Early Preparations

The Aether Palace atop Number Nine Floating City has a small door on its southeast side.

A pair of hands covered in red scars pushed open the small door, slightly bowing to avoid bumping into the door frame due to their height.

What comes into view is a corridor that is entirely yellow, with intricate patterns related to alchemy on the walls, and small white lanterns placed at intervals to bring light to this windowless place.

At the end of the corridor was a bright blue door, and directly above it, in a position easily visible to the eye, was a Nameplate.

[Gold Alchemy Award Committee].

In the past, the Gold Alchemy Award have always decided which works were nominated, and even who would win, in this small room.

This is a tradition of the Alchemy School, starting with the Chief before him. At that time, the Aether Palace had not yet been built; there was only a small house that was originally used to select the Gold Alchemy Award.

Later, this small house was converted into the Aether Palace.

The hands, covered in red scars, pulled open the bright blue door, glanced briefly at the Nameplate above, and then looked into the room.

The room is elaborately furnished. Over thousands of years, it has undergone numerous renovations, with all sorts of haphazard decorations crammed onto the walls, leaving no room for anything to breathe.

The person who opened the door didn't linger on the decorations, which he had admired for a long time, as he had been a member of the selection committee before, only not this year.

He fixed his gaze on the other side of the long table, at the figure who wasn't wearing a mage's robe but rather a brown overcoat, and greeted him.

"Hello, Alva."

Alva had noticed the newcomer long ago. He looked up and asked with a puzzled tone:

"Master Oguate, what are you doing here?"

"I remember that those mages who were nominated for the Gold Alchemy Award were no longer allowed to vote for the final winners."

Oguate did not answer Alva's question immediately. Instead, he walked straight to the table, slowly pulled out a chair and sat down, deliberately revealing his palms covered with red scars.

He held his hand in front of him, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke softly:

"Alva, where do you think this wound came from?"

Alva gave a "come on" look and replied somewhat reluctantly:

"I know that when you were experimenting with cutting the soul, you deliberately put your hand on the cutting point to feel the sensation of cutting the soul, hoping to find inspiration from it."

"Although as a Fourth Order Mage, the soul-severing device is unlikely to have any effect on you, you still actively used the coating that enhances the soul-severing effect and performed hundreds of cuts."

"The soul-severing device reacted in some unknown way with your unborn spirit, which caused these red marks to appear on your body and will move with your consciousness."

Alva paused for a moment, then continued:

"Even if your consciousness enters the Eternal Shell now, these scars will still follow you, so the person in charge of the Eternal Shell project will not allow you to join."

"I know, so I didn't plan to learn more about the Eternal Shell project. When I die, I'll be buried with the rites due to a mage."

Alva pursed his lips, looking at Oguate's somewhat solemn expression, and became a little impatient.

"Alright, Mage Oguate, if you have any questions about the Gold Alchemy Award, you can ask me here, instead of trying to appeal to my emotions."

"Even if you fight, it won't make a difference. I'm just the one on duty for this year's committee. In the end, I also took on a task from the Mage Tower. If you have something to say, say it quickly, I still have work to do later."

Oguate's expression softened, and then he looked into Alva's eyes and slowly replied:

"Alva, I'd like to know how that mage ' Lai ' is doing within the committee."

Alva raised an eyebrow, knowing what Oguate was going to ask. He opened his palm and continued:

"You're asking how the recent ban on Territory Mage has affected the selection results, right?"

"I can tell you clearly that although the higher-ups don't intend to continue suppressing the Felistin Family, what Mage ' Lai ' did cannot be simply forgotten."

"Furthermore, although that ' Lai ' is only a Second Order Mage, her actions of publishing content on a minor award like the Hourglass Cup, which led to the cancellation of the next edition of the Hourglass Cup, have garnered her less support."

"However, we must also consider that ' Lai's' two Paper are indeed valuable."

"Therefore, in yesterday's discussion, the committee decided that if no other candidate has a stronger reason, then Mage ' Lai ' will win this year's Gold Alchemy Award."

"The Legendary Aunrich did not participate in the discussion; it is unknown whether he will join at the last minute."

Alva provided a wealth of information, which pleased Oguate even more.

For Oguate, this news was the best news imaginable.

He smiled, a smile he hadn't shown in a long time, and nodded slowly.

"Thank you, Alva, for telling me so much useful information. If I ultimately win the Gold Alchemy Award, I will definitely raise the trophy with you at the award ceremony."

Alva pursed his lips. Although he had never won the Gold Alchemy Award, he hadn't never even touched the trophy.

Furthermore, we haven't even reached the final selection stage yet, so why do you look like you've already won?

He certainly knew that this information was actually very advantageous to Oguate.

If ' Lai's' two Paper are adopted by the committee, then the other mages will have no chance of winning.

But what he shouldn't have done, for some reason, was that ' Lai ' included the name of a Felistin Family Member.

It wasn't just one article, but two, so that when the final results were announced, the names were arranged like clones, making it impossible to suppress the matter.

If it were just one paper like that, it would be fine; the committee members would be more inclined to evaluate it from an academic perspective. However, both Paper have the same name.

It was hard not to suspect the motives of that mage named ' Lai ', so taking a conservative approach was unanimously approved within the committee.

This gives other nominated Paper a chance; currently, the mage Lai is only slightly ahead of the others.

If either Oguate or the other author of the Life Level Enhancement Potion also produces a work at this time, it would be a strong reason to win the Gold Alchemy Award.

But finding a compelling reason is no easy feat; just polishing a Paper that gets it into the shortlist for the Gold Alchemy Award requires an immense amount of effort.

The Paper that made it onto the shortlist were those that had been screened and caught the committee's Paper.

These Paper must undergo further screening by the committee before they can be nominated for the Gold Alchemy Award.

If your peers' Paper are more outstanding, then your meticulously crafted Paper may not even deserve to appear in any related entries of the Gold Alchemy Award.

It's unlikely that any Paper would be willing to write two papers like this in order to win the Gold Alchemy Award.

Every project costs money, and if no Paper is published from the previous project, it will be difficult to get funding for the next project.

"No, Alva, I have been waiting for the Golden Gold Alchemy Award Gold Alchemy Award for a long time, so I am determined to win it this time."

Oguate's words piqued Alva's interest, and he asked incredulously:

"Do you have any other Paper that can be considered research achievements?"

Oguate smiled and nodded, answering slowly.

"When that mage Lai, published those two Paper, I was startled. I almost thought of hiding the Paper I had deliberately prepared to win the championship until the next cycle."

"But to my surprise, my opponent seemed rather immature; she didn't seem to know how to seize every opportunity."

Oguate raised an eyebrow and continued to explain:

"This achievement was originally an accident, but I seized the opportunity and secretly studied it, which led to the creation of this Paper."

"I originally wanted to release it earlier, but I considered my experience of being nominated three times when I was younger, but losing each time, so I learned from that experience this time."

"This Paper will be published sooner or later, but why can't Paper be of greater use?"

Oguate paused for a moment, then continued:

"I've inquired about it. The other author of the Paper on life-level enhancement potions wants to finish the Paper. Once it's completed, he's guaranteed to win the Gold Alchemy Award, so he's not interested in this year's Gold Alchemy Award."

"Those two papers on revising Fourth Order Paper aren't very competitive, and their authors won't waste their time and energy on Paper."

"So my only opponent this time is that second-tier mage Lai."

Oguate leaned back in his chair and continued:

"To be frank, although the profession of researcher doesn't actually require a mage's Order, many outstanding studies don't need the boost of Order; otherwise, those Paper on modifying Fourth Order spells would have already swept all the awards."

"But the thought that this is a Second Order Mage competing with me for the Gold Alchemy Award still makes me feel a little dazed."

"After all, she has achieved so much at this age. I feel like she could be a contender for the Arcane Mage Award, which is awarded irregularly."

"If she can win the Arcane Mage Award before advancing to the third tier, then it's only a matter of time before she becomes Fourth Order mage."

"However, her rash actions caused her to miss a golden opportunity to win the Gold Alchemy Award."

"I hope she continues to create more works... As for me, I can only accept the Gold Alchemy Award with a smile."