“Miles, I hope you haven’t forgotten our agreement. Please use this serum and get stronger fast. I am waiting for your return. Love, Your Handsome Cool Super Awesome Big Bro”

Miles looked at the paper in his hand stupefiedly. The letter and the item were from Merlin, and it contained the fifth mind serum. Although Miles still remembered the agreement, Merlin never told him when the race would be, so he came to the academy. Now that he enrolled, he couldn’t leave it for two years. Merlin was still expecting him to race?

“Well, free serum.” Miles weighed the glass container in his hand and went to his room to use the fifth mind serum.

He already used the fifth body serum and was getting stronger already. This mind serum would be a good addition to his arsenal.

————

Miles woke up with his head in cracking pain because of the mind serum of F-Series he used the previous night as it was his first time using the new series. He took a refreshing shower and was brushing his teeth when he heard the doorbell ring. ‘Must be Alex.’ He thought and decided to answer the door, although he only had a towel around his waist and a toothbrush in his mouth.

He walked down and opened the door to see a female looking at her. The girl had an expectant look on her face as she gazed at Miles’s face, while slowly lowering her gaze when he noticed Miles's hair was wet. Her eyes fell on his naked chest, abs then the towel covering his lower body.

A sudden blood rush manifested as a blush on her face, as her eyes fell to the ground. “Sorry, I came because I saw your notice.”

Only then did Miles realize what was going on. “Oh, right. Please come in, and sorry for the attire. Please give me five minutes.” Miles said and walked back to the bathroom. He only came back five minutes later and saw the girl sitting in the living room, waiting nervously.

“You are Number 7, right?” Miles asked. He was wearing an academy uniform now. The girl still had a shy look on her face, as she could remember his body beneath those clothes, but she still showed the decency to look at Miles's eyes and nodded.

“Before we start, can I get you anything to drink? I have apple, peach, and let me see, only those two juices. And hot choco, coffee, and tea.” Miles said as he skimmed through the fridge and the cabinets.

“A cup of hot chocolate then, please.” The girls said and added, “I am Safire.”

Miles nodded and gave his name too.

“Miles.”

“Hmm, I know.” the girl answered while Miles went to start the machine.

Luckily the villa had all the appliances, and he didn’t have to buy them.

After boiling enough water, he prepared one cup of hot choco and a cup of tea for himself.

He sat down across from her and asked. “Your element was Hellfire right?” He asked as he took a sip of tea.

“Yes. I can use shadow and fire elements, although I am better when it comes to the fire element.” The girl answered seriously when the topic went back to her reason to come.

“It is a common element, it is good and bad. It means there are many people who can use it, so not a market can be monopolized, it also means the market always requires a product of this element.

Because of this, you have the potential to use your ability in the market, while also can find yourself out of the market. Since you are weak, no one will make use of your elements at this stage.

As you know, with your current energy control, you can only melt low-tier Frenzy-Rank cores and maybe mid-tier if you push yourself. While sophomores and older citizens can melt higher-ranked cores and lower-ranked too, as they have full control over their energy outputs. So, until you level up to the middle-tier, you cannot find any job in the city at all.

What I offer you, to work for me.” Miles said. The girl was listening carefully and was getting more and more depressed the more she heard Miles. One of the most paying jobs in the city was melting cores for craftsmen. But while there were too few craftsmen, there were too many students. Although thanks to her rare superpower, she could use the shadow element too, the market for this element was scarce, and a few sophomores could use this element was enough to monopolize the market. It was just like Miles said.

“What is your offer?” The girl said after thinking for a while. “Since you said all these, you must have a few conditions.” She grinned.

“I indeed have. You will work for me and I promise 100 merit points monthly.” Girl’s brows knitted when she heard what Miles said, but he continued.

“It is just a minimum income warranty I will place in the contract. You will not be paid monthly, but by the number of cores you work on. I will pay you merit for every low-tier core you melt.” Miles explained.

“What do you mean low-tier, I can’t melt mid-tier cores, you said it yourself.” The girl said with a frown.

“You can’t for now, but do you intend to stay in this tier for the rest of your life?” Miles asked with a smile. The girl understood what he meant as she leaned back.

“Yes, I want to hire you from now until we graduate. You cannot work in any other shop, nor can you do favors to others by helping them in their forges. If you sign the contract, I promise to deliver at least 150 cores to you monthly, and will pay you a merit for a low-tier and two for each mid-tier core.”

Merit was a lot more valuable than Unity Dollars. It could be easily seen from how hard it was to earn it. One low-tier Frenzy-Rank monster core, even for the most common element, would sell for at least a million Unity Dollars to a few hundreds of millions, while in the academy, it was only worth a single merit point. So, what Miles offered was equal to hunting a monster. Although risking to hunt and getting rare cores paid a lot more, it was a tedious and unpromised line of work.