[Lifespan Remaining: 21 days, 13 hours, 14 minutes.]
"Noct?"
"..."
"Noct!"
He blinked, finally looking up from the cup in front of him. Adelaide sat across the table with a small fork in her hand, watching him with curiosity.
"What’s up?"
"Your drink’s going to get cold."
"Oh. Right."
Noct lifted the cup and took a sip. By now, they had both decided to visit a café a short distance from the shopping street, with most of their purchases already being delivered to the school.
Adelaide had insisted on taking a break, remembering that Noct hadn’t had the best constitution. Though looking at the half-empty plate of cake in front of her, Noct suspected she had ulterior motives as well.
"You’ve been quiet since we left that shop," she pointed out. "Were you really planning on buying a catalyst?"
"Just thinking about something."
The conversation with the merchant kept coming back to him. If the shortages continued, buying cores in the capital wouldn’t be nearly as reliable as he had hoped. And since Altaire’s mines would take a while to reproduce mana crystals, Noct was effectively all out of safeguards.
"So anyways," Adelaide continued. "There are a few ways to get rid of your demerit points. Some methods are faster than the others, obviously."
"Yeah?" Noct leaned back in his seat. "Well, spill the beans."
"Well, commissions would be the fastest."
"The difficult ones usually give more merit," she continued. "Though there’s a reason they give more. You can’t just pick the highest reward and expect to finish it."
That answer was the one he had expected. The system was the same in Ending Fantasy as well, with players doing commissions/requests in order to earn resources to invest into their character.
The commission system had been one of his reasons for choosing the Adventuring track in the first place. If he could earn merit while collecting monster cores, that would solve two of his problems at once.
"Anything else?"
"You could become a teaching assistant. Or have an instructor take you as their direct disciple. That would work as well, albeit, not as efficiently as taking commissions."
"...A teaching assistant?"
"Yeah. Helping with lessons, preparing materials, helping during practical classes. It depends on the instructor, but the work earns merit."
It sounded good on paper, but Noct found it difficult to imagine himself trying to explain something to students who were technically his classmates. And even if he were to become one, what subject would he even teach?
"And being a direct disciple?"
"An instructor would personally guide you. Usually, they’d give you additional work or let you help with their research. There are opportunities to earn merit through that as well."
"Sounds pretty good."
"It is. That’s why everyone wants to do it."
Adelaide picked up her fork again, cutting another piece from the cake. "Most instructors only take one or two freshmen a year. Some don’t take any. And they’re usually looking for someone who’s particularly talented in their field."
"So there’s competition."
"A lot of it."
Well, that made sense. An instructor’s time wasn’t unlimited. If they were going to spend a considerable amount of it teaching someone personally, they would obviously choose a student worth the effort.
"Well, it’s considerably easier for you to get into either one position," Adelaide smirked softly. "Even if you’re in House Phoenix, don’t forget that you’re still the top admission in a class supposedly heralded as the ’Golden Class’."
Noct really wasn’t planning on using that position. If anything, he’d rather lay low and continue to observe the plot from the side to be honest.
"Any other options?"
"Get good grades."
"That’s it?"
"Yeah," Adelaide took a sip of her drink. "Do well on your evaluation exams, get a good score on your practicals. Over time, you’ll be able to get a good score naturally."
It did seem good on the surface, but time was something that Noct simply didn’t have. By the time his academic record looked respectable, he might already be lying in a coffin.
’Yeah. Let’s put that one at the bottom of the list.’
Noct considered all the options once more. Commissions were something he would be doing regardless. But an assistant position could give him a way to earn merit even when he wasn’t out risking his life. That was worth considerably more thought than he had initially given it.
"Do you know which instructors are looking for assistants?"
"Most of them already have one," Adelaide replied. "And even when a position opens up, they usually choose someone who’s attended their classes before. Not many instructors would take a freshman, really."
"That makes sense..."
Adelaide lowered her drink, scrunching her face in thought. "Actually, if I remember correctly, there’s a new course opening this year. They brought in a new instructor specifically to teach it, so she might still be looking for someone."
Noct suddenly had a chill run down his spine. A new course within Rexford Academy and a new instructor. Neither sounded strange on its own. Yet for some reason, combining them gave him a bad feeling.
"...What course?"
"Summoning!"
"Ah."
Adelaide leaned forward, her expression brightening now that they had reached a subject she was interested in. "Apparently, it’s going to be different from the usual familiar contracts. There are even rumors that we might get to see an actual elemental spirit!"
"I’m not sure how much of that is true," she continued. "But considering who’s teaching it, I wouldn’t be surprised."
"...Who?"
"She used to be one of the Wayfarers!" she said so excitedly that a few people at the neighboring tables glanced toward them. "An actual member of the Wayfarers is coming to teach at our Academy. Do you know how difficult it is to even meet someone like that?"
Noct had a feeling he knew who it was. Someone who lived in a tower near a waterfall that almost killed him on their first meeting.
"It’s the Witch of Black Ice!" Adelaide said loudly. "Lenia Eis!"