Chapter 283

Ten years passed in the blink of an eye, and the Plane Nuolun 147th Wizard Academy in the Eloxia Plane finally ushered in its historic opening day.

The academy's magnificent gate, forged from enchanted metal and stardust sand, towered into the clouds, exuding an aura of knowledge and power.

Jie Ming and several other wizards temporarily drafted to maintain order hovered quietly in mid-air above the gate.

Below, a group of children arrived from all directions, lining up to enter the school.

They were filled with longing and wonder, representing the first batch of seeds of hope for the Eloxia Plane.

However, looking at the sparse queue, Jie Ming couldn't help but shake his head inwardly and sigh softly.

"The number... is too small."

He roughly estimated that the total number of apprentices who had come to report was likely less than three hundred.

Compared to the bustling scenes he had witnessed at the Plane Nuolun 13th Plane, where thousands of apprentices vied to enter each year, this appeared far too desolate.

Yet, this was to be expected.

It had only been a few hundred years since the humans of the Eloxia Plane began receiving guidance and genetic optimization from the Wizarding Civilization; their foundation was still shallow.

To reach the level of talent explosions seen in mature planes, it would likely require thousands of years of continuous accumulation and evolution.

Once all the freshmen were guided to designated areas for qualification verification and registration, Jie Ming slowly descended onto the vast black stone plaza in the center of the academy.

At this moment, recruitment platforms for various wizard schools had been set up around the plaza, with flags of different colors and emblems representing each school fluttering gently in the breeze.

Jie Ming scanned them and discovered that the number of schools here was far from complete compared to the Plane Nuolun 13th Plane.

For instance, the Logistics Department had only seven or eight platforms, while the Combat Department was in better shape, though it still only had a few dozen schools.

As Dean Avery Knight had said, this Plane Nuolun Academy was in its infancy, and its teaching staff was severely lacking.

He walked leisurely to the platform labeled "Alchemy."

It was set up quite simply: a long table, a few chairs, and the triangular flask and hexagram emblem representing the Alchemy School.

Jie Ming imitated the appearance of his mentor, Clark, sitting expressionlessly in the main seat, taking a thick, ancient-looking magic book from his storage space and spreading it on the table to feign reading.

However, his mind was not on the obscure runes on the pages at all.

"What should I teach them in the first lesson?" His thoughts had already drifted far away, carrying a hint of excitement and slight nervousness at becoming a teacher for the first time.

"Should I do as my mentor did back then: demonstrate basic alchemy, start from the properties of materials and energy ratios, and finally use a 'failed alchemy accident scene' to let them understand the importance of rules and safety?"

"Or... try a different approach? Start with an alchemy puzzle that requires breaking conventional thinking, guide them to experience the sparks of wisdom and the charm of logic, and plant the seeds of rigor amidst the fun?"

Jie Ming had to admit that standing in the position of an educator for the first time, a passion surged within him, and he even began to meticulously conceive a syllabus and classroom interactions.

However, all his ideas and expectations were soon dashed.

The recruitment process lasted for an entire day.

The sunset glow dyed the plaza a warm gold, and other school platforms had recorded at least a few names, especially several combat schools, which had become popular choices.

Only the Alchemy School platform, where Jie Ming sat, remained empty.

By the time the wizard assistant in charge of recruitment began packing up the venue and announced the end of this year's recruitment, not a single young figure had left their name on the registration form in front of him.

Jie Ming closed the book he hadn't really flipped through, looking at the blank list before him, stunned for a moment.

Then, a faint, helpless smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

He was relieved.

The reason was self-evident.

The contractual conditions laid out by the Logistics Department versus the Combat Department, whether in terms of initial resource allocation or the "perceived" prospects, were vastly different.

For these young people who had just come into contact with the Wizarding World and were full of longing, the grand scrolls of "mastering elements, flying through the sky, and exploring endless planes" advertised by the combat schools were undoubtedly more directly attractive than the "diligent research, analyzing matter, and creating miracles" described by the Alchemy School.

Apprentices capable of relying on their own wisdom to see through the long-term value and importance of the core knowledge of the Logistics Department were rare.

Even at the original Plane Nuolun 13th Academy, the vast majority of students who chose the Logistics Department did so because their parents were wizards and guided them, rather than relying on their own judgment.

And among this first batch of three hundred, the absence of such "wise ones" didn't seem strange at all.

Recalling how he had been excitedly thinking about teaching plans earlier, Jie Ming couldn't help but laugh at himself.

"Oh well," he stood up and tidied the table and chairs. "No students, but at least it's quiet. I still get the benefits, and I have plenty of free time for research; it might not be a bad thing."

He had thought that his teaching duties would end there, allowing him to enjoy this extra rest period in peace.

Unfortunately, Jie Ming had underestimated the academy's tasks.

He hadn't enjoyed his leisure for many days before a formal task notification from the Dean's office was transmitted to his laboratory.

He had been personally named by Dean Avery Knight to participate in an important long-term project—the transformation and integration of the Eloxia Plane cluster.

The reason Eloxia was chosen as the site for the new academy was that the high-tier wizards of the Plane Nuolun Workshop saw it as a large plane cluster with immense potential.

The main plane where the Plane Nuolun Academy was located shouldered the heavy responsibility of nurturing the future foundation of the civilization, needing to carry and raise an increasing population while providing sufficient resources and environment.

The best way to expand a plane and increase its volume and resource richness was to gradually pull and integrate other small and medium-sized planes that were environmentally suitable or had been transformed to be so.

This was a grand project and the core link of the Plane Nuolun Workshop's long-term investment in this region.

What Jie Ming needed to do was to participate in this massive project as an assistant.

The leaders were naturally Dean Avery Knight himself and several other high-tier wizards.

Jie Ming was mainly responsible for executing specific tasks such as plane environment surveying, laying basic arrays, and channeling energy flows—the "grunt work."

He checked the list of personnel involved in the task and found that the number of wizards drafted was not small, and the proportion of Logistics Department wizards was clearly high.

Although such large-scale projects involving the adjustment of basic plane rules and the construction of energy systems were indeed the stage where Logistics Department wizards could shine.

However, Jie Ming suspected that the reason there were so many Logistics Department wizards was simply because none of them had recruited any students.

(End of chapter)