Carter Dunn's eyes widened for an instant. Then his pupils suddenly shrank. Olivia Witch had ignored him all this time, and he had been marginalized by the research group, leaving him somewhat insecure.
Carter wasn't very confident in himself.
But he had never imagined that someone as marginal as him in Olivia Witch's research group, a temporary worker for the Rose Council, could actually receive funding from a senior researcher at Golden Crown Mountain—a Great Wizard who was also a Second-Ring Wizard.
Carter Dunn's eyes flickered.
"Honored Great Wizard, of course I'm thrilled that you're willing to sponsor me. But are you sponsoring me personally, or are you sponsoring the project I'm working on?"
Locke said, "Dream Flower."
If it had been anyone else, they might have had to think carefully about which project he meant. But this was one of the few projects Carter Dunn had achieved some success with at the Rose Council, and one that Olivia Witch had praised.
So Carter Dunn immediately remembered it, though a trace of confusion appeared in his eyes.
"Is that project worth sponsoring?"
Although Carter Dunn was extremely excited by Locke's offer, he was still deeply puzzled about why Locke wanted to sponsor such a project.
After all, although the concept of Dream Flower had been painstakingly devised by him, the entire project had been created at Olivia Witch's request for the purpose of applying for the university's Most Beautiful Project Fund.
In other words, they had never expected the project to be completed normally from the very beginning.
Even if a project funded by that sort of grant failed, there would be no real consequences. It was therefore the perfect way to pad the number of active projects in Olivia's laboratory.
When Olivia Witch had told them to apply, she