Chapter 1300: The Flag Bearer, Ten Months Later

The next day.

Xia Duo finally waited for Luo Zi, who had finished all the procedures and selected a laboratory. He did not ask the other party why he hadn't come over last night; today, their statuses were equal, and it was only human nature for Luo Zi to have changed.

"Luo Zi, now that you have become an Official Researcher, I will ask you the previous question again today: are you willing to become a collaborator of Maikade Laboratory?"

Xia Duo went straight to the point.

Luo Zi did not hesitate at all, immediately replying with sincerity in his eyes: "I am willing! It is my honor to be able to collaborate with Researcher Maikade!"

"Very good, you have made an incredibly correct choice! You will certainly not regret today's choice in the future!"

Seeing that Luo Zi still chose to collaborate with Maikade Laboratory after becoming an Official Researcher, Xia Duo appeared quite happy, and this was also the most genuine emotion in his heart at this moment.

Maikade Laboratory had a total of fourteen Assistant Researchers; now, Hake and Luo Zi had both successfully promoted and had also promised to continue collaborating with Maikade Laboratory.

Others would also be influenced by them to a greater or lesser extent, changing from perhaps treating this place as a stepping stone for promotion to also being willing to collaborate.

Currently, Xia Duo's situation in the Research Institute was very delicate; if he were just a lone wolf, it would be very easy for those Official Researchers who suppressed their subordinates' promotions to manipulate him.

The so-called "public anger is hard to defy"; even Vice Dean Samuel could not insist on supporting him against everyone's opposition.

But the so-called "public anger is hard to defy" actually referred to those "vampire" researchers; it was just that no one had resisted in the past, which allowed them to coerce everyone and create an invincible, unresistible momentum.

Once there were spoilers and resisters, and as the number of resisters grew, when the unspoken rules were broken, they immediately became weak.

In the end, they were just exploiting loopholes in the rules, and the upper echelons of the Empire Remnants were not corrupt; once the upper echelons waited for the right opportunity, they would certainly not let this group of malignant tumors go!

And Xia Duo, in a sense, was the bug that artificially facilitated this opportunity.

If it were any other Imperial Researcher, they probably wouldn't dare to be the first to stand up and dissent; it would be more likely for them to completely integrate into this system of unspoken rules.

If this continued for long, the Research Institute Judgment Division Base Branch would completely rot away.

……

Having finalized the basic cooperation framework with Luo Zi, the next step was the discussion regarding specific collaborative projects.

"I intend to hand over the project related to body repair to you. The Research Institute has accumulated quite a bit in this area, which is just right for you to open up the situation. What do you think?"

Although Xia Duo believed that Luo Zi would likely not refuse his request, out of long-term consideration for mutual benefit, he still gave Luo Zi the opportunity to fully express himself or even refuse.

However, Luo Zi did not refuse, nor did he propose other additional conditions; instead, he agreed immediately and said: "I trust your judgment, and I will complete this project well."

Next, the two quickly reached an agreement on the points required to be paid for the project commission and the specific indicators for project completion.

After the agreement was signed, both laboratories officially became collaborative units.

……

In the days that followed, Xia Duo spent almost every day in anticipation and joy. After Hake and Luo Zi, two more Assistant Researchers successfully promoted one after another and agreed to join his laboratory cooperation system.

Every time one more Assistant Researcher promoted, it meant Xia Duo gained three more assistants; how could he not be happy?

The only regret was that after him, researchers who did not suppress their subordinates' promotions also appeared in the Research Institute, which made it a bit more difficult for his collaborative laboratories to recruit people.

But fortunately, there were many High Mages in the Research Institute, though these Assistant Researchers found later did not come with their own projects like the first batch, nor could they become Advanced Arcanists at any time; once they met the project evaluation conditions for promotion, they could immediately promote and obtain a new laboratory.

This caused Xia Duo's laboratory joint system to quickly fall into an expansion bottleneck, unable to make it expand rapidly in a short period.

But as the days passed, Xia Duo eventually possessed over 20 collaborative laboratories, which far exceeded his initial expectations.

This meant—currently, his subordinates included a total of (20*4+3) = 83 High Mages working for him.

If he waited until next year's base academy graduation season, the skyrocketing number of laboratories would still cause the number of admitted graduates to surge compared to previous years!

By then, at least 252 low-to-mid-level mages would join his work; although these people were actually here to be Apprentices, with so many free Spell Batteries, it would be a waste not to use them.

Teaching through practice, working while teaching, and working while learning—isn't that quite good!

Of course, by then, the number of collaborative laboratories would likely continue to increase, and there would be even more people.

……

Imperial Calendar Year 1103, June.

This was already the tenth month since Xia Duo entered the Projection Plane. Apart from wandering outside for the first few days, after joining the Research Institute, he had not gone out again.

This period of time almost refreshed his record for the longest time spent in the same place since he transmigrated!

Even when at the Tower of Time in the Main Plane, he would often go out for a stroll, but here, in these nearly ten months, except for when Yilisi came to visit occasionally and he would go to the Fu Wu Ceng Xue Yuan Guang Chang, he spent almost all his time near the Fu San Ceng Neng Yuan Zhong Xin.

After Hake, Luo Zi, and others also chose their laboratories near the Energy Center, other Official Researchers who came out of Maikade Laboratory or other collaborative laboratories, as long as they chose to collaborate with Xia Duo, all chose their own laboratories near the Energy Center.

For this reason, Vice Dean Samuel of the Research Institute even specifically arranged for an assistant to come forward and persuade several "in-the-way" laboratories to leave, so that the collaborative laboratories on Xia Duo's side could be connected into one piece.

In these ten months, Xia Duo had almost given up on his own research, devoting himself entirely to various projects; his daily task was to inspect the various project groups in each laboratory.

Either checking project progress, or chatting casually for a few sentences, but more often solving some difficult problems encountered during the project process.

During this period, although Xia Duo had not yet promoted to an Advanced Arcanist, no one would doubt that he could not promote.

Everyone, including Vice Dean Samuel, would be full of respect for "Researcher Maikade" after learning about the list of projects submitted and completed by the Maikade Laboratory system over these ten months!

If nothing unexpected happened, "Maikade" would become the fastest person in the history of the Research Institute Judgment Division Base Branch to promote to a Level 2 Researcher!

At the same time, he would also be the youngest Level 2 Researcher.

This was also the real reason why Vice Dean Samuel would give him respect!

Nothing else, just that he had made many contributions within the Research Institute system!