Chapter 39: Joint Research Meeting

Chapter 39: Joint Research Meeting

"Huh? Why isn't everyone going in?" Kevin, who had just stepped into the Magic Forest, was surprised to find all the magic apprentices gathered in the great hall.

"Mr. Ajef asked us to wait here. He has an announcement to make," Kevin's friend replied.

Kevin let out an "Oh" and fell silent, obediently standing among the crowd.

At that moment, the hall buzzed with chatter. Nearly everyone was discussing the recent internet sensation—the non-toxic winter mallow—and the announcement Eileen had posted the night before.

"Did you see Eileen's announcement?"

"Yeah, yeah. At least she knew her place and didn’t hog the credit. Otherwise, she’d have been exposed sooner or later!"

"Exactly!"

"But even so, Eileen hit the jackpot. Ask anyone outside now—who doesn’t know her name?"

"Ugh, if I’d known this would happen, I would’ve written up my insights no matter what!"

"Regret it now, don’t you?"

"Stop, my heart hurts just thinking about it!"

"Hey, have you checked Mr. Ajef’s personal space? Twelve thousand followers, thirteen thousand comments—my god! Absolutely unmatched across the entire internet. I compared it—even Dandell only has a little over ten thousand fans!"

"Let me tell you, this morning I went to the washroom, opened the internet, and boom—over a hundred people messaged me, lots of them girls. I got so excited, thinking my luck had finally turned. Then I opened them—ha! All of them were asking about Mr. Ajef! Some even wanted to know if he’s still accepting apprentices for Wood Spirit Magic!"

"No way! Same thing happened to me!"

"Me too!"

"You guys have no idea. I just mentioned on the Forum that I participated in one of Mr. Ajef’s magic experiments, and bam—I gained over a thousand followers overnight, some from other regions!"

"What a coincidence—same here!"

The shared experiences made the hall grow even livelier.

Some envied and resented Eileen;

Others mocked her with sarcastic remarks;

And when discussing Mr. Ajef, many spoke with pride and satisfaction, as if basking in reflected glory.

The advent of the internet had amplified social connections—and naturally, the attention that came with them.

This level of attention was something none of them had ever experienced before. Suddenly thrust into the spotlight, their youthful vanity soared to new heights!

After who knows how long, the hall abruptly fell silent.

Many of the chattering magic apprentices looked up in surprise, only then noticing that Mr. Ajef had arrived.

They quickly straightened their postures and wiped the grins off their faces.

"Is everyone here? Group leaders, do a headcount," Ajef asked from the raised platform at the front of the hall.

"All present," the group leaders replied one after another.

"I’ll now make an announcement. The number of participants in this magic experiment will be reduced to twenty, all of whom will become my assistants. They’ll receive a salary and priority for post-graduation employment."

"Interested applicants, sign up and stay. Selection will be merit-based! Think it over. Those who wish to stay, consult Eileen."

As his words landed, the vast hall of the Magic Forest fell silent for a moment—before erupting into an uproar once everyone processed the news!

The magic apprentices exchanged stunned glances!

No one had expected that the very identity of being an "Ajef Experiment Participant," which had just earned them social recognition and glory, was now about to be stripped away!

No—not stripped away, but made even scarcer and more precious.

Forget about the salary benefits; even without them, the mere title of "Ajef's Assistant" was enough to drive them wild!

Because Eileen was the perfect example!

In an instant, their eyes burned with fervor.

The moment they glanced at each other, hostility surged between them.

Out of 374 magic apprentices, only twenty would be chosen—the competition pressure couldn’t be more intense!

Just as everyone’s emotions soared and they sharpened their metaphorical blades, Yu Sheng'an descended from the podium and strode purposefully toward the exit of the grand hall.

Today was the day of the Felix Joint Research Meeting, where all magic mentors were free to attend and discuss arcane challenges together.

It had to be admitted—there was a reason the Keville Empire stood as a magic nation.

Yu Sheng'an had decided to attend this meeting.

Because the internet’s "flashlight function" had stumped him. He had already mastered Inch Light magic, but integrating it into the internet proved exceedingly difficult.

The reason was simple: all magic, at its core, relied on Magic Runes to channel power.

His magical version of the internet was, in essence, a virtual screen—utterly incapable of bearing Magic Runes. Naturally, adding functions beyond the scope of Divine Spark authority was a near-impossible task.

In a way, his internet personal terminal bore an uncanny resemblance to Blue Star’s "cloud phone" concept.

A cloud phone, in simple terms, retained only the screen and networking functions, with all software hosted on cloud servers. Through ultra-high-speed connections, it replicated all the functionalities of a traditional phone.

The advantage? Personal terminals would be spared the pain of frequent updates and iterations, with significantly lower purchase costs.

Of course, the downside was obvious—it required massive computational power and ultra-fast network speeds to sustain.

Now, Yu Sheng'an’s magical internet, created through Divine Spark authority, faced no such bottlenecks in processing power or network speed.

But precisely because of this, it was incredibly difficult to add any function beyond the Divine Spark’s inherent authority—even something as basic as the foundational Inch Light magic of the light element.

Yu Sheng'an had a premonition: solving this challenge would be a milestone.

Once he cracked it, adding other functions in the future would become trivial.

……

When Yu Sheng'an arrived at the Magic River, where the Joint Research Meeting was being held, the clamor inside was already deafening before he even stepped in.

Yet the moment he pushed open the doors and entered, the bustling council hall abruptly fell silent.

Every head turned toward him, eyes flickering with uncertainty and awe.

If before, people had resented Yu Sheng'an for monopolizing all the Wood Spirit Magic apprentices—even branding him as Dandell’s mouthpiece or lackey—

Then after the battle outside Willis City, all that resentment vanished in an instant.

In this magic nation, absolute magical power meant absolute authority and status!

Given the strength Yu Sheng'an had displayed, no one could afford to withhold the respect he deserved.

And that wasn’t even considering the empire-shaking magic experiment he had spearheaded?

Now, he had become the most valued person in the empire—at least until all his agricultural research achievements were fully released, no one could touch him.

So when Yu Sheng'an walked in, most of the mages greeted him with smiles, radiating goodwill.

Yu Sheng'an returned the smiles in kind.

After all, he still needed these brilliant minds to help him solve the internet conundrum!

The spacious council hall was circular, tiered with higher outer rings sloping inward, paved with granite. This ensured that no matter where one sat, they could see everyone else.

It strongly resembled the stands of a colosseum—albeit scaled down countless times.

Yu Sheng'an swept his gaze across the hall and immediately locked onto Dandell, striding toward him.

"You actually have time to come here?"

As he approached, Dandell asked with a strange expression.

"Naturally, to attend the Joint Research Meeting. I have some questions and wanted to borrow the wisdom of the empire’s brightest minds!"

"Even you have things you don’t understand?"

"Even gods aren’t omniscient and omnipotent, wouldn’t you agree?"

Dandell fell silent and waited patiently.

As the hourglass placed at the center of the hall ran out and automatically flipped, the Joint Research Meeting quieted down.

Magic runes lit up one after another, ensuring the discussions within would not leak outside.

After a brief silence, a mage immediately stood up and raised a question about a recent problem he had encountered.

With his inquiry, the atmosphere gradually grew lively.

In the Keville Empire, though most mages mastered the conventional seven elemental magics—and even one type of Specialized Magic—after becoming official mages, the majority chose to specialize in a single element. Only a rare few geniuses pursued multiple disciplines simultaneously.

After all, human energy was finite, while magical knowledge was boundless.

If one failed to reach a higher realm within their limited lifespan, all talk of progress would be meaningless once their time ran out.

This was precisely why, in their later cultivation—especially when attempting to master the bizarrely powerful combination magics—they often encountered fields they were ill-equipped to handle.

This was the original purpose of the Joint Research Meeting!

Yu Sheng'an listened with keen interest, mentally noting down particularly insightful points.

Such high-level brainstorming was a privilege few ordinary mages could enjoy.

Since he was here, he wasn’t about to waste the opportunity.

Midway through the discussion, Stanford, the Thunder Archmage, stood up and said, "Everyone, I wish to incorporate light burst magic into thunder magic. Does anyone here have expertise—or suggestions—on combining thunder and light elements?"