Over the past couple minutes, Simon had a good talk with Kenny, discussing various topics including affairs within Island Ascension Online. During the conversation, he had also inquired about any possible forms of scientific education.

After all, the deeper his knowledge of science, the better he would fare with magic, thus his interest in getting a scientific education.

Eventually, Kenny recommended two options to him.

One, was to take a specialized exam to get into a school that was under an elite research team.

These research teams were the top of the top and were the main perpetrators for scientific advancements of this day and age! Naturally, the schools that they ran were greatly informative, and even gave one a chance to become a part of the official research team.

It has to be known that being a member of an elite research team was a very prestigious position. Becoming a part of these teams meant having access to nearly unlimited funds and being in the presence of some of humanity's top geniuses!

Not only that, but oftentimes, these research teams were backed by the largest corporations and countries, which naturally offered extremely generous benefits. Obviously, this would be incredibly attractive to anyone!

However, they were not easy to enter in the slightest.

Just the entrance exam to their schools had below a .1% passing rate, and that was only for those who applied.

Only if one took into account that generally more qualified people took the exams, would the true difficulty of the test be seen; not even the top .01% of humanity could pass their exams...

On the other hand, the other choice was going to a traditional university.

Though a university had difficult tests as well, they were nowhere as despair-inducing as an elite research team's tests. After all, as a saying in this world went: Top universities were for the elite; the elite of the elite belonged in the Research Schools.

Naturally, Simon liked the former better.

After all, he was once a reputable mage from another world, and his name had once resounded within the ears of millions of people. If he couldn't handle something like joining a mere research team despite his advantages… Then he would just be an utter failure!

And so, he pulled out his laptop and quickly got to researching the research schools further.

...

Almost an hour passed, and by now, Simon had finished up his research.

'Hmm, this should take a few days of studying in the real world, but it's no problem' he thought as he closed the final article on his computer screen and stood up.

Apparently, there were not one, but two exams that one had to take for most Research Schools.

One was the general knowledge test.

To pass this test, one must be extremely knowledgeable in various forms of science, and have great problem solving abilities as well. This essentially tested one's prowess as a scholar, and operated similarly to exams to get into universities.

The other was the affinity test.

This test tested one's peculiarities, personalities, and their approach to research. After all, some people just weren't cut out for research. This test involved thinking outside the box, one's creativity, etc.

Those who passed the latter with flying colors were often proven to be great researchers, hence there being an entire test for personality and one's approach to research, while the former was important for obvious reasons; one could not just wander into a Research School with no background in the vast field of science.

On top of the admission methods, he also discovered that there are three Research Teams that are far above their peers in capabilities and prestige, with unmatched reputations in the scientific world. Ideally, the team that he joined should be one of these three teams.

One is the Veracity team.

This team is dedicated to uncovering the ultimate truth: Knowledge. They spend all of their time piecing together theories, making sense of the world, and other matters of that essence. Their works were not revolutionary to any one subject of science and technology, but to all sciences and technologies!

Another is the Gamer team.

Don't be fooled by their names; they are backed by the strongest organization in the world, Gamer's Truth, and are an extremely talented team! They are even on the forefront of progressing AI and VR technologies worldwide, which could be easily seen through their results with the virtual hub made by their predecessors.

And lastly, there is the Eternity team.

This team's name is quite fitting, as they strove to enhance the human body as far as possible. But despite their ominous sounding goals, they are truly admirable. In fact, as the leading team in biology in the world, they've contributed the most to humanity's current average lifespan of over 100 years.

Each of these teams are extremely impressive, but there was undoubtedly one that fit Simon's needs the best.

The Veracity Team was focused on overall comprehension and their ideologies were not unsimilar to how mages thought either. It did not need to be stated that the Veracity team would be the best choice for him.

In a somewhat unrelated note, if he were to guess, these people were the ones who became the first mages. After all, they were bound to have the deepest knowledge of the true nature of the world.

Unfortunately, he didn't quite have the qualifications to enter any elite research teams yet, let alone one of the top 3. Not to mention, his low magic level wouldn't allow him to cheat the system either. Thus, he could only study the scientific curriculum... However, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

And so, Simon promptly applied a processing speed and a memory boost enchantment on himself and got to reading textbooks online.

'This is what they call cramming, huh?'

...

A few hours later…

With the help of a series of enchantments, Simon breezed through the science courses that people of this age took from adolescence to adulthood in these last few hours.

In the process, he questioned himself over why he hadn't done so earlier.

'F*ck, this is so impressive! Everything makes so much sense!'

In the past, he had browsed through science papers and textbooks in his spare time, but not any comprehensive courses. But now that he had taken comprehensive courses, it shook him to his core.

To a regular human in this world, science may not have seemed all too special. After all, from the moment that they were born, they were introduced to it.

But to Simon who was a researcher from a medieval world… It was truly eye-opening!

He was addicted to the sensation of getting new information and grasping a better understanding of the world, and to say the least, science satisfied this need for him. It opened many paths that were previously unopened, and cleared the paths that were once obstructed to him.

Indeed, he couldn't be any more excited to learn more science.

But unfortunately, his mana was starting to run out by now…

Naturally, he had to replenish it through the only way he knew.

The edges of Simon's mouth curled up into a grin and he closed the lid of his laptop before jumping onto his bed, and fitting his VR helmet onto his head.

It had been well over a day since he last slept, but he found that he still had an abundance of energy... This was indeed due to the usage of mana.

If it were before he had discovered the game, he would never dare to expend mana on staying awake. But thankfully, he could now stimulate his body to stay awake using spells and he would not need sleep.

In other words, he could play the game 24/7!

It has to be known that one generally could not remain in virtual reality while they slept. Though it was possible, only their physical bodies would sleep, while the mind of the user would only get more fatigued - it was worse than useless.

But for someone who no longer needed any form of sleep, this was not an issue.

'Activate Virtual World!'

Simon quickly reappeared in the cabin and made his way into Island Ascension Online from the virtual hub.

Ding!

[Loading Island Ascension Online…]

Upon rejoining the game, Simon suddenly found himself inside his Island Core, with Jake still laying on the floor peacefully.

Time on his island had not progressed while the time outside of his island did, which aligned with his expectations; by now, it was already noon in Island Ascension Online, just like reality.

Simon looked at Jake thoughtfully as he moved his thin figure onto the cot within the cabin.

'I wonder how he will change after he recovers... Anyone who can resist corrupted essence to that degree is bound to be impressive.' he pondered over Jake's situation.

Normally, people would become incoherent or fall into a deep coma upon being taken over by corrupted essence, soon to have their lives distinguished. However, it seemed that his man only had a slight personality change, despite very nearly being taken over… Such a fact was certainly indicative of his potential.

After leaving Jake on the cot, Simon quickly refocused, checking out his newly obtained "Level 2 Shop".

Sure enough, a list of items suddenly appeared in his vision.

-----

[Item Shop] (Lv. 2)

Buy

[New!] Hot Rune (I), 10 silvers. Cold Rune (I), 10 silvers. Nature Rune (I), 10 silvers. Chicken Egg (Fertilized), 1 silver. Tin Ingot, 1 silver. Basic Fertilizer…

... Elderberry, 5 coppers. 1 Cubic Meter of Water, 100 coppers,

Sell

[New!] Chicken feather, .0-1 coppers. Chicken Meat, 0-100 coppers. Chicken Egg...

...Slice of Bread, 0-1 coppers. Berry 0-10 coppers.

-----

'Nice!' Simon was ecstatic upon reading the new items in the shop.

Finally, he now had access to materials to create magical arrays: runes!

Although he was still lacking light and dark runes, making it so that he couldn't quite make a series of comprehensive arrays for his farm, obtaining these runes was nonetheless a step in the right direction. After all, the system's willingness to sell these runes implied that he would gain the ability to obtain dark and light runes in the next shop upgrade.

On the other hand, the rest of the new items in the shop were not all that important, but were undoubtedly improvements.

Simon quickly went back out to his farm and continued the process of harvesting and replanting his crops with renewed vigor…

After all, one first needed to earn money before touching the shop!

...

After harvesting his half field of crops and replanting the entire field, Simon still had a surplus of crops. As a result, he decided to save enough for a couple of meals and sell the rest.

First, he tried selling a raw grain of wheat that was separated from its stalk. This grain of wheat was practically golden and had a flawless appearance, due to Simon's extensive efforts in cultivating his crops.

[Earned .16 coppers. When you gain .84 more coppers, a copper will be granted]

Simon nodded upon seeing this notification. Based on how strict the system was and the short length of time that it took to grow crops, the value that the system gave the seed was not all too unbelievable.

Suddenly, Simon had a random thought.

'If my perfect crops sell for so little… How much do others' crops sell for?'

-----

Meanwhile, on the web…

P1: {F*ck! My crops are rotten and the system doesn't even buy my crops at all! What a scam! It says that they aren't worthy of sale!}

P2: {Bro, you're lucky that you're still alive and able to farm! I've already had to restart my casual profile because I angered the system...}

P3: {Restart your casual profile? Pfft, that's nothing! My dumb*ss ran expert mode and I practically starved to death because I wasted all of my energy, now I only have 1 more try on expert mode!}

P4: {That's what you get for running expert mode. Even esports players can barely hang on in expert mode. Who do you think you are?!}

P5: {Hey, the person above me is my roommate. Don't listen to his words, he's just mad because he already lost both his expert mode profiles!}

P4: {F*ck off John! You've already rage quitted the game, you shouldn't be talking!}

...

People were raging all over the web, and there was a massive uproar after most gamers experienced the harshness of the system.

News stations around the world were broadcasting the strange situation as well. After all, Gamer's Truth - the world's largest company... had never released such a confusing game before!

As compared to their previous hits which were VR MMORPGs or arcade games, a dry, overly realistic survival game seemed out of place. In fact, it didn't even seem fun - it was simply too difficult and inhospitable for the majority of the playerbase!

Understandably, many people were confused and voiced their concerns. However, the company itself made no statement about the game, save for the fact that its 'quality was assured'.

As a result, many players had already quit.

It indeed seemed like it would be the least successful game ever made by Gamer's Truth. Nevertheless, people like Simon were secretly laughing at them at what they were missing out on...

-----

Meanwhile, on a certain island under the vast blue skies, an average looking figure was finishing up his experiments on the selling price of crops within a cabin.

'Sell!'

With a ding, a stalk of wheat disappeared from his hand, and was replaced with a few copper coins. Simon immediately did some quick calculations and found that it sold for less than it would if he had simply removed the stalk.

'Fair enough, it makes sense!' He once again nodded at the result; his findings were well within his expectations.

Simon then proceeded to sell all of the produce that he didn't need, and the sound of system notifications ringing filled his mind as he sold the crops.

...

After selling his excess crops, Simon ended up with a grand total of 2 silvers and 21 coppers, but he smiled ruefully upon seeing this "meager" amount.

'If I weren't a genius farmer, I probably wouldn't even make 1 silver from this crap! Only 2 silvers after most of the yield? What a joke! How long will 1 gold take?' Simon thought in a slightly depressed manner.

Though, if any other player were to hear his thoughts, they would surely spit out blood and feel an insatiable urge to slap him to death! After all, they were struggling to merely not starve and grow crops that lived until they matured! There were even millions of pitiful players who had already restarted due to not having enough food or water.

Meanwhile Simon was complaining about not having enough money...

With a sigh, he eventually decided to save up his money for runes and upgrading his island core. After all, his only two immediate paths of progression were to level up his island core and to make arrays.

As for raiding and exploring? That was nothing but a pipe dream for Simon right now.

With his near non-existent island defenses and crappy airship that could barely fly, using a golden ticket to form a map to a ruin was simply stupid.

Raiding other islands would likewise be unwise. After all, he would get placed against an island with strength similar to whomever he sent over, be it himself or Jake. In either case, it would be an excessively risky endeavor.

He then began to work on his self assigned tasks, which first required money. And for him, the best way to get money was stone. Vast quantities of stone!

Simon then took out a bar of iron that he had previously casted and brought it outside the cabin.

'Hmm. This should be the ideal material.'

After setting the iron bar on the ground, he carefully sent a stream of intense heat into a few specific points in the bar. Then, when he was satisfied with the amount of heat in the iron, he further sent a few precise bursts of cold energy into the ingot with an expression of concentration.

Crack!

Upon receiving the bursts of coldness, the bar of iron split into several pieces.

Simon then picked up the shards of iron and inspected them carefully under the rays of the sun overhead. And after a short inspection, he found that each of these shards of iron were actually flawless and perfectly proportional!

'Wow, this "Thermal Induced Stress" technique is indeed impressive! To think that I could break iron so easily and precisely using this method, what a useful thing to know!' he thought upon seeing the results of his work, undoubtedly impressed.

In his previous life, Simon indeed knew that one could break something especially easily when using hot and cold magic in unison, but his usage lacked true comprehension.

Though he understood heat itself very well, he did not have a deep comprehension of the true states of matter; he knew the effects of thermal energies, but did not know the reasoning behind it, nor could he predict its effects on matter with accuracy!

But now that he had more thorough knowledge of physics and other sciences, countless ideas for new spells and improvements upon others sprung into his mind. The breaking of iron shards was only one of many combinations that he had formulated, and already, science was proving to be extremely useful.

'Science and Magic sure are a match made in heaven, why would these things not come in pairs?' he thought with a chuckle.

It was truly tragic. Scientists were missing a world where their research would be infinitely more useful, and mages were missing a world where their magic would be infinitely more powerful.

If magic was a tank, then science was the tank driver. Sure, they could exist without the other, but together, their capabilities would multiply!

'Well, at least it seems like the people in this world will be introduced to both soon!' he thought with a knowing smile. Without a doubt, the collision between science and magic would be interesting to see unfold.

After pushing his excitement to the back of his mind, Simon promptly enchanted each of the shards with hardening, destruction, and a series of other enchants to help with the mining process.

Then, he finally got to mining!