Fanaticism

"Welcome, esteemed monks. Our Transmutation School is pleased to share our experience in magical research with monks from other School today."

"Therefore, today we have invited the winner of the All-Forms Mage Award, as well as many masters from other School, so that everyone can exchange experiences from different perspectives..."

While the mage above was giving his opening remarks, the mages below whispered among themselves, because this seemed somewhat unreasonable.

Isn't this an academic exchange event hosted by the Transmutation School?

Logically speaking, for a Dharma Master to seek academic exchange with Dharma Masters from other School, it must be because there is a project that requires the participation of Dharma Masters from other School.

This is normal, because the division of School means that many experiments require the help of mages from other School to be carried out. As long as there are records of these awards, approval can generally be obtained.

This is commonly seen when other School seek help from mages of the Construct School to build large-scale projects.

Or it's just the kind of academic exchange that only scratches the surface, like Fran's previous life's 'success philosophy,' which just talks about trivial things like being careful, persistent, courageous, and seizing opportunities.

They came here expecting a mixed bag of experiences: the All-Forms Mage Award winner would share his success stories with them, and then present a project to see if they could get them involved.

But this opening remark sounds like they're actually having an academic exchange, like members of a School sharing their understanding of a particular finding.

Fran remained expressionless, watching the host on stage recount the entire process, while Xiya spoke first.

"Master Lai, how are things? Since arriving in Number Nine Floating City, do you miss the days at the Northern Lands Society?"

Xiya blinked, speaking in a friendly tone.

Fran understood that, in light of what the host was saying, he was asking her if she missed the days when she could exchange ideas with various School in the Northern Lands Society.

This was not what Fran had expected. Why was the other party focusing on the advantages of the Northern Lands Society's model? She had thought that the Transmutation School wanted to fund her mathematical research or to have a deeper collaboration with her within the Transmutation School.

However, Fran could answer this question very easily.

"Does the Transmutation School also want to loosen control over knowledge and lower the barriers to acquiring it?"

Her question was pointed, but Xiya answered it without any hesitation:

"If conditions permit, I would like to adopt the model of the Northern Lands Society."

These were Xiya's true feelings; she genuinely wanted to freely examine the achievements of other School to aid her research in magic.

For Xiya, a mage who had just advanced to the third rank, she did not enjoy the benefits of the knowledge blockade between School, but instead experienced its drawbacks.

This is a situation many young mages have encountered: when they publish Paper, they need to be reviewed, and if any of the experiments or theories in their papers involve key knowledge from other School, they will not be able to publish them at all.

They wanted to learn some convenient magical techniques, but because they were created by mages from other School, they couldn't use them.

Not to mention that we cannot use successful cases from other School to guide the experiment.

This kind of knowledge protection between School seemed absurd to young monks who wanted to absorb more knowledge.

This protection of knowledge primarily involves safeguarding the achievements of each School masters.

When a mage of a School achieves a certain result, that result becomes exclusive to that School, and all mages within the School can benefit from it.

Because only monks of this School can obtain this item.

Of course, few of these young mages enjoyed the benefit of having their knowledge protected.

Their finished products are not as good as those made by experienced mages. Even when it comes to making spell services and spell scrolls, people trust experienced mages more.

Moreover, those experienced mages all possess certain resources, and unless you are a student of that mage, you will not be able to benefit from the knowledge protection.

That's how it was for Xiya. Before she worked hard to advance to the third tier, her path as a mage was full of ups and downs; it would be a lie to say it was smooth sailing.

Even now that she's under Vernon's command, she hasn't received many resources. This is because Vernon has too many disciples, and although she, as a newcomer, is highly Talent, there's no reason for her to expect others to give up their resources for her.

Few mages are promoted by giving a lot of resources to friends or promising juniors; if they want to be promoted, they naturally have to rely on themselves.

Fran did not respond to Xiya's words, but instead said:

"This model does allow monks to learn from other School of thought, and when submitting their Paper, they don't need to worry about what other School have done."

"However, there are downsides as well. What if other School learn our School's key techniques and, for some reason, surpass us in quality or cost-effectiveness? What will our School School then?"

Although Fran enjoyed the benefits brought by the Northern Lands Society model, she also knew that this model was simply difficult to promote on a large scale.

Each School of thought has its own strengths, but there will always be one School that excels in several areas, which will put pressure on School that excel in only one area.

This is not conducive to protecting the rights and interests of other School, and if this continues, other School may very well disappear.

"No, when mages of our School are promoted, they receive Order bonus. With such Order bonus, how could we be inferior to mages of other School?"

Xiya thought it was no big deal at all. With the enhancement of Order and the emphasis on strengthening, how could they possibly lose to other School?

This idea is wrong, because there will always be a School that will become significantly stronger after acquiring the magic of another School, and its increased strength will be superior to that of the other School.

Fran didn't have a good solution to this either, because the problem stemmed from the deliberate creation of differences between School, as well as the historical legacy of having to maintain knowledge as a unit of School long ago.

When the Alliance was first established, it is estimated that if mages wanted to protect the knowledge they had created, they could only seek the help of School, pooling their strength as a School to prevent other mages from learning and mastering it.

In that era, this practice was in line with the times. It was precisely because the School gathered special knowledge that other mages did not have that it almost monopolized the mage community, making almost every mage have a School.

However, this model is now somewhat outdated. Knowledge protection could be delegated to individuals, which is entirely possible with the current the Alliance management system.

However, the influence of School within the Alliance is simply too great. To implement institutional reforms would be to directly undermine the very foundation of the Alliance's system, since the Alliance is ultimately the Alliance of various School, not the Alliance of all mages.

Fran did not refute Xiya, but instead turned her gaze to the stage. The host had already left, and Ruge Felistin had come up.

"Is his last name really Felistin?"

"It's absolutely true, he is a member of the Felistin Family. It's precisely because he won the All-Forms Mage Award, combined with other circumstances, that the Alliance is targeting Felistin so aggressively."

"However, if the Alliance had targeted Felistin earlier, he probably wouldn't have won the All-Forms Mage Award."

Some monks speak in hushed tones, having set up Soundproof Barrier beforehand; if the last part of their conversation gets out, that monk can forget about ever making it in social circles again.

"I am Ruge Felistin, the recipient of this year's All-Forms Mage Award..."

Ruge first gave a brief introduction of himself, and then very quickly transitioned to what he was going to talk about today—how to modify the Winged Dragon.

This is his award-winning work for the All-Forms Mage Award. He has given it many times within the Transmutation School for some Gold Coin, so he spoke very fluently.

He even took into account the fact that many of the monks present lacked basic knowledge of transformation, and he interspersed necessary basic knowledge in his explanations.

This was something that most of the mages present could understand, but of course, understanding it didn't mean they could do it.

For example, modifying Winged Dragon requires the modifier to have a certain affinity and resistance to Dragonkin. He didn't explain how to acquire these abilities; he only let them know this much.

Nevertheless, the mages present still wore expressions of shock. Seriously, buddy? You're actually talking about the Transmutation School?!

Not only were the Transmutation School monks present astonished, but monks from other School were also hesitant about whether to continue listening.

Ruge stood there calmly, unperturbed by the reactions below.

The reason he was willing to explain this knowledge to monks from other School was because the current situation of his family forced him to get closer to Vernon and, following Vernon's advice, to spread the knowledge of the Transmutation School.

How long had Vernon established his School? How old was he?

After figuring it out, he concluded that the Northern Lands Society's model was advantageous to him and to his advancement to the Fifth Order.

He doesn't need that knowledge to gain more benefits; he needs it to pave the way to the Fifth Order. That's why Vernon is now more enthusiastic about promoting this model Iris.

"Well, Mage Lai, did you understand? Do you need me to explain it in detail?" Xiya asked Mage Lai from the side.

Fran could understand it, of course. Her Transmutation Studies were at least at an expert level, so she could comprehend this kind of knowledge.

However, there were some technical terms among them that Fran didn't understand, because she hadn't read those cutting-edge Paper from the Transmutation School.

"Can you tell me what these words mean?"

"Okay...but Mage Lai, you seem to have studied something similar before." After Xiya explained, she sensed something was amiss. Even after her explanation, Fran continued to ask questions based on what she had just said.

Fran smiled gently, using her Mental Power to activate the Siren ' vocal cords without utilizing the Murloc's tailbone to control the power at the First Order.

"Of course I've studied it. I even spent some Battle Merit to buy the [Song of the Deep Sea] modification sequence... I'm naturally very happy to gain more knowledge today."

Upon recognizing the Siren ' voice and the fluctuations in Fran's throat, Xiya's expression immediately froze, and she remained unresponsive for a long time.