Chapter 1953: Standard Choice: The First Student

Next, Jieyi demonstrated other usage scenarios for the Activator to Xia Duo.

For instance, when installed above a box-shaped container—though this time it wasn't rotating the box, but rotating the Activator—the function was also to guide fire elements, thereby forming something similar to an oven or a microwave.

Furthermore, when combined with a cylindrical barrel, it constituted a refrigeration or ice-making container.

Limited by his level of knowledge, or perhaps the limited daily usage scenarios he could imagine, most of the civilian Magic Items Jieyi produced were related to heat and cold, but one could still see his ingenuity.

Therefore, Xia Duo decided to give another push to get Jieyi's research onto the right track; he first explicitly affirmed the other's previous research, then proposed:

"Are you willing to become my student?"

This was not a whim of Xia Duo's, but a long-held plan; besides the Progress Society, he also intended to recruit some talented students, with the goal of aligning with the sages of his hometown.

Not to mention three thousand disciples, at least he should have a few dozen good seedlings.

Although all Mages of the Tower of Time could be considered his disciples, that was only an unwritten rule; in reality, the Mages of the Tower of Time only had a contractual relationship with him, and not even a direct one at that.

Recruiting more seedlings with good potential could also allow him to better control the Progress Society.

At the current stage, the Progress Society was still completely under his control, but the greatest characteristic of an organization is that it possesses its own will, related to the founder's philosophy and ideas, yet it will not remain constant forever.

Even the founder's own thoughts differ at different stages, let alone an organization composed of countless people that will not have an actual personal attachment relationship in the future; the intensity of its ideological changes might far exceed Xia Duo's imagination, and it certainly won't be easily controlled by him.

However, in this regard, Xia Duo also had experience from his hometown; the so-called "never forget the original intention, keep the mission in mind" is roughly this, and if one adds some students within the organization who are naturally close to oneself, it should be able to guarantee to the greatest extent that the organization's ideology does not go astray.

The saying goes, "Those who do not plan for all time are not enough to plan for a moment"; as a Quasi-Immortal, Xia Duo should have a vision that transcends the current era.

Of course, his original plan for the timing of recruiting students was when he pulled the Floating City to the Main Plane; the reason he moved it up now was mainly because he did not want to see Jieyi continue to do useless work.

The Activator that Jieyi had developed now could not be said to be useless, but it was not compatible with the Floating City.

He had previously thought that Jieyi had found some shortcut for ordinary people to perform Spellcasting, but he did not expect the other to have created something similar to an Arcane Energy Field that excites temporary Magic Items.

But the greatest impact of this thing on the future does not lie in the level of technology, but in the choice of standards, or rather, the choice of the technological platform.

Xia Duo would undoubtedly not abandon the currently more promising Arcane Energy Field because of Jieyi.

Even if a more advanced new type of Magic Civilianization technology were discovered in the future, the Arcane Energy Field might still be his first choice.

Not for anything else, but because the Arcane Energy Field is directly linked to the 【Mythallar】, with higher adaptability, and does not require more complex conversion.

As for energy facilities more advanced than the 【Mythallar】, if a technological iteration really appeared, Xia Duo would not resist it; he was very clear that resisting progress is equivalent to chronic suicide.

By taking Jieyi as a student, he could provide Jieyi with the technical standards related to the Arcane Energy Field in advance; although the other might not necessarily be able to understand it now, there would be no problem in doing some application development on the basis of the Arcane Energy Field!

To Xia Duo, this was just a trivial matter of no consequence, but to Jieyi, it was a huge surprise that fell from the sky; he was stunned for a full four or five seconds before asking in disbelief:

"President, did you just say you are willing to take me as a student?"

"Yes."

Xia Duo had once thought of only accepting Arcanists, but now, since the educational reform of the Tower of Time, batches of potential students had emerged, most of whom were in the Progress Society.

Although they were still some distance away from being Arcanists, as long as there were no accidents, they would eventually have the opportunity to grow; for now, consider it cultivating the teacher-student relationship in advance.

"Then what are your thoughts?"

"I am willing, I am willing!"

Jieyi said repeatedly, nearly incoherently; although he had fantasized about such a day, when it truly arrived, he still felt it was somewhat dreamlike; out of so many people in the Progress Society, he was the one who succeeded—it really felt like a dream.

"President, no, Teacher, how did you think of taking me as a student? There are so many people in the Progress Society smarter than me, why choose me?"

Although somewhat lacking in confidence, Jieyi was very good at seizing opportunities and immediately changed his address to "Teacher," which surprised Xia Duo, so he said:

"Very simple, because you have this potential!"

Xia Duo would certainly not be a killjoy and say he wanted to take many students and that Jieyi was just the one he took early; in this situation, making the student happy was also conducive to rapidly warming up the teacher-student bond.

Sure enough, after hearing Xia Duo describe him this way, a flush immediately appeared on Jieyi's face; being able to gain the appreciation of someone he worshipped made him ecstatic, to the point that he almost missed what Xia Duo said next.

"Due to certain reasons, some rituals that should have taken place are temporarily waived; if there is an opportunity in the future, I will make them up to you. Now, let's talk about another matter—"

"Teacher, what matter?" Jieyi asked hurriedly.

In fact, he did not care much about rituals or celebrations; as a member of the Progress Society, he had long ago learned the principle of being pragmatic and avoiding the superficial; thinking that the President had suddenly taken him as a student, perhaps it was related to what was to be said next.

"The Activator you invented has very broad application prospects, but I need to tell you that the future is not its future; you need to change tracks and start over!"

"What?!"

Jieyi was suddenly shocked and hurriedly asked: "Teacher, what is this all about?"

"I will take you to a place first, and then you will know."

"Mm." Jieyi responded, somewhat distracted.

Xia Duo did not think too much, took Jieyi back to the Tower of Time, and then proceeded to the Plane Exploration Layer, entering the Blue Crystal Plane from the Teleportation Hall on the left.

Before heading to the nameless waters where the Floating City was located, Xia Duo handed a spare Arcane Crystal Extractor to Jieyi, "Take this; you will know why I said that just now in a moment."

Jieyi was currently amazed by the peculiar exotic scenery of the Blue Crystal Plane and subconsciously took the object Xia Duo handed over; looking down, it was an open-topped Iron box.

Observing carefully, Jieyi discovered that the inside and outside of the box were completely integrated, seemingly forged from pure Iron, but judging by the Teacher's meaning, this did not seem to be just an Iron box.

It also had other unknown uses.