Flavius Sun-Ring asked Saronilus, "Give me a reason why you rejected this paper."
Wizard Saronilus looked up at Director Flavius, but he did not answer immediately. He neither admitted his mistake nor argued, nor did he search for an excuse. Instead, he picked up the paper on the desk and began reading it rapidly.
As a Moon-Ring Grand Wizard and the handling editor of Myriad Crossroads, he had the sole authority to reject any paper.
That was his right.
Thus, under ordinary circumstances, even if he rejected a paper outright, the Sun-Ring Wizard serving as director would have little solid grounds to question him.
Provided, of course, that there was a valid reason to reject the paper.
Wizard Flavius did not hurry him. He waited for him to finish reading the submission, knowing that they could not continue their discussion until Wizard Saronilus understood the full picture.
Ten minutes later, Wizard Saronilus finished his rapid reading, and his heart gradually sank. "I'm sorry, Director Flavius. This truly was a mistake on my part. Although the research in this paper falls short of the work of Sun-Ring Grand Wizards and Moon-Ring Wizards, setting aside its special significance, whether it could appear in a Q1 journal would still be questionable."
"After all, it concerns only an ordinary second-ring magic plant. A magic plant of this level cannot compare in research value to sun-ring and moon-ring magic plants. The theoretical depth of its foundational research is decent, but still needs work. However... there really is no reason to reject it."
"This paper could comfortably appear in a Q2 journal. It could also try for Q1, though that would take some luck."
After reading the paper, Wizard Saronilus knew he had no way to shift the blame.
The reason was simple.
Even disregarding the