Looking at the dense crowds on the street and the bustling shops on both sides, now overflowing with people and raking in huge profits, Li Xian couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.
He still had nearly ten thousand gold coins on him, but compared to the cost of living in the Imperial Capital, that sum wasn’t really all that substantial.
Although after joining the Imperial Magic Academy, they would receive a monthly “basic allowance” of a thousand gold coins, two thousand gold coins a month… just to give a simple example, lodging at an inn costs ten gold coins a day, which alone amounts to three hundred gold coins a month.
Add in expenses for food, clothing, and daily necessities, and the monthly costs certainly wouldn’t be low.
Moreover, learning magic wasn’t without its expenses.
Mages of all levels constantly needed to spend large sums on magical materials, including purchasing Magic Crystals to quickly recover and enhance mana, buying Magic Staffs, and enchanting those staffs, all of which demanded a considerable outlay of money.
Thus, the mage profession was never a commoner’s trade.
It was precisely for this reason that the Magic Academy issued a fixed monthly stipend to maintain the students’ basic expenses.
Li Xian himself didn’t mind these costs too much, but Sara was different.
For magic study, aside from talent and effort, resources were an extremely important factor.
Mages with abundant resources would inevitably grow much faster than those without.
So even if they managed to scrape by with the allowance from the Magic Academy, the money in hand would still never be enough.
Whether for purchasing magical materials or simply living better, they would definitely need to find other ways to earn money.
And that was exactly what Li Xian was thinking about now.
Besides scrounging some allowance from the Imperial Magic Academy, he had to come up with other ways to earn.
As for making money… hunting Magic Beasts for Magic Crystals was indeed a good option, considering how valuable Magic Crystals were.
But this method came with many restrictions.
First, Li Xian couldn’t run off to the Northern Wildwood every day, especially once they entered the Academy, when time would become even scarcer.
Besides, even in the Northern Wildwood, Magic Beasts weren’t easy to find.
After all, he and Sara had spent many days in the forest, even passing through its center, and had only managed to get a handful of Magic Crystals.
Most importantly, this method was labor-intensive and troublesome.
If there was a way to slack off, who would want to bother so much?
In a prosperous place like the Imperial Capital, opening a shop and doing business was undoubtedly the best way to make money.
This idea wasn’t a sudden whim either.
In fact, Li Xian had already considered this before, and he had discovered a problem…
After all, this was another world, vastly different from his previous one.
He had seen inns and taverns in the Imperial Capital and tasted many otherworldly drinks, which were honestly quite good, but there were some things he had never encountered.
For example… cream and coffee.
This world had desserts, of course, and also universally loved beverages like milk, but Li Xian had never seen cream anywhere.
Coffee was the same.
Back in the Northern Wildwood, he had once seen plants similar to coffee trees.
The locals seemed to understand that the fruits of these trees could help keep one awake, but no one had ever mentioned making coffee from coffee beans.
If he could properly capitalize on this…
Li Xian narrowed his eyes.
Although making cream and coffee had some technical challenges, with magic to assist, it should be possible to produce them smoothly.
Opening a coffee shop—a whole concept that had never appeared anywhere in this world—selling coffee and cream desserts, and if possible, hiring a few maids, was there any chance he wouldn’t make money?
Thinking about sitting atop a mountain of gold and silver, living a carefree life of indulgence, Li Xian couldn’t help but reveal a sly smile.
Seeing this, Sara shrank her neck slightly, her expression turning odd.
‘Master must be thinking about something weird again…’
“Master?” Unable to hold back, Sara tugged at the corner of Li Xian’s robe, breaking his daydream.
“Hey, don’t block the road, what’s the meaning of standing still in the middle of the street?” At the same time, an annoyed voice came from behind.
“Ah? Oh…” Li Xian snapped back to reality, coughing awkwardly twice before continuing forward with Sara.
“By the way, you forgot what I told you last night again, didn’t you?” After walking a few steps, Li Xian remembered and looked at Sara.
“Ah!” Sara was stunned for a moment, then caught on, her face flushing as she said, “Y-Yes… Mr. Li Xian.”
Last night, Li Xian had decided with Sara that no matter what, a cute young girl calling a young man “Master” in public was just too eye-catching (and likely to cause trouble), so outside, it was better to use a different form of address to avoid unnecessary issues.
Continuing to follow the crowd, it wasn’t long before the silhouette of the Magic Academy appeared in view.
It was only called a silhouette because they were still quite a distance away, but looking at the massive sea of people ahead, it was obvious they wouldn’t be able to move forward any further.
“Damn!” Li Xian’s mouth twitched.
This was just too brutal.
With this many people, how long would the line last?
Was there any other way…
Li Xian looked around and soon spotted a blonde girl and a purple-haired girl, arm in arm, strolling leisurely past the crowd, directly entering the Academy.
Shortly after, they came out again and walked over to the bustling street in front to go shopping.
“…Damn it, those damn connections.”
Li Xian gritted his teeth but had no choice.
Since he was a stranger here, the only option was to obediently wait in line.
But looking at the packed crowd ahead, Li Xian estimated he might not get to the front even by nightfall.
Frustrated, he decided not to queue at all.
After all, the registration period lasted three days; whether earlier or later didn’t matter.
There was no need to waste time standing in line.
With that time, it was better to take Sara and stroll around the Imperial Capital.
Thinking this, Li Xian tugged Sara away from the line amid her confused looks, taking a side path toward the bustling street across.
Both he and Sara were wearing very shabby clothes now.
Having money at last, it was definitely time to buy some new outfits.