Chapter 1590: Empathy, Errors

"Sidier, is there any way on your end to recruit people?"

"It's hard to say. I haven't recruited anyone for a while, and you know about the suggestions after the recent collective meeting; I'm not confident either."

A look of difficulty immediately appeared on Sidier's face. In truth, beyond the difficulty of recruiting itself, once people were hired, they had to be paid, and his Research Lab no longer had the surplus funds to do that.

But when Huosite heard this, it was as if he had heard good news. "As long as there's a way, whether it succeeds or not, we have to try first. If you have any difficulties, just say them out loud. If you can't solve them alone, the three of us surely can! Besides, this mission was only issued to us by the higher-ups. I think that, based on this alone, the Material Department won't deny our application."

"Alright then, I'll go think of a way, but I'll state first that I don't have ten-tenths certainty."

"It doesn't matter, just do your best."

At this moment, Huosite was quite open-minded. "Then let's gather the existing people first, discuss the process, and distribute the tasks. Let's calculate based on 35 people to get this cooperative project started; the people we recruit later can just be added to the various sub-groups."

"Can do."

"I have no objections either."

After reaching an agreement, the three quickly took action. Due to the large number of people, they borrowed a conference room on the Public Level, and the 35 researchers soon arrived to begin discussions.

……

Meanwhile, over at the Progress Society's Five-Member Committee.

Dien, Sami, and the others were having a headache over the selection of Magic Affairs Officers. There was no other reason; there were simply too many applicants, even including many incumbent Teachers and Researchers.

Fortunately, only the five of them knew this list of applicants right now, otherwise, who knows what kind of chaos would ensue!

"Dien, I think we shouldn't consider those who already have full-time jobs, to avoid affecting the normal operations of their current units."

"That is how it should be. I was a bit negligent before. When Depake asked me what the restrictions were, I only mentioned having an official rank and forgot the rest. Now that the announcement has been sent out, it's not easy to change. Sigh!"

Dien said with a look of regret.

The others didn't blame him, but instead helped screen the personnel together. However, after deducting the incumbent staff, they found that the number of people was actually less than 20 again.

The five looked at each other in dismay. Sami slapped his forehead. "Almost forgot, by the time the recruitment letter from Daxia Territory was sent over, we had already issued the suggestion to reduce part-time work."

"Then what do we do now?" Aideliqi looked around and asked, "Should we pick from the people who recently joined? Or wait for the next batch of Apprentices to obtain official ranks?"

This question wasn't unanswerable, but it wasn't one that had to be answered either; almost everyone present had their own answer in mind.

Just then, Dewan suddenly asked: "Xia Duo didn't say we had to find everyone all at once, right?"

"He didn't say that," Dien replied.

"Then let's refer to the number of moral education classes heading to Daxia Territory each week and pick them batch by batch!"

"Dewan's suggestion is good. Isn't one of the duties of a Magic Affairs Officer to coordinate the moral education classes of the Tower of Time? Currently, the Tower of Time has about 40 moral education classes per week (10 days), averaging four classes a day, so let's pick four people for the first batch!"

The moral education classes at the Tower of Time could actually be called "labor classes." The main content was working together with family members, and the purpose, of course, was to allow Apprentices to strengthen their identification with their identity as ordinary people during labor, their empathy for the general public, and a profound realization that Magic is the primary productive force.

Such classes could not, of course, be held every day, and the Magic Affairs Officer responsible for coordinating the moral education classes needed to cooperate with the moral education Teachers to help the Apprentices establish an initial concept of civil use of Magic.

Under normal circumstances, it wasn't too difficult for one Magic Affairs Officer to coordinate one class, as Magic Affairs Officers didn't need to labor like the Apprentices.

Aideliqi's suggestion was quickly agreed upon by the others:

"I think it's fine. By selecting fewer in the first batch, we won't need to randomly find people to make up the numbers just to reach 20. We can carefully select them, and even interview them one by one until we find the most suitable candidates."

"Do we need to ask Xia Duo to come and interview them together?" Tilake asked.

"Let's ask. If he's willing to come, that would be even better! Despite Dien's explanation, I still have some doubts about the specific duties of a Magic Affairs Officer and the corresponding abilities required for these duties."

Sami's words also triggered the same feeling in the others; even Dien, who had talked with Xia Duo the longest about Magic Affairs Officers, had many misunderstandings about this new profession.

The five quickly made up their minds, sent interview notices to the fewer than 20 new Mages who were not yet full-time, and reported this matter to Xia Duo.

However, Xia Duo was currently immersed in the spell design for the Floating City's subsequent functional systems, while also accompanying Niya in her studies. Xia Duo received the report from Dien and the others and gave an affirmative reply, but he declined the interview invitation.

He believed that Dien and the others could handle everything. If he had to personally step in for every single thing, what would be the point of him painstakingly cultivating the Progress Society?

……

The Study on the top floor of the Tower of Time.

A few days had passed, and Niya's corrections for the diagnostic test papers were finished; she was now completing the new test paper Xia Duo had customized for her.

The Study suddenly became quiet. Listening closely, there was only the sound of pen tips scratching and the occasional turning of test papers.

Suddenly missing the sound of Niya asking questions, Xia Duo felt a bit unaccustomed at first, but seeing Niya answering the test paper with a calm expression, his heart gradually calmed down as well.

Afterward, he continued to immerse himself in the design of the Floating City.

It was unknown how much time had passed when Xia Duo was suddenly startled by a violent Magic Net oscillation and subconsciously smoothed out the spell accident that was about to erupt.

Looking up, Niya shrank her head and said with a blushing, embarrassed face: "Calculation error, don't mind me, you continue."

"Be careful, otherwise next time I'll have you answer the papers in the Spell Laboratory," Xia Duo reminded her.

The test papers he gave Niya were indeed all answered in written form, but the process of obtaining the results often required Niya to use spell practice to achieve them.

If she wasn't careful, it would truly trigger an accident. It was only because he was by her side; otherwise, he would definitely have locked Niya in the Spell Laboratory to answer the questions.

"Mm, I'll be careful," Niya nodded seriously.

The Spell Laboratory was not small, but it was walled on all four sides, giving a very cramped feeling, and Xia Duo gave many test papers; if she could help it, she wouldn't want to stay there for long!

……

After the small interlude, Xia Duo continued to immerse himself in the design of the Floating City.