Chapter 1576: Magic Affairs Officer

"The primary duties of a Magic Affairs Officer are twofold: one is to deeply participate in the production and life of the Territory, exploring the potential applications of Magic in these civilian fields, whether through spells or Magic Items."

"The other is to coordinate with the moral education classes of the Tower of Time, guiding Apprentices to establish a profound understanding that Magic is the primary productive force, while also building for them a preliminary concept that the civilianization of Magic is the major trend of future development."

As Xia Duo spoke, Dien took notes; after all, not everyone possesses a photographic memory, and Xia Duo was the one who told him that a dull pencil is better than the sharpest mind!

"As for the selection criteria, first is the readiness to reside long-term in Daxia Territory, second is an interest in the civilianization of Magic, and the last point is a supplement: priority consideration for those from Daxia Territory."

This last point was not something Xia Duo said casually; Apprentices from Daxia Territory have all signed a three-year sponsored training contract. Once the three years are up, regardless of whether they have completed their studies, they must return to the Territory for employment if the Territory has a need.

However, there is still some time left before the three-year mark, so theoretically, even if they have finished their studies, they can still remain at the Tower of Time for the full three years.

But that does not prevent Xia Duo from recruiting in advance.

"Then how many people are needed in total? What are the requirements for Formal Rank?" Dien asked.

"A total of twenty people are needed. There aren't very high requirements for rank; as long as they have a Formal Rank, that will do."

In fact, Xia Duo knows that many Apprentices are already Mages, but because they haven't passed the rank examination, they remain in class to study.

In order not to delay their studies, and of course to establish the importance of rank, Xia Duo requires applicants to hold a Formal Rank.

Currently, the Mages of the Tower of Time do not have much awareness of rank, regarding it merely as the old Formal Member permission assessment of the Tower of Time—once passed, no one cares about it anymore.

But in Xia Duo's plan, every increase in rank requires an examination, combined with specific work experience, duties, achievements, and even academic qualifications that have not yet been manifested, all to be considered comprehensively.

They will have plenty of upgrading to do in the future!

"What about the salary?" Dien asked again.

"The salary will be the same as the base salary for a Full-time Researcher in an Independent Research Lab of the Tower of Time, while retaining their benefits of attending the Low-level Mage Study Class and Intermediate Mage Advanced Study Class at the Tower of Time."

Actually, strictly speaking, the latter is not something that Xia Duo, as the "recruiter," can decide at will, but who told him he is both the recruiter and Niya's Agent for her permissions at the Tower of Time!

Both sides are mine, so naturally, whatever Xia Duo says goes.

After Dien left, Xia Duo interviewed more than ten members of the Progress Society who had cast abstention votes for the Branch Establishment Department at yesterday's collective meeting.

Besides understanding their true thoughts on the Branch Establishment Department, he couldn't help but offer a few words of encouragement.

Just like that, a day passed quickly. In the evening, Xia Duo and Niya talked about the Communication Mythallar she was researching; this was the first time Xia Duo had asked about Niya's specific progress since he returned.

"I'm stuck on the conversion problem of the Deep Weave. I feel like I may have reached my current limit of ability," Niya said, not without frustration.

When she first started researching the Communication Mythallar, she was full of confidence, but the deeper she went, the more she felt this technology was vast, complex, and unfathomable—it was simply not something one person could research thoroughly.

Not to mention, she wasn't just trying to simply replicate an existing Mythallar with various parameters, but to recreate a brand-new Mythallar that fits the Magic Net Background Communication spell.

This difficulty climbed another level.

Furthermore, there was one most critical issue: the depth of the Magic Net she could currently access was only at the Seventh Layer. It wasn't that she couldn't go deeper, but that Magic research does not only involve the issue of Magic Net layers.

There is also the conversion relationship between the Magic Net Strings of each layer. Niya aspires to become a true Controller of Magic, not just a Spellcaster who only knows how to tinker with ready-made spells.

This means that every step she takes deeper into the Magic Net layers must be backed by a full understanding of the next layer of the Magic Net; otherwise, even if she were instantly made a Great Arcanist now, it would not be of much substantial help to her research.

At most, she would be able to "see" the Deep Weave more intuitively, and this is actually something she should be able to calculate theoretically right now.

How could Xia Duo, as her closest person, not feel Niya's frustration and anxiety? It's just that in the process of specific thinking, he couldn't really help Niya much.

All he could do now was provide Niya with some teaching materials as much as possible, so he asked Niya again: "Did you read the materials I gave you before?"

"What materials?"

"That 'Promotion Compendium'!"

"Of course I read it, but what does that have to do with the problem I'm encountering now?" Niya asked, puzzled.

"Then why are you still stuck on the conversion of the Deep Weave?"

Xia Duo couldn't help but sit up from the bed, looking at Niya in surprise. "There are many simplified calculation formulas in that document, as well as a large number of practical cases and techniques. Didn't you see them?"

That so-called "Promotion Compendium" was actually brought back by Xia Duo from the 【Projection Plane: Empire Remnants】. It could be considered a textbook for the Research Institute, which High Mages who graduated from the academy could only obtain after officially joining the Research Institute; it is much deeper than the academy textbooks.

It's just that after entering the Research Institute, there is no need for exams, and rank promotion is basically determined by project achievements, so the most critical mock exam papers were missing from it.

But since Xia Duo gave this material to Niya, he naturally created quite a few test papers based on it, and many of them combined cases from the material. After doing a few sets of papers, one could basically master the relevant Knowledge points.

According to his estimation, this set of materials could at least support Niya in reaching the ninth layer of the Magic Net in the way of an Arcanist; he didn't expect her to be stuck now.

Xia Duo's reaction was somewhat beyond Niya's expectations. She also sat up and asked blankly, "Is there really that stuff you mentioned in that document?"

"..." Xia Duo was speechless for a moment. "Didn't you just say you read it?"

"I just flipped through the first few pages and thought it was very shallow, so I didn't continue reading."

Niya's voice grew smaller and smaller, and she shrank under the quilt. Finally, only a very faint sound came out: "I thought you gave me that material for me to give to others!"

"That was for you!"

Xia Duo pulled Niya out from under the quilt, held her shoulders, and said seriously, "You didn't already give that material to someone else, did you?"

"I gave it to Uncle Aiboke."

Niya said in a low voice. At this moment, she felt exceptionally embarrassed and dared not look Xia Duo in the eye. In her heart, she blamed herself incessantly—why didn't she finish reading it first!

"If you gave it to Aiboke, then so be it. I'll prepare another copy for you tomorrow."