Chapter 69: Money Problems

Arion didn't say anything anymore and left in a huff to ask Mei why he was still here. He couldn't get more annoyed by Shun but still do nothing about him.

When he asked Mei, she sighed and said, "About him, I forgot to tell you yesterday. It seems like he is interested in taking the Ironheart test with you since he has no idea what he should do without his memories. And nor could we continue to keep him here just like you said."

"So, he is going to leech off from us for a whole year?" Arion asked with wrinkled brows.

Mei softly chuckled and said, "No. I have told him that he should find a way to earn money on his own since he was capable enough. So don't worry about that. Even if he sticks with us, he will be bearing his own expenses."

"Hmph, I am sure he can now that he got hands on some of my pranars," Arion scoffed as he caressed his bulging pouch.

Mei smiled, "Don't worry about it too much. You can ask me if you need anything."

'A goddess indeed,' Arion inwardly sighed in appreciation as he waved his hand, "Nah. I can do fine on my own."

However, at this moment, Arion felt that even with the pranars he currently had, it wouldn't be able to last him for a whole year in case he wanted to buy herbs to eat every day.

At one point, he was sure to run out of pranars within a year, even if he held back on buying pranic ingredients by a lot.

At first, he thought of buying a pranic food oil to sprinkle on his food before eating them, just like how Yaro did for him.

But even then, he knew how expensive buying one of such bottles was and didn't see it as a viable potion. He also obviously didn't want to ask for money from Mei even if she didn't care about it since he had to uphold his pride as a man.

So, he asked her, "But is there any way I can earn more pranars on my own?"

Mei's brows raised, and she answered after a brief moment, "You want to earn on your own? Why? No need to make unnecessary efforts when you have me. Tell me what it is you want."

Arion waved his hand and casually said, "You are misunderstanding. I really don't want anything. I just want to earn something on my own and see how it feels. You know, more like learning to be independent. Otherwise, I might find it difficult later on."

Mei's expression was thoughtful, thinking that Arion might have a point, and said, "But since you are a quasi-Defier, I doubt there is much work you could do as a Defier. And any other tasks are too menial or of low wages which would only eat at your own health and nor do you have enough time, especially when you have to train from tomorrow onwards."

Arion was surprised by her last sentence, "I am going to start training tomorrow?!"

Mei nodded with a smile, "Yes. And so, we have to leave our house temporarily and go stay up in the mountains till your training gets over. Old Zi had already made preparations for us to stay."

"Whoa. Things are moving too fast. I mean, why should we go and stay in the mountains? Can't we just stay here?" Arion asked while thinking, 'Why does all the training stuff always happen in scenic locations?'

However, he did not dislike training in such a place, especially when he gets to train in a beautiful and serene place.

But he was just worried about how he was going to earn money on his own if he was going to stay in some isolated place.

Otherwise, he would only have been happy to get training, but unfortunately, he had concern for one of his basic needs—food.

Mei saw his expression and thought that he was probably reluctant to leave home and reassured, "Don't worry, the Enchanted Hills is not as far as you think. In fact, the reason Old Zi wants to train you there is that he feels that one can synchronize with prana better at that place for some mysterious reason. That's how the mountain got that name. But since the mountain was said to be prone to Dreadling attacks, no one else dared to live there other than Old Zi, of course."

Arion gulped, "Then aren't we in danger here? How could we just stay in such a dangerous place? What if we get attacked by surprise?" 

Arion couldn't understand how Mei seems calm about all this. He was no coward, but there was a difference between taking risks when needed and taking risks unnecessarily.

He still didn't fully get the concept behind the synchronization with prana and everything, but in his perspective, he felt that training in some normal spot was better than risking his life by training atop a dangerous mountain, especially where there were no people or other experts living nearby.

He had heard of the Enchanted Hills before and even seen it from afar because of how tall and big it was. He couldn't see its tip because it was covered with clouds. But thinking about how he has to climb such a large mountain while risking his life made him hesitate.

Unlike the protagonists in the novels he read where they were ready to brave any danger and risks in the name of 'training', even after knowing they had a 99% chance of losing their life, he wasn't that kind of a person, especially when he had no idea of how he was going to end up.

He always thought through things rationally and realistically and felt that these protagonists were, in fact, dumb and stupid to do things without thinking things through.

But then again, he knew that they were just fictional characters in a novel who could afford to do such things while he was a real person who only got one shot at his life.

So unless he feels that the end result was worth it, he would think twice. Being on the brink of death many times in his past life had taught him to be like that.

Mei heard his worries and calmly said, "I know it sounds dangerous but trust me when I say that Old Zi and I wouldn't let anything happen to you. If it makes you feel any better, Aunt Yaro is also coming with us, saying that you will need her to cook a load of food for you during your training."

"And the mountain is not as dangerous as you think. It has been a while since Dreadlings last made an appearance there, and even if they did, those are only weak ones that I can take care of. Besides, Old Zi has some traps and setups to prevent the Dreadlings from wandering inside the place where he lives or the place where we are going to stay. There are certain pranic items to ward off any possible Wild Dreadlings. Otherwise, how do you think he can sleep peacefully without being alert all the time?"

Arion's expression relaxed upon realizing that what Mei said made sense. He didn't know there were special pranic items to ward off Dreadlings and wondered why such items could be kept everywhere.

But then he thought that they should be quite expensive or rare; otherwise, people would have done it already.

He was also surprised that Yaro wanted to join him and wondered if she was that fond of him or if she was still trying to make up for what happened. Anyways, as Mei said, he felt better with her coming with him. At least, he would have one more familiar face around while getting to eat tasty food.

However, this still didn't solve his 'food' issue, and it was not like he could keep up his excuse of 'possible health issues' with Yaro to make her use her precious pranic food oil.

"It seems like you have some other worries in your mind. What is it?" Mei asked with a curious gaze.

She could see that Arion had some hesitations for unknown reasons, and it didn't seem like he was concerned about being homesick since she knew how badly Arion wanted to become a Dreadslayer.

But she had no idea that Arion was trying not to risk everything by not leaving anything to suspicion.

She then clicked her tongue as she remembered Arion asking about earning money on his own and said with a reassuring smile, "If you are still thinking about earning money on your own, I think there is a way, and Old Zi could certainly help you with that."

Arion's brows raised as he did not expect a sudden ray of hope to shine in and wondered how Old Zi was factoring into this equation.