Nine Stars District.
At a certain research base, the atmosphere was jubilant.
Teachers and students alike were cheering.
"From now on, we won't have to worry about funding. We can buy a bottle of reagents and pour out a bottle if we want."
"One set of every supply at home, one in the lab, and one in the car. That way, we can use them anytime."
"Unlimited investment, online applications, approval within five minutes... Am I dreaming?"
"Professor, I heard the lab next door received the same kind of funding."
"Oh, then we need to work harder and strive for even better results."
"They used to invest everything in Strange Seeds and supernatural abilities related to source power. All we got were scraps. Now, we've finally made it through the hard times."
"Exactly. And all those outstanding students, every last one of them goes off to become mages, players, or Mystery Seekers. None of them want to become graduate students or work on research projects," one professor sighed.
Being a mage or a player was so much more interesting. They had power, money, and longer lives.
Compared to that, tedious experiments, cobbled-together data, and hair-pulling papers had absolutely no appeal.
After thirty years of grueling research, one might gain only the slightest achievement, remaining nothing more than a research laborer.
Given the comparison, nearly ninety-nine percent of talent had been lost.
But things were different now. All kinds of resources could be applied for.
As long as there were resources, there was no need to fear a lack of people.
Modern society had no shortage of talent.
Every year, huge numbers of students graduated, all worrying over how to find suitable positions.
It was common for PhDs to take jobs meant for undergraduates.
Even worse, some people studied hard for