Ch 4: Megan

Xasha and Gooseman entered the greenhouse. The first thing that greeted him was the thick smell of plants. The room was stacked with shelves filled with medicinal herbs, trees, and flowers. Verra was holding a flowerpot with a small purple plant with 2 leaves barely sprouting from it. The plant was around 2 inches tall and had amazing energy radiating from it.

Verra was holding it delicately. It was as if she was afraid that it would run away if she loosened her grip for a second.

"It really is a mana berry tree," said Xasha with an unbelievably bright smile.

"Hold up, The mana vein is only An E grade so I understand that the school wouldn't be super interested, but a Mana Berry Tree is a priceless treasure and I'm sure they've already detected it. How come they didn't come to take it away?" Xasha asked while farrowing his brows.

"That's because while this place is on campus, this island does not belong to the school, it's owned by the student that buys it. You bought it so it's your property and anything found on the island belongs to you and you alone. After you leave this school if a new student wants to buy this island, they will have to buy it from you through the housing department. You can even choose never to sell this island ever again," Verra explained.

"Well, that's convenient. This Mana Berry Tree is an excellent find," Xasha also got excited.

"I can channel my nature energy into it to help it grow faster," after saying that she walked to a clear spot in the greenhouse dug a hole placed the pot in it then started channeling enormous amounts of nature energy into it. The nature energy was pure and concentrated, the tree grew taller and taller. In minutes it became about 2 meters tall, full of purple leaves, and had little blossoms and green flowers on it. She stood up and stepped back. Her face was full of sweat and taking heavy breaths.

"I'm all out of mana, I wished I could have made it bloom. Just eating one mana berry could give me as much energy as meditating in my energy chamber for 6 months straight," Verra sounded tired but excited.

"Just be patient, you've already brought it this far, I'm sure at this rate it will bear fruit in a few days. Gooseman, what was the third discovery you mentioned?" Xasha turned to look at Gooseman that was still staring at the Mana Berry Tree in amazement.

"huh, oh. Right, we discovered a fire crystal reserve under the bed of the lake, but it's tiny, only about 10 Tons of it. Seeing as it wasn't on the island itself,  we contacted the school asking who it belonged to and they said it belonged to you. So congratulations to your highness."

"How are you so dang luckily," Verra moaned feeling jealous.

"Well Gooseman, seeing as you found it, your company will get the contract to mine the Crystals. Your fee is 10 percent, right?"

"Thank you, your highness, we will not let you down." Gooseman was elated. He saluted Xasha, then turned around and left.

Xasha felt that buying this island was his best investment. The treasures found here is worth a lot more than the 46 million he spent on this place. Just one Mana Berry could sell for 10 million Libras at auction and fire crystals are sold 10 Libras per pound. He turned to Verra who was still staring at the Mana Berry Tree with lust in her eyes, " let's go, the tree is not going anywhere," He Grabbed Verra, headed outside, and flew into the air heading towards her mansion.

"Xasha I have a question."

"Go ahead," Xasha looked up from the book he was reading. Sitting across from him was a pink-haired beauty wearing a white school uniform looking up from her own book and staring at him with her bright pink eyes. This Was Megan Von Lotus, Xasha's classmate and the Granddaughter of the city lord of Lotus City.

The Von Lotus family found the Von Lotus province, and ruled over it to this day after winning hundreds of wars, fending off other provinces from annexing their territory and coups from rebel groups and branch families.

The main family controls Lotus city and the White Lotus Mage Academy. The dean of the school was the city lord's younger brother and Megan's granduncle. Branch families ran other smaller towns and cities throughout the province.

"You focused on magic theory thus far, but do you really plan on becoming a magic scholar? Especially with whom your father is?"

"No. I have no interest in becoming a magic scholar, but a deep understanding of magic theory is the foundation of every other path of magic. Once I gain access to the second floor of the library and can start studying the distinct branches of magic, I will study Alchemy and Enchantment. I want to study all the branches of magic, improve them 10 fold and bring magic in this world into a new era," Xasha declared confidently.

"That's quite ambitious, but after getting to know you these past few weeks I'm sure you can do anything you set your mind to," Megan had a bright smile on her face.

"Thank you for your confidence in me," Xasha blushed slightly. In the past few weeks, Xasha had developed a crush on this girl. She was beautiful, funny, open-minded, unique in almost every way and she always made him feel special. He had not felt this way about a girl in a long time, not since princess Azaria and that ended very badly. So he was not sure what to do in this situation.

They had multiple classes together, then once classes ended they would see each other in the library every day. After a few days, Xasha built up his courage and invited her to sit with him, she accepted and they sat together every day since.

They read together, then held discussions about the theories and concepts they had just learned about. Xasha admired her intelligence and tenacity. She knew a lot about magic theory for someone that was a combat mage. she was training to become a branch of combat mage called combat medics, which was rare and there hadn't been a combat mage in Lithuania for 100 years.

Her talent and elemental affinity were water-based, except the water created by her talent could only heal and not harm. Her affinity however was powerful and lethal, Xasha faced off against her in basic combat class a week back and within seconds he ended up on his back looking like a wet rat. 

After a while, Xasha said, "I'm thinking of starting my own Guild, would you like to be a part of it?" He imminently got nervous. That's not what he meant to say, but he chickened out at the last second and said something random.

"What kind of Guild is it?" Megan asked in curiosity, this guild invitation seemed out of the blue.

"Well, it's just a guild we won't be focused on anything, the members can focus on whatever they want to focus on," Xasha calmed down, he didn't backtrack, but he was making it up as he went along.

Megan giggled. She closed the book she was reading and said, "that's not how it works, Xasha. If you will register a guild, it has to be a type of guild. It can be a merchant guild, alchemy guild, enchantment guild, mercenary guild, magic theory guild, hunting guild, magic combat guild, etc."

"Why is it like this? You should be able to let your guild be anything you want it to be," Xasha complained.

"Well, it's in their best interest, all students must choose a mage path to focus on if they try to split their attention to master more than one they will be long dead before they master either " Megan laughed at her own joke, then continued, "with talents, you are born with them and the knowledge of how they work, what they can do, what they can't, and they get stronger as you get stronger."

"I know all this, Mage paths take a lifetime to master and you can only do 2 a most with one primary and one secondary. If you try to master both you will end up being a jack of all trades and master of none. You can either be a magic scholar, alchemist, enchanter, or combat mage. With each path having a number of sub-branches to study. But that doesn't mean you have to force students to only join guilds that align with their mage path," this disgruntled Xasha.

"The idea is to have the youngsters learn from their seniors and for peers on a similar path to work together to achieve breakthroughs in their respective fields. The Pills&Potions Alchemy Guild that created the next step potion a few years ago is a great example of this. Thanks to that potion, families can ensure that the next generation is born with a stronger constitution fit for combat magic. Thus ensuring a stronger military force for any province on this continent," she explained.

"You're right, that was an amazing invention that brought immense changes to this world. I look up to those seniors especially. I benefited greatly from that option,  if I didn't have it and was born with the talents I did I would probably be a vegetable right now. But there are also benefits to having persons that study distinct paths working together, Right?"

"You're right, I tried told my granduncle the same thing. He told me that the current way brings the most benefits, he said the ancestors also looked at both paths and decided on the current one and that he will respect their decision. Ugh. So, any way you will have to decide what kind of guild you want to create."

"In that case, it will be a merchant guild," Xasha said with a chuckle.

"A merchant guild? Are you sure?" this surprised Megan.

"Yes," was all he said.

"The Red Robin, Bale Moon, and the Delavega City merchant guilds have all but cornered the market. All the smaller guilds are under them. Starting a Marchant guild will only be asking for trouble," Megan informed him calmly.

"Bale Moon? I hear that name a lot, aren't those guy's nothing but warmongers how can they be considered a merchant guild."

Megan burst out in a grin, "Right you are, Bale Moon is trouble with a capital T, that's what makes going up against them so exciting."

"What's life without a bit of excitement!" Xasha burst out with a mysterious grin.

"Well, sign me up, I'm due for a bit of excitement. This place has been way too peaceful lately."

"Are you sure, what about the Lotus Grand Order? Doesn't your family run that guild?" Xasha asked.

"Yes, my cousin Reagan runs it, but I can do whatever I want. And I want to join your guild."

"In that case welcome aboard," Xasha said giving her his hand to shake.

She took his hand, shook it, and said, "so what's the name of this guild of yours?"

"It's the Falling Stardust Trading Company," Xasha said with a confident smile.