Chapter 948

Chapter 942 Patrick: What do you mean by that?

At this moment, the last external judge, the famous three-ring prophet, Hao Brooks, also arrived at the judges’ table, which meant that the defense could officially begin.

Locke glanced at the wizard Edgar in the audience, who nodded to him from his seat.

Locke nodded back in response.

At the same time, Locke’s gaze fell on the witch Catherine.

This was the first time her cooperating wizard mentor had come to watch the defense of the grant application project at the Institute of True Knowledge.

Her seat had been empty the previous three times.

Was it because the special grant was unusual? Locke scratched his head, but the main participants in a special grant were basically her students, so it wouldn’t be right for her not to come.

The Green Dragon Throne stood up and announced the start of the defense, inviting Antoine to the stage for the first time.

After she called Antoine’s name twice, no one came forward. The Green Dragon Throne, expressionless, announced, “A ten-minute countdown begins now. If Antoine does not appear, his defense will be considered complete.”

Clearly, if he missed this defense, his application for the special grant would not pass the internal review.

Time ticked by.

Locke looked up at the alchemical clock on the ceiling of the conference room. The ten minutes passed quickly; the alchemical clock monitored time at the particle level, making it extremely accurate.

It seemed Antoine wouldn’t be returning for the time being. He was rumored to be trapped in the collapsed World Ruins. Many of the Senate’s wizards had even thought he could make it to the defense, but now it seemed their hopes were unrealistic.

Many of the Senate’s faction’s wizards turned and left.

Since Antoine wouldn’t be attending the defense, it had successfully turned into an internal academic struggle within the Academic Committee.

No, it should be called an internal competition within Catherine the Witch’s academic lineage, since Catherine the Witch governs the Academy of True Knowledge.

This grand defense meeting has turned into a one-woman show by Catherine the Witch’s scholars.

Many wizards understand that Catherine the Witch’s control over Golden Crown Mountain has reached a certain level.

It’s likely that her influence at Golden Crown Mountain will be quite significant for the next twenty years.

A high-ring wizard can influence the entire wizarding university through their students.

Ten minutes passed, and the moderator, a Star Ring wizard, stepped onto the stage to announce that Antoine had automatically abstained.

Next, the Green Dragon Witch announced several more wizards to come forward for their defenses.

Those who went up were mostly wizards researching crystallized magical plants. They either chose to crystallize second-ring magical plants or explored combining traditional breeding methods with crystallization, using crystallization technology to enhance traditional breeding methods.

A second-ring wizard, a senior researcher at the True Knowledge Institute, said, “My research topic is to develop a grafting cultivation method based on the crystallization of magical plants. The five basic cultivation methods plus the Spirit Breath cultivation method are powerful tools for us breeders to modify magical plants, but they are all too traditional. Now, I want to transform the grafting cultivation method among the five basic cultivation methods into an advanced grafting cultivation method—crystallization grafting.”

“This is of great significance; I don’t need to elaborate on the importance of crystallization technology…”

the second-ring wizard spoke eloquently.

The thirty second-ring wizards from Golden Crown Mountain in the judging panel nodded in agreement.

Although only five judges could score the participating wizards and average their scores, the highest score would be the final score. The

judges would be the winner.

However, the judging panel was only responsible for asking questions and brainstorming during the defense process. Essentially, the five judges didn’t need to say much during the process; they only needed to score. Of course, they could ask questions if they wanted, but generally, these high-ring wizards rarely did this.

Of the thirty second-ring wizards, some were Moon Ring, some were Star Ring, but none were Sun Ring.

Sun Ring wizards were special among second-ring wizards, and the judging panel generally selected wizards below Moon Ring, not Sun Ring wizards, who were supposed to sit on the judging panel.

At this moment, many second-ring wizards on the judging panel nodded in approval of the senior researcher.

Crystallization of magical plants had indeed become a major and popular research direction in Cloud Marsh Wetlands, and this second-ring wizard wanted to use the support of special grants to explore whether the traditional five basic grafting methods could be integrated into crystallization technology. This direction was indeed very meaningful and also caught the wave of current trends.

A Star Ring wizard suddenly asked, “So, Valentinian, what research methods are you using? Are these just castles in the air, or are you confident in your abilities?”

Wizard Valentinian smiled confidently.

“I’ve prepared experiments on various advanced grafting methods, including cleft grafting, grafting, and budding. I plan to use the Red Holly, the most resilient and resource-efficient of the two-ring and one-ring magical plants, to explore which grafting method is most suitable for combining with crystallized magical plants. I can also analyze the characteristics of crystallized magical plants after using various grafting methods using the Ice Mirror and the Queen’s Chessboard…”

The Star Ring Wizard nodded.

But another Star Ring Wizard suddenly spoke up: “But I think you have a problem with cost control. It seems you plan to use the Queen’s Chessboard once for each type of magical plant grafted.”

Valentinian was taken aback.

“Sir, is that not acceptable?”

Master Partridge Finch, sitting on the five judges’ seats, smiled slightly and said: “With this method, the special grant you will soon be exhausted, and you won’t be able to finish this research.”

Valentinian swallowed, knowing that he had overlooked cost control when writing the application and boasting.

Of course, this was mainly because he lost touch with reality when rushing to finish the cost control part.

After all, he hadn’t even completed the first step of what he was talking about, yet he was being asked to handle the final cost control steps. Naturally, his fabrication would be distorted,

resulting in problems with the details.

Now, Master Partridge Finch’s sudden reminder was essentially a help, making him realize where the review panel’s dissatisfaction lay.

Next, the wizard Valentinian tried to downplay the key points of his research plan and avoid answering detailed questions about cost control.

It was clear that the review panel was somewhat speechless at his behavior, but considering how excellent and popular Valentinian’s research topic was, they were actually quite lenient with their comments.

After all, although his research methods were considered imperfect by many second-circle wizards, his thinking was unclear, and his cost control was disastrous—simply put, the latter half was basically written in a daze—Valentinian was probably forced into his research.

Therefore, much of what he wrote was just makeshift.

However, sometimes a good topic is enough to win. This was only a special grant; theoretically, the wizard didn’t need to produce a result. So, as long as the topic was good and the judges were convinced, the grant was awarded.

There are wizards in this world who are particularly good at choosing topics but not at finishing them, and there are also projects that

start strong but fizzle out. It’s better to be someone who sees things through to the end; that’s a rare quality.

After finishing his defense, Wizard Valentinian breathed a slight sigh of relief. Although many of his points had raised some objections, at least overall it was acceptable. While the judges were critical, they also nodded in agreement with his research direction.

As the saying goes, as long as the research path of magical plant crystallization technology is on the right track, this choice is generally correct.

Even if he doesn’t get the top-tier funding this time, he can still take this project to other competitions or apply for specific funding.

It’s much better than choosing a niche topic where failure would leave it to rot in his hands.

Wizard Valentinian exhaled a breath of stale air. Although the five judges, apart from Master Patrick, the other four third-ring wizards were expressionless, only occasionally picking up their magic quills to jot something down—perhaps an evaluation of his performance, or perhaps simply handling other matters.

They were a bit cold, but it wasn’t a problem.

Because in the academy’s defense meetings for the top-tier funding last year, the year before, and the year before that, these third-ring wizards were almost equally cold. Basically, the questions were asked by the second-ring wizards’ judging panel, and the third-ring wizards just took notes and gave scores.

They wouldn’t have any special reactions anyway.

Wizard Valentinian comforted himself; it wasn’t a big deal. He had performed quite perfectly.

Presumably, the third-ring wizard’s evaluation of him wouldn’t be too low.

He glanced at the audience out of the corner of his eye; the witch Catherine seemed to be handling matters with the Ganoderma lucidum plant, but most of the audience applauded him.

The Blue Dragon Throne frowned and suddenly asked a question.

“Valentinian, you said you’re going to perform grafting between crystallized plants, but explain to me the mechanism by which grafting between crystallized cambium layers can still occur after the cambium outer layer of a plant has been crystallized?”

Wizard Valentinian was stunned, because his research was only half-finished, rushed and haphazard.

He seemed stuck, stammering and vaguely fabricating several untenable theories, making many in the audience feel embarrassed for him.

However, Wizard Valentinian managed to bluff his way through.

Although his answer was very strained, and he seemed completely unprepared for the question,

he still managed to get away with it.

When Wizard Valentinian stepped down from the stage, half an hour had passed. He touched his back and found it drenched in sweat.

He exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Special grants are really hard to come by.”

“My qualifications are only average to begin with. If it weren’t for my research on crystallized magical plants, I probably wouldn’t even have a single paper in the second-tier journal. I only have one paper in the second-tier journal, and qualifications are a crucial factor in the overall evaluation score.”

After all, the essence of this defense wasn’t about evaluating whose research was more impressive, but rather whose research was more meaningful and had a better chance of being realized within limited funding and time. After all,

it would be laughable for a wizard to make a grand claim that was completely impossible to achieve.

Therefore, both the review panel composed of second-ring wizards and the five judges harbored some doubts, worrying that the project proposals submitted by these wizards were simply impossible to complete.

And, unfortunately, based on historical experience, this might be a product of reality.

Because a large portion of project applications were never even considered feasible by the applicants themselves.

Therefore, for the review panel and judges, past qualifications—how many articles you’ve published, how many projects you’ve worked on, and what championships you’ve won—are very important guarantees!

In the audience, the wizard from Mysterious Heaven remained expressionless, while the throne wizard from Starfield Sea nodded with a smile.

“In the years I’ve been away from Cloud Marsh Wetlands, quite a few interesting things have happened here. Will there be anything even more interesting next?”

The Sea Queen took a sip of her wizard’s wine, then tossed the bottle aside. She crossed her legs, her platinum-gold high heels almost kicking the wizard to her right.

The wizard was somewhat angry but dared not speak out, only regretting sitting in such a prominent position.

The Sea Queen watched the defense with bleary eyes.

At this moment, the Cloud Marsh Wetlands newspaper reporters sitting in the last and highest seats of the audience were frantically using the illusion school’s alchemical equipment to record these scenes.

One of the largest newspapers in Yunze Wetlands is the Frog Newspaper. At this moment, a Star Ring Wizard editor-in-chief from the Frog Newspaper said, “A large number of high-ring wizards from Star Domain Sea, Mystic Heaven, and Yunze Wetlands have gathered here. This means it can’t just be a simple special grant. Although I don’t know exactly what happened…”

He said to the several first-ring wizard reporters beside him, “We need to record this historic scene immediately. Based on my intuition—well, although I’m just a wizard reporter from the Illusion School, I think my intuition is very accurate—I believe something extraordinary must have happened here today, something we don’t know about.”

“Hmm? Asking me what extraordinary thing happened? If everyone knew what extraordinary thing happened, what would be the point of us reporters? Anyway, let’s record this scene first, so we can use it when that extraordinary thing happens!”

The first-ring wizard reporters nodded repeatedly.

After Wizard Valentinian, Wizard Droma went up.

To be honest, Droma’s experiments were even more inadequate. He was probably too focused on eliminating his competitors, constantly resorting to underhanded tactics, and thus didn’t concentrate enough on his research. Consequently, his application was rather weak, and his defense was a complete disaster.

The third-ring wizards didn’t ask him any questions, but the second-ring wizard panel bombarded him with a series of questions, throwing Droma into disarray.

Droma now regretted his scheming.

It seemed he had been a complete fool.

Those geniuses were no match for him; he couldn’t even get past the second-ring wizard panel, and even with the magical plant crystallization technology, he hadn’t seized the opportunity.

Afterwards, Droma sighed deeply and returned to his seat among the defense participants.

However, because the wizard Zhuoma was also pursuing the magical plant crystallization technology route, the judging panel was still relatively lenient with him. Some second-ring wizards even thought his project had merit and suggested refining it next year before re-entering the competition.

Alternatively, they suggested developing a similar project and trading it to recoup the costs of the preliminary experimental data.

But when the applicant from the deacon group gave his defense, the second-ring judging panel unleashed their full firepower. This wizard had chosen a fire magic spell model for research, but even his research methodology was problematic. Almost none of the second-ring judges were optimistic about him.

For the entire half-hour presentation, this second-ring witch named Kurt Panbelle was completely overwhelmed by the criticism, and in the end, she didn’t even bother to answer the questions seriously.

Kurt Panbelle stammered, “Ah… the way to undo this fire spell model…”

A Star Ring Wizard impatiently interrupted her, “Alright, you can go now. That’s not even the question I asked. It’s a complete mess. With this level of preparation… don’t come here again and embarrass yourself.”

Several wizards in the audience chuckled, while others felt sorry for the witch.

After all, everyone had seen that she had initially tried to salvage the situation, but after being relentlessly bombarded by the judging panel for half an hour, her brain had simply shut down.

Kurt Panbelle could only see the wizards’ mouths opening and closing, but couldn’t understand what they were saying.

She didn’t dare ask them to repeat their questions.

As Kurt Panbelle turned to leave the stage, tears welled in her eyes; she seemed particularly aggrieved.

Kurt Panbelle returned to her seat, where her best friend seemed to be comforting her.

Locke heard her say dejectedly, “It’s alright, I’ll be leaving the station this year anyway. I’m just here to try, but if I don’t pass, so be it. This year is already hellishly difficult because of the plant crystallization technology. Even though I wanted to temporarily elevate the significance and value of my research project, it only made me lose my composure. I shouldn’t have performed this badly.”

Next, the two wizards from the Evocation School specializing in wind magic took the stage. They were researching absolute defense within wind magic. Their defenses were commendable, with few major issues. One of them was even questioned by the Green Dragon Witch, but his answers were generally passable.

However, their biggest problem was that they couldn’t prove the significance of their research project was better than the plant crystallization technology.

This put them at a disadvantage.

In addition, their performance was rather mediocre, so the evaluation panel composed of all the second-circle wizards didn’t rate them very highly.

The audience members present could also see the bias of the commentary team of wizards. These commentary wizards seemed to think that the magic plant crystallization technology was a huge popular route, so they highly praised it, while they were somewhat indifferent to wizards who went away from this route.

Locke looked at the two wizards; their problem was actually his own.

Even if he performed exceptionally well, being deemed to have lost in the topic selection would be troublesome.

Of course, the judging panel was just that—the judging panel; frankly, they only had the right to ask questions.

The four silent wizards at this defense, plus Master Patrick Finch, were the ones with the real decision-making power.

Moreover, since Master Patrick Finch would definitely side with the plant crystallization route, he had to perform even better to win this defense.

Of course, he shouldn’t complain, because these people were invited by the academic committee faction specifically to ensure that wizards from the Red Dragon lineage received special funding.

In other words, it was a tactic used by his own side.

He was caught in the crossfire.

Because at this moment, the academic committee, and even his teachers, actually favored the plant crystallization technology route. Although they didn’t know their true attitude towards the technology, they clearly valued its ease of securing projects!

Locke continued to ponder the significance of his research, trying to figure out how to emphasize its importance in terms of atavism in a way that would better appeal to the five judges—no, four judges, one of whom he could ignore.

Meanwhile, Brandy beside Locke appeared remarkably confident, showing no signs of anxiety.

He was clearly eager to try, but unfortunately, he had drawn the last place, three places lower than Locke.

Locke, meanwhile, was to present his answer before Brandy and two other senior researchers also specializing in the crystallization of magical plants.

At this moment, the Blue Dragon Throne stood up and announced, “Next, Zeno Honoran.”

Zeno rose from his seat and walked onto the stage under the watchful eyes of the audience, the wizards of Mystic Heaven, and the Starfield Sea.

The four third-ring wizard judges remained expressionless, merely writing something on their papers.

The second-ring wizard panel nodded in agreement.

“Zenor has two papers from Zone One. His qualifications are quite impressive.”

“Indeed, I’ve read one of his Zone One papers, which is about repairing the Golden Waterway. He has some very original ideas in this area. Is this project also related to the cultivation of magical plants for repairing the Golden Waterway?”

Zenor began his defense. Because he was well-prepared, his topic was correct, his research methods were clear, and his thinking was logical, he finished quickly, and no one raised any objections.

Zenor concluded, “Therefore, in summary, crystallized magical plants have little vitality, so they can be used as materials for filling and repairing the Golden Waterway. Due to their special properties, they can even be planted directly on the Golden Waterway for immediate repair. I think this is very promising, considering that the loss of function in some areas of the Golden Waterway has caused many unnecessary losses to the commercial trade of our Yunze Wetland.”

Upon hearing this, the second-ring review panel fell silent.

They looked at Zenor with the eyes of someone looking at a fool or a madman. Some looked at Zenor with suspicion, wondering if he was deliberately making sensational statements to attract attention for his research.

Master Patrick, on the other hand, simply laughed.

“What do you mean by that?”

(End of Chapter)