Do ratmen dream of the sacred tree of spirits?

The Takeaways from Chapter 83, "Options"

The Takeaways from Chapter 84, "Options"

"My esteemed Bishop Leighton, I salute you." Kingsley saw Cedric Leighton approaching and quickly raised his glass, looking him in the eye. Bishop Leighton took the glass from the waiter's tray and lightly clinked it against Kingsley's: "Bishop Kingsley, you're too kind."

"Your Excellency, please feel free to give any instructions you may have. The Security Bureau will fully cooperate with everything you need."

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Bishop Leyton took a sip of his wine and walked away.

After a while, Fafnir noticed that Bishop Leighton was walking towards him and Sister Fanning. Sister Fanning went to greet them, and Fafnir followed behind. "Greetings, Bishop Leighton." Sister Fanning raised her glass and looked into his eyes. Bishop Leighton nodded and raised his glass in return.

"Fanning Van Renett?"

"It is I, Lord Layton."

"I heard that the Lorraine Territory has opened a school for the children of the poor, accepting the descendants of Narns's hired laborers. This is the first time such a school has been established in the entire Holy Kingdom. Are you in charge of this?"

Sister Fanning seemed a little confused by the question, and cautiously replied, "Yes."

“You are serving as both the principal of the grammar school and a member of parliament, so your energy is limited. I think this matter can be handled by my subordinates,” Bishop Layton said unhurriedly. “Recent news mentioned this school in the latest bulletin of the Holy Kingdom’s Foreign Affairs Committee. This is hailed as a diplomatic success for the Narns Empire in recent years, which is inseparable from the leadership of our Church of the God of Death in the Lorraine Territory. I need to take this matter seriously.”

Bishop Leighton waited a short while but did not hear Sister Fanning's flattery or obedience.

Sister Fanning was silent for a moment: "Lord Leighton, the school has been under the management of Father Fafnir since its establishment. I don't think we can change the person in charge arbitrarily. In addition, Lord Zaitsev has also contributed a lot."

Bishop Leiden's face turned cold: "Viktor Zaitsev? He's not in Lorraine right now. I'm informing you, Fanning, what do you mean by this—"

""

"My esteemed Bishop of Leiden, you are absolutely right!"

Now that the school has attracted the attention of the Foreign Affairs Committee, it can no longer be run in the previous piecemeal manner; it needs stronger leadership and more standardized management.

"It is an honor for this school to have your leadership," Fafnir interjected.

"Oh? You are—" Bishop Leighton had just completely ignored Fafnir, but now he noticed that the little guy had a silver raven feather on his chest.

"Your Excellency, I am Fafnir Beckett, the current administrator of the school for children of the poor." Fafnir bowed to Bishop Leiden.

"Good—not bad, Fafnir, is that right? I'll remember you." Bishop Leighton's expression softened, and he stopped talking to Sister Fanning and left.

The banquet continued as scheduled, and the venue was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

After Bishop Leiden left, the people present gradually dispersed. Fafnir accompanied Sister Fanning as they left. "Sister Fanning, I'm sorry, I don't know if what I just said was correct—"

"It's alright—haha, little guy,"

Sister Fanning paused. "Thank you, but I'm getting old—I was too impulsive. I don't like this Cedric Layton, kid. Go home and be with your parents. See you when school starts."

Goodbye! Thank you for letting me attend this banquet.

Time flies, and the seventh semester is about to begin. In two months, he will have been in this world for eleven years. Fafnir felt a little emotional and decided to work hard in the new semester.

————..

Today was enrollment day. Before dawn, Fafnir met up with Ellen Martha early and they walked together toward the East Side School for Poor Children, chatting as they went.

"Fafner, thank you so much!"

"Alan and I have mastered the first-order fireball spell. Just a week ago, we haven't seen each other for the past few days. I really wanted to share this with you," Martha said excitedly. "We discovered a week ago that we can now activate the first-order fireball spell entirely through the spiritual structure we've built ourselves."

I really don't know how to thank you—

Martha and Allen felt ashamed; there was nothing they could do to help Fafnir.

Congratulations!

"Haha, I understand. Knowing how to use Fireball and only having meditative spiritual vision are completely different levels. Being able to directly unleash a fireball when in danger—that's the true skill of a superhuman!" Fafnir shared his insights. He already knew that Martha and Allen had successfully mastered Fireball; the "options" interface in the "ledger" showed the progress. Once the 30-day expiration date arrived, after deducting the "option fees" paid to the "ledger," he would directly net two units of spiritual energy—the maximum limit.

Right, Fafnir suddenly realized that he might have been a bit conservative back then. Martha and Allen could learn the first-order Fireball spell in three weeks with his spiritual guidance technique, so should he have changed the expiration date from "30 days" to "23 days"? After all, only after the expiration date could he buy the next "call option" from Martha and Allen. Also, wasn't the option premium of one standard spiritual unit cap a bit low? If he invested ten standard spiritual units cap as "option premium" into the ledger, would he get twenty points? — Hahaha, uh — Fafnir felt that he must be dreaming. The "ledger" followed certain rules, and randomly filling in numbers would definitely be useless.

After the three arrived at the school for children of the poor, they found many children and their parents already arriving in the alley to register. Fafnir saw Teacher Anna and the other four senior teachers. They held a brief meeting to confirm this year's enrollment numbers. They also visited the new school building, a two-story structure with six classrooms, which was finally completed. As more and more people arrived to register, Fafnir announced the start of enrollment. This year's enrollment rules were the same as last year: regular students needed to write their names and all the letters of the common language of the Western Continent. "Tutoring classes" outside of regular classes only required registration on a list; children aged six to twelve were eligible. Although the new school building could accommodate nearly three hundred students, there were simply too many applicants, and enrollment was held every semester; the two-year program had not yet graduated.

This year, not only children from a few blocks near the East End signed up, but children from even more distant areas came, and it seems there were children from other districts as well. Fafner felt that the church should open branch schools in other districts.

Fafnir even sensed a very familiar presence. He saw the little ratman girl who was visiting Ryan City for the first time. The ratman bloodline was still very obvious, and her appearance was also very unique.

By the way, I wonder what the Leyton Bishop's plans are; at least we haven't seen any action from the bishop on admissions day.

Fafnir felt exhausted at the end of the day's admissions work.

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