At Keller's words, the crowd around them erupted in exclamations.

  "Allen is actually this rich!"

  "This is absurd! Advanced Magic Crystals are nothing to him. He just casually produces one hundred thousand Ultimate Magic Crystals."

  "My god, what kind of family must he come from to have such wealth?"

  "Even a servant can carry a high-quality spatial ring and have this many Ultimate Magic Crystals on hand."

  Seeing this shocking scene, the lower-tier apprentices couldn't help but sigh in astonishment.

  They had originally thought that Allen treated them politely and never bullied them because, like them, he came from humble beginnings and understood the struggles of lower-tier apprentices.

  But now it was clear that he simply didn't care to show off. He had no need to use his background or wealth to dominate others.

  Despite having such a powerful family and incredible wealth, he remained humble and low-key, never taking advantage of his status.

  By comparison, Allen seemed to be leagues above Marius.

  Marius and his followers were completely dumbfounded as they looked at the Ultimate Magic Crystals in front of Allen.

  This was outrageous! A mere servant could hold so many Ultimate Magic Crystals and control them at will!

  Sure, the Hawke family could produce one hundred thousand Ultimate Magic Crystals, but those were not for Marius to freely use.

  Yet here was Allen's servant casually managing such a fortune and even offering to send more if needed.

  It was obvious that, for Allen's family, one hundred thousand Ultimate Magic Crystals was nothing at all.

  Marius struggled for a long moment before forcing out a smile, one more awkward than crying.

  He was about to speak, hoping to ease the tension, when a loud, arrogant, and piercing laughter suddenly rang out from behind him.

  The laughter was so sharp and commanding that it drowned out all other chatter in the courtyard.

  "One hundred thousand Ultimate Magic Crystals? Is that supposed to impress me?"

  "Maybe enough to scare Marius, but if you want to show off in front of me, it's far from enough. Not even close to catching my eye."

  Everyone turned toward the voice and saw a young man with a bold, defiant expression slowly entering the courtyard.

  He carried himself with an upright and imposing posture, flanked by men and women dressed in luxurious clothing, each radiating arrogance and obviously of noble birth.

  "It's Kaelor Wright!"

  "The eldest son of the Aetherlan City governor!"

  An even louder wave of astonished exclamations erupted from the crowd. Almost all the apprentices present recognized the man speaking.

  Allen also recognized him. It was Kaelor, the eldest son of the Aetherlan City governor.

  The men and women at his side were all children of Aetherlan City's major powers and noble families.

  Kaelor stood behind the Aetherlan City governor's office, which controlled the order of the entire city and wielded immense power, far beyond what the Hawke family could ever match.

  When Marius saw that it was Kaelor, he hurriedly stood up and went to greet him, speaking in a flattering tone,"Are you also here to take part in the resource battle this time?"

  Kaelor cast a casual glance at Marius and said with displeasure,

  "Allen is, after all, the headmaster's core apprentice, a person of status. And you dare to show off this kind of trash? You only embarrass yourself. No wonder you get outshone by others."

  Marius's face flushed red. He kept nodding and bowing, not daring to offer a single word of rebuttal.

  The Hawke family relied on the governor's office for protection and survival, so of course he did not dare offend someone like Kaelor, a direct heir of that power.

  Marius quickly led Kaelor to the stone bench where he had been sitting and hurriedly put away the Advanced Magic Crystals on the table.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He was afraid of being mocked again, and even more afraid of having them compared with the Ultimate Magic Crystals in front of Allen, which would only make him look more pathetic.

  Kaelor ignored Marius's fawning. Instead, he gave Allen a reluctant nod, a perfunctory smile on his face.

  Then he signaled to a woman at his side.

  She immediately understood and, imitating what Keller had done, lightly waved her hand over the table in front of her.

  The next second, one hundred thousand Ultimate Magic Crystals appeared, stacked neatly on the table. It was a clear challenge.

  Only after a long moment did hushed murmurs ripple through the crowd.

  "My god, are they really going head to head now? Kaelor is deliberately targeting Allen."

  "I've heard it for a long time. Kaelor has never accepted Allen. He's been holding a grudge."

  "He's not like Marius, who only relies on family power. His talent in magic is also extremely high."

  "I also heard that back then, the governor personally stepped in, hoping Kaelor could become Headmaster Berton's core apprentice, but the headmaster refused, saying he had no plans to take a disciple at the time."

  "And then not long after, the headmaster took Allen as his core apprentice. Who wouldn't be angry about that?"

  "Allen may have maxed out talent, but he learns magic slowly. His mana level is not even on par with ordinary apprentices."

  "Kaelor probably thinks he's far stronger than Allen and that the headmaster chose the wrong person. He's here to slap the headmaster in the face, and Allen as well."

  "Exactly. He wants to prove that whether it's talent, mana level, wealth, or background, he surpasses Allen in every way."

  "This is bad. Even if Allen has family backing him, how could he possibly compare to the governor's office of Aetherlan City, the most powerful force of all? He's probably going to be humiliated today."

  Hearing the apprentices' whispers, Kaelor's lips curled into a cold smile, and a flash of resentment and unwillingness flickered in his eyes.

  They were right. He truly carried a raging fury in his heart and had never accepted Allen.

  He had fought his way into the top ranks of Luminara Magic Academy through his own strength, with outstanding talent and formidable mana.

  With the governor's office backing him, in every respect he believed himself hundreds, even thousands of times superior to Allen.

  Yet that stubborn Berton would rather refuse the goodwill of the governor's office and not take him as an apprentice, only to turn around and accept a so called max talent student who could not even learn magic properly as his core apprentice.

  What made it even more ridiculous was that, simply because Allen held the status of the headmaster's core apprentice, Kaelor had to maintain a surface level of respect whenever he saw him in the academy, no matter how unwilling he felt inside. It was an unbearable humiliation.

  Today, taking advantage of this hiring event and in front of all the academy's apprentices, he intended to thoroughly slap Allen in the face and show everyone that the headmaster had chosen the wrong person.

  Kaelor wanted to make sure that Berton knew just how foolish and wrong it had been to refuse the governor's offer and not take him as a disciple back then.

  Kaelor's face held an arrogant smile as he waved to the young woman beside him.

  The girl immediately understood, and the one hundred thousand Ultimate Magic Crystals on the table were instantly withdrawn back into the space ring.

  "Allen, these are just meaningless trinkets," Kaelor said.

  "Ultimate Magic Crystals have a fixed price; they are not truly treasures."

  "They are nothing like enchanted items or magic potions, nor like rare herbs or Mana Fruits. Those are the real priceless treasures, impossible to obtain by chance."

  With that, Kaelor flipped his hand, and a dark red gleam flashed at his fingertips. A strangely shaped, bright red fruit appeared in his palm.

  The fruit resembled a curled-up Fire Gryphon, with fur and wings clearly visible, like a vivid miniature gryphon, surrounded by a strong aura of life magic.

  "It's a Fire Gryphon Fruit!"

  "My god, that is a sacred healing fruit!"

  "It is said that as long as the soul remains, even if the body is shattered, consuming a single Fire Gryphon Fruit can reconstruct the body and restore all magic power."

  "But this fruit only grows deep in the Mist Forest of the elves. It is truly priceless, and no amount of money could buy it!"

  The apprentices around them erupted into even louder exclamations upon seeing the fruit.

  Their eyes filled with envy as they craned their necks to get a better look.

  Seeing the continuous astonished and admiring murmurs, Kaelor's pride only grew, the smile on his lips almost overflowing.

  He deliberately held the Fire Gryphon Fruit high and shook it in front of everyone, then casually brought it to his mouth and took a large bite.

  The flesh melted instantly, and a warm wave of magic spread through him. Kaelor smacked his lips and said,

  "The taste is a bit underwhelming, not rich enough. But for daily magic recovery and maintaining the body, it's more than sufficient."

  Seeing this, the surrounding apprentices were all dismayed.

  "This is a Fire Gryphon Fruit! He is actually eating it like an ordinary fruit to restore energy?"

  "Am I hallucinating? Such a priceless treasure, and he is wasting it like this!"

  "This is insane. The governor's family's resources really are beyond our imagination!"

  The noble children behind Kaelor all wore smug expressions, chins raised, looking at the surrounding apprentices with disdain.

  They seemed to enjoy being admired and envied, and they liked seeing the wide-eyed looks of people who had never seen such wealth.

  At this moment, Kelle slightly bent down and whispered to Allen,"Do you want to teach him a lesson?"

  Allen clearly did not care about this boring display of wealth and provocation.

  Compared to Kaelor's arrogance, he was more focused on how Kelle had managed to pinpoint his exact location.

  "Do whatever you want. Handle it however you see fit. No need to report to me," Allen said with a wave of his hand.

  Kelle nodded, a knowing smile appearing on his face, then straightened up.

  With a single motion of his hand, the one hundred thousand Ultimate Magic Crystals on the table were instantly drawn back into the space ring.

  Then Kelle looked up, eyes passing over the crowd, and focused on the back gate of the courtyard. He gestured lightly toward it and said,"You, come here!"

  At his command, a dark-skinned man immediately ran over and asked,"Housekeeper Kelle, what are your orders?"

  Kelle pointed to the half Fire Gryphon Fruit still in Kaelor's hand and asked,"What is this about?"

  "Such a fine item, why don't we have it? How do you usually do things?"

  Hearing Kelle's rebuke, the middle-aged man's expression twisted with embarrassment and hesitation. After a long pause, he carefully lifted his head and said,

  "Housekeeper Kelle, we do have this item."

  "But normally, we only use these to feed dogs. They are not for human consumption!"