Thesis

A Wizard Tower is a sanctuary, a research center, and a fortress.

For reasons unknown, a massive Wizard Tower can be considered a symbol as much as a deterrent. A wizard's tower can often be seen from a great distance, surrounded by high walls and standing tall like the castle of a warrior.

The relationship between a wizard and his tower is as intimate as that with a familiar. Through arcane magic, the wizard and the tower's architect can establish a connection that allows mana to flow between the two, drawing ambient magic into the structure.

In many respects, a Wizard Tower is less of a residential building and more of a device for gathering and channeling magical energy. Essentially, a Wizard Tower is a magical item on an architectural scale. The design and structure of the building are intended to concentrate mana; the tower's exterior and its soaring, vertical structure are all meant to satisfy this purpose. This is why wizards are so fond of building such towering structures.

Borne arrived in front of the Wizard Tower, surrounded by nearly a hundred meters of flat grass. The moment he stepped closer, he felt over a dozen strands of faint magical particles sweep over him. The wooden token in his hand emitted a soft glow, and the scene before his eyes shifted. The flat grass vanished, replaced by a forest, and an arched gate appeared on a white brick wall.

Passing through the gate, he found himself in a vast, gigantic garden.

Folded space!

Though the tower appeared to be only a few hundred square meters from the outside, the space within was immense.

The plants in the garden were clearly categorized, simulating different environments in various zones. There were lava regions and snowy mountain climates, but they all shared one common trait: they contained rare and precious flora, most of which he could not even name.

"The Arcane Garden!"

Borne understood what this place was.

Constructing an Arcane Garden requires a perfect ecosystem, allowing a wizard to cultivate various magical plants and conduct magical experiments within the tower.

Researching magic and constructing magic arrays requires involvement in too many fields—botany, the magical properties of materials, not to mention countless other areas of study.

The magical symbols and mysterious runes in this room provided different growth environments for the magical plants, allowing them to thrive.

Holding the wooden token, Borne could sense the Tower Spirit and had gained the lowest level of clearance: 'Achievement'. The Tower Spirit functioned like a low-level intelligent AI; by consuming points, one could travel directly to different areas. Borne also learned from the information that the third floor was the library.

With only 1 point, he was 'poor' and had no choice but to take the stairs. Guided by the token, he found the staircase.

Ascending the curved stone stairs, he reached the second floor, which was the experimental zone. There were laboratories of various sizes to choose from, each with different functions, though all were well-equipped. Renting different grades of laboratories required different prices—naturally, points could be used.

Fortunately, the stairs remained in the same location. After touring the experimental zone, Borne headed straight to the third floor.

Rows of bookshelves stretched out like a labyrinth. The number of points one possessed restricted access to different areas; if one's point level was too low, some sections were inaccessible.

Borne's 1 point only allowed him to wander through the theoretical sections of "Theoretical Magic," "Applied Magic," and "Introduction to Magitech." He couldn't even find a 0-level cantrip among the spells.

Furthermore, 1 point only allowed him to view the headers of certain papers. If he decided to borrow one, it would consume points, and if he lacked enough, the Wizard Tower would forcibly 'toss' him out.

Though the method of being 'tossed' was uncertain, Borne was certainly not eager to find out.

There are many ways to earn points. Submitting articles is how most people acquire them. Meaningful 'viewpoints,' ancient texts not already held by the tower, or new magical formulas could all be submitted. In the center of the hall, there was a board similar to a bulletin board, which displayed library borrowing rules and submission methods, as well as new materials 'recorded' each week.

If your manuscript was accepted, it would be placed there for others to 'admire,' which was also an opportunity to 'farm' reputation.

In a corner, Borne finally found some "free" public materials. These were manuscripts that had been accepted but ignored by others, or had been included for some reason to 'make up the numbers.' Later, they were almost all downgraded to 'free' mode, allowing one to read more than half of the articles directly.

There were quite a few people coming and going here, clearly aware that this area contained "free" things. For newcomers, many would subconsciously take a look, only to immediately show expressions of disdain.

"Another fool looking for gold in the 'trash heap'."

They mocked others in their hearts while doing the exact same thing themselves.

Borne spent the entire day there, flipping through what others considered "trash."

In reality, for the first month or two after the start of the school year, this place was a "treasure trove" for freshmen. After all, 'free' things, no matter how bad, were still enticing.

Since it was already mid-term, most people had finished looking, and anyone who could stay here for an entire day would clearly become an object of contempt for others.

People are always like this; regarding their own past embarrassments, they hope others will experience them too, to achieve a certain balance in their hearts!

Borne did not care about the opinions of others; a difference in perspective determines how one views the world.

Although the materials here were padded with fluff, there were still some 'essences' to be found. After all, one couldn't pass the review without some substance!

For instance, the paper Borne was currently reading had a rather eccentric viewpoint: using the perpetual motion of undead skeletons to plow fields instead of livestock.

The logic was actually sound, but skeletons are undead, and the aura they emit would corrupt and destroy the soil. Furthermore, the premise of perpetual motion required them to be in an environment rich in necromantic energy, which is not suitable for farming.

Most of these papers belonged to the 'bizarre' or even whimsical school of thought, but that didn't stop Borne from reading them. Who said that reading a book meant accepting its viewpoint? Why not look at it from the opposite angle...

Why could such 'trash' papers be accepted? There must be some redeeming quality, such as good penmanship, or perhaps the flattery hit the reviewer's 'sweet spot'...

Or perhaps it was the writing style?

Three days later.

On the seventh floor of the Wizard Tower, in a spacious and bright room, an intermediate Arcanist sat at a desk piled high with manuscripts and books. He frowned as he looked at the manuscript in his hand, then gently shook his head and tossed it aside.

The review work at Giles Academy could be considered one of the most important tasks; every 10 days, a different Arcanist was assigned to perform the audit.

Evans was a man who did things with rigor. Unlike others who would leave the audit work until the last two days, or even the final day, he would even add his own comments to the relatively 'high-quality' papers.

Mr. Evans had been reviewing for four days now, and the focus and excitement he felt at the beginning had long since faded. The number of submissions was too high, especially from lower-year students eager to earn points, who often submitted meaningless manuscripts. It was rare to find a viewpoint that interested him among dozens or even hundreds of papers, and the vast majority were 'trash' heavily padded with filler.

If it weren't for the restriction that each person could only submit once per round, the workload might have been several times higher.

He picked up another manuscript from the pile. Instantly, he felt a sense of brightness; the title was clear, the primary and secondary points were distinct, and the structure was concise.

Without even reading the content, just holding it in his hand and looking it over, he had one feeling—clean!

Yes, clean. It was the first time Evans had seen someone write a paper in such a concise and clear...

Hmm, beautiful, perhaps!

He truly could not find any other words to describe it!

This time, he did not look at the content, but instead checked the contributor first.

Doctor?!

In the Nether language, this was a "verb," but here, he had turned it into a "noun." This was quite novel; although the Academy did not forbid the use of "aliases," few people did so, as opportunities to become famous were rare.

Reputation was a bonus point in the Academy, and it was extremely useful for students after graduation.

Judging by the handwriting, this person should be a noble, but the text format was not written in the noble style, opting instead for commoner grammar.

One must know that those nobles, especially the high nobles, loved to write in Ancient Nether, piling up a heap of useless and supposedly flowery rhetoric, as if they wanted to write "I am a noble" directly on the page.

This "unhealthy trend" had directly influenced the entire Academy, and many commoner students, in order to increase their so-called acceptance rate, even spent a great deal of energy learning noble language. The Academy had even stepped in to "explain" the matter, but the results were minimal.

This was the first time he had seen a manuscript that was clearly from a noble but intentionally written in "commoner" language, which immediately piqued the interest of Evans.

"<Three Steps to Teach You Hand-in-Hand How to Write an Excellent Thesis>?"

Evans looked at the title and read it carefully from beginning to end.

"The writing of a thesis manuscript is actually very simple, especially for theses on basic magical theory; everything has a template that can be applied. The specific writing steps are as follows:

First: Determine your thesis viewpoint...

Second: Place your thesis theme into...

..."

The content of the manuscript was completely beyond his expectations. For the first time, someone had submitted something that wasn't about various messy spells or conjectures, but rather a study on the method of submission itself, and it was highly actionable.

Even by applying his so-called template, one could achieve a high acceptance rate, even if the topic was just a useless application of a cantrip!!!

No!

The main point was that it greatly improved the reader's experience, which significantly increased the efficiency with which the reader could absorb information. Not only that, but if every subsequent manuscript followed this style, it would also greatly improve the efficiency of the reviewers.

This was truly a "genius" thesis!

Immediately, Evans felt a bit conflicted. The content was somewhat "off-topic," and the distribution of points was evaluated based on the value of the manuscript, which certainly referred to the value in magic and arcane arts.

In such a situation, he could only report it, after which several vice-deans and the dean would review it. During the reporting process, through the "back-end," he "inadvertently" discovered that this contributor called "Professor" was actually named Borne, Borne Ioulaum!

Ioulaum?!

Borne? Could it be the "genius Arcanist" who had been the talk of the town in the capital?

"This is getting interesting..."

The information response came very quickly; he received a reply that very afternoon.

With a flash of white light, a file appeared on the table. In the Wizard Tower, only that one person could teleport something so precisely right in front of him.

He immediately opened it to read, and after finishing, he couldn't help but excitedly clench his fist and tap the wooden table, exclaiming: "Your Excellency is truly as wise as ever!"

The next day.

From the morning, Borne noticed that his points had increased by 10. These were the points for the acceptance, and he couldn't help but let the corners of his mouth curl up slightly.

One point had a trading value among students of about 80 to 100 gold coins.

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