195: Epitome of Ten Years of Development (I)

"Good morning, Mentor Westley!"

"Good morning, students!"

"Today, we are discussing the extraction techniques for blue demon leaf. As the foundation of Pharmacology, these basic methods for handling Apothecary materials are extremely important, especially for you new learners. Wizard Molte, why don't you tell us about the basic characteristics of the blue demon leaf..."

"Very well, Mentor Westley. The blue demon leaf has three distinct characteristics..."

A middle-aged wizard stood up from under the podium, looking somewhat flustered, but he still tried to answer the question with a feigned sense of composure.

In this classroom, there were over 50 listening Wizard Apprentices. Most were young wizards around 20 years old who had passed the second five-year grand examination and were currently undergoing their third five-year study as academy students.

However, this uncle-aged figure, whose face was full of the vicissitudes of life, stood out significantly even among the dozen or so middle-aged wizards in the back row. These middle-aged wizards were the talents introduced after Green Anglet's reforms, commonly known as external students.

Wizard Westley nodded. Although these external students had poor foundations and many fixed mindsets, they studied very diligently and had good comprehension skills. Therefore, their learning results were decent, and they were able to keep up with the main group.

"Alright, Wizard Molte, that was well-spoken, but I would like to add a few points. The blue demon leaf..."

Time passed quickly in the focused teaching session.

Before anyone realized it, the bell rang for the end of class. Unlike other mentors who liked to drag out their lessons, Wizard Westley always left as soon as class was over. As a mad research addict obsessed with concocting potions, he wished he could stay in the pharmacy laboratory 24 hours a day.

If it weren't for the lack of teaching mentors in the academy, Westley would never have agreed to take on the task of coming out of the pharmacy laboratory to teach.

His status was different now. He—Wizard Westley—was a formidable figure who could survive year-round on satiating potions, a senior brother in Pharmacology whom even Lord Green Anglet had admired greatly back in the day. He had become an Advanced Wizard Apprentice and earned a 5-star Apothecary Apprentice certificate, making him a top-tier figure throughout the entire Wizard Apprentice stage.

Indeed, Wizard Westley could be considered to have reaped the benefits of the era. Back then, he had chosen the most difficult path of being a teaching mentor. After enduring more than a decade on the sidelines, he finally caught up with a good time when the academy was undergoing major expansion and development. Westley was promoted, becoming the head of a new pharmacy laboratory, and received extremely generous income.

Just like that, supported by almost unlimited resources, Westley unleashed his crazed, fanatical research drive, advancing by leaps and bounds and achieving accomplishments he hadn't even dared to imagine before.

"Mentor Westley, please wait. I have a task worth 500 contribution points that I would like to discuss with you."

The weathered middle-aged wizard, Molte, hurriedly called out to Westley, fearing that if he were a second late, this Mentor Westley would have disappeared.

Westley stopped involuntarily, wanting to hear what this student had to say. He was definitely not stopping because of the 500 contribution points, even though he was indeed very short on contribution points.

Contribution points were one of the reform plans that Lord Green Anglet had implemented over the past 10 years. In the past, at Plant Heart Academy, one could learn most of the knowledge as long as they had magic stones. However, Lord Green Anglet believed that this was detrimental to the unity and cohesion of the academy. A money-only philosophy would lead to the moral decay of the academy's wizards, indifference in relationships, and people only seeing money, not warmth, in their eyes.

Therefore, in addition to magic stones, Lord Green Anglet had come up with another currency—contribution points. Only those who made contributions to the academy could obtain contribution points. At Plant Heart Academy, only contribution points could be used to purchase advanced knowledge for Advanced Wizard Apprentices and above, so contribution points were very precious.

The tasks to obtain contribution points were extremely rare, extremely difficult, and had harsh conditions. For someone like Westley, last year's welfare apprentice course only yielded 10 contribution points, so the temptation of 500 contribution points was significant.

"Mentor Westley, I would like to become your apprentice and become an internal student of Plant Heart Academy."

"Oh..."

Wizard Westley's interest was piqued; he was quite curious about this wizard who was even older than him.

"Have you obtained the qualifications? It seems you were not on last year's list of the top ten best external students."

The difference in treatment between external students and internal students was as great as the difference between having a permanent position and not having one. However, Plant Heart Academy did not accept just anyone. Only the most outstanding group of external students, those who were named among the top ten best external students of the year, could get the opportunity to take an academy mentor as a master and become internal students.

"That is true, but I obtained a special admission quota. A year ago, I contributed a complete legacy at the Formal Wizard level to the academy and received a personal audience with Lord Green Anglet. Lord Green Anglet specifically promised that I could find a mentor in the academy to take me as an apprentice and become an internal student of the academy."

"After the one-year review period ended, I immediately applied to become your student, Mentor Westley. You can check your identity badge; the academy should have sent a notification."

"Is that so..."

Westley checked, and indeed there was. It was a message from three days ago, but at that time he was busy with research and had no time to pay attention to academy news.

"Wizard Molte, I apologize. I forgot to check my messages. I still have to ask one thing: are you really sure about choosing me as your Pharmacology mentor? There are many mentors in the academy who are better than me. Moreover, I am more focused on research and am not very good at teaching students."

"Mentor Westley, this was Lord Green Anglet's advice to me. He said: If I want to make a name for myself in Pharmacology, you are the best teacher in the entire Plant Heart Academy. That focus and fanatical drive you possess are the most precious qualities for a researcher and the best example that a wizard should learn from."

"For a wizard like me who started halfway through life, only by following you do I have hope of making achievements on the wizard's path. So, please accept me."

"Sigh..."

Hearing this, Westley couldn't help but recall his interactions with Lord Green Anglet back in the day. Back then, he had merely guided the newcomer Green who had just entered the laboratory, fulfilling the duties of a senior brother. He didn't have much interaction with Green, so he hadn't expected that after so many years, Lord Green Anglet would still remember and pay attention to him.

"Alright, since it is Lord Green Anglet's suggestion, I will accept you."

"Let's go. Come with me to the laboratory. There is still a lot of work to do today. You should be mentally prepared. The workload in my laboratory is very intense. Once you enter my laboratory, there is no turning back."

"Teacher, rest assured, I will not hold you back."

"As long as I don't work myself to death, I will keep grinding until I die. I can follow and learn from you 24 hours a day."