Surviving at the Magic Academy

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Slowly surveying the auction house, I found myself on the lowest tier. So, I couldn’t see who was above me. They kept shouting.

“One hundred fifty!”

“One million five hundred thousand points! Is there anyone else?”

The announcer on the podium bellowed the score loudly. One million five hundred thousand points—what an unbelievable score!

“One hundred sixty!”

Someone shouted again, and the announcer echoed back with excitement. The energy in the room was palpable.

I stared intently at the displayed brain of the Shadow Tree. If I could use that, I could create a doll that would match me perfectly.

A powerful doll born from the knowledge and experience of many mages would surely be stronger than any I had ever made.

But it was way too expensive. I couldn’t believe I had considered buying it for two hundred thousand points. What on earth was Maira thinking when she set such a price?

Wasn’t its base cost seventy thousand points? I never imagined the bidding would exceed that by almost double.

Honestly, I did throw out a few bids at first—sixty, seventy, and I even pushed my luck to eighty. Just enough to keep myself in the game.

I thought that might be the ceiling for the Shadow Tree, but the bids were climbing higher than I expected. My spirits began to dampen, and I felt I had no choice but to back off.

“Are you okay?”

Hwa-ryeong, who was sitting next to me, asked. She was looking at me with her characteristic smile, her eyes sparkling with laughter. It seemed she was enjoying this situation.

“What an unbelievable amount!”

I said with a wry smile, and Hwa-ryeong covered her mouth, laughing out loud.

“Hehe, indeed. You bought it for two hundred thousand points. As you know, it’s not actually worth crossing a million points now.”

She slowly glanced around and lowered her voice, continuing, “But everyone here is at least level seven. For them, points don’t mean much. The Shadow Tree is exceedingly rare regardless of its functionality. They’re throwing points at it because of that scarcity.”

So, it’s not about function but rarity. Do they bid like that just to collect materials? I shook my head. They were opponents I couldn’t compete against.

“I see. I can’t dare to compete. What a pity.”

Someone else shouted, “One hundred seventy!” Hwa-ryeong tilted her head in thought. She began to slowly count with her fingers.

“Hmm, is that so? You could afford it, couldn’t you? It wouldn’t be that expensive, considering the points you’ll earn in the future.”

Points I’d earn in the future. I hesitated, calculating for a moment. I stripped away the vague numbers and considered only what would come to me.

It was as she said. The score that had felt burdensome until just now felt a little lighter. One hundred seventy million points was something I could earn in a surprisingly short time.

It would take just under seven years. Since it took five years to gather seventy thousand points, I’d only need two more years.

“One hundred seventy million points. Is there anyone willing to bid higher? I’ll say it three times. This is the first announcement.”

The announcer shouted. My body jerked. Hwa-ryeong was looking at me with curiosity, wondering if I would say something.

As she pointed out, the score was easier to gather than I thought. So, shouldn’t I just grab it now? That thought crossed my mind.

“One hundred seventy million points. Second announcement.”

I opened my mouth. I could feel my voice rising to my throat, but something stopped it from escaping, like I was choking.

Something felt off. This weighty score had never been something I had touched. It was a massive score I had never uttered so easily before. In the end, after hesitating, I sealed my lips.

“One hundred seventy million points. Third announcement. Sold!”

I felt drained, my body slumping. Maybe I should’ve just said it. A wave of regret washed over me.

At the same time, relief blossomed in my chest. It felt like I had skirted past a disaster.

Who knew sending off a single item would lead to such agony? I licked my lips. My mouth felt parched from thinking so long. Hwa-ryeong offered me a glass.

“Here, hydrate. Don’t overthink it. Just enjoy the auction.”

“Thanks.”

I poured it down my throat. My tension eased a bit. Maybe I would enjoy this, like she said.

From then on, items began rolling out. Much like before, they were sold at staggering prices—vastly exceeding my expectations.

As I watched the auction, the day melted away. In the end, I hesitated and purchased nothing. Hwa-ryeong led me back to my lodging.

“You worked hard today. Here’s tomorrow’s item list. Take a look. There are even more precious items than today.”

She handed me a thick booklet and left. I accepted it, feeling exhausted. I plopped down on the bed. I never expected just watching an auction would be this tiring.

There were so many things I coveted. I almost bought several of them. In the end, I closed my mouth, hesitating.

I opened the booklet Hwa-ryeong left behind. As she said, it was filled with items that looked more precious than those presented today.

That Urboros item I saw last time was listed there too. How much would that cost? I heard its original price was five million points. So, roughly twice that?

Ten million points. I computed quickly. I could buy it in seventeen years.

Perhaps I should have just bought one. If I had saved for just a few years, it would hardly be a stretch. Just a few years.

I blinked silently.

So, why hadn’t I opened my mouth?

What was that ominous feeling earlier?

Was it just a couple of years that felt appalling to me? But points were something I would gather eventually. There was talk of borrowing them without interest, so if I saved a little moving forward, I would be fine.

I paused. Just one or two years. Was that how easily points gathered?

It reminded me of when I first entered university.

My entrance score was one thousand one hundred points. I had lost nearly all of it. I even raged over the fifty points taken for a ring.

What happened after that? Until recently, a score of one thousand was massive for me. I worked hard to craft dolls for it.

It was the same with creating boards. Points were always lacking.

Yeah. For me, points had always been about disappearing rather than stacking up. I had no recollection of ever gathering more than this—over a quarter million points.

I had even gone into debt just to buy the Shadow Tree, paying off points monthly. Considering the materials used for doll-making, I was always scraping by.

In other words, I had no points to call my own right now.

Yet, a million points felt absurdly trivial. When did I start thinking like this?

As I lay back on the bed, I pondered. I couldn’t comprehend why points felt so light to me.

After a brief period of contemplation, I found my answer.

Since I started calculating points, I had changed. The gradually accumulating scores from the Mirror Bugs were shaping me into this.

In the Level Two promotion exams, I felt like I had lost a lot. They took away my potential outcomes and in return, I received five hundred points per month.

But wait. Isn’t this strange?

I calculated slowly. In a year, that’s six thousand points a month. In ten years, that’s sixty thousand points a month. In a hundred years, that’s six hundred thousand points a month.

The very things I hesitated to buy at today’s auction could be easily purchased after a hundred years.

As I recalculated the points that would stack over a hundred years, it totaled three hundred million. An immense number. When I first did this calculation, all my hidden frustrations melted away.

From that point, my sense of points began to feel off. I was only a lowly sapling, barely elevated to Level Two.

Yet, here I was at a high-level auction, standing shoulder to shoulder with other mages. I was casually admiring the items up for bid.

If so, what exactly did I lose in exchange for these enormous points?

I began to deliberate again. This was a part I had neglected to deeply consider while occupied with points.

I had to provide one hundred Mirror Bugs every month. That contained my wooden stem. It was unavoidable to connect them.

And that was the limit they had discovered in me back then. The maximum they could extract from me. In reality, it was mostly true.

I needed to mobilize the Shadow Tree just to recover that amount. But now, I’ve managed to extract slightly more. The Shadow Tree had gradually grown.

And with that, I felt a sense of ease. Abundant points made my heart feel full, and any concerns I had about my growth stagnating were resolved.

During the entrance ceremony, Luo had said, “In university, strength and points mean everything.”

There were promotion exams, and I acutely felt my weakness. That’s why I had become more attuned to points.

And that’s what drew my focus to the dolls. Strengthening a doll was attainable if I had sufficient materials.

And so, seven months passed.

I rose from my bed to check on my status. The Shadow Tree had grown quite a bit in comparison to seven months ago. My trunk had been trimmed repeatedly, and it looked thin, but it was better than before.

Yeah, it had grown.

But compared to before the promotion exam, it was still a meager gain. The speed I had once hit the ground running with had completely stalled.

In this situation, could I truly elevate my level? It felt daunting, and I had hardly thought of it while I was in the grace of points.

My expression naturally hardened. I was growing at an abysmal rate. At this pace, it would be nearly impossible to elevate my level even if I dedicated my entire life to it.

Hwa-ryeong came to mind.

She reminded me that I was overflowing with points. As she said, the more I thought about the future, the lighter the points felt.

Her tone was bright, and she always spoke words of encouragement. Had I casually purchased an item as she suggested, it would have left me in debt.

Clearly, I had come here to simply observe. I thought I had no need to buy anything. Yet seeing the Shadow Tree and listening to Hwa-ryeong’s words stirred some desire within me.

I mulled over why I had come here. It was because Miryeong had invited me. She offered her support, saying she was willing to lend me points if I found something I liked.

So why did I respond to Miryeong’s invitation? To make dolls. I needed materials and knew the auction would have sellable items.

But why did I want to create those dolls? It was for the promotion exam. I wanted to craft powerful dolls because I couldn’t trust humans.

And the promotion exam, why was that even a thing? Because of the Shadow Tree brain Maira had handed me cheap.

With that, I stabilized the Shadow Tree and put its growth back on track. Then, I faced them in the promotion exam.

Right, that Shadow Tree. It was quite the peculiar object. I fiddled with the thick booklet.

I bought it for two hundred thousand points. Yet, according to Miryeong, it was an item that exceeded seven hundred thousand points. However, it ended up being sold for one million seven hundred thousand points here.

Scores had totally different values depending on the person and the situation.

Memories from the promotion exam came rushing back.

Their understanding of me was highly accurate. Maira had probably anticipated my actions, and their assessment of my limits fit remarkably well.

There was no way they couldn’t predict my actions after the examination.

Miryeong had reached out to me at exactly the right moment. When I was struggling due to a lack of materials for the dolls, she offered me access to the upper auction house.

I continued to follow my thoughts.

There was still much I didn’t understand. But one thing was clear.

Right now, I was not safe at all. Somehow, I had fallen into the swamp of points.

I had been blissfully content looking at points I didn’t even possess—future points.

Hwa-ryeong’s words echoed in my mind. A powerless pig might be devoured at any moment. I thought my troubles had ended.

But that wasn’t the case. I had just stepped onto the table now. This auction table.

I blinked absentmindedly.

What would have happened if I carelessly incurred debt to purchase items? That was anyone’s guess.

The events from the promotion exam weren’t concluded yet.

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