Report

After Ruge finished his explanation, it was a little after nine o'clock.

As is the tradition of the Alliance Academic Conference, the lecture ends at this time. There is still some time before the conference ends, which is for the participating monks to have free discussion.

Of course, if you have something urgent to attend to, or if there is some misunderstanding that makes you less interested in the academic aspects of the presentation, you may leave now.

When the host set up the tables and chairs and the free discussion began, many monks immediately left, but many others stayed.

The mages who ran away either didn't want to continue participating in this meeting, which seemed destined to have bad consequences, or they wanted to hurry back to report on this absurd meeting.

The remaining mages, for reasons unknown, were all actively discussing the knowledge that Ruge had just mentioned, even those mages who were not from the Transmutation School.

Fran spoke briefly with the mages on the field, only to find their understanding far too superficial. Ruge had just given the explanation, was nowhere to be found. So, after a while, she chose to leave.

Xiya accompanied Fran throughout the entire meeting, and only after Fran left the Silver-Scale Manor did she go to a small room deep inside the Silver-Scale Manor and turn on her communication device.

After she made a few adjustments and clicked confirm, she waited quietly there for about five minutes.

Because she knew that before she could speak with her mentor, Vernon first needed to be connected to Communication Device as well.

They can only begin communicating once both sides are connected.

"Xiya, I'm here. How did things go?"

Only after hearing Vernon's voice finally come through did Xiya speak into the Communication Device:

"Master, my contact with that mage ' Lai ' has ended, and it went smoothly. She agreed to all your basic requests, and I will discuss the details with her later."

"Well done." Vernon's words were few but precise.

"Tell me the details of your interactions with her."

Xiya hesitated for a moment, but then began to recount most of her conversations with Fran.

When Fran demonstrated how [Song of the Deep Sea] could modify First Order organs, Vernon interrupted Xiya.

"I heard an extremely strange sound, coming from the Ocean, and I could feel the perfect moment of Mental Power gathering and being activated from her throat."

"Wait, Xiya, you mean that the mage ' Lai ' exhibited characteristics of Modified Organ? And that they were integrated very well?"

"Yes, mentor, I could clearly feel the fluctuations emanating from the other party's throat, like Siren on the Ocean. Furthermore, the fluctuations in the other party's Mental Power felt very smooth to me, without any obstruction."

Vernon paused for a moment, then continued:

"Xiya, do you know what this means?"

"I know she has a great Talent for Transmutation Studies, but without your orders, I didn't try to recruit her."

Vernon said in a solemn tone:

"No, she's not just Talent in Transmutation Studies; if her identity information is correct, she's a native of the Northern Territory."

"She grew up in the Northern Lands Society Northern Lands Society received her magic education there. How many years has Iris been operating in the Northlands? Can the Northern Lands Society effectively allocate educational resources?"

"She became a second-tier mage in a place with scarce resources. Judging from the timeline, she is most likely no older than sixty, because the Alliance's mage education does not allow people over twenty-five to receive mage training."

"She has the Talent of a researcher, and before she was even a hundred years old, she had the opportunity to win the Gold Alchemy Award, the highest award in the School."

"She's Alchemy School, yet she's able to integrate Modified Organ very well... I can understand that she's also very Talent in magic, which is why she was able to transcend School to perform organ modification, and it only took her a little over a year at most."

Vernon paused for a moment, then raised his voice and said softly:

"If any one of these three things appears in a low-level mage, I believe that the other party has the potential to advance to the Fourth Order."

Xiya was so frightened she could barely speak, when Vernon continued:

"You too, Xiya. You spent sixty-five years to become a third-tier cultivator, and I believe you can advance to the Fourth Order."

"It's just that in a place like the Northern Lands Society, it might take mage ' Lai ' forty or fifty years to become a second-tier mage; it's a matter of resources."

Xiya heard Vernon's reply, although it was a compliment, she was still not very happy.

Vernon was optimistic about his advancement to the Fourth Order because of his age and the time it took him to reach the third rank.

But what about Xiya's research Talent? Why didn't Vernon mention it at all? Is he really that bad at Talent?

Xiya thought somewhat resentfully that even though she didn't have many prestigious academic awards, she had at least achieved top-five or top-ten rankings in various academic competitions. Surely she had the Talent to be a researcher?

Moreover, she had previously told Vernon about her plans for the next annual All-Forms Mage Award, but Vernon, in a similar manner, never mentioned it again.

Xiya thought to herself for a moment, then spoke into the Communication Device:

"Since you think so highly of her, Professor, should I try to persuade her to switch School later? She does have some achievements in Transmutation Studies."

Discovering promising juniors from other School is a common practice, but this usually happens during the apprenticeship period or when one is First Order Mage.

After all, wouldn't it be a wonderful thing to transfer geniuses from other School to our School?

However, due to the nature of the Profession system, the higher Order, the more difficult it is to switch mage School, not to mention the risk of being targeted by the original School.

Generally speaking, it's unlikely you'd be poaching Second Order Mage, unless you're a mage who's just established a new school of School and needs some capable assistants.

However, Fran's situation is completely different. She is quite knowledgeable in Transmutation Studies, and this alone is enough for her to perfectly switch School.

That's why Xiya asked that question.

Vernon scoffed and quickly said:

"Xiya, you don't need to worry so much. I don't have the means to entice her to switch School School, nor does she have the need to. Besides, Iris definitely won't let her go; she might have even taken some special measures."

What can Vernon offer Fran now? Vernon can provide a Fourth Order modification pathway, but can't Iris offer Fourth Order alchemical products?

What he offers is essentially no different from what Iris can offer, so what gives Fran the right to switch School of thought?

Moreover, he has many disciples, while Iris can't even get a few decent disciples in the Northern Lands Society. Naturally, the resources will be tilted towards Fran.

Furthermore, if he knew Fran's potential, didn't Iris, a Fourth Order Mage, realize it too?

If he were in Iris's position, his first priority would be to settle ' Lai's ' family in the Northlands and use soft tactics such as acquiring knowledge in stages to keep her in check.

After implementing these measures, he felt that ' Lai ' had no reason to pursue any new School; only a complete idiot would do such a thing.

Obviously, ' Lai,' who might win the Gold Alchemy Award, wouldn't do something so foolish.

"Just follow the instructions I gave you before and coordinate with her. You don't need to do anything extra."

"Yes, Master."

After Fran finished the banquet, she returned to her house and found the lights on again.

"Is this still the house the Alchemy School gave me? If I don't come back, is someone still living inside?"

Fran made a comment and opened the door. The person inside had already released a slight mental fluctuation, so Fran could easily recognize that the person who came in was Iris.

"You went to the banquet again?" Iris asked Fran, sitting in her chaise lounge.

Fran nodded and replied:

"Didn't you want me to attend more of these banquets?"

Iris did not reply, but slowly said:

"Then you'll have to reduce your workload a bit from now on. I've encountered some problems in my work, so I need you to be my trusted confidant and help me with my tasks."

Iris had originally planned to wait until she had finished taking over the work before assigning Fran to do some light-duty work.

But when she arrived at the Propulsion Department of the Floating City, she found that she couldn't command anyone at all.

Although those people outwardly cooperated with her work, she couldn't reveal too much because she wasn't the direct head of the department and was responsible for confidential matters.

This leads those people to secretly make excuses, such as procedural irregularities, or that it's not their responsibility, and to ask someone else to shirk their duties.

Moreover, because the Propulsion Department of the Floating City is so important, although there are only one or two Third Order Mage among them, they are not afraid at all when facing Fourth Order Mage, and even dare to talk back to Iris.

Therefore, if Iris wants to get things done, she must gather people to help her supervise those people and make sure they do their jobs properly.

Of course, this situation arose simply because the current state of the Propulsion Department was very different from what Lexi had envisioned.

To ensure that the Propulsion Department is not easily controlled by outsiders, personnel here need to apply to leave, and each person has only a five-year term here, after which they must leave immediately.

Furthermore, the personnel in the department were carefully selected. In order to ensure that these people were truly unafraid of threats from Order individuals, they were all family members or close friends of Fourth Order Mage.

This misjudgment, coupled with Iris's unique identity, made it difficult for her to carry out her work.

Of course, Iris could also simply quit and give up, since normally it wouldn't be that difficult for her to connect with the Propulsion Department.

But Iris understood that this was the Propulsion Department of the Floating City, an extremely important department, even comparable to the Alliance Ministry of Finance in some respects.

If it were a mage from another Alchemy School, it wouldn't be so difficult; this kind of work is hard to carry out. As Fourth Order Mage, they would always have important tasks assigned to them in the future.

Iris, however, believed that this difficulty had to be overcome; she didn't want to miss out on this important task.

"You can report to the second basement level of the Mage Tower tomorrow morning... If there's nothing else to do, come there and help me with my work."

This isn't a task that can be figured out after 10 PM; it requires a significant amount of time.

Fran scratched her head. Although she knew it might take too much time, she still wanted to participate in order to obtain valuable information.