'Oh right, I only gave him enough money for two months of wine.'

Noah looked at the pitiful state in which Ivor was.

He had returned to his previous smelly and ragged figure and tens of empty jars were left all around the floor.

Noah picked a thousand Credits and casually threw them to him.

"Go to the alchemy division and buy some wine, money shouldn't be a problem from now on."

Just the amount that he had seized from the rewards amounted to ten thousand Credits, Ivor's expenses could be covered for two years with those.

Seeing that he was about to complain more, Noah revealed him something to placate his mood.

"You might want to know that I've decided to accumulate "Breath" again in my sea of consciousness."

Noah knew that even if Ivor didn't pressure him, he had a lot of expectations regarding his improvements in the Elemental forging method.

Ivor's eyes lit up and regained some focus.

"Are you sure? Is the internal pressure gone?"

Noah shook his head.

"Not completely but I'm quite certain that it can store at least twice the amount of "Breath" that I currently have."

Ivor nodded and straightened his position.

"Wonderful! That will also speed up your mental sphere's growth. I will buy the wine, you just do what you have to."

Ivor exited the lodging, leaving Noah alone.

He gathered all the trash and threw it away from his house, the cleaning services of the academy would take care of that in the night.

He took a bath and calmly focused on his sea of consciousness.

His ethereal figure crossed the matter of the sphere and acted as a bridge where the "Breath" could pass through.

The vortex on his figure's hands was small, attracting only small quantities of black gas every time.

Noah suppressed and refined each of the minute strands of "Breath", stopping his absorption each time.

The consumption of mental energy was higher since he had to refine the "Breath" multiple times but he preferred that method.

Even if it was more time-consuming, it was way safer than the reckless storage of a single and bigger quantity of "Breath".

That method was noted in one of Ivor's books, it was way slower than the normal approach but Noah didn't mind it.

As the "Breath" entered his sea of consciousness, it would be assaulted by the crystalline mental energy, making it harmless and mixing with its substance.

Small dark-blue balls formed in his mental sphere that gradually joined the bigger one that was already present inside it.

Little by little, the quantity of "Breath" in Noah's sea of consciousness doubled in size.

At that point, Noah stopped the absorption process.

It still wasn't his limit but he chose to leave some room for unexpected events and in order to maintain an almost normal state.

After all, the internal pressure increased by a lot, making Noah's headache return.

Yet, the pain wasn't enough to hinder his cultivation.

'This will be my normal state from now on, it should maximize my improvements till I become a rank 2 mage.'

He opened his eyes and found Ivor sonorously snoring in one corner of the room, there were more than three empty jars on his sides.

'He will probably need more money tomorrow. Well, until Thaddeus summons me, I can just resume my normal routine.'

The absorption process had taken him a few hours, it was already night.

His mental energy was expended though so he chose to simply sleep instead of cultivating for the rest of the night.

In the morning, he visited the management building to obtain the new calendar of his courses.

Since it was his second year in the academy, his courses became more specific and profound in their teachings.

The course regarding magical beasts would start to analyze the body-parts of each creature, underlying their properties and usage.

The real combat course would focus less on the one versus one battle and explore the many formations used by the Royal army, allowing its students to take part in missions requiring a group.

The general cultivation course would begin to study the creations of spells and techniques, exploring the achievements in that field done by preceding cultivators.

They were also shifted to the afternoon hours instead of the morning ones, leading Noah to modify his training schedule.

The environment of the academy was peaceful and Noah slowly improved his strength and his knowledge.

A month passed before Thaddeus' convocation arrived.

Noah walked in the left area of the academy, he had received a warning through his token with the required indication to reach the appointed place.

He arrived at a tall building and saw that June and Errol were already waiting in front of its entrance.

"Vance! I didn't expect you would be late."

Errol greeted him with a smile on his face.

"I was busy cultivating, I noticed the token warning only a few minutes ago."

Noah replied honestly, there was no need to lie to someone that has seen his full strength.

"I will enter first, then Errol, and lastly you, it's based on our timing in arriving here."

June spoke calmly and Noah simply shrugged his shoulders, he had done most of his training that day, he only needed to rest.

After a few minutes, the door opened and June entered the building.

She came out a while later with a bright smile on her face.

"That good?"

Noah asked, seeing her unusual expression.

She nodded repeatedly.

"It seems that Professor Megan Iccek noticed my character and was interested in taking me as her apprentice."

Noah remembered the first time that he saw that woman in Arolyac forest and could not help but find similarities with June's nature.

"Now that I think about it, she is quite wild, just like you."

June's eyes narrowed.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment?"

"I don't really know, I think that's just the truth."

Errol laughed loudly seeing their usual bickering and entered the building.

June went to greet her new master while Noah waited patiently for his turn to come.

Errol exited almost immediately, he was wearing a bright smile too.

"It seems that I might receive a position as a captain in the Royal army as soon as my strength reaches the necessary requirements."

He then patted Noah's shoulder and went on his way.