Down in the dumps

"No matter how qualified or capable he is, he is still only a Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice," Stofen said flatly. "You're breaking our journal's rules."

Despite his words, Stofen took out the GG submission that the Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice wanted published and glanced over it.

When his gaze passed over the apprentice's name, Stofen paused briefly. "Leo Danville. Is he the Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice who distinguished himself during the Great Summons?"

Seeing that Stofen seemed interested, the witch with twin ponytails hurriedly replied, "That's right."

Stofen nodded slightly. "If it's this particular Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice, then I can certainly understand why he caught your attention.

"But..."

Stofen shook his head. After skimming Leo's GG submission, he set it aside and said, "Rules are rules.

"He is only a Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice. If he wants to publish a GG submission in our journal, he can wait until he becomes a First-Rank Wizard Apprentice."

Seeing how firm Stofen was, the witch with twin ponytails looked disappointed.

Stofen continued looking through the other GG submissions.

"Keli..."

When Stofen reached one of the submissions, he could not help frowning. "This Keli has been a special envoy for so many years, yet her standards haven't improved. In fact, they keep getting worse. Perhaps I should notify the Formal Wizard she reports to and have her removed from her position."

"She even got the most basic potion-making information wrong in this submission. Publishing something like this as a GG submission would undermine the quality of the GG submissions in our Wizard Journal and seriously harm the interests of capable Wizards with promising ideas in the future."

Stofen seemed somewhat angry. He grabbed Keli's report, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into the wastebasket beside him.

After Stofen had read through all the other reports, one