, Elder.”
“Never mind, let me ask you, the new method given to you, that runes array dais, how do you feel about it?” The elder intended to say more, but suddenly thought of something and asked.
“It works well; that runes bundle array is quite extraordinary. I feel that the Enchanter held back. If not, the effect would have been even more remarkable,” Aaron, who was also an Enchanter, couldn’t stop praising the array dais he had just used.
“That’s good,” the elder nodded slightly.
“Elder, where did this come from?”
“That’s not for you to worry about.”
Seeing that the elder was unwilling to disclose more, Aaron didn’t ask further and left the chamber’s tower layer after bidding farewell to the elder.