On the tenth underground floor of the Dune Plane Research Institute, Wizard Trajan's image call came through.
Locke had not expected this senior apprentice-brother to contact him so soon.
The Brass Magic Eye in Wizard Trajan's left eye was still as frightening as ever, while the contamination injury on the right side of his face, left behind by the Dark Greater World, had healed.
It seemed he had spent some time resolving the issue.
Wizard Trajan said, "Junior apprentice-brother, I just finished a close-range void exploration mission, and then I received a message from our teacher. Oh, right, our teacher asked me to pass thirty Magic Crystal Cards on to you."
Locke froze for a moment, then understood. This was the money Witch Catherine had sent him to test the Wedding Ring.
It seemed that, seeing he had taken so long to make a move, she had sent him part of the subsidy.
Locke asked in confusion, "Senior brother, why didn't our teacher give me this money directly?"
Wizard Trajan said, "It isn't strange. She has quite a few research groups under her, and the connections between the academic lineages are also very complicated, involving extremely complex equity structures."
"In general, there are three levels of capital flow. The first level is the normal horizontal and vertical flow within teams, such as those inside the Truth Institute, as well as funding subsidies provided by the institutions."
"This portion of public funds is stored among the various groups and is divided into the public funds within each group and the public funds for the entire team overseen by our teacher. The sources are the resources brought in by our teacher, the resources brought in by each group leader, and project funds obtained by outstanding researchers like you. When you use equipment