Registration

The news spread quickly and soon reached the ears of the Felistin Family.

Oliver, the head of the Number Nine Floating City, immediately convened a family meeting, bringing everyone together.

When Oliver looked down at the people filling the hall, he no longer saw the same unease and anxiety in them.

Everyone's face was filled with confusion, because they couldn't understand what was going on either.

Some people are delighted because it seems like a good thing no matter how you look at it; just the fact that this matter has been publicized will greatly improve the family's situation.

Some people looked worried, believing that no matter the reason, this was a slap in the face to those mages, which was not a good thing.

Because their fundamental conflict with the higher-ups has never been resolved, this matter could very well escalate the conflict.

Oliver did not immediately respond, but instead looked at Camilla and gestured for her to stand up.

Camilla slowly stood up, and many family members held their breath, eager to hear what secrets this connected mage knew about the matter.

Camilla spoke softly, her voice easily audible in the quiet hall.

"My sister, Philly Felistin, was taken away by that mage ' Lai ' two weeks ago, under the guise of teaching him knowledge."

"In order to get closer to this monk, I agreed."

"Then the mage refused all offers of financial assistance from the family, but still allowed Philly to stay with her."

"And regarding Philly's magical achievements, I can say this here."

"Philly didn't show much Talent as a researcher; she was just very interested in it, but she didn't produce a single noteworthy result."

"Moreover, that's the realm of Alchemy School, while Philly is Elemental School mage. Logically speaking, it's impossible for them to conduct such School research."

"I haven't found Mage ' Lai ' yet; her house is empty right now..."

"But I can say for sure that these two Paper were most likely written by ' Lai,' and Philly..."

"It may have provided some important assistance to the research, but as the leader, ' Lai ' can decide whether or not to include Philly's name..."

That's all I wanted to say.

After Camilla sat down, the people present quickly started arguing. Instead of finding answers, they were even more confused by what they heard: why would this ' Lai ' have Philly's name on it?!

Furthermore, why is that mage ' Lai ' still keeping his distance from the family?

Of course, the biggest question is still about the Hourglass Cup...

"Why would the Hourglass Cup Committee allow Philly to receive two Gold Hourglass at once? Even if both are for the second author, that's still a significant matter..."

"We don't have anyone with that kind of influence in the Alchemy School, so why would they choose to do this?"

"Could it be that someone on the committee is deliberately sabotaging things, just to muddy the waters..."

The debate raged on about why the committee did this, with some even suggesting that external forces outside the Alliance were trying to take advantage of the situation.

This forced Oliver to quiet everyone down again, and then he pointed to the figure sitting in the front row.

Camilla reluctantly stood up again and then spoke.

"Adding a name to a completed Paper is not a simple matter. If there are too many names, the Alliance will intervene for review, and many mages are very reluctant to share their work with others..."

Adding a name allows one to share the achievements of other mages, which caused considerable chaos when the Alliance first established its academic system.

Many monks, due to various difficulties, had to agree to have the names of more than a dozen people added to the end of their painstakingly written Paper.

There were even instances of plundering the achievements of other mages, a situation that only eased with the establishment of an academic investigation system.

This system allows for the indefinite retroactive removal of authorship from a Paper. As long as you still possess key experimental evidence, you can have all your names removed, leaving only yourself.

This allows many mages to legally settle accounts with those who came before them after their promotion or when the mages who coerced them died for some reason.

This measure has greatly curbed the phenomenon of arbitrarily adding names, resulting in the current situation where most Paper only have one or two names.

Camilla explained the Academic Supervision System to all family members, explaining that, at least for now, it would be difficult for anyone to tamper with it.

"Even the Hourglass Cup Committee cannot completely control the specific list of winners this year, because this competition is a major event of the Alchemy School, and the results are subject to full supervision after they are announced each year."

"Furthermore, no one would be willing to touch this part and disrupt the current situation, because it's not worth it; it would be more cost-effective to use it in other areas."

"So only one possibility remains: ' Lai's ' academic abilities have surpassed all our expectations, and the Hourglass Cup committee had no choice but to do this."

"Her two works could easily surpass the others and earn the highest grade of the Gold Hourglass."

"I'm not entirely sure why she added Philly's name."

The scene was silent for a long time. No one had expected such an explanation. Many people looked at the family members who had become researchers, only to find that they were also silent, their expressions frozen, seemingly having no intention of refuting Camilla's explanation.

This plunged everyone present into an even more eerie silence, as they found it hard to believe that such a powerful figure could be so close to the family.

They all knew that if the family could make contact with an outstanding mage in the academic field and cultivate a good relationship with him, it would bring great benefits to the family.

That's why the family allowed Philly to receive instruction from Fran. In any case, Philly is a member of the Yobner Society with a bright future, and the family wouldn't easily let her do such a thing.

But now that the family has actually come into contact with such a mage, the situation is quite strange.

Without any prior notice, the other party signed the award under the name of a family member they had sent to cultivate connections, and then miraculously won the Golden Hourglass Award.

Many people know how difficult this is. Many well-prepared mages can only obtain a Bronze Hourglass, while obtaining Gold Hourglass means that one is completely at the top of the young mages.

Many monks participated in five or six sessions before finally obtaining the Gold Hourglass, just before the age limit was reached.

This mage, ' Lai, ' quietly produced two works in one go.

Even knowing that the other person won the Silver Alchemy Award, who can consistently produce such high-quality Paper?

This is especially true in the Hourglass Cup, a competition that is useful for young mages but clearly insufficient for ' Lai '.

From this perspective, it seems that ' Lai ' just wanted to help his family gain some attention, but this...

"Alright..." Seeing that everyone was silent, Oliver knew that nothing would be discussed today, so he turned to Camilla.

"The negotiations with that mage ' Lai ' are entirely yours... If you need anything..."

"I know, Master. You can leave everything to me."

Camilla's expression remained unchanged; she simply agreed to the request.

Fran had been waiting by the bulletin board for a long time, and she was somewhat surprised to see that both of her Paper had received the Gold Hourglass Grade.

"So both of them got noticed?"

She scratched her head and posted two papers, because she felt that the monks who were serving as judges might not recognize the value of the Paper.

After all, Iris is a living example. If her Paper Aether Iris were submitted for review, it would most likely receive a Bronze Hourglass or nothing at all.

At the same time, she knew that posting both articles would definitely bring her more trouble, but Fran didn't care. Compared to the opportunity to advance her Order, none of that mattered.

Fran, bearing the likeness of Philly, rushed to the relevant department, obtained a Award Certificate the Golden Hourglass Award, and then immediately went to the Registration Point for the Champion Mage Preliminary Tournament.

There were 54 days left until the end of the Preliminaries.

"It's you, you've come again..."

The staff member handling the registration immediately recognized Philly; he knew she was the monk who had consulted him about registration last time.

He's a Second Order Mage, so his memory is definitely something he excels at.

As for why a Second Order Mage is required to register, the registration fee alone speaks volumes – it's a whopping 500 Gold Coin, and all those who register are Second Order Mage.

"I placed in the competition; I'm here to register."

Fran said with great confidence.

"There haven't been any competitions lately, have there? Wait, what kind of competition is this? The Sandglass Cup Youth Competition?"

"And the award date is today?!"

At that moment, he even wondered if Fran had just had someone print a fake award certificate...

It wasn't until he saw the Hourglass Cup on Fran's list of qualifying entries, along with the Golden Hourglass Award certificate stamped with proof, that he had to admit it did indeed meet the entry requirements.

"I've never seen anyone use this award certificate to enter a competition before... wait, give it fifty points."

He had to compare it with his latest work manual and found that each one clearly stated a score of 50, without any errors.

"Okay, according to the rules, you should get fifty points."

"The Hourglass Cup... Why is it assigned the same score as the Annual Duelist? I've never seen this tournament before, and no one has ever been here before?"

What he didn't know was that this was an academic competition, something he, who had only ever watched Magic Duel, could never have known.

Despite his confusion, he followed procedure and began checking Fran's documents.

"You're First Order Mage, and you're only twenty years old?"

At this age, shouldn't they generally not have reached stage two yet?

Fran feigned surprise as she spoke.

"Sorry, I haven't updated this in a while. I just realized it's still full of First Order Mage. Do you need me to...?"

"It's alright, there's no rule saying First Order Mage can't participate, it just means you'll be wasting your money."

He didn't dwell on it too much. With a registration fee of 500 Gold Coin, every mage should consider it carefully. He just needed to fill in the information according to the rules.

As long as the identity document is not falsified, he can allow the other party to complete the registration according to the regulations.

If a Spirit Realm Mage manages to sneak in with fake identification, that's a matter for that department, not his responsibility.

Moreover, when it comes to the Main Tournament, participants need to undergo even more rigorous testing before they can participate. At that time, only one hundred people are suitable for carrying out expensive testing projects.

"Registration is complete. To accumulate Contribution Points through duels, you can make a reservation with me."

"Oh, and you need to give me the five hundred Gold Coin before the duel starts."