Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 30 Freshman Loan Contract
Locke waited for two full hours in Sophia's office before the witch finally had time to talk to him again.

However, Locke didn't feel aggrieved at all.

After all, Sophia is a formal wizard, and it's believed that the aspiring wizards who came to the Southeast Corner Region by ship like her haven't even encountered a scrap of a formal wizard's robes yet.

Locke did not wait in vain during those two hours.

Although he couldn't understand any of the blueprints in Sophia's hands, at least he could broaden his horizons in advance and learn about the complexity of a first-level potion.

Two and a half hours later, Sophia handed Locke five glass vials of potions containing the essence of a specific bloodline, extracted using a magical centrifugal extraction method. "Hmm, you did a very good job."

Sophia the Witch looked at Locke, "Considering you are a third-class wizard apprentice and your background, you could even be considered outstanding."

"Your mana fluctuations are more stable than those of ordinary wizarding prodigies. This may be a special talent. Stable mana fluctuations mean that you have a great advantage when making potions."

"From now on, I'll entrust the simpler parts of the separation and extraction work in my lab to you."

Locke looked at his left hand. By consuming the Deep Blue Gem, he could indeed keep his mana fluctuations very low under normal circumstances.

Sophia thought for a moment and said, "In return, I will pay you three magic stones every day."

"What do you think of this?"

"Okay, teacher, I'll do whatever you say." Locke didn't know how many magic stones he could earn by being someone's assistant.

But he chose to believe Sofia.

Since Sophia is a first-ring wizard and also his mentor, there's no reason for her to betray him in this matter.

Even if she didn't pay him magic stones, what reason did he have to refuse?

The opportunity to concoct potions alongside a certified wizard is something that would be highly sought after, even without payment.

I am able to have this opportunity now entirely because the academy assigned me to Sophia the Witch as a student, and I am also Sophia the Witch's first student after she became a formal wizard.

Sophia nodded. "I calculated it for you based on the price of magic stones for an outstanding second-class wizard apprentice assistant."

I know you're having a tough time right now.

"So, I will try my best to help you within the rules."

"Also, I just arranged a tuition loan for you. Please sign this contract. It's a loan of about 1,000 magic stones, to be repaid over 50 years, with an interest rate of half a percent, which is already very low."

"The interest rate for a typical student loan over fifty years is five percent."

"This money can only be spent on tuition, so you won't get any magic stones; the money will be given directly to the academy."

"Otherwise, under normal circumstances, no one would lend you third-class wizard apprentices so many magic stones."

Locke looked at the witch Sophia with a puzzled expression.

Sophia the Witch explained, "You'll still have to pay to attend school at Lilith's Hut."

“You third-class wizard apprentices, in principle, do not fully belong to Lilith's Hut.”

“You are just paying money to learn, but Lilith Cottage is giving you a learning opportunity.”

"Only second-class wizard apprentices are considered to belong entirely to the academy."

"Therefore, you need to pay tuition to Lilith's Hut every year, and also pay a specific course fee. This fee is one hundred magic stones per year."

The witch Sophia explained, "Of course, one hundred magic stones per year is already a reduction; otherwise, just one general course would cost at least one hundred magic stones."

"This is a benefit that Lilith House has given you over the past five years."

"Similarly, you will also need to pay your wizard tutor one hundred magic stones every year as payment for professional courses. That is to say, you will have to pay a total of one thousand magic stones over five years."

Sophia adjusted her monocle. "Generally speaking, aspiring wizards from overseas whose families can't afford the fees locally will choose to take out a loan from the academy." "Locke, do you have a magic stone?"

Locke shook his head decisively.

So that's how it is. I thought Lilith's Cottage was giving me free lessons.

So Lilith's Hut isn't a welfare institution, and it's impossible for her to give herself free lessons.

Moreover, even in the current situation, the price has already been significantly discounted.

The witch Sophia pointed to the contract on the table and said, "Then sign it."

"This is the lowest interest rate loan contract I can think of for you. Don't worry, I signed a similar contract back then, and my interest rate was five percent."

"These things should have been explained to you by your freshman mentors, but it seems he chose to be lazy and didn't tell you anything at all."

Sophia the Witch said, "So, I contacted the higher-ups at Lilith Hut through my magic ring and asked them to punish this year's freshman mentors."

"Really, a professional wizard's time is so precious, and you actually make me explain this kind of thing to you."

"Moreover, if I don't explain this clearly to you, I'm afraid many of you will sign some harsh contracts from outside the hospital."

Sophia the Witch tapped her finger on the table, displeased, and said, "We can't rule out the possibility that they deliberately didn't explain it to you clearly."

Locke chose to sign the contract, after all, a legitimate wizard had no reason to deceive himself.

Compared to her, I felt no better than a frail baby or a mosquito.

Locke remembered that on the wizard ship, he had seen the official wizard of the Four Seasons Garden. Under the wizard's [magical pressure], he felt as if his whole body was melting.

Even if that formal wizard had no intention of targeting him.

After seeing Locke sign the contract, the witch Sophia also wrote her name on it. "Because only by taking out a loan in my name can the interest rate be so low, I also need to sign my name."

Locke was touched. "Thank you, teacher."

Sophia the Witch gave a faint smile. "After all, you are my first student."

“I will naturally pay more attention.”

"Besides, it's just something I do on a whim. In the end, a thousand magic stones is a huge sum of money for you, but for me, that amount of money is nothing."

The witch Sophia said, "I will help you raise your mental strength to 50 points as soon as possible, and I expect to make you a second-class wizard apprentice within four years."

“Starting tomorrow, you will come to me every day at four o’clock in the afternoon to learn the follow-up tricks of the Vine Hand: Green Grip and Poison Berry Slingshot.”

You also need to attend the three general education courses.

"In addition, I recently took on a batch of Emerald Green Potion refining. Please use the mana centrifugal extraction method to extract at least fifteen bottles of [Tree Demon Bloodline] for me every day."

Because the witch Sophia was very approachable to him, Locke asked directly, "Teacher, what is the Emerald Potion?"

Sophia the Witch glanced at Locke and actually explained, "It's a first-stage healing potion that can purify negative energy in the body. It's generally used to purify curses cast by black magic practitioners from the psychic school."

"It is the best effective medicine for the Carrion Curse, the Terror Curse, and the Thousand Sores Curse in the southeastern corner of the region."

"One of the main ingredients is the blood essence of the forest child, the tree spirit."

"The products that Lilith's Cottage sells the most are all kinds of magic potions. I recently took on a batch of quests to purify the rotten flesh curse."

"So I'm very busy lately, so please don't bother me outside of class time unless you have something to do. I can only spare one hour a day to teach you."

(End of this chapter)