"Now, let’s talk about payment."
Simon froze the moment he heard these words, but he later regained his composure after three seconds.
He looked at Instructor Ormon with his lips twitching slightly behind his mask.
’I was thinking he had forgotten.’
"Alright. So, how many merits do I need to pay?"
The moment he asked his question, Instructor Ormon had a strange expression.
"Merits? You? You’re poor, kid. Even if you might be rich for your class, to somebody like me, you’re poor."
He chuckled while shaking his head.
"You’re not going to pay me with merits, kid."
Surprisingly, Simon was actually not surprised by this because he had thought of it before arriving at the training ground and even before he attempted the process of getting a private instructor.
For many, if not all, the instructors, a thousand merits was not going to be useful to them.
If he was to guess, for somebody like Ormon who was a half-step Demon Lord, he’d only be interested in at least ten thousand merits.
"If I’m not paying you with merits, how do I pay you then?"
Instructor Ormon’s lips curled up slightly.
"Tasks. You do things for me, and that’s it."
Simon narrowed his eyes. "Things like what?"
"It can be anything actually, but according to the laws of the academy, I can’t put you in danger and neither can I maltreat you in this situation."
Simon still had a suspicious expression and he did not feel safe even after hearing that the laws of academy were involved.
He had already seen it that the laws of the academy could be broken, so he had zero faith in their so called laws.
"So, basically... I’ll be like your errand boy?"
There was an uncomfortable silence between the two of them, and Ormon had a strange expression.
He wanted to deny it, but the truth of the matter is that, it was true.
"Yeah... I guess you can put it that way."
Simon raised a brow, and he could not help but chuckle.
Ormon seeing Simon’s reaction could not help but raise a brow.
"If you have a problem with that, then you can pay me fifteen thousand merits, and just so you know, I’m lowering it because you’re a first year."
"If you were a third year or a second year, you’ll be paying at least double that amount."
Simon’s lips could not help but twitch.
He doesn’t even have up to fifteen thousand merits.
"Do other instructors also do this? I mean, making their student an errand boy or girl if they can’t pay?"
Ormon shook his head. "It depends on the instructor. If I was not interested in having you as my student, you’d have to pay me fifteen thousand merits."
Simon’s expression became thoughtful.
"Is the fifteen thousand merits for the entire year?"
Simon had his pride, and naturally, he had no desire to be an errand boy for anybody.
If he had to pay fifteen thousand merits just for an entire year, then he would pay it even if he had zero merits left with him.
At least, that would be better than him becoming an errand boy.
Unfortunately...
"A year?" Ormon raised his brows and gave Simon an amused look.
"Boy, it’s per month. Do you think I’m running some kind of charity or something?"
"How many hell stones do you think instructors at my level use that you expect us to charge fifteen thousand merits a year?"
Simon blinked, then he released a deep sigh.
’Errand boy it is then.’
Although Simon decided to put down his pride to get stronger, he was not just going to agree without putting certain things in place.
"If I agree to do certain tasks for you, I want you to know that I’m not going to be doing petty tasks for you, and neither am I going to embarrass myself for you."
"And it would be better if you inform me beforehand because I am not going to stop my cultivation or training just because you want me to do a meaningless task."
Instructor Ormon tilted his head slightly and he could not help but chuckle softly.
"You are the one that’s benefiting from me the most, but here you are, acting like you’re the one in charge."
Simon said nothing and just stared at Ormon with his arms folded.
Instructor Ormon nonchalantly shrugged.
"No problem. You’re very lucky that I’m your private instructor since I have some very beautiful and wonderful ladies who are happy to help me with those petty tasks you don’t want to do."
Simon rolled his eyes, then he quickly spoke.
"So, is everything finalized?"
Ormon nodded slightly with his four arms folded.
"Yes."
Simon heaved a sigh of relief, then he turned so as to leave the training ground.
"I’ll be on my way then."
He was about to take a step, but Ormon stopped him.
"Wait."
Simon paused and looked at him with a raised brow.
"Is there a problem?" He asked.
Ormon looked at Simon for a few seconds before he spoke.
"Do you know why I decided to give you a chance to learn the Broken Rhythm Art?"
Simon nodded and said with a serious tone.
"Because I’m very talented?"
Instructor Ormon’s lips could not help but twitch.
He had the urge to give Simon a beating or two, but he decided not to.
He inhaled, then exhaled before speaking.
"The reason why I’m giving you a chance is because I’m interested to see how you would develop."
"You’re an innate swordsman, and a very talented one at that. I want to see if you’ll be able to combine the fist path and the sword path."
"I want to know if it’s possible for me to transform a swordsman into a brawler."
"And I want to see the face of a particular sword bastard the moment he sees what I’ve done and what I’ve made you become."
"His face would surely be priceless."
Instructor Ormon began to laugh loudly, and Simon had a strange expression.
For some reason, he had a feeling that the last reason was the main reason.