When he heard such a question—bordering on the absurd—the director couldn't help but laugh at Alexander's audacity.

  He still answered his question and committed: "If you win this year's Imperial Tournament, I will give you the best from my collection. A core that I myself keep with great care."

  "You won't find a better core of the same level in the entire Empire," said the director with a smile. "It came from a dragon at the peak of the 3rd evolution, on the verge of the next evolution, when its energy had reached the absolute pinnacle."

  "I even thought about letting it evolve," commented the director. "But the pressure it emanated was already of the 4th evolution… Who knows what kind of aberration it would become when it evolved…"

  "However, if it were only that, it wouldn't be so special," continued the director, as if he couldn't be prouder of this treasure. "Its greatest appeal is being the core of an extremely rare {Space Dragon}."

  "Director, you have in me your faithful representative," said Alexander, forgetting any reluctance he might have had moments before.

  Ding!

  [You have a new mission]

  "..." Lucas.

  After laughing a bit more at Alexander's complete change due to the rewards offered, the director explained: "To tell the truth, it's almost impossible for you to win. Since everyone will fight without distinction, you might fall early against an older heavyweight and not even receive the second core."

  "If that's the case, could you prohibit items above (Unique) grade?" asked Alexander. "Otherwise, I might end up losing to someone just because their family didn't mind lending them a treasure."

  "The Imperial Tournament already has its unwritten rules," said the director while pondering. "But it won't cost me anything to turn them into written rules."

  "Since we've agreed that I'll be one of the representatives, I'd like your permission to enter and leave the academy whenever I need to train," said Alexander.

  "Not everything can be learned from classes alone…" agreed the director. "A bit of practice and real experience will do you good."

  "If I could ask for a bit more of your generosity, I'd like your permission for a friend of mine to also be released," said Alexander.

  "..." Director.

  "Are you sure you're going to train?" asked the director with a strange look and a smile that wasn't a smile.

  "She's a light mage of the support style at the academy," explained Alexander hurriedly. "She is my recurring support and is even linked to me as part of my adventurer group."

  "Professor Lucas knows her. You can ask him about her," said Alexander. "She is responsible for healing me and preventing serious accidents."

  "This girl really exists, professor," confirmed Lucas. "Her name is Diana and she lives with him in the academy residence I provided for him."

  "However, I cannot confirm anything about what the two do there or what kind of relationship they have," added Lucas with a strange smile.

  "#*%@" thought Alexander.

  "..." Director.

  "Alright," agreed the director after thinking a bit. "Since she is your support, I'll release her too."

  "Thank you," said Alexander gratefully. "And here are your transcriptions."

  The director, again, wasn't surprised that Alexander knew it was he who authorized the "negotiation" with Lucas and merely began reading the transcriptions.

  "There are some dissonant parts," pointed out the director after a quick reading of the transcriptions.

  "Naturally," confirmed Alexander.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "Since my level can only be considered intermediate in both techniques, from a certain point I had to keep the original and only adjust the terms to those I found most correct," explained Alexander. "Especially in [Ascending Flow]. It is the combination of 2 smaller techniques, one of water and one of light, to form an even more powerful technique."

  The director already imagined that. There is a limitation of comprehension when talking about something that hasn't been fully understood and/or practiced.

  He just didn't expect Alexander to already be at the intermediate level of those techniques.

  "Here are the advanced techniques I promised as payment," said the director as he placed 2 ancient books in front of Alexander.

  Seeing Alexander frown, the director just laughed. "Our exchange was only for 2 advanced techniques. We never said you could choose them."

  Realizing he was deceived with half-words, and having no way to complain, Alexander resigned himself to his position and took the techniques.

  However, when he touched them, he set aside the complaints and became very satisfied.

  "May I go now?" asked Alexander, not wanting to stay there any longer.

  "I have one last question," said the director seriously. "What does your talent do? From your performance, it's clear your talent has awakened."

  "It enhances my instincts and reflexes to a monstrously superhuman level," said Alexander, choosing his words carefully. "That's how I noticed I was being followed and managed to turn the ambush to my favor. I also managed to vaguely sense your presence while talking with Professor Lucas."

  The director immediately frowned upon hearing Alexander's answer. That talent was new even to him, which was surprising.

  A talent should descend from a very prominent family/lineage.

  Normally, a person's instincts depended on innate ability and life experiences., which is why civilizations had to create and refine their techniques to survive against wild creatures, which are practically born and raised developing much better physiques and instincts.

  A talent like the one described by Alexander, despite having low destructive potential, is perfect for surviving and standing out in that unpredictable and cruel world.

  As long as its bearer doesn't cross paths with some lunatic, it has enormous compatibility with social life and combat.

  Having much to think about and investigate, the director released Alexander.

  Before leaving, however, he turned to the director and, for the first time since arriving in that world, lowered his head. "Thank you for resolving some problems for me… I know that without your interference my life outside the academy, and even more so outside the city, wouldn't be so peaceful."

  The director said nothing and merely gestured for Alexander to leave.

  The small smile and satisfied look that appeared on his face afterwards indicated that he was—at least a little bit—pleased that Alexander had recognized what he had done.

  While walking to his residence, Alexander thought that he really didn't want to participate in that tournament. Yet the director's offer alone, even without the tournament's rich prize, was indeed very tempting.

  He might even refuse the first two, but he couldn't ignore a core as rare as the last one… That one was perfect for his plans.

  "Winning isn't going to be easy," pondered Alexander. "Real 'monsters' from all over the Empire will be competing in this tournament to win…"

  Realizing he would have to train and practice a lot, in addition to gaining more free attribute and growth points, Alexander began to plan when and how he would leave Twin City.

  Lost in thought, Alexander returned home without noticing.

  As soon as he entered, he found Ocean and Diana waiting for him with a lot of food, drink, and even a little wine, which Diana usually avoids.

  Having no good reason to stop, they celebrated Alexander's victory by eating and drinking late into the night.

  When they finally stopped, they were so heavy that they ended up sleeping together in the living room, with Alexander and Diana lying on top of Ocean.

  The next morning, when Diana woke up, Alexander was already awake and looking at her.

  Diana's face, still a bit flushed from the wine of the previous night, turned even redder and she ran to the bedroom.

  Since he had a relatively free schedule now, Alexander let Diana have her time before talking.

  After calming down, Diana herself took the initiative to talk with him. Apparently, she had done some research and discovered that he was giving her a larger share compared to the average for supports.

  Alexander didn’t want to waste time explaining that she wasn’t actually getting much—others simply received less for lacking the strength to claim what was fair. So, they just renegotiated a fair percentage for both.

  Diana then told him that even her teacher had asked where she got the techniques he gave her, because they are rare and useful to the point of being able to save their bearer's life.

  Happy that Diana was progressing towards her independence, yet still needing to consolidate and internalize the personal progress he had made through the system, as soon as they stopped talking, Alexander went to his theoretical class, where Lucas delved into various concepts about magic itself.

  Apparently, the use of magic in that world doesn't depend on words, magical emblems, or even magical circles—although all of them facilitate its use and increase its potency.

  The essence of magic itself is based on just 3 main factors:

  The idealization of how one's mana will modify nature.

  The quantity and quality of the user's mana.

  The user's ability to feel and control mana as a whole.

  The core of the matter is that, to initiate and use a magical process, the individual needs to understand how their mana transforms nature, possess mana in sufficient quantity and quality to perform such change, and be capable of controlling the entire execution.

  Obviously, the better the individual understands the concepts of each of these processes, the better and the stronger their magic will become.

  This in turn allows certain families or lineages to have exclusive magics where any leak can be easily discovered and/or generate extremely serious internal and/or external fights.

  After that inspiring class, Alexander went to a dungeon.

  There, he internalized the learned concepts and reinforced his foundation through fights.

  This decision ended up proving to be a great idea.

  Gradually, it became easier for him to understand how magic worked in general.