145: Chapter 144 Research Findings

Chapter 145 Research Results

Hearing this, a look of surprise appeared on Isolde's face as she looked at Byron.

Had he found some loophole in the contract that would allow him to evade the fifty-year agreement he had signed with the academy?

Thinking of this, Isolde frowned slightly.

"Byron, even if you have found a loophole in the academy's contract that allows you to avoid fifty years of work, I still want to advise you: it is best not to do so."

"You only see the loophole and the avoidance of fifty years of work, but what I see is you offending a great Stigmata Wizard because of a little cleverness."

"Not to mention that you are still just a Wizard Apprentice, even if you were already an Official Wizard, a Stigmata Wizard would still be an insurmountable mountain to you."

"Even if the Dark Erosion Stigmata wouldn't hold a grudge against you for such a trivial matter, you might still offend a large group of wizards over it, which is truly not worth the loss."

Hearing Isolde's words, Byron was stunned for a moment, then realized what she was talking about, and couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

His mentor really valued him; she actually thought that he, a mere Wizard Apprentice, could find a flaw in a contract established by an Official Wizard or even a Stigmata Wizard.

He really didn't know whether to cry or laugh.

Realizing that Isolde had misunderstood, Byron quickly waved his hand to explain.

"Mentor, it's not what you think. I didn't mean finding a loophole in the contract to escape that fifty years of work; I meant another method, and that method is absolutely risk-free!"

Hearing Byron's confident demeanor, Isolde became somewhat puzzled.

She really couldn't think of any other way to escape, other than finding a loophole.

Offset fifty years of work with resources?

Impossible. A Stigmata Wizard would never give up fifty years of an Official Wizard's work time for a mere pittance of resources.

Resources are finite, but an Official Wizard is a machine capable of creating resources.

As long as a wizard's brain wasn't broken, how could they give up a machine that manufactures resources for a few resources?

Besides, no matter how many resources you have, could they possibly be more than those of a Stigmata Wizard who possesses countless worlds?

Seeing that Isolde still hadn't realized it, Byron was also somewhat puzzled. With his mentor's wisdom and insight, she shouldn't be like this.

No, there is another possibility!

Byron looked at the deep-in-thought Isolde and asked cautiously, "Mentor, have you perhaps never seen the contract that we students sign?"

Isolde understood instantly; it wasn't that she couldn't figure it out, but that the problem lay with the contract itself.

Isolde looked at Byron: "It seems there must be some additional clause in the contract."

Byron didn't continue to dwell on the previous matter and followed up on Isolde's question to explain.

"Yes, Mentor. There is an additional clause in the contract that we students sign with the academy."

"After the agreement expires, in addition to working for the Dark Eclipse Wizard Academy for fifty years, one can also pay with an outstanding research result."

"So the method I mentioned just now refers to this clause: using an outstanding research result to replace the fifty years of work time."

Isolde nodded, but quickly shook her head again.

"It is very good that you can remember the additional clause; this proves that you will not have any oversights at any time."

"But this idea is unrealistic. Compared to fifty years of work time, an outstanding research result is undoubtedly much more difficult to achieve."

"Do you know what an outstanding research result represents?"

This question appeared to be directed at Byron, but in reality, it was Isolde sighing with emotion.

Because without waiting for Byron to answer, she said it herself.

"If you only knew, before I became an Official Wizard, I had never produced any research results that could be called outstanding."

"Even until now, among all my research results, only a mere eight could be called outstanding."

Isolde wore a look of slight nostalgia: "Don't think that these eight research results are many; you must know that I have been an Official Wizard for over six hundred years."

"It takes nearly a hundred years to produce one outstanding result; you can imagine the difficulty."

Hearing Isolde's words, Byron was also taken aback.

First, he was shocked by the difficulty of achieving an outstanding result.

It seemed he had really underestimated this 'outstanding result.'

Second, it was because of Isolde's age; his mentor, who looked like a young woman in her twenties, had actually lived for over six hundred years.

It seems Official Wizards are truly long-lived.

Byron: "Mentor, what kind of research result counts as outstanding?"

Seeing that Byron no longer had his previous confidence, Isolde nodded slightly; this could be considered as having dampened his confidence a little.

Confidence is sometimes a good thing, but excessive confidence is definitely a bad thing.

Especially for Byron, who would be setting off to other worlds in three years.

Even she couldn't say for sure what the situation in that world was like right now, as there was no complete information.

So at this time, it was best not to be too confident, lest he go and never return.

Therefore, while it was true that Isolde had only produced eight results in over six hundred years, there was a crucial factor she hadn't told Byron.

That was the time required for each mandatory mission to conquer other worlds.

One must know that the time required for each mandatory mission could be as short as several decades, or as long as one or two hundred years.

So, adding in the time spent on mandatory missions, Isolde hadn't actually been researching for over six hundred years; it wasn't nearly as exaggerated as she had made it sound.

But unfortunately, Byron was not aware of this linguistic loophole.

Isolde explained to Byron's confusion: "A research result is generally classified into Ordinary, Excellent, Outstanding, Exceptional, Top-tier, and finally, Epoch-making."

"Don't think that because 'Outstanding' is only ranked third in these classifications, it's not much; producing a result of this grade is already quite remarkable."

"You must know that for a research result to be rated as 'Outstanding,' while it may not have reached that level of being groundbreaking, it still requires you to demonstrate your own uniqueness and innovation."

Uniqueness and innovation. Hearing these two criteria, the corners of Byron's mouth twitched slightly.

Given the vast base of wizards in the Wizard World, how difficult it must be to meet these two requirements!

You have to know, this is not his previous life, where only a few people could do research.

In the Wizard World, every wizard is an independent researcher. They are researching at all times, pursuing new knowledge, and new results are being researched by them every moment.

Because the greatest pursuit of every wizard is to research the truths of this world, not to mention that knowledge is linked to strength.

Even if you didn't like researching and pursuing knowledge at first, once you experience the feeling of knowledge transforming into strength and influencing the world, you will also become a chaser of knowledge, a seeker of truth on the path of exploration.

And this is also one of the most terrifying aspects of the Wizard World, one of the key elements that make it the most powerful civilization in these endless worlds.