Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 957 The Senate's Attempt to Retain Them

The Moon Ring Wizard at the Wyvern Garden looked slightly grim, because Rain Marshland didn't have a super-giant wizarding academy like the Root Crown Court; the entire wizarding land only served three wizarding academies, and it didn't even have a large wizarding academy like Cloud Marsh Wetland with seven.

The entire Rainswamp is essentially a wizarding university complex, composed of small and medium-sized wizarding colleges—gardens, similar to the state of an academic city. However, the problem is that the wizarding colleges within the academic cities of the Starfield Sea are much more closely connected, and the scale of each college is much larger. Furthermore, the academic cities are truly organizations that can share funds.

In the Rainswamp, wizarding academies like the Wyvern Garden are under the unified management of a branch of the White Wizarding Association, but each has its own independent funding, personnel, and student body. They can only cooperate on many projects under the unified management of the White Wizarding Association.

Therefore, although the Wyvern Garden is a top wizarding academy in the Rain Marshland, and seems to be positioned similarly to the top wizarding university, Mount Golden Crown, in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, their statuses are actually worlds apart and cannot be equated. However, when he introduces himself to the outside world, he usually tries to associate himself with the top wizarding university in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, but he never expected that he would be caught out by others at this time.

The Moon Ring Wizard of the Pterosaur Garden hesitated for a moment, but still retorted somewhat guiltily, "But our Pterosaur Garden is no less skilled than the Golden Crown Mountain in breeding in certain areas."

"It is no less than the Root Crown Royal Court."

The Sun Ring Wizard from the Rootcrown Court seemed much more imposing. The Rootcrown Court was a power that could rival the super wizarding universities of the Starfield Sea in some aspects. He sneered.

"Leaving aside other comprehensive strengths, your Pterosaur Garden's funding is incomparable to that of Golden Crown Mountain, and even if you add up all the White Wizard Association-level projects, the total number is only one-tenth of Golden Crown Mountain's."

"You and the City of Demons can only sit at the same table."

The Seleucus wizard, who had been watching the show from the sidelines, was completely dumbfounded.

He had been listening with great interest, but he never expected that he, at the very bottom of the social hierarchy, would still be hurt.

The Sun Ring Wizard from the Rootcrown Court said to Locke, "Of course, I'm not being precise in saying that. As a medium-sized wizarding academy that is currently in a period of stagnation, the Magic Pivot City, although larger in scale and seemingly having more funding than the Wyvern Garden, has very serious problems in project management. It's all about quantity and poor quality. In the end, the Wyvern Garden is suffering from its positioning."

"If a typical wizarding university consists of a few core colleges and a dozen or so other general colleges, then wizarding universities in the Rainswamp are generally wizarding universities with only one core college, that is, a single major."

"The Wyvern Academy only has one Breeding Academy, which mainly studies breeding related to the feed of ancient and modern flying magical creatures. Overall, if Wizard Locke wants to do research in this direction, then he can go there. It would be very suitable, at least much better than going to the Nexus, and even more cost-effective than staying at Golden Crown Mountain. But if not, then he shouldn't go."

"Hello, Wizard Locke, I am a wizard mentor from the Rootcrown Court in the Lowlands of Razer, and I am in charge of some of the recruitment work. I am just giving you an objective evaluation for your reference."

"In my opinion, the most suitable wizarding academy for Rainswamp is Reptile Garden. This is because it is the wizarding academy that Rainswamp wants to promote under the current system. Even many of the projects of the Wyvern Academy are just cooperating with Reptile Garden."

The Sun Ring Wizard from the Rootcrown Royal Court objectively commented: "The Reptile Garden is also developing into a comprehensive wizarding academy. However, the Reptile Garden probably won't try to recruit you because they are self-aware enough that they don't currently need much development in breeding science. In the Rainswamp's plan, this work can be done by academies like the Pterosaur Garden. Therefore, they naturally know they can't attract a breeding genius of your caliber to work for them, let alone offer you a price that you find suitable, or provide a platform that can attract you."

At this moment, the senior wizard mentor of the Pterosaur Garden, the Moon Ring Wizard, had a cold expression.

However, the Sun Ring Wizard simply analyzed the pros and cons objectively in front of Locke, and he only mentioned some generally accepted things, adding a little of his own judgment on cost-effectiveness. This made it difficult for Locke to find an opportunity to refute him.

Besides, he was a Moon Ring Wizard, and a Moon Ring Wizard from an academy two levels below him. If he couldn't find anything wrong with what this Sun Ring Wizard from a super wizarding university said, he wouldn't dare to refute him casually.

So, he could only turn cold and walk away.

After all this commotion, he knew it was impossible to recruit Locke.

Seeing the wizard from the Pteranodon Garden turn away in a huff, the Sun Ring Wizard smiled slightly. "I am Wizard Anglu. Nice to meet you, but I am different from them. I did not come here to find you on purpose."

He raised a magic book in his hand to Locke.

“I recently borrowed a retrieval pass and am currently looking up information here. I originally wanted to meet you in a more formal setting to show our respect for talented individuals. I also watched your dissertation defense for the top grant, and it was excellent.”

“Gen Crown Royal Court can provide you with a platform to reach the next level and is willing to offer you good treatment.”

"To make a long story short, what the Crown Royal Court can offer you, Wizard Locke, is a research platform that is on par with most academies in the Starfield Sea, but with far less competitive pressure."

"If you're interested, you might be able to sign a contract with me and come work for the Crown Court after you leave the station."

Locke asked, "If I go to the Root Crown Court, what kind of treatment will I receive at first, Lord Anglu?"

This invitation comes from the Root Crown Royal Court, and it is indeed an invitation that deserves our attention and consideration.

Because the Razer Lowlands actually only have three super wizarding academies, and the Razer Lowlands can be ranked among the top three, or even the top two, of all wizarding lands in the Eastern Boundary.

Therefore, the Root Crown Court is indeed a platform of a higher level than the Golden Crown Mountain.

But what Locke truly longed to visit was the Starfield Sea, for his promise to Professor Sophia, and because the Starfield Sea possessed the most cutting-edge technology, development, and future of the wizarding world…

Of course, I don't have a mental seal. As a wizard, the most important thing is to be flexible and adaptable. I can go wherever the conditions are good and wherever is most suitable for me.

Wizard Anglu said, "I can give you a ten-year contract as a chair mage first. This is the best offer I can make. It's a 5+5 route, meaning a five-year contract as a chair mage, and then after passing the assessment, you can enter the next five years. After passing that as well, you will be given a formal chair mage position."

“There are many geniuses who want to enter the Rootcrown Court, so positions are usually hard to come by. Therefore, it is certainly difficult for us to make promises about positions as easily as the Pterodactyl Garden does, such as wizard mentors or even senior wizard mentors. What we wizards should pursue is a platform and research conditions, not these seemingly nice titles.”

"Is that so, Wizard Locke?"

Locke was rather speechless. It seemed that the wizard Angru treated recruiting him as a routine task, so he didn't actually give him any particularly good benefits.

These conditions weren't particularly attractive to me at all.

His primary goal wasn't the Raize Lowlands, and he wouldn't have gone to the Crown Court without some special benefits. Locke laughed, "That's true. Reality is definitely much more important than empty titles."

At this moment, the Seleucus wizard who had been eavesdropping nearby nodded and said, "Of course, what use is an empty reputation? This is my business card. Mr. Augustine, if you want to work for us in our Nexus City, we can discuss the details of the benefits and compensation."

The Anglu wizard from the Root Crown Royal Court looked at Seleucus in surprise, his face showing an expression of 'you're still here.'

Strange. He looked down on the City of Demons just now. Normal Moon Ring Wizards have their pride, right? Even if they didn't dare to refute him to his face, they would just leave.

Left with no other choice, Locke had to accept the business card handed to him by the wizard Seleucus. There was nothing he could do; the wizards of the Nexus were simply too opportunistic.

It seems that Camilla the Witch was just imitating others.

The wizard Anglu was surprised to see that the wizard from the Nexus City remained calm, as if the wizard named Seleucus had not heard his previous comparison of the hierarchy of contempt.

However, Wizard Angru quickly stopped caring. After all, as a wizard in the personnel department of the Rootcrown Court, he was most sensitive to the ranking of wizarding universities, and in his eyes, Nexus was the kind of city whose name he didn't need to remember at all. The reason he could still remember it was simply because he had come across the information about Nexus as a challenger of Mount Golden Crown while looking at the information about Mount Golden Crown...

After all, there are times when he does need to compete with Golden Crown Mountain for outstanding formal wizarding talent.

The wizard Anglu handed Locke a business card.

"This is my business card. Wizard Locke, you can think about it carefully."

Locke accepted the two men's business cards and was pondering how to find an excuse to leave when an unexpected figure appeared: Wizard Fisher.

When the wizard Fisher found Locke, his eyes lit up slightly. He looked at the wizard Anglo from the Rootcrown Court and the wizard Seleucus from the Nexus with surprise, but after a brief moment of thought, and after judging why these two would appear in the library of Mount Golden Crown at this moment and in front of Locke Augustine, he immediately focused all his attention on the wizard Anglo from the Rootcrown Court.

At that moment, Anglu coughed and walked away. At the same time, when the Seleucus wizard of the Magic Nexus saw the appearance of the wizard Fisher, he also knew that it was not appropriate to continue to have contact with Locke at this time, so he also turned around and left.

Wizard Fisher glanced at the two of them, then pretended not to see them and smiled at Locke, saying, "Wizard Locke, I've been looking for you for a long time. I only came here after hearing from Wizard Daniel that you were in the library."

After bowing, Locke said, "Lord Fisher, is there anything I can do to help you?"

Wizard Fisher chuckled and said, "Oh, it's nothing much. I just wanted to confirm your future departure options with you."

"It just so happens that I'm in charge of the recruitment for post-doctoral fellowships at the True Knowledge Institute this year. After all, the Throne Lords certainly won't interfere with this kind of thing. Come... sit down."

"If you choose to stay at Golden Crown Mountain, as a wizard graduating from the Advanced Institute of Truth at Golden Crown Mountain, you will have certain privileges. First, you will start as a full-fledged lecturer, not a contractual chair wizard. Then, I have prepared a plan for you to quickly obtain a teaching position as a wizard mentor. I guarantee you can complete all of this within three years."

Locke was somewhat unaccustomed to the warmth that the wizard Fisher was showing him.

Wizard Fischer smiled and said, "The researchers from the Advanced Institute of True Knowledge who will be going abroad this year are Wizard Droma and another wizard from the deacon group. I don't think one of them is up to par, but Droma has some potential. I'm planning to give her a contract-based lecturer position so she can give it a try..."

"Of course, these systems were agreed upon by the three major factions of Jinmian Mountain in numerous meetings, and therefore each has its own rules and regulations."

Wizard Fischer said, “The retention of researchers at the Institute of True Knowledge is handled by our Senate. This is for the purpose of checks and balances. It’s like how the management of academic norms at the Institute of True Knowledge is handled by the high-ring wizards on your Academic Committee, while the application and management of equipment is managed by a third-ring wizard on the Deacon Group.”

"Overall, our cooperation has always been very good. We are basically interdependent. Neither of us can do without the other. As a result, it is difficult for us to have real disagreements or pointless factional conflicts and internal friction."

"Well, for truly promising wizards, the talents we at Golden Crown Mountain are interested in, we usually inquire about their willingness to leave the school one or two years in advance. Of course, this is just my personal decision and has nothing to do with the opinions of other Throne Wizards. I just wanted to ask you if you would be willing to stay at the school?"

Wizard Fisher smiled and placed a contract in front of Locke.

Locke frowned. He hadn't expected that after participating in the defense for the special grant, not only would a bunch of wizarding colleges approach him, but even the Senate of Mount Golden Crown would be watching him, wanting to know his thoughts.

But that's normal.

Because I'm almost ready to meet the requirements for leaving the station.

Moreover, once a project receives top-tier funding, one can leave the station directly, taking the project and a portion of the funding with them.

While some key sub-projects couldn't be taken away, in some people's eyes, this meant they could already start trying to poach them. Clearly, the Senate of Mount Golden Crown was trying to figure out their future direction, but it's unclear what role the Academic Committee played in this process.

Is it really true that they don't care about anything?
Locke never expected that he would become such a sought-after person, but this "sought-after person" also faced the pressure of being forced to make a choice.

Locke pondered for a moment.

"Lord Fisher, I have no plans to leave the station for the time being."

Wizard Fisher immediately understood Locke's meaning. He put away the contract. "I see. Then this was indeed premature. We can discuss it later."

The wizard Fisher essentially just wanted to confirm Locke's future survival and to recruit and retain talent for Mount Golden Crown.

But since Locke isn't planning to leave the station yet, there's really no need to continue discussing this topic with him at this juncture.

As long as Locke remains at the Golden Crown Mountain Academy, he will remain the wizard of Golden Crown Mountain.

(End of this chapter)