The news of Hilia reaching Tier Two caused quite a stir, but it was mostly among her peers.

Most people were merely astonished and quickly moved on, only a few truly cared.

Doris was among those few.

She managed to catch Hilia at noon and repeatedly asked in disbelief:

"You... you’ve reached Tier Two? When did this happen?"

Hilia smiled slightly, "I know you’re eager to congratulate me, but there’s no need to stop me on the way to the cafeteria. We can talk inside."

Doris puffed up her cheeks and said angrily, "Who said I was talking to you? Hmph, don’t get too proud, it’s just Tier Two. I can ascend at any time."

"As you wish."

Hilia stepped past her and entered the cafeteria. Just as she got her lunch and sat down, Benovia suddenly sat in front of her.

"Congratulations," she said.

Hilia was momentarily taken aback, then nodded, "Thank you."

Both of them were candidates, but Doris and Benovia’s attitudes were completely different.

Benovia seemed casual to Hilia, like she wasn’t concerned with the Holy Daughter candidacy at all.

Yet, her strength could not be underestimated.

Hilia quietly asked Rose, "Lord Rose, has Benovia ascended to Tier Two yet?"

Even if she had, without a fight, Hilia couldn’t determine Benovia’s tier. She seemed to have practiced some magic to conceal her tier.

"Not yet, but she’s close."

"A formidable and mysterious rival indeed."

"And Doris is also close," Rose added.

"She is too..."

Hilia widened her eyes but quickly became at ease.

As nobles, they had accumulated resources long before entering the Divine Magic Academy. Once they became mages, they certainly reached the critical point with ease.

They just hadn’t made the breakthrough yet.

Hilia suddenly felt she might have broken through a bit hastily.

"This pace is just right. The whale fin can prevent issues with control and purity of magic power caused by progressing too fast."

Rose calmly stated, "Moreover, since you have entered the deepest divine realm, even mages stuffed with drugs won’t face problems when returning from there. The difference would just be some weakness."

"That’s good."

Hilia relaxed.

While the two of them ate in silence, Rose observed Benovia.

Of course, it was not her beauty he was observing.

Although Benovia was as good-looking as Hilia, with golden hair, she still wasn’t enough to capture Rose’s attention.

What intrigued him was the faint sensation emanating from Benovia.

She had become stronger.

"Could this girl really be praying every day to the divine statue that I left a trace of spiritual power on?"

Originally intending to give up, Rose couldn’t help but become interested.

As an experienced strategy game player, Rose never acted impulsively. If possible, he wouldn’t put all his eggs in one basket.

Even though, just relying on Hilia and taking things steadily, not drawing the Twelve Main Gods’ attention to suppress her, would basically ensure smooth sailing until he could unseal himself.

However, having more options wouldn’t hurt.

Since Benovia was making such efforts in praying to a god outside the Holy Court, responding to her at the right time wouldn’t be a bad idea.

With these thoughts, Rose already had a plan in mind.

"By the way..."

Hilia suddenly spoke up, and when Benovia raised her head, she said, "I’ve been so busy lately that I forgot to return the Heart of Gold to you. How about coming with me to the dormitory to get it back?"

Benovia shook her head, "You already provided something of equal value, it’s yours now. No need to return it."

"Uh, I feel the information I provided shouldn’t be worth that much of a Heart of Gold..."

"Some things can’t just be measured in gold coins," Benovia said. "You didn’t just give me their clues, but joy, and I think my joy is worth more than those hearts of gold."

"Alright, thanks a lot."

So it turns out I was providing emotional value?

Hilia muttered to herself inwardly.

The remaining Heart of Gold, she hadn’t used, intending to return it to Benovia when she had the time, but somehow she never found the time.

Now that Benovia clearly said she didn’t want it, Hilia couldn’t help but develop some other ideas.

"Since Benovia doesn’t want it, these materials shouldn’t just sit around."

The young girl had made up her mind.

"I’ll use them to make money!"

Hilia’s daily life didn’t change much, except that some courses no longer required her attendance after her tier ascension. The school gave her the option to free up that time to do her own things or temporarily join the upper grades.

Hilia chose to free up that time, went to buy blank scrolls that could carry magic above Tier Two, first practicing popular and in-demand Tier Two magic scrolls and then attempting to draw Tier Three magic runes.

Her talent in runes was recognized by Rose, so she was quite confident. After a few failures, she really managed to create a Tier Three magic scroll.

"I am indeed a genius!"

The young girl held the scroll up to the light, examining the complex magic patterns, while planning in her mind.

"The price for Tier One scrolls ranges from 20 to 120 silver coins. Tier Two scrolls cost from 80 silver coins to 3 gold coins, Tier Three can only be bought with gold coins, with a minimum price of 5 gold coins, and Tier Four starts at 20 gold coins with no upper limit... No, I can’t create Tier Four scrolls yet, so I’ll focus on the popular Tier Two and Tier Three spells."

Hilia searched the Star Spirit Network for a while but couldn’t find specific data. Everything there was hyping that the higher the tier, the better, saying a mercenary without a few Tier Four scrolls felt embarrassed to take on missions.

Hilia didn’t believe the network’s claims, so she chose to investigate the Mercenary Guild the next day, observing the stalls selling scrolls to see what was being sold and which scrolls sold the most.

After half a day’s observation, Hilia confirmed.

"The Star Spirit Network is all lies. In the Mercenary Guild, there are no Tier Four scrolls for sale. The best-selling ones are Tier One Healing Skill, Entanglement Skill, and Rock Armor Skill;

"Tier Two scrolls are rare; the usual are Hymn: Blessing, Song of Water, and Forest Blessing, all support types. Tier Three... barely seen, and not sold when seen."

Hilia thought merely looking at the Mercenary Guild wouldn’t suffice, so she went to the Mage Guild to observe until evening, and finally confirmed:

"Even with the Mage Guild, there aren’t many buyers for scrolls above Tier Three, unless encountering nobles purchasing life-saving equipment... It’s still too costly."

Hilia roughly understood that scrolls were consumables, used once and gone, unless encountering a big spender foolish with money, otherwise it would be hard to sell.

It wasn’t that these scrolls were unpopular; on the contrary, if possible, everyone would want to own high-tier ones.

But high-tier scrolls had two main drawbacks: they’re expensive, and they have tier requirements, permitting usage a maximum of one tier lower, for instance, a Tier Three scroll necessitates at least a Tier Two mage to use, and Tier Four necessitates a Tier Three mage.

As for Tier Four, Hilia didn’t know if there were any in mercenaries, as this level of mage could already be employed in high-level magic schools such as the Divine Magic Academy.

After contemplating for a while, Hilia decided: "Make more Tier One and Tier Two scrolls to sell, and a few Tier Three scrolls to test the waters."

While she pondered how to earn money, she didn’t realize that Rose seemed to have vanished today.