~thud~

Lucius closed a notebook and passed it to Kain.

"Excellent work, as always!" Kain praised.

"You helped me a lot too Master Kain," Lucius replied.

"No, no. Students like you are rare like diamonds, it's a pity I didn't get to teach you when you were younger, or by now you would have easily been able to become a master yourself." Kain stated.

Hearing this peaked Lucius's interest and he finally decided to ask.

"What does becoming a master particularly entail, master Kain? And how does one go about becoming one?" Lucius questioned.

"A master is basically a rank in any occupation. It could be any occupation, whether one is a scholar, a swordsman, a smith, or even a cook. In order for someone to become a master, all they need to do is make a great contribution to their field." Kain answered.

"Hmm… and who decides that someone has made a sizable contribution?" Lucius questioned.

"It is mostly the unions and organizations that made the regulations of the occupation that do that. For example in my case, I am a master of Rune Beasts, which falls under the authority of the artificers guild. For swordsmen, it would be the army or the royal academy that would confer them the rank of a master and so on and so forth." Kain explained.

"Ah, I see. Though, what did you do that you became a master, master Kain?" Lucius questioned, feeling curious.

"My contribution was barely enough for me to become a master. In fact, I tried three times before I was finally approved by the guild. My mastery was conferred upon me for discovering the application of the rune crystals of a beast called Drill Toe Armadillo." Kain answered.

Lucius did not recognize the name of the beast and wondered what its rune crystal could do.

"What is so special about this rune beast?" Lucius asked again.

"The Drill Toe Armadillo's are F rank rune beasts that mostly eat worms. Their toes are specialized for digging, but that's not their only feature. You see, these beasts have the ability to lure out worms from the ground so they can eat them. They create vibrations from their toes that make the worms surface.

Their gift is simply called as Toe Vibration. The application I found for it was… farming." Kain explained.

"Farming? How is it used in farming? I mean it would have to be turned into an artifact, won't it before it is used, which would make it expensive for farmers?" Lucius questioned.

"Well yes… that was the reason why I was rejected three times before. But, it is not only for farming normal crops but certain herbs which are hard to grow. These herbs are mostly medicinal in value, while some are even used for the manufacturing of artifacts. They need very specific conditions to grow and need a lot of care.

I discovered that a tool made from the rune crystal of the Drill Toe Armadillo can loosen the soil without harming the plant and allow it to grow better. While the effect is less for most crops, for precious herbs such as this every little bit counts so it was finally approved for my mastery." Kain said.

"Is that the reason for three years? You had to record and show that it actually affects the growth of those herbs?" Lucius asked.

Kain's brows raised upon hearing Lucius's assumption.

"Very impressive, lord Asher. You were able to figure out my methodology just from this." Kain replied nodding his head.

"It was just a fluke," Lucius said, but in his mind he felt like this was one of the most primitive methods of researching something.

Kain had applied for his mastery even before he had proper proof of his research work. Lucius realized that getting a mastery was quite similar to getting a degree in his previous life and making a research paper for it.

It was just that the standard of the world was low and thus this qualification was quite high. But now Lucius wondered what were the benefits of becoming a master.

"Master Kain, what are the advantages of being a master?" Lucius asked.

"Well, there are many. You will get a set amount of stipend from the organization you belong to. Your work will be protected by them and you will be compensated for it too. Also, depending on the level of your contribution you may or may not be allowed to monopolize on it." Kain replied.

"Oh, and of course the prestige that comes with it is also good. In fact, it is one of the few ways by which a commoner can become a noble. So a lot of people try to become a master." He added.

After hearing the entire thing, Lucius understood how it all worked and thought about doing so himself. Though it was not for the status as he already had that, what he wanted to do it was for the monopoly that Kain had talked about. He reckoned that it was something along the lines of a patent and allowed only the creator to exploit his work for profit.

Lucius knew the one thing he would always need a lot of is money. And thus this seemed like a good route to it. Plus, it wasn't that far off from his past life's occupation and he already knew the finer nuances of doing research.

With this all in mind, he now had an additional goal on his list, in addition to the creation of the hell imprint.

It was at this moment that he heard the shouts of someone coming from outside the library.

"HOW DARE HE!? IF IT WERE NOT FOR HIS FAMILY'S CONTRIBUTIONS, I WOULD HAVE KILLED HIM MYSELF." Gabriel shouted in rage.

Lucius's ears perked up and he wondered what had happened. Kain though felt a hint of fear upon hearing the count's voice.

"Someone has messed up big time. I haven't seen count Gabriel this angry in a long time." Kain spoke while looking at the door.