Elite Mages' Academy

Chapter 179: Conversation With The Dean (3)

When Ivanovich entered the realm of being a legend, he created the Law of Immortality and allowed all the colonists to prosper. These were all facts that Xiao Lin knew. However, regarding Ivan’s disappearance after that, the dean did not mention it at all. He brushed past it quickly.

That question was not the main reason the dean called for Xiao Lin today. The dean paused for a moment to allow Xiao Lin to process the information before continuing, “Since Ivan, there were two main schools of thought regarding SS-rank talents that did not exist in the system. Some believe it was a blessing from God that symbolizes our destiny as the rulers of Planet Norma. Even some of the natives felt that way, which led to a lot of them willingly coming under our rule.”

The dean then sighed. “Conversely, a portion of people believed it was the power of demons. They believe that it should not exist in their world, and someday, an individual with an SS-rank talent would destroy the world. Did you know? Ever since the news of an individual with an SS-rank talent being found in Judge Academy leaked, there had been at least 10 assasination attempts on Lilith. On average, it was one attempt a month. Of course, thanks to the strict protection offered by the academy, all the attempts had failed. Even so, Judge Academy was forced to announce that the SS-rank talent was just a misunderstanding, even if many saw through the poor ruse.”

After that, the dean looked at Xiao Lin patiently, saying, “Do you understand now?”

Xiao Lin nodded. He now understood that the long lecture from the dean was just for his own good. The truth was, after visiting New Washington and seeing the treatment Lilith got from the Americans, he felt it was a bit unfair. They both had an SS-rank talent, but the difference in treatment was too great.

Even if he could not vocalize those thoughts, the dean had guessed what he was feeling, and he felt a sense of gratitude. Everything the dean did before this was just to conceal Xiao Lin’s existence, especially since his own talent was definitely very weak initially, but possessed infinite room for growth. It was definitely important that Xiao Lin had a safe time to grow in the beginning.

“I’m partially responsible for everything that’s happened, since I agreed to let you head to Judge Academy. My intent was to let you get used to the New World ahead of time, since Lilith went there very early on, but I could not just give out that order. Thankfully the Americans came looking for her themselves, and I went along with the flow.”

“No matter what, I did receive some compensation. I got more than ten thousand New Dollars.” Xiao Lin hesitated before asking, “About that, they held me under house arrest. Did the Americans have any explanation for that?”

“I plan on voicing my concerns and displeasure to Judge Academy about that.”

“Oh…”

“Yes, if you don’t think it’s enough, then I will strongly voice my concerns and displeasure.”

“…”

The dean laughed out loud, and Xiao Lin asked, “You were joking, right?”

After the laughter died down, the dean calmed down and sighed, “You need to understand; we are allies with Judge Academy. Even though friends never last forever, we are still currently benefiting from each other. I cannot allow any conflict between the academies right now, especially with the threat of Asabanor looming over us.”

Xiao Lin furrowed his eyebrows in silence. Even though he had anticipated it, he was still unhappy.

“However, the Americans crossed the line this time. I discussed things with the chairman and dean of Judge Academy over the phone, and the final result was this.” The dean put a document on the table.

Xiao Lin hurriedly flipped through it and it was very obviously a list of items. On the list were various never-before-heard materials, such as violet grass, blood-moon flowers and dragon-blood stones. Roughly counting, there were over a hundred different materials listed.

“This is?” Xiao Lin got the gist of it, but he was still unclear. Other than the additional New Dollars, it seemed like Judge Academy wanted to offer these things as additional compensation for himself. However, he was absolutely clueless regarding alchemy and medicines, so he did not know what these things would be useful for.

The dean guessed his thoughts and asked with a smile, “Originally, I should have asked you about this list first, but this time, I helped you decide so you didn’t need to worry about it. Let me ask you, if it were up to you, what would you ask from them?”

Xiao Lin opened his mouth to say something, but he did not know what to say. Just like when Hank came over to invite him to New Washington, he did not know what he actually needed.

There was so much he wanted, such as legendary weapons or equipment, but Judge Academy obviously would not just kneel over and hand him those things. Furthermore, Xiao Lin did not even know when he would actually be able to use them. As for things he could use, there were definitely a lot. The problem was that he was not even at the Black Iron-rank, even if he wanted compensation with items of that rank, those would not be valuable at all and would quickly become useless.

After a period of consideration, Xiao Lin said, “I probably would have asked for more money.”

That was the best option he could think of, and the dean anticipated that, nodding as he said, “That’s right, New Dollars are the most realistic option. However, when you head to the New World in the future, you will realize that you will have a lot of opportunities to make money, but a lot of things cannot be bought with just cash.”

Xiao Lin impatiently smiled. “Dean, you can stop with your sales pitch now. What exactly are these items?”

The dean was very calm as he lowered his voice and said, “This is a list of items that can allow an SS-rank talent to advance.”

The dean had dropped a bomb!

Xiao Lin could not help but stand up immediately, looking at the dean as he said, “Wh-what you mean is, I can finally advance my talent!”

Just like how skills could be leveled up to achieve greater results, talents could as well. Xiao Lin’s Academic Genius talent could double his training effectiveness at rank one, and could only copy F-ranked skills at the moment.

Xiao Lin had always wondered how he could advance his talent. He had originally thought that his talent was similar to skills, and would naturally level up after constant use.

That was why he always used his replication skill every time it went off cooldown. Even in The Final Land, he would copy Lilith’s skills whenever he could. Based on the time differential in The Final Land, they were there for several months, but he did not feel like his talent was improving at all.