"Double? How does that work?" Ren asked.
"Tomorrow they'll come to check our belongings."
Ren visibly tensed.
"Relax," Liu smiled at his reaction. "It's not what you think. They'll just register the value of the stuff you brought with you."
"Why?"
"So that they can account for what you just asked about. The Academy doubles the value of everything you get on your own in the designated zones," Liu explained. "It's through a government subsidy system."
The mushrooms in Ren's hair glowed with renewed interest.
"Everything I get?"
"Everything you obtain with your own hands, yes. Things from your parents or that kind of inherited wealth don't count. Only what you gather or process here yourself. It's like a performance scholarship, the better collector you are, the more support you receive. They say our King has always incentivized people who go out to gather stuff."
"So if I find valuable materials..."
"The Academy matches their value," Liu confirmed. "That's why they record what you bring at the start, to know what you obtained afterward on your own."
Liu lay back on his bed, his bat still fluttering restlessly.
"But like I said, don't get your hopes up with that beast," he murmured.
The mushrooms in Ren's hair pulsed again, as if mocking Liu's words, responding with growing determination.
"What if you're wrong?" Ren asked. "What if there's more to spores than everyone believes?"
Liu looked at him for a long moment.
"Then," he said finally, "you'll have to find a way to prove it. But I warn you, the Academy doesn't waste resources on empty hopes and promises."
'They aren't empty promises,' thought Ren. 'I just need a chance to prove it.'
And as that thought took shape, the mushrooms in his hair pulsed yet again, reminding him of the secrets that lay beneath their feet.
Perhaps there was a way to achieve both things… obtain the materials he needed and secure his place in the Academy.
♢♢♢♢
"Did you hear that?" Min flopped onto his bed, his Water Snake was still materialized and resting like a blue scarf around his neck. "They double what we find and... A hundred crystals daily at Silver 1 so two hundred at Silver 2! With that I could..."
"Don't get your hopes up," Taro muttered. "First you have to avoid failing any units for 2 years."
"Oh, come on," Min smiled, turning toward Taro who was quietly organizing his things. "Don't tell me you haven't dreamed about making it? And imagine what you could do with your beetle's earth element advantage in the mines if you manage to rank it up!"
Taro just mumbled something inaudible and continued meticulously arranging his tools.
"Min has a point," Ren intervened, noticing how Taro's shoulders tensed whenever someone mentioned his beast. "Even beasts that everyone thinks are weak could..."
"Exactly!" Min sat up suddenly, his snake falling to his pillow. "My Water Snake is Tier 1, but I can study a ton and break the mold like the director said. The point is we all have a chance, right?"
He got up and walked to Taro, putting an arm around his shoulders.
"Even Mr. Silent here! His Digger Beetle will be the sensation if it evolves, right?"
Taro blushed slightly, but a small smile appeared on his lips.
"If it evolves," he murmured, but there was a touch of hope in his voice.
"Of course, it will!" Min turned to Ren. "And your spore... well, at least it glows pretty."
"Min," Liu sighed from his bed, "stop bothering everyone and finish unpacking. Tomorrow's the belongings check and your area looks like a disaster zone."
"It's an organized disaster!" Min protested, but started 'tidying' anyway, his snake helping move things with its tail.
Taro returned to his silent organizing, but Ren noticed his movements were more relaxed now. Min's enthusiasm seemed to have that effect on people.
The mushrooms in Ren's hair glowed softly as he watched his roommates. Maybe the Gray Wing was good for him after all.
♢♢♢♢
That night, while his roommates slept, Ren reviewed his options in the darkness, the mushrooms in his hair providing a faint glow, dimmed as much as possible to avoid disturbing his companions.
He still didn't like the idea of dismissing the spore from his body, dreading losing the knowledge access even in his sleep. The bat wasn't so happy about it…
Ren knew that getting materials on his own would be difficult.
Even knowing exactly what he needed, if they were as expensive as Liu said, obtaining them without Academy support could take years.
"But meanwhile," he murmured to himself, "my parents will continue with the ritual day after day... I can try to be steady, get their runes first and then..."
No, he needed to be more efficient.
The Academy had a merit system, and though everyone expected him to fail, that could play to his advantage. Nobody expected anything from a spore, so any progress, however small, would draw attention.
If he could demonstrate even a fraction of his spore's potential, if he could win even moderate Academy support with the systems Liu mentioned...
"Limited resources are better than no resources," he whispered, remembering how his father always said that in the kitchen, even leftovers could become a feast if you knew how to use them.
He would have to do both: meet as much of the Academy's expectations to gain some support, while searching on his own for the rest of what he needed and luckily it seemed they would be doubling it.
It would be slower than having full access to resources like some others, but faster than trying to do everything alone.
The mushrooms bothered the bat again, and Ren felt again that strange resonance a few hundreds of meters under the dormitory.
"One step at a time," he reminded himself. "First, prove this student is worth at least the support."
Tomorrow will be the first classes. His first chance to show that the "Rotting Boy" might not be as useless as everyone thought.
He closed his eyes, but his myceliated mind kept working, plotting plans, calculating possibilities. Eight years was a long time... if you knew exactly what to do with your cultivation each day.