Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 1814 Grand Academia Bowl

?1814 Grand Academia Bowl

Date- 17 April 2321

Time- 04:38

Location- Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City, TSR Guild Headquarters, Park

"I read the user agreement, more like a guide on creative tricks to abuse legal contracts. Boy, no wonder you were able to trick the devil," Field Marshal Heatsend found Wyatt strolling by the manmade pond and said to ease the awkwardness.

Field Marshal knew she owed Wyatt an apology, with her character she did not have a problem apologizing if she was in the wrong be it to an elder, colleague, or junior. But this time Field Marshal could not bring herself to apologize to Wyatt because she was not only wrong but also felt guilty.

She felt guilty because Wyatt had thought of and done everything in his power to make sure that the impact of the VR Universe on the Card World would be nothing but good, but without any prior due diligence on her part, she blamed him for being greedy and not caring about what his product was doing to society.

Not that Field Marshal had not felt guilty when she was wrong other times, but this time it was different. She knew the sense of betrayal one would feel being called bad and greedy when they were going out of their way to be fair and do good to and for everyone. In her line of work, she has been in that place many times making the most difficult decisions affecting millions of lives.

Since she knew the pain of being misunderstood, Field Marshal felt a little more guilty about this one in particular and felt a simple apology would not cut it. Therefore, she found herself in a difficult spot making small talk to ease her awkwardness which was unlike her, she was more of a direct person.

"Is that an apology? I accept it," Wyatt did not make things difficult for the Field Marshal because she was advising him to be better and not forcing him to be better. The two were very different, One showed that she cared and the other showed that she was self-righteous. Wyatt appreciated her care and advice.

If it were someone else in the Field Marshal's place they might have asked him to increase the service fee for the VR Universe currency exchange and fork over a sizeable percentage of dividend to them since he was under their care and protection.

"Wyatt, you are easy to talk contrary to what my husband keeps saying. Thank you, for being so understanding," Field Marshal nodded at Wyatt with her eyes filled with warmth feeling Wyatt was a sweetheart. She wondered why Lorenzo kept complaining that Wyatt was difficult to talk to.

Speaking of Lorenzo, that was the guy you could expect to demand a dividend. Wyatt thought this based on his experience with Lorenzo, that old fool tried to get Colleen to lock Wyatt up in the name of safety and protection upon learning that Wyatt was the one to invent the silver milk powder. Wyatt could never understand how honorable women like Field Marshal Heatsend always end up with crooked men like Lorenzo Lorn.

"If you feel that way, then I take it you will help me be the city lord of the Southern Academic city," Wyatt once again brought up the topic, as he really wanted this position.

"Wyatt, if you want to be a City Lord based on your contribution we can get you to be a City Lord for a 1st tier city right in the capital district but the Southern Academic city is not possible because everything we discussed earlier is a big if. The Southern region already lacks talented card apprentices, if the Southern Academic city fails to provide its meager talents for one year, then the South cannot recover from it. The whole economy will crumble and we will see another recession. It is not that I do not trust you but In our current state, we cannot risk that," The Field Marshal shook her head helplessly.

Field Marshal wanted to help Wyatt but if he failed to deliver on what he promised then it would not only affect her but the entire Southern Region. She could not take such a big risk, regardless of how much confidence she had in Wyatt.

Listening to the Field Marshal, Wyatt did not hide his disappointment. Hoping to guilt her and turn her no into a yes. It partially worked as Field Marshal proposed, "How about I give you a university, you implement your plans there and based on your results I can help you become the City lord of the Southern academic city?"

"That won't cut it, one university is not enough for the Grand Academia Bowl," Wyatt blurted after considering the Field Marshal's proposal.

"The Grand Academia bowl, don't tell me you are after its prize. Accept for the Central academic city no other academic cities have ever won one. At least the other academic cities had the fortune of being one of the runners-ups while the Southern academic city has been dead last for the last few centuries," The Field Marshal was astonished to learn that Wyatt was aiming for the Grand Academia Bowl.

Grand Academia Bowl, for thousands of years it has been a grand event, held once every four years, where prestigious educational institutions of all five academic cities gather and showcase their achievements, researchers, and projects competing for the title of 'Grand Academia.'

No surprise, one of the education institutions from the Central Academic City has always won the title of 'Grand Academia' ever since the founders of the other four academic cities vanished in history for obvious reasons. Their successors had let them down. Especially the Southern academic city, under the constant decline of the Southern Region, the Southern academic city never had the honor of being a runner-up for the title let alone win the title.

So imagine the Field Marshal's surprise when she heard Wyatt bring up the 'Grand Academia Bowl' which was going to be held the next academic year. She could not help but wonder if Wyatt had gone insane when he not only claimed that he would modify all the card creation knowledge of the Southern Academic city in two months but also aim for the 'Grand Academia Bowl.'

"Wyatt, tell me you are not aiming for the Grand Academic Bowl," Field Marshal wanted to confirm once again even though she had heard Wyatt mention Grand Academic Bowl loud and clear.

"Yes, I am aiming for the title 'Grand Academia',"Wyatt answered the Field Field Marshal, he could not be more clear about his ambition. He was not aiming for the runner-up of the Grand Academia Bowl, he was aiming for the title 'Grand Academia' anything less, his ego would not allow it. If he was participating in a competition or a wager he had to win. There was no other option unless losing was winning.

"Boy, you have gone insane. No no, I am the one who is insane for continuing to listen to your crazy nonsense," Field Marshal felt that Wyatt had a few screws loose if he thinks that he can win the title 'Grand Academia' in the upcoming 'Grand Academia Bowl' that will be held in next academic year.

Wyatt rolled his eyes listening to Field Marshal, then he bargained, "Give me 30 educational institutions, not all have to be universities. I can manage if some are colleges and training centers."

"Are you feeling alright? Did you catch some alien fever traveling to other worlds?" Field Marshal asked as her snow-

white hand tore out of the void and touched Wyatt's forehead to check if he was okay.

"Aren't you overreacting a bit?" Wyatt was caught off guard seeing a rip form in the space and a delicate female arm extend out of it and check his temperature.

"Overreacting, do you know what you are aiming for? Just this year alone the central academic city has applied for nearly 4500 patents and copyrights in total. Now imagine how many patents and copyrights they have under their belt in a span of four years. What gives you the confidence that you can outdo them in the year with 30 educational institutions? I am exaggerating, uh, I am not reacting enough. If you need me to slap you wake from your dream then just say the word," Field Marshal really started to treat Wyatt like a senile.

With all the top ten universities situated in the Central region, it was not surprising that they applied for 4500 patents and copyrights. Especially considering that most of the copyrights were the card recipes that talent card creationists have applied for their doctoral.

Wyatt was not discouraged by the Field Marshal's words. Rather the more she said that he could not do it the more he resolved himself to do it. Field Marshal's sound of reason was like the song of motivation to Wyatt's ears.

"Need I remind you that the GrandAcademia Bowl is about quality and not quantity," Wyatt argued. However, Field Marshal's hysteria did not make it easy for him to do so.

"It is about quality right, then one university should be more than enough for you to achieve your goal," Field Marshal used Wyatt's words against him.

"..." Wyatt was without words. The competition boosted quality over quantity but he knew he could not submit a few patents, copyrights, research, and projects when the other educational intuitions were submitting a few hundred or thousand of those. With that, he could aim for one of the runner positions but not the title. After all, the title was Grand Academia, it represents that an institution was capable of pumping out quality talents in large quantity. Wyatt felt that a greater quality could make up for a little less quantity but greater quality could not make up for the lowest quantity.

The question was, would you as a student choose an intuition that could produce a large quality of acceptable quality talents or an intuition that could produce a very low quantity of high-

quality talents? It would depend on personal choice but for a competition like 'Grand Academia Bowl' the answer was obvious.

Seeing Wyatt unable to talk for once, Field Marshal shook her head and asked, "Why do you even care for this competition? Is it about the rewards?"

"Yes, it is about the rewards, the winner and runner-up get a limited amount of seats to enter the time vestige in the Morningstar University. I aiming for it," Since the Field Marshal had guessed it Wyatt revealed the real reason why he was so bent on participating and winning the upcoming 'Grand Acadmia Bowl.'

"If it is about that then this time you represent the Southern Royal family in the Morningstar University time vestige," Field Marshal nodded in understanding and proposed. The time vestige was indeed a tempting reward for the 'Grand Acadmia Bowl.' But for Wyatt, the Southern Royal family was willing to give him the seat they received every year.

Every year when Morningstar University opens the time vestige, only limited people can enter it. Most of the seats were reserved for the staff and students of Morningstar University, then the other top ten universities and the central government, and then what remained was distributed between the royal families, then the other organizations. In the end, after the forces of the central region had divided the seats among them, the royal families only got very few seats that were already reserved by card apprentices who exchanged a lot of contributions for these seats.

Even in the case of the Southern Royal family, every year the number of seats they received for the time vestige was in single digits. But for these limited seats, there was a long line of card apprentices who had exchanged all the merits they gathered by risking their lives, contributing to the Southern region and its citizens. Despite that, they had been patiently waiting for decades all together for their turn. The list was jam-

packed even someone from the royal family did not dare to use their influence to cut in the line. As that would be undermining the contribution of these card apprentices to the Southern Region and its citizens.