Academic Points

"Dear Mr. Rainer Ian Gray, I am Hans Tolan, editor-in-chief of Monthly Alchemist Griffin. It is my honor to have read your paper, <A Discussion of the Special Gas Produced in Limestone Heating Experiments and Several Issues in Traditional Combustion Reaction Theory>. Our editorial department believes your paper holds great value for discussion, and we therefore hope to publish it as the lead article in the next issue of Monthly Alchemist Griffin. We look forward to your reply."

When he opened the solicitation letter, those words were written inside in neat handwriting.

"Why did a solicitation letter arrive so quickly?"

Claire was curious. There was nothing unusual about review committee members discussing matters with their friends, but for a paper to be confirmed and a solicitation letter sent out in just half a day was unprecedented in Claire's experience.

"I remember the best journal in the Alchemy field is Alchemy, right?"

Rainer was not suspicious at all. Any mage with a certain foundation who was engaged in research would quickly discover the value of this paper. What he needed to consider now was only how to earn more points through it.

Certainly, Rainer could gain a certain number of points based on the review committee's assessment, but the real bulk of the rewards came from citations.

According to the rules established by the High Council, citation points amounted to one-third of the points gained from a paper's review. In other words, for a paper worth nine points, the original author would receive three points each time it was cited. At the same time, points gained through citations could not exceed ten times the points awarded upon passing review. That meant once this nine-point paper had accumulated ninety citation points, it would no longer generate any returns.

On one hand, this was meant to encourage mages to refine and expand upon their papers in order to earn higher review scores. On the other, it prevented certain mages from living off a single exceptional paper through endless citations, or from using certain methods to farm points.

After all, it was quite easy to farm points by publishing papers. In some controlled experiments, one only needed to swap in an object with similar properties. However, such papers had little practical significance, and their review scores would be extremely low—perhaps only a single point given as a dismissal. That meant they could not earn citation points.

So compared to review points, Rainer valued citation points more. And to gain more citation points, his work first needed to be seen by more people. Choosing a better-known and more prestigious journal was undoubtedly the best option.

He had looked up the requirements for magic school ratings. To maintain a ninth-rank school and avoid closure, one needed to earn one hundred academic points each year. Advancing to eighth rank required three hundred points, eighth to seventh required one thousand, and above seventh required three thousand, and so on. To become a first-rank magic school, one had to earn one million academic points every year.

Rainer had no intention of reaching the top. For now, he only needed to keep Crescent Academy from being shut down.

For that reason, Rainer found Monthly Alchemist Griffin's solicitation letter somewhat difficult to deal with.

This was the first solicitation letter he had received. Judging by the timing, they had reviewed his paper almost immediately and even promised to publish it as the lead article, which was enough to show how highly they valued it.

But Monthly Alchemist Griffin simply did not have enough influence. Rainer could not guarantee that it would earn him enough citation points.

"Are you thinking of submitting to Alchemy? Don't joke around. That's the most prestigious journal there is. It publishes the research results of high-level mages, and you haven't even obtained a rank yet."

Claire blurted it out without thinking, but then seemed to realize her words were inappropriate. She lowered her eyes and lightly bit her lip, looking rather worried that Rainer would mock her in return.

But to her surprise, Rainer merely smiled softly before continuing.

"You're right. I should get an official mage rank first."

"Huh?"

Claire had assumed Rainer had realized he was not qualified to submit to Alchemy, but she had not expected him to say something like that.

"Y-you think becoming an official mage is that easy?!"

"Is it difficult? I read that all you need to do is pass the written exam and the magic test. Anyone who can't pass under such simple conditions is the one with a problem."

Rainer naturally knew how difficult it was to become an official mage.

Under the ancient magic system, mages relied on the magic power they gained through their own meditation to cast spells. Like tiny ants trying to shake a great tree, high-level mages were all exceptionally gifted and rare existences.

Some mages began seeking another path, fusing various wondrous magical creatures with themselves. This gave rise to bloodline mages. Because this method was highly efficient, rapidly increased one's strength, and had wider applications, it once became a powerful faction with great numbers.

Ancient mages and bloodline mages had always been bitter rivals, and many wars broke out between them. During the most recent war, several mages led by Master Hohenheim established modern magical theory. Its hallmark was the qualitative and quantitative analysis of illusory spells. This unified the two schools and formed the magic world of today.

Even with the widespread education of modern magic, no more than thirty out of every hundred mage apprentices could become official mages. Of those, more than ninety percent would remain stuck at the First Circle for their entire lives, unable to advance any further.

People like the original Rainer were actually the majority. With magic so developed, many nobles liked sending their children to study it, but very few could truly achieve anything in the field.

High-level mages possessed great power and long lives. To them, noble authority held little intimidation; only kings could make them offer a slight nod of respect. But to low-level mages, they were merely one among the masses, and still had to toil for a living.

The same applied to nobles. Poor and incompetent nobles were despised, while powerful and wealthy nobles drew crowds around them. After all, this was a world where strength reigned supreme.

Claire was a First-Circle Mage herself. Even then, she had only barely passed after failing the exam five times, placing her below average. That was why she had been so shocked by Rainer's casual remark.

By Rainer's standards, becoming an official mage was roughly equivalent to passing the bar exam, obtaining a certified public accountant qualification, or becoming a licensed first-class architect on Earth. It really was difficult enough to make one curse. And that was only the first step. Mid-level mages were already on the level of leading scholars in their respective fields, while high-level mages could probably only be compared to Nobel Prize winners.

Still, after his previous experience, his magical strength had improved considerably. If he had the chance, Rainer would still try to advance. After all, having come to a world of magic, how could he not learn some of it?

"I'll be waiting to see you come back with a long face after failing your advancement."

Claire said it through gritted teeth. Though the guy in front of her could be fairly reliable at times, he was extremely punchable most of the time, driving Claire mad.

"Let's not discuss advancement for now. I need to go back and think about whether to accept this solicitation letter. Teacher Claire, do you know of some kind of directory that collects the rankings of all academic journals?"

Rainer did not mind Claire's curse and instead asked a question.