Xu Yi paused, slightly taken aback. Ever since he had begun supplying Her Excellency with enough gold coins, her mood had certainly improved compared with before. Now she even had the leisure to joke with him.
"Hmm... let me hear the bad news first. I've always liked saving the good things for last."
"That isn't a very good habit. Leave good things too long, and someone else might snatch them away." Great Mage Camilla shook her head, saying something Xu Yi could not make sense of. "But since you want the bad news first, I'll grant your wish. Listen carefully: the bad news is that the Mages' Guild rejected your proposal to apply for patents on magic arrays outright."
Xu Yi sighed, though he did not look particularly disappointed.
"Did they give a reason?"
"They did. The Mages' Guild was originally founded jointly by mages, and it has always advocated cooperation between mages: researching magic together, making progress together, and promoting the further development and advancement of magic. Your proposal therefore violated the Mages' Guild's fundamental principles, so of course it couldn't pass," Great Mage Camilla explained.
"Researching together, making progress together?" Xu Yi could not help scoffing. "Does anyone still believe that joke? Which mage on the Sains Continent doesn't conduct their magic research in secret? Once they finally make a breakthrough, they hide it away, terrified that another mage might find out. And you're telling me mages are supposed to cooperate like this... heh..."
Great Mage Camilla frowned and rapped hard on the table. "Xu Yi, watch your attitude. Whatever you may think, those really are the Mages' Guild's principles. Since I submitted this proposal as a Great Mage, it was merely rejected without any further consequences. If you had submitted it yourself, you might very well have