Chapter 34：100,000 (1/2)

Sam was eating along with others at the riverside, when he saw a middle-aged man approaching them. When he looked at him, he felt quite surprised, not only him even Philip and others also felt surprised. Because, the person who came is none other than the principal of the Starwood academy.

Principal has an awkward expression when he saw Philip and others eating together with Sam as he realized he came at a wrong time. After all, who would like to be disturbed while eating. Looking at his awkward expression, Philip and others exchanged glances as and stood simultaneously.

”We will look for you tomorrow Sam. Good Bye.” They bid farewell and left Sam and the Principal alone. After they left, Sam stood up and invited the principal inside the mansion and took a seat. Then he finally spoke.

”For what do I owe the visit of the respectable Principal?” He asked with a calm voice. Principal hesitated a little and then finally spoke.

”I want you join the Academy.” As soon as he heard the words, even though he expected it Sam still felt quite surprised and confused. Because, no matter how much combat prowess or talent he had, he is still an Acolyte. But the Principal is at same level of the City lord himself. So, it is surprising that he would humble himself by coming here to invite him personally. He then asked with same nonchalant expression. ”Why?”

Principal again hesitated a little. After a brief silence he seemed to made up his mind, he said. ”Actually, if it was normal time, I wouldn't bother to ask you to join the academy, but this time this is quite serious. You might and might not know, this year in a few days we have to send a batch of young talents to the Count city as the count is looking for young talents.” Hearing this Sam nodded. He indeed knew this as he heard it from Philip. The Principal continued.

”But there is more to it than what meets the eye. The one who is looking for the new talents is not Count but the Emperor himself.” At this revelation Sam took a deep breath. The Emperor is looking for talents even this remote place. He has only one question in mind. 'Why?' As if sensing the question, the Principal said,

”I also don't know why he is looking for young talents. But the search is happening around the whole Empire. That means the whole Western continent. The main criterion for the selection is not the power but the potential and talent. The news is not privy to the noble families of the city. Even the Count himself didn't know it. All he knew is that the Duke has asked him to look for talents. I only have this info because, my relative is quite powerful and have notable influence.” The Principal paused again and looked at Sam. He wants to see if Sam gets tempted by the news, but he was disappointed by that same calm expression. Then he heaved a long sigh and continued.

”All the cream of the crop talents will be gathered due to this selection process at the Royal capital in three years. Precisely, for the Princess' eighteenth birthday. There will be a tournament on that day and those who performed well will be rewarded. That is why I want you to enrol the academy and I will send you to Count city. This will be a great opportunity.” He said and looked at Sam's eyes only to see a tranquil expression. There is no change at all. Under that gaze Principal finally gave in and said.

”Actually, if the candidates do better, the one who selected will benefit as well. The Starwood academy will be given more resources and opportunities.” Finally, Sam nodded. He didn't believe one bit that the Principal only came here so that he wants to help Sam get the opportunity. How could there be something so good in this world. He thought for sometime and asked.

”You want me to go on behalf of the Starwood Academy so that you could benefit from it?”

The Principal nodded.

”So, you want to offend the Noble families here and even the city lord?” Sam asked again.

”What is there to offend them? More like they don't want to offend you. Maybe they might be some bigshots in the city. But they are all subordinates of the Count. If the Count knew that they offended someone with your talent in cultivation as well as the professions, he might come over himself and deal with them. They might even visit you by tomorrow morning to make amends to your relationship.” Principal sneered as soon as he thought of the noble families.

”Okay then. 100,000 spirit stones.” Sam spoke and Principal froze in shock. 'Did he hear it clearly? 100,000 spirit stones. Why don't you go and rob someone?' Just as he was about to reject the idea, Sam spoke again.

”What don't want to pay? Okay then. I will make a visit to the Mountain lake city and the Misty River city tomorrow and see if they want to pay.” As soon as he heard this, the Principal wanted to greet Sam's eighteen generations in a single breath. 'Damn it, I was being too naïve. I really thought of him as a fifteen-year-old and told him everything and now he is fleecing him clean. He gritted his teeth and reluctantly nodded.

”Okay the, you may leave. I will report to school tomorrow.” Sam bid farewell. The Principal cursed in his heart as he left the mansion.

After sometime Sam took out the weapon he used to kill Carl and others and had a satisfied smile on his face. The weapon worked exactly as he thought it would work. His design didn't let him down at all. His weapon has made so many people think on how it works as it can transform in to two modes. The answer is actually pretty simple. Sam used the most basic of the fluid mechanic laws and that is Pascal's law. He just used the principle of the Pascal's law, which is that the pressure is equal in all directions. This is generally used in brakes of vehicles in modern earth as there are material and fluid constraints to use them on higher levels. But here Sam used the Blood of the beasts as fluid and compressed it with the pistons made by the Golden blood tiger bones. This is one of the toughest rank 2 materials. What he did is to simply place the pistons and compress the fluid and place the bocks in the position. The wedges are the locks which are making them to stay still. As soon as he applied more force on the wedges by moving the Double S symbol, the weapon would expand.

Sam placed the weapon on the table in front of him and then took out a sharp golden object. It is one of the claws of the golden blood tiger. He held one of the nails and started carving on the weapon. After he is done, he lifted it up and looked at the names that he wrote. There is one word on the each of the blocks. On one side, the word 'Golden' is written and on the other side 'Crescent' is written. Sam nodded in satisfaction as he placed the weapon in the storage. This is the first weapon he created in this world. Just when he entered the Bedroom, he saw a crow enter from the window. At first, he thought it was Yanwu, but soon he realized it was not. Just as he was about to throw it away, he felt a familiar presence and observed the crow closely. There was something tied to the leg of the crow. It was a small piece of black cloth. Sam took the crow in his hands and unwrapped the black cloth. Then he saw a golden feather as well as note.

He immediately recognised the golden feather. It belongs to Yanwu. Then with a puzzled gaze, he opened the note and then read it.

'Sam, this is Yanwu. Right now, I am in middle of something crucial and cannot come to you for the time being. I am sending this note to inform you that, I won't be able to make it in the ten days' time. I will be back as soon as possible, but if possible, make a trip to the ”Falcon cliff city”. I just wanted to say that you shouldn't have to worry about me. I am safe here. Good bye.' Sam frowned as soon as he finished reading the note. He was worried a bit. Because, someone who could write a note, definitely has to be a human and as far as Sam know, no human can really control the greed of having a saint beast like the Golden sun crow as a pet. Sam didn't believe humans that much. So, he had to make a trip. But before that he has to find out how to go there. As he thought, he just wanted to go out to fish out info from Philip. But from the dark sky, he abandoned the idea and went to bed. He had to take some rest after all that he had done in the assessment.

Next day morning. Philip made his way to Sam's mansion early in the morning. The rest didn't come because, they had to prepare for the first day of school after the vacation. But, does that mean he doesn't have anything to prepare? Absolutely not. But there are some advantages he possesses as an Elder brother. He took his time slowly walking towards Sam's mansion, mainly because of the gossip among the crowd. Everyone is talking about the Principal's visit to Sam's mansion. He was trying to get some details and when he finally got the news, he just stood on the spot for a few seconds.

The news is that Sam accepted the invitation of principal to join the academy. Then he hurriedly ran over to the mansion and saw Sam slowly walking outside. He directly blocked his way and questioned.

”You joined the academy?”

”How do you know?” Sam frowned. He and Principal should be the only ones who knew it right? Why did Philip have this knowledge?

”What do you mean, how do I know? Everyone in the city is talking about it. Come on, tell me. Why did you change your mind?”

”Doesn't matter. Let us go.” Sam directly ignored the question and started walking as Philip followed him, seemingly not willing to give up at all.