Ric and Berlin were engaged in a conversation.

  “I can help you in your research, but I also want you to help me.”

  Berlin nonchalantly replied

  “What, you want me to become your backer?”

  A grin appeared on Ric’s face,

  “Nah, I want you to help me reach two-circles in the next three-months.”

  Berlin thought over it for sometime, and said

  “three-months is too short, even if you have high affinity with mana, unless you are a genius like me, it will take at least four -- five months to reach two circles.”

  Ric agreed, and replied

  “Deal, let’s get along for the next five-months, partner.”

  The word ‘partner’ irked Berlin, and he annoyingly exclaimed

  “This brat, I am a decade older than you!”

  Ric shrugged off Berlin’s remarks and replied

  “Well, why does it matter if you are fifty or so… aren’t we just partners for now?”

  Berlin snapped, he grumbled angrily and yelled out

  “I am not fifty! I am thirty-eight years old!!”

  Ric intentionally teased him further

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  “What can I do when you look fifty? Not my problem.”

  Berlin got angrier, his mana pumping up, Ric noticed it and continued

  “Oh~ you are not gonna hurt your sole ’barriard’ research partner, are you?”

  Berlin grumbled in anger and burst out, “Get the heck out of my library you mannerless brat!!”

  Ric got out the library and left Berlin grumbling to himself. On his way back to the dorms, he was deeply in thought “I got the refund of using the transponder orb, and now I have someone who can help me become powerful.”

  Ric was contemplating on which path he should take

  “ My class is not categorized in any class category, its more like an all rounder class. That’s why I fought them on the way to the Academy. Except for finding out my capabilities, I also wanted to find a path which would suite me best.”

  Ric kept walking as he remembered the spar he had with Yota, Jim, and Ren on the way to the Academy.

  ”The mage path is not suited for me, Fighting from long distance like Jim doesn’t suite me, I am somewhat good at close combat, so there are two choices. I can either go all balanced like Yota by covering most of my body with barriers, or just focus them to increase the mobility and power like Ren.”

  As he was lost in thought, he reached his room, he went inside and sat on the chair near the desk as his thoughts raced.

  “I will keep battle mage as an option for now. The rest are, Knight, Tank, Healer, and Alchemist. As of now, I don’t think this class can heal or help in creating potions, leave these options for the future. What I can do is make a shield and stick it to my body: mimicking a tank, But I m still not proficient enough to conjure more than 7 barriers… Then the last one left is Knight.”

  Ric remembered the scene that happened in the exams, when the man who had gone berserk attacked the students.

  “That guy’s hand wasn’t chopped off, it was disintegrated, was it Aura? I read that Knights use mana differently than mages, maybe I can…”

  Ric was focused, he was immersed into his thoughts, but then he exhaled a deep breath and relaxed himself

  “Forget it, for now the battle mage path will probably be best for me, since I have immense mana like a mage, and I am also somewhat good at close combat. Yeah, let’s go for it, after the assembly is over, I will talk to that eccentric geezer. For now, let’s focus on learning about blood lust.”

  Ric grabbed the book of blood lust, he laid it on the desk and started reading. For the next two-days, Ric mostly didn’t go out the dorms except for eating food, and holed up in his room to read the book as the days went by.