Chapter 12: Magic IS MONEY

Because Zona had accidentally misfired a spell, Lin Yuan had already concluded that Fasno would be the winner before Red took the stage. However, within just two minutes of Red's performance, this conclusion was immediately overturned.

Red's magic seemed unremarkable. Ten of the most common fireball spells, with no tricks at all, and his casting intervals were not as short as Fasno's. Yet, he managed to break all the sticks precisely at the marked spot by Lin Yuan, resulting in a perfect score, just like Fasno.

This was entirely unexpected for Lin Yuan. Red had never stood out before, and he didn't anticipate such a display today.

"It seems I still don't know my students well enough," Lin Yuan muttered to himself, then smiled and announced, "Alright, I declare that Fasno and Red are tied for first place. I'll treat you both to breakfast tomorrow." He sighed dramatically. "Ah, treating one person was already pushing me towards bankruptcy. I didn't expect to have to treat two. Are you guys really trying to make me sleep on the streets?"

The students burst into laughter, and even Zona, who usually wore a stern expression, softened a bit.

Lin Yuan had thought that Zona might be upset about losing to Fasno, but she seemed unfazed. This only reinforced his determination to get to know his students better.

"No, thank you," Red suddenly shook his head. "Teacher, I'm not as good as Fasno. I lost this time. You only need to treat him."

Lin Yuan was taken aback. Although he knew that Red was not as good as Fasno in this competition, according to the rules he had set, Red was tied with Fasno.

"Red, we both have perfect scores. There's no winner or loser here," Fasno said, seeing the look on Lin Yuan's face.

"I don't need you to let me off. If I lost, I lost," Red's face suddenly turned cold. He turned and walked to the side, sat down, and seemingly decided to ignore everyone.

Lin Yuan couldn't help but shake his head. He had always known that Red was somewhat aloof and rarely interacted with other students, but he didn't expect him to be so unsociable.

Just as he was about to go over and talk to Red, his shoulder was held back.

"I'll go," Katusha nodded towards the other students, signaling Lin Yuan to calm them down, and walked straight to Red.

Seeing Katusha sit down next to Red, Lin Yuan felt relieved and turned to explain to the students.

"You all understand what this competition was about, right? That's right, it was about the accuracy of magic. Some of you might say, 'Why do mages need accuracy? That's for archers to worry about.' But let me tell you, that idea is dead wrong."

Every time Lin Yuan did something, he would explain his motives to the students, who had grown accustomed to it. Hearing his explanation, they gathered around and listened attentively.

"You must understand that a mage's magical power is limited. Each spell cast consumes a portion of that power. If you run out of magic before achieving your goal, all the spells you cast are wasted. For example, you encounter an enemy that requires 100 fireballs to defeat, and your total magical power is enough for 200 fireballs. In theory, you should be able to defeat him. But if your fireballs are all over the place, and only 50 hit the target, what then? The enemy is still alive, and you're out of magic. What do you do?"

"We can use a magic crystal," Vince interjected.

"Silence, Vince. Do you think all mages are as wealthy as your family? Besides, even if you replenish your magic with a crystal, you'll still only hit the enemy with 50 fireballs. You might barely defeat the enemy, but your magic will be depleted. What if another enemy shows up at that moment?"

The students fell silent.

Their magical education had always focused on increasing their magical power and learning more advanced spells to become higher-level mages. No magic teacher had ever told them to pay attention to the accuracy of their spells. Now that Lin Yuan pointed it out, they realized he was right.

"Let me give you another example. Magic power is like the gold coins in your pocket. You can't buy something worth two coins with just one coin, and the same applies to magic. You can't cast an advanced spell with your current magical power. At the same time, you shouldn't waste your magic by using it inefficiently. You must treat your magical power as if it were the gold coins in your pocket—be stingy with it, don't misuse it, and never overspend."

The students nodded in agreement, recalling their accuracy—or lack thereof—when casting spells at the sticks. Most of them blushed, except for a few.

"Well, improving the accuracy of magic won't happen overnight. What you need to do is pay more attention in your future studies and usage. Remember, magic power is MONEY!"

In his excitement, Lin Yuan accidentally used the English word from his original world.

Seeing the students' puzzled looks, Lin Yuan laughed and didn't elaborate further. Instead, he turned to check on Red.

He didn't know what Katusha had said, but Red's previously stern face now showed a hint of a smile. However, Lin Yuan still caught a glimpse of loneliness in his eyes.

This puzzled Lin Yuan. In his previous world, he often saw this kind of look on high school girls' faces, but it was just teenage angst causing depression. And this phenomenon was limited to girls; boys were never like that, always lively like monkeys, with no time to be depressed.

"Maybe he misses home?" Lin Yuan thought. Since Katusha and Red were both from the Machino Empire, perhaps Katusha had revealed her background to Red, triggering his homesickness.

Seeing Red and Katusha chatting happily, Lin Yuan left them be and resumed discussing the precise control of low-level magic with the students.

He had only learned magic from Hawk for a short time. Although he could master low-level magic, he wasn't much better than the students in practical application. The reason he had so much to teach them was mostly due to his knowledge from a different world.

Engaged in a lively discussion with the students, they didn't realize it had gotten dark. After a simple meal hosted by the farm owner, the students excitedly went to ambush outside the farm.

According to the information provided by the farm owner, the wind wolf pack usually appeared about two hours after dark, when the farmhands were almost asleep. They didn't attack the farm but went straight to the cattle and sheep pens to snatch a hundred or so animals and then fled. If no one attacked them, they wouldn't even pay attention.

"It sounds just like the Japanese devils raiding," Lin Yuan thought after hearing the farm owner's description.

Although he had been a mercenary for over ten days, this was the first time the entire class was working on a mission together, and the students were a bit excited. The girls were especially chatty, discussing the upcoming wind wolves.

Lin Yuan had to admire the power of women as they talked about everything from the power of the wind wolves' magic to their population and even whether their fur was pretty.

"Here they come!" the student on lookout suddenly shouted, and the noisy students immediately fell silent.

Lin Yuan slightly raised his body and looked ahead. In the distance, a cloud of silvery-white creatures was approaching. In the blink of an eye, they had covered nearly a thousand meters and were now clearly visible.

So fast!

Wind wolves, being wind-elemental beasts, were much faster than ordinary wolves. In the time it took everyone to react, they had already crossed almost a thousand meters and were about to enter the farm's territory.

"Feire, Kastor, Shuni, get ready," Lin Yuan called out the names of three students who practiced earth magic.

Seeing that they were ready, Lin Yuan nodded and waited until the wind wolf pack had just entered the small mound where they were hiding. With a wave of his right arm, the flat prairie in front of the wind wolves suddenly churned. Cracks like blades sliced through the grass. The leading wind wolves couldn't stop in time and plunged into the churning earth, instantly buried by the rolling soil. The wind wolf pack finally came to a halt, only to find that the land behind them had become as uneven as the front.

"Natasha, Zona, it's your turn now."

"Okay!" Natasha replied energetically, while Zona just gave a slight nod. However, their actions were the same as they both cast the Level 2 water magic spell, Heavy Rain.

Above the wind wolf pack, a localized downpour appeared. In just a few moments, the already chaotic prairie, due to the Earthquake spell, was turned into a muddy mess.