Chapter 143 Acquisition

When Andy went to the meditation room to meditate, trouble arose there as well.

The staff did not say anything about blacklisting him. Instead, they politely told him, “Sorry, we’re full.”

Then Andy watched with his own eyes as someone who arrived after him was allowed inside. When Andy asked whether the room was not already full, the man replied that the other person had made a reservation in advance.

When Andy said that he would like to make a reservation as well, the man lazily answered, “Heh heh. For the time being, we’re only accepting reservations from members of the academy’s societies. Their societies can vouch for them, so their credibility is guaranteed.”

Andy naturally did not believe him. From a distance, he used the Hawk-Eye spell and the Listening spell to observe for a while, and discovered that the man was lying. It seemed he, too, had received one of those so-called instructions.

It was not only here that Andy encountered obstacles. He also began running into walls at the society recruitment booths.

Andy had heard that some of the better societies maintained private meditation rooms for their members. In addition, society members could accept group missions with rewards far greater than those offered for individual missions, and they received preferential treatment throughout the academy. For all these reasons, he had been very interested in joining a society.

But now, it seemed as though every society recruiting members had heard Andy’s name overnight.

When Andy first approached many of the societies to make inquiries, the conversations went quite well. Some even said that they would be delighted to welcome combat strength like that of an advanced apprentice wizard. Yet the moment Andy filled in his personal information and wrote down his name, their attitude changed immediately.

Some said that accepting new members was not up to them alone and that they would have to return to the society and discuss it with the others. Some suddenly claimed that they had just remembered the society was already full and apologized. Others said they would need to think carefully about whether to accept Andy and told him to go home and wait for word. A few were even more direct.

“Others may join, but you, Andy Charles, cannot!”

Later, wherever Andy went, certain people’s eyes followed him, filled with mockery, ridicule, and malicious amusement.

Andy was deeply frustrated. Hadn’t his curse already been sealed? Shouldn’t his fortunes have turned for the better? Why did it feel as though things were even worse than before? Could this be some unresolved problem left over from the past?

Andy quietly activated the Listening spell. He intended to hear what the others were saying and see whether he could learn anything about the people plotting against him.

Unexpectedly, he did not hear any news about that. Instead, he overheard some important information.

“Have you heard? Young Master Zhaor Charles’s Defying Heaven Society has acquired the Thunder Tiger Society and been promoted to a three-star society!”

“Heh heh, I only just heard about it myself. But even without the acquisition, the Defying Heaven Society would have been promoted sooner or later. After all, Zhaor’s mentor is the chief administrator of the Society Affairs Office. And not merely the administrator in charge of societies in the Outer Court, either—he oversees all society affairs across the three divisions of Grime Academy. With that kind of advantage, if I could establish a three-star society too…”

“Hmph. The sourness in your voice is enough to suffocate someone. This time, Young Master Zhaor completed the promotion entirely through his own efforts. Tsk, tsk. An acquisition worth a million magic stones—that’s truly a grand gesture!”

At that moment, another voice joined the discussion.

“Wait a moment. I’m new to the society and just joined recently. I didn’t quite understand something in your conversation. Societies can be acquired?”

The two speakers fell silent for a moment. Then one of them said, “Hey! Not only can they be acquired, they can even go bankrupt!”

“Then I want to acquire a society and play around with it too. I wonder if that’s possible. Being the president yourself would be so satisfying. It would save you from being ordered around by others after joining a society. What a nuisance!”

“Of course it’s possible. As long as you have enough magic stones and resources, you could even go to the dean and discuss acquiring Grime Academy itself! Naturally, the prerequisite is that you have the money.”

The newcomer seemed not to detect the sarcasm in those words and continued asking, “Then how much would it cost to acquire a society? Tell me. It would give me something to strive toward!”

“Well, then, let me broaden your horizons. For a society like ours, a two-star society, you would need roughly a million magic stones or around one hundred thousand contribution points. A one-star society would be much cheaper, but it would still cost no less than about one hundred thousand magic stones or ten thousand contribution points. It’s expensive, yes, but once you acquired one, you would be the president. You could accept whoever you wanted and expel whoever you wanted. How does that sound? Isn’t it wonderful? Of course, the prerequisite remains that you have the money!”

“About that… I don’t have any at the moment. Besides acquisition, can’t someone establish a society from scratch? I heard a senior student talking about his struggles while founding a society just the other day.”

“Heh heh. Then you can forget about that even more quickly. Founding a society has several strict requirements. At the very least, you must be an Inner Court student and have reached the Bronze Wizard rank. Even then, a newly founded society would not be a one-star society. It would begin at the lowest rank, with no stars at all. The time, effort, and resources required to promote it would be scarcely less than those needed for a direct acquisition.”

Hearing this, Andy’s heart stirred. Perhaps he could try acquiring a society directly—preferably one equipped with a meditation room. If he had one, he could save a considerable number of contribution points simply by using the meditation room every day.

Unfortunately, although he had earned some money from completing missions in recent days, his cultivation expenses were also substantial. The magical formation Catherine had just arranged to seal his curse had consumed a great deal of materials as well. At present, Andy did not even have enough contribution points to acquire a one-star society. He would need to find one costing a tenth as much before he could afford it.

Andy was about to leave. He would have to think of another way to gather magic stones or contribution points quickly. The Darkmoon Merchant Guild’s stone-gambling business had given him an idea. Perhaps he could create a lottery from another world and test the waters.

Just then, while the Listening spell was still active, Andy heard another voice from a different direction.

“Have you heard? The Azure Phoenix Society finally couldn’t hold on any longer. They’re practically giving it away now! It’s being sold for only three thousand contribution points!”

“Heh. The fact that they managed not to collapse until now is already a miracle. They’ve been advertising the three-thousand-point sale for a whole week, yet no one has bought it. It was once a four-star society, after all, and now it has fallen to this… Tsk, tsk. Truly… absolutely satisfying. Ha ha!”

This information immediately caught Andy’s attention. The Azure Phoenix Society could actually be bought for only three thousand contribution points, though there seemed to be some hidden complication or trouble involved. But when Andy heard that it had once been a four-star society, his first thought was that it must surely contain a meditation room.

No matter what, this might be a rare opportunity.

There was still one problem, however: Andy could not even scrape together three thousand contribution points at present. His income had originally been enough to support both his and Catherine’s cultivation and studies, but now that income was gone. In a few days, he might not even have enough to eat, let alone three thousand contribution points.

On the way home, Andy decided that he needed to launch his lottery plan. He simply did not know how much investment it would require, how long it would take to recover the funds, or what risks might exist in this supernatural world. Just thinking about it gave him a splitting headache.

When he returned to the dormitory, he discovered that someone was waiting outside his door. Before Andy could ask anything, the man stepped forward and introduced himself, saying that he was a member of the academy’s Courier Society and had a package that required Andy’s signature.

Andy was astonished. He had not even known such a society existed, so he asked a few questions about it.

The courier was proud to tell him that they had already developed into a two-star society. Their slogan was: “Next-morning delivery within the royal capital!”

After the courier left, Andy opened the package. Inside was an anonymous student card with no written message whatsoever.

Andy was baffled, but he still found the card reader he had purchased when he had recently been better off and gave it a try.

It contained three thousand contribution points.

Andy muttered to himself, “I was just thinking about three thousand contribution points, and three thousand contribution points arrived. Could this be destiny?”