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Chapter 39: Rewards
Mage Adam

Frank dressed himself and walked towards James. Adam gave him hope, and he was full of motivation. He couldn't consider resting at all, he didn't care about his relationship with James anymore.

Soon, five days had passed, the research was carried out daily. The pain that Frank could endure daily was limited and the speed of rune building was incredibly slow. Frank only succeeded in forming four runes, while James needed the help of a mental strength amplifier to build the runes.

Soon, the apprentices forgot about Adam again, and life in the Academy returned to normal. However, news soon spread like wildfire -- the final assessment was no longer a simple literacy test.

The same goes for Adam as well.

Many of the apprentices were unqualified because of this, but the Moldo Mage Academy had no choice in that regard. Initially, due to the losses from the war, they lowered their standards to allow even the weakest apprentice to join despite not meeting their initial standards.

This time because of Adam's research, the Sacred Tower decided to reward the Moldo Mage Academy. Hence they decided to weed out the weak apprentices with a more difficult assessment.

This obviously caused an uproar among the apprentices. This difficult assessment was bound to accompany death, and some apprentices who were living peacefully dreaded the assessment. They thought they could become mages step by step while avoiding danger.

Some apprentices requested to leave, but the mages rejected all of their requests without hesitation. Some corpses were dragged out of the tower, as they angered the mages.

The atmosphere in the Academy soon became dark. This assessment could pit the apprentices against each other, and doubt and distrust ran rampant among the apprentices.

The Dean intentionally kept this a secret from Adam. He feared that Adam might kill everyone to weed out the competition.

"Adam, Adam!" Elliot came to Adam's lab excitedly. "Open the door, I have good news!"

Adam was busy conducting his experiments, and motioned the two to continue their work. He opened the door to a very excited Elliot.

Elliot hopped into the lab and glanced around, "As expected of my genius apprentice! Your first lab is this big! Look! You even have an energy fluctuation recorder, even though I don't have one!"

Adam grabbed him by the collar before Elliot could scurry around the lab, "What's the matter, Elliot?"

Elliot was long accustomed to Adam's indifferent attitude, and announced, "The Dean has personally summoned you! Looks like you're gonna make a fortune!"

Adam guessed that this must be his payment for his research, which is indeed good news as he was short on power stones, he smiled, "You are right, this is good news."

The two left the lab and flew towards the tower. Elliot chatted endlessly along the way, "I can't believe you actually managed to harness power from the brain -- I mean, do you know how powerful you are? I no longer have to worry about using tools to obtain accurate results thanks to you!"

Adam asked strangely, "So you're saying... my runes work on you?"

Elliot stuttered back, "Uh, no. Not really, but soon! All of the senior apprentices are studying your meditation method closely, but they are doing it slowly. They still trust Prometheus' runes more."

Adam wasn't surprised. The runes were based on his own standards anyways, so most won't be able to build the runes. He didn't really care, though, since he didn't really intend to make it universal.

Elliot envied Adam, and expressed his envy, "I have been in the Mage Academy for more than 40 years, and I have never been summoned by the Dean."

Adam looked at Elliot strangely, "Victor. Dean Victor -- what level of mage is he?"

Elliot replied, lights glimmering in his eyes, "He's a Level 4 Mage -- with some time, he will be qualified to become a trans-dimensional mage."

Adam was in awe; He couldn't imagine how strong the Dean might be.

Elliot thought Adam was nervous and comforted him, "Don't worry -- as long as you maintain basic etiquette and not offend him, you will be fine! Besides, I heard that he has a good temperament compared to the other mages."

Adam knew Elliot was trying to comfort him, but to mages, apprentices are mere ants to them, so they wouldn't pay attention to ants in the first place.

The two descended from the sky and walked into the tower. This was the first time that Adam was allowed into the other floors. The two of them looked to the ground, not daring to look at the surroundings. The presence of magic weighed on them heavily, and they could tell they were approaching the Dean.

They soon arrived at the top of the tower, and Elliot stopped and panted, "The last floor is where the Dean's office is. I can't follow you, so good luck."

Adam nodded and continued on. The steps of the tower seemed infinite, but suddenly, Adam found that he was no longer in the tower, but an unknown space, "Apprentice Adam?"

Adam was shocked. He couldn't sense where the voice was coming from either, "Yes, respected Dean Victor."

In the next second, Adam felt a gentle push, which pushed him back onto a chair. He mustered up his courage and looked up from the ground, and there stood the Dean Victor -- he was unbelievably tall, completely different from the first day where he saw him.

The Dean could feel his discomfort and explained, "This is my real body, Adam. What you have seen on the first day is just a clone. The magic flowing out of my body is too strong for you, but you'll get used to it in a bit."

Adam was stunned. He couldn't believe that the Dean could hear his thoughts.

"Long story short, the head Trans-dimensional Mage of Moldo and the Fifth Elemental Sacred Tower has praised your research highly. On behalf of the tower, I will reward you," the Dean placed a token in Adam's hands, alongside a materialised rune. He then conjured a contract in front of Adam's eyes, "With this token, you can read all the books in the library for free except the upper three floors."

His first reward was access to knowledge.

"And this rune lets you store items up to one cubic metre."

His second reward was convenience and space.

"And this contract, Adam, I must say, you are incredibly talented. Upon signing this contact, your research will be published to the entirety of the Mage Continent. Whenever a person reads it, you gain ten units of power stones."

His final reward was resources.

Adam signed the contract immediately, envying that agreements in the World of Mages are bound by contracts. At least he longer had to worry about power stones.

"Thank you, esteemed Dean Victor."

"You deserve it all. I didn't expect for the Academy to be so lucky having a genius like you. You solved a great problem for me, too. I need to reward you somehow."

Adam didn't pry on what Dean Victor's problem was, but he knew that the rewards given by the Dean would be grand.

"In nine months, this might come in handy," the Dean said.

A small, black-red egg popped up in front of Adam, and an evil aura emanated from it. Adam picked up the egg, and found that it moved on its own, as if it was trying to invade Adam's body.

"What is this?" Adam asked.

"This is the egg of an unknown creature I got from the abyss plane during the war; it'll be as strong as a Level 2 Mage when it becomes an adult."

Adam widened his eyes. A Level 2 Mage was equal to the Black Mage's power level.

"Little one, it is time for you to go. Good luck in your trial in nine months."

Adam looked at the Dean quizzically, but he was suddenly swept away voluntarily and his vision went black. After regaining consciousness, he found that he was outside of the tower, and his rewards were hovering gently beside him. Elliot was right beside him, "Seems that you gained a lot my friend! Let's see what you got!"

Mage Adam
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Comments 3

  1. Offline
    MrHoudini
    + 2 ⋅ 0 -
    What kind of logic is this. He submitted his research which the tower found helpful and decided to weed out the weak apprentices and he has to participate in that as well?
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    1. Offline
      CosmicBeing
      + 2 ⋅ 0 -
      Ever heard of formality boast
      Read more
  2. Offline
    Xiao zhan
    + 3 ⋅ 1 -
    -38 : Alchemy Body

    James watched Adam leave and whispered to himself, "You underestimate me Adam. Now that I've been given a second chance, I will do anything to stay."

    From Adam's display of power. James has seen the impossible. He knew that one needs to have a great amount of mental strength to fuel this psychic power, and he was the lead researcher on meditation, so Adam's research would be beneficial for him.

    "Better to die trying to become a mage than spend the rest of my life doing nothing."Adam returned to the lab, and the puppet standing guard unsealed the lab for him. He entered the lab and summoned a puppet through the console, since he wanted to remodel the lab. There were too many rooms in James' original lab, which was probably why it was so messy.

    Adam didn't need much help either, since he could run multiple systems in the background.

    However, Adam needed live subjects.

    The alchemy puppet went to retrieve their allocated power stones, and Adam once again saw the nanobots swarming over the lab like a tide -- in mere seconds, Adam's planned renovation was completed in seconds.

    If these puppets weren't the property of the Academy, he would have stolen all of them. The ability to change the environment in mere seconds was too fascinating.

    The next task was to purchase equipment.

    Optical projectors were the most basic lab tools -- however, mental strength amplifiers, supporting devices, energy amplifiers, energy fluctuation detectors, and other instruments were powerful, but costly.

    Adam frowned while buying some equipment, noticing that the allocated funds were quickly being used up. Now, he knew why apprentices would duel over mere power stones -- apprentices were poor.
    His mind trailed back to the Task Hall, remembering there were dangerous missions that gave huge rewards. Initially, he wasn't interested, but now, he might want to do it.

    Now wasn't the time, however. He needs to send his research over to the library. The books at the library weren't made of paper, but light. Adam recorded his research onto the optical projector, then removed the information from the projector. All nineteen sets of runes were stored within the information box, and the library would form 'books' based on the information given.

    The next morning, Frank arrived at the lab as soon as James arrived.

    "I'll join the lab," Frank muttered.

    Adam wasn't surprised -- it was hard for Frank to reject upon witnessing Adam's display of power.

    "I'm honoured, but I do not need an assistant -- I need a test subject. Are you willing to become my test subject?" Adam asked. Neither James or Frank were as knowledgeable as him in this field of research so they had to help provide Adam with data via other methods. James' role is to study how this would affect a normal body, while Frank's role is to study how this would affect a semi-mechanical body.

    Both James and Frank were a little embarrassed being ordered around by an apprentice, but agreed, "Yes Mr. Adam, I accept."

    Adam nodded, then presented them with their contracts. The contents of the contract were displayed clearly, and the two signed it without looking at it.

    "Then, come in," Adam gestured. "James, you can start to build the runes, I'll check how you perform later. Now Frank, come with me."

    Frank was interesting thanks to his body, so Adam wanted to begin with him.

    "Alright. Today's research is to study if your soul has been altered after you gained this mechanical body."
    Frank simply said, "There aren't any changes. I just can't use magic anymore."

    Adam recorded what Frank said, and asked, "Is this similar to the other apprentices with mechanical bodies? Do they have any other methods of using or coming into contact with magic?"

    Frank sighed, but restrained himself. Adam lacked common sense since he's just an apprentice, he told himself, and replied, "Yes. Magic gets insulated from our bodies, so we can only become alchemists. However, alchemy requires a lot of resources, so the tower doesn't really pay attention to us."

    "And why is that?"

    "In the apprenticeship stage, your body is the manifestation of your soul; however a mechanical body causes your soul to deteriorate."

    Losing your soul? Adam knew that back on Earth, scientists cannot prove the existence of a soul. If Frank suggested that an incomplete body results in the absence of the soul, then why was he able to retain his thoughts?

    Perhaps the brain plays a more important role here.

    Adam recorded this question and highlighted it. There might be relevant information in the library, so he wanted to research it while he had time.

    "Yesterday you told me that your body brings you pain. How?"

    "I may look like one person but I carry two bodies with me. My human body carries out its normal functions, but the mechanical side can't. However, this mechanical side forces itself to adapt to my human body. Watch," Frank said, taking off his clothes. His mechanical body was exposed, and he ripped it out with both hands, separating it from his human body.

    This hurt Frank immensely, and sweat formed on his forehead. He gritted his teeth, masking his pain, "That's it."

    It was scary watching his human body attempting to heal the wound, only for the mechanical side to continue cutting off the healing. Each blood vessel was connected to a pipeline, which is how blood was transported through the body. His internal organs were all made of machine, and Frank's entire body shook like a machine.

    "Magic keeps your body going."

    Adam hypothesised that this pain wasn't only physical -- Frank's body cannot cope with magic, which means the pain caused by his body was because magic was chipping away at his human body, preventing him from healing.

    "Don't move. I need to test my hypothesis."

    He wanted to test if he could use his telekinesis to form a harmonious link between the human and mechanical body, relieving Frank of his constant pain.

    Psychic power flowed out from Adam gently, covering the gap between the human body and the mechanical body, forming a thin film, "Merge your body."

    Frank sighed, and forced the mechanical part back into his body. He resisted the immense pain -- if Adam's experiment was successful, it means that he might not have to endure constant pain.

    "How does it feel?" Adam inquired.

    "The pain is relieved, but it's still there," Frank replied. "You still have to inhibit the healing from my body."

    Adam nodded, and gently applied psychic energy to Frank. He had to control himself, as too much power would kill his human body, but too little would mean that the pain would still be present. Fortunately, Adam gauged his power carefully, and found a suitable power outfit.

    "What about now?"

    Frank's eyes widened -- for the first time in his life, he felt relieved. "It... It works! I still feel some pain, but... I can breathe normally."

    Adam's display of power gave Frank great hope -- he couldn't believe that in just a single day, his pain would be relieved.

    Adam didn't care. He still had more experiments to run. He withdrew his psychic power, and Frank fell to the floor in pain again. "We're done today. Go back and rest, or you can help James out," Adam said with a monotone voice.


    -End.......
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