Chapter 302
Chapter 302. Future Arrangements
Fulan arrived at the upper floor of the Mage Tower, at Elise’s room. The moment she pushed the door open, she saw Elise sitting in front of a desk, extending a hand toward Fulan.
“Come in. Sit down first.”
Fulan shook her head, feeling that Elise seemed to know exactly when she had appeared outside the door.
However, she did not think too deeply about it. After all, as a high-tier mage, possessing such a skill was very normal.
Fulan strode over to the chair. The moment she sat down, she saw a silver trophy placed on the table.
It was a cup with a wide mouth facing upward. Fulan could even see some silver liquid appearing inside the cup, but this liquid seemed unable to leave the cup.
Beneath the cup, Fulan saw the name she had written on the Mana Communication Platform: “Lai.”
“Looks like this is the trophy for the Silver Alchemy Award I received. But why is there only that ‘name’ of mine? What about Mage Philip, who led the project?”
After Mage Philip said that day that she might be able to win the Silver Alchemy Award with this achievement, Fulan had carefully searched for the specific details of this award after returning.
This was an internal evaluation award within the Alchemy School. Its scope covered all Alchemy School achievements below the Third Tier.
And the Society President of the Northern Society was a mage of the Alchemy School. It was perfectly normal for Alchemy School content to appear within the school she had founded, so it was also normal for Fulan’s achievement to qualify for the Silver Alchemy Award.
Moreover, Fulan’s achievement fully satisfied all the conditions for winning the Silver Alchemy Award.
Afterward, she had heard Philip say that her result was the strongest contender for this year’s Silver Alchemy Award. Compared to it, the other achievements seemed rather overshadowed.
The only scenario in which Fulan would not receive this award was if the judges of the evaluation lost their minds and refused to issue the award to a mage of the Northern Society...
But later, Philip said that he would contact people to resolve it and told Fulan not to worry. Fulan also had no need to worry. Her current identity was only that of a First-Tier Mage, so where would she get the influence to sway the choices of those judges?
So after that, Fulan had not paid much attention to this matter. If she received it, that would be best. She had heard there were also some rewards. If she did not receive it, then so be it.
When Fulan saw this trophy, she was certainly happy. After all, she had also heard that the reward for obtaining this award was very generous.
What puzzled Fulan was why Philip’s name did not appear on the trophy. Based on what she understood, both names should have been written in a situation like this.
“Um, why is Mage Philip’s name not on it?” Fulan asked directly.
After hearing Fulan speak, Elise did not answer immediately. Instead, she froze in her seat for a moment, then asked in return,
“What happened to your voice?”
Elise keenly noticed the change in Fulan’s voice. As a Fourth-Tier Mage, she was extremely sensitive to the changes that had occurred in Fulan’s voice.
Although the voice was still the same voice, it now emitted a special effect.
Facing Elise’s probing gaze, Fulan chose to tell the truth.
“I used the Battle Merits from the last mission to exchange for the Modification School’s Song of the Deep Sea modification sequence from the Battle Mage Corps.”
Elise came to a realization and said,
“So that is what happened. But you actually exchanged your Battle Merits for that...”
Elise paused for a moment, then said,
“It seems you truly do want to learn spells from other schools. That idea was not false...”
Then Elise turned back and began answering Fulan’s question.
“Your paper on refining White Star Sand did not win the Silver Alchemy Award.” An unnatural expression appeared on Elise’s face, and her tone was complicated. “The one that won the Silver Alchemy Award was your paper on Fireball.”
Hearing this news, Fulan froze. She truly had not expected that it would be her other paper that had won this award.
Although she had heard that mathematical content was also studied by mages of the Alchemy School, she had never imagined that her other paper would be the one to receive this award.
In addition, the current situation felt rather strange to her. After all, having one of her own achievements push aside another achievement she had assumed would win the award was rather unbelievable.
“This is the reward you received for this award,” Elise suddenly said while Fulan was still dazed, interrupting her thoughts.
“What is this?” Fulan looked at the silver item she had received. It was covered with densely packed alchemical procedures. The characters used on it were extremely tiny, and Fulan had to widen her eyes to see what was written.
“This is the reward I helped secure for you. Do you not like unique knowledge and spells from other schools?”
“I specifically helped you secure one of the Alchemy School’s internal secret arts. Even I do not know this technique.”
Elise spoke slowly. She had indeed specially helped Fulan obtain this Second-Tier technique. This technique was called [Heart of Quicksand].
To cast this spell, one first had to use the special alchemical procedure written on it to refine the corresponding alchemical product.
Then, through this product, one could combine it with the corresponding spell to release [Heart of Quicksand].
After this spell was released, everything in the surrounding area would be covered by a kind of adhesive quicksand.
It could bind enemies in place and prevent them from moving, and could even directly suffocate them through the quicksand.
This technique was a relatively ancient spell, but even in the present era, it had not become outdated.
“Thank you, Society President.” Fulan first expressed her gratitude. This Second-Tier Spell was indeed something she currently needed. She did not have many Second-Tier spells on her right now.
Originally, she had planned to go to the Battle Mage Corps, find Zane first, and ask him to allow her to exchange for Second-Tier spells. Then she would use Battle Merits to exchange for a few Second-Tier spells.
Now, this Second-Tier Spell not only alleviated Fulan’s urgent need, but merely looking at these alchemical procedures already made Fulan feel that the reward she had obtained was not at all cheap.
Fulan reached toward the trophy and placed it in front of herself. Then she heard Elise say,
“There is one more matter I need to tell you.”
Fulan nodded and looked toward Elise. Elise then spoke.
“The matter is this. The Silver Alchemy Award has an award ceremony, but I declined it on your behalf, because in your current situation, you cannot show yourself in public.”
This was not because Elise had any objections to the paper that had won Fulan the award. Rather, no matter which paper had won, she would not have allowed Fulan to go receive it.
That was because the current situation was simply too sensitive. If Fulan went to the Alchemy School’s side now, Elise would worry whether Fulan could even return.
And that was without even considering Fulan’s identity as Habos’s disciple. Just the Northern Society’s current situation alone made Elise feel that Fulan might not necessarily be able to handle it.
“It is fine that you refused. I did not really want to go either.”
Fulan had no objection to this. Setting aside the fact that she had already received the reward, why would she still go to receive the award?
Moreover, it was not only the sensitive issue of her current identity. She was also very busy right now and truly could not squeeze out time to travel and receive an award in this world, where transportation was not particularly developed.
She estimated that even a round trip would take at least a month. With that time, she could do many things, perhaps even train the proficiency of a Second-Tier Spell to the Proficient level.
Then Elise seemed to hesitate for a long time. Her hand rubbed over the desk for a while before she finally continued speaking.
“In six months, there will be an evaluation for the Gold Alchemy Award. If that paper of yours is nominated, I will personally take you there.”
Fulan widened her eyes, unable to react for a moment. After pausing briefly, she quickly asked,
“Do I have to go to this Gold Alchemy Award?”
Although this Gold Alchemy Award sounded extremely impressive, since the name “alchemy” was already there, and adding the word “Gold” before it surely meant this award carried great weight within the Alchemy School.
But the very first thing Fulan felt when she heard it was that she did not particularly want to go. Even now, she was still somewhat confused and did not really understand the Alchemy School’s attitude toward her paper, “A Mathematical Analysis of Fireball.”
And with that time, Fulan could do a pile of other things. Even now, she was still thinking about that territory in the Antir Region.
“If you truly are nominated, then you must go.” Elise’s attitude was extremely firm. No one knew better than her how much weight this award carried within the Alchemy School.
The previous Silver Alchemy Award was one thing. It could only be considered a minor affair. Its influence was limited to the circle of Alchemy School mages at the Third Tier and below.
But the Gold Alchemy Award was different. This was an award that all Alchemy School mages would pay attention to.
It could be said that as long as one received this award, one would gain a firm foothold among all Alchemy School mages. Even alchemist groups outside the Alliance would have people who knew who you were.
Even Elise herself had never received this award. She had been nominated several times, but every time, she had merely accompanied others in the race and gained nothing.
Part of the reason was that Elise’s own talent in research was slightly inferior to her talent in spells.
In any case, after learning that Fulan had a chance of winning the Gold Alchemy Award, her emotions were extremely complicated.
Subjectively speaking, she did not particularly agree with Fulan’s theory of researching spells. But the facts had also proven that quite a few mages did agree with Fulan’s theory.
This made her position somewhat awkward. But in the end, she chose to face it calmly and stop thinking about whether Fulan would obtain this Gold Alchemy Award.
Moreover, if Fulan truly did receive this award, it would bring great benefits to the entire Northern Society.
When Fulan saw the expression of refusal brooking no argument appear on Elise’s face, she knew she had no choice in this matter at all.
“All right. When the time comes, I will go with you.”