Once the appointed time arrived, figures of middle-aged men appeared one after another on the central platform in the Heavenly Star Palace.
These were the leading researchers from the various departments of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Every one of them was at least a research official who had earned the title of scientist.
Moreover, although they looked to be in their thirties or forties, not one of them was actually under sixty.
The Imperial Academy of Sciences had a clear and orderly promotion system, with the following ranks:
Intern (Preliminary) Researcher, Junior Researcher, Intermediate Researcher, Senior Researcher, and Special-Grade Researcher.
Above Special-Grade Researchers were the scientists, who were likewise divided into four levels, with Level One the highest and Level Four the lowest.
Each of these ranks corresponded to different resource privileges.
Most Intern Researchers were students at universities throughout the Yanhuang Empire. Starting in their third year, they could apply for Intern Researcher status.
After obtaining that status, they could apply to their schools to use the on-campus laboratories and certain resources.
After graduating from university, Junior Researchers could become full-fledged researchers. They could be said to be at the very bottom.
The benefits and privileges of becoming full-fledged researchers were the qualifications to receive a Level-One laboratory and independently apply for research projects.
Of course, they could also choose not to apply for a laboratory and instead continue following their mentors as assistant researchers.
This allowed them to use the equipment and some resources in their mentors' advanced laboratories for experiments.
This was the choice made by the vast majority of Junior Researchers.
After all, the resources the Empire allocated to Junior Researchers were pitifully scarce, while experiments consumed enormous amounts of resources.
Failure was practically the norm in every laboratory.
As a result, Junior Researchers often