Witch Catherine glanced at Locke. "Now that you're a Second-Ring Wizard, you can apply for Special-Grade Funding. Publishing papers and applying for projects work very differently at the Second-Ring Stage than they do at the First-Ring Stage."
"That's because the White Wizard Association protects First-Ring Wizards. Across all four magic levels of the First-Ring Stage, one thing is deliberately overlooked: [verification of a study's originality]."
"Most First-Ring Wizards' horizons extend no farther than one Wizard Land, sometimes not even beyond a small Academy within it. To them, that Wizard Land may be the whole world. That's why the White Wizard Association doesn't require proof of originality for their grant applications or journal submissions."
"But every paper, publication, and research project by a Second-Ring Wizard must prove one thing: originality."
"Without originality, you can't apply for funding or publish a paper. That makes projects and journal articles much harder for Second-Ring Wizards to get approved."
Witch Catherine said, "Put it this way: to the White Wizard Association, all the results produced by First-Ring Wizards across their four magic levels are less like things it can use directly and more like a way to foster a thriving field."
"As a saying from the Cloud Marsh Wetland goes: if you want one genius, you need a hundred mediocrities. So the greatest value of First-Ring Wizards to the White Wizard Association is simply that they exist."
"As a result, things that are incredibly easy for First-Ring Wizards become exceptionally difficult for Second-Ring Wizards."
Locke nodded slightly. That was probably why the seven old men on the Silent Grail Tournament committee had immediately rejected his hint.
For Second-Ring Wizards, projects and journal publications carried far more weight than they did for First-Ring Wizards!
Come to think of it, the competition was different too.
Which Second-Ring