Chapter 2650: Directed Cultivation Plan of the Tower of Time

The toys were made, but Xia Duo's original idea had not been realized; next, he prepared to conduct another selection via the Inheritance Instrument within the Tower of Time to fill various projects.

Although the High Mages cultivated in this way were somewhat forced to grow, they were High Mages after all; at the very least, they could assist him in spellcasting during various experiments, or under his guidance, look after certain experimental steps independently.

That very day, Xia Duo spread the news within the Tower of Time through the Progress Society, and soon, a Directed Cultivation Plan aimed at all new Mages and some outstanding Level 3 Apprentices became known to everyone.

All new Mages or Level 3 Apprentices selected for the Directed Cultivation Plan could choose a direction according to their own wishes to undergo the Inheritance Ritual, achieving the goal of rapid cultivation.

Once selected for the plan, a Level 3 Apprentice would be considered to have passed the Job Rank Assessment for a Level 1 Mage, becoming a member of the Official Mages.

As for new Mages, this refers to those cultivated under the new system who have passed at least the Level 1 Mage Job Rank Assessment.

After completing the Inheritance Ritual, those selected for the Directed Cultivation Plan would undergo a period of remedial study, followed by another assessment; if they passed this time, they could directly enter the corresponding project or engineering work.

Such as Xia Duo's Resource Demiplane project, or the Plane Exploration Center's Sky Patrol engineering (including specific projects like Ether Interlayer detection, Astral Plane detection, Shadow Plane monitoring, etc.), or the Moon Exploration engineering led by Saville.

……

A mere two days passed, and Xia Duo received over three hundred applications, among which there was no lack of outstanding Level 3 Apprentices, such as a Level 3 Apprentice named Pu Ai Luo.

This fellow entered the Tower of Time during the Midsummer Recruitment of Netherese Calendar 838, just over a year ago, yet in this year and a bit, he had completed a series of courses with extremely excellent grades.

He passed the assessment this August to become a Level 3 Apprentice; although he might still fall short of the new Mage standard now, his future was absolutely limitless.

For a genius like Pu Ai Luo, Xia Duo naturally hoped the other party could join his project, but at the same time, he knew that Pu Ai Luo could possess an even broader future.

The Inheritance Ritual seemingly stuffs a great deal of knowledge and experience into the user's brain all at once, but the lack of practice would make the foundation of those who receive the inheritance weak.

Perhaps a few geniuses could ignore this drawback, but Xia Duo was not sure if Pu Ai Luo was this kind of special genius; if he were to ruin a perfectly good genius, it would be a loss that outweighs the gain.

Therefore, for someone like Pu Ai Luo who had already displayed exceptional talent, Xia Duo was more inclined toward normal cultivation; allowing them to skip grades was already the most appropriate cultivation method, as it allowed them to grow at the fastest speed according to their own talent.

After all, the Inheritance Ritual cannot make someone instantly master all the knowledge and experience of the inheritance; it also requires later absorption.

For a genius, it is hard to say whether this is truly a more efficient way of learning.

……

So Xia Duo excluded Pu Ai Luo's name from the Directed Cultivation Plan without much hesitation; it wasn't just Pu Ai Luo, he didn't select any of the others who displayed exceptional talent either.

Of course, it was not the case that the worse the performance, the easier it was to be selected.

Xia Duo was very clear that in the early stages of civilization development, trade-offs are necessary; for instance, in his hometown, many people only attended Primary School or Middle School in the early stages of development before throwing themselves into specific work.

Although they could still make progress later through self-study or other means, there would inevitably be many talents wasted in the process; this is unavoidable.

Take Xia Duo's Territory, which is the same way now—

Magic Education is currently being popularized, but for various reasons, it only extends to children sixteen years old and under; among those over sixteen, is there really not a single potential magic genius?

Not necessarily.

In the future, as the Territory develops, those potential magic geniuses will also have the opportunity to come into contact with Magic and may achieve good results, but compared to discovering them now and actively cultivating them—

The time lost during those years can likely not be smoothed over by later discovery of talent.

But Xia Duo still would not popularize Magic to everyone over sixteen at this point in time; at most, he would open some small gaps, allowing them to study on their own, and if they achieved something, then absorb them into the Tower of Time.

……

In the Study, Xia Duo carefully reviewed these three hundred-plus applications that included transcripts, and finally selected one hundred people from them.

Excluding the few who had already displayed the most exceptional talent, the one hundred people he selected could also be considered the best of the best in the Tower of Time.

More than half of them entered the Tower of Time in Netherese Calendar 837; this is the most direct evidence, as becoming a new Mage with relatively complete capabilities in all aspects in less than two years already surpasses most of their peers.

In the current Tower of Time, there are still those from the first batch of students after the system reform who haven't become new Mages yet!

It is not that they cannot cast 1st Circle Spells; if following the traditional grading method, they could fully be rated as Level 1, Level 2, or even Level 3 Mages.

But in the Tower of Time, to obtain a certain level, one must first pass the corresponding Job Rank Assessment; being able to pass the assessment does not necessarily mean how powerful a person is, but at least it can guarantee a certain baseline.

Now, various Independent Research Labs in the Tower of Time also look at job ranks when recruiting, unless there are more obvious outstanding conditions, only then might they make an exception.

But as the number of new Mages in the Tower of Time continues to increase, those popular research labs, such as the David Research Laboratory or Huosite's Mass Production Design Research Lab, receive new resumes almost every month.

It is not just new Mages who pass the Job Rank Assessment every month looking for work, but also those who are already employed in other research labs wanting to switch jobs.

Under these circumstances, directly screening by job rank is undoubtedly the most efficient, as the work of a research lab is to do research, not to spend a large amount of time interviewing all job seekers.

Just like in Xia Duo's hometown, many large companies also screen resumes first when recruiting; no matter how strong an ordinary person's actual ability is, once the threshold of academic qualifications is not met, they might be eliminated at the first step.

And in the Tower of Time, even though Xia Duo knew that this method might miss certain talents, he still had to take the initiative to adopt this model.

However, at the same time, for those who were lacking in assessments but possessed other excellent abilities, he also opened up some gaps, such as applying for an Independent Research Lab.

This channel only requires a preliminary screening with a lower threshold to remove those applications that are truly too outrageous; all remaining applications are reviewed by Xia Duo personally, and as long as they are truly substantive and not repetitive with others, the pass rate is actually quite high.

Xia Duo encourages new Mages to establish their own Independent Research Labs; even if he didn't let those people establish their own Independent Research Labs, he would still have to launch research in various directions in the name of the Tower of Time.

Independent Research Labs are independent in that they can research directions they like or are good at, rather than obeying the arrangements of the Tower of Time.

As for income, it is also relatively independent; the Tower of Time will provide a certain amount of support, but if they cannot continuously produce results, subsequent applications for new projects will be relatively difficult.

At worst, they can only undertake projects designated by the Tower of Time; otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to support the researchers under them, so what kind of Independent Research Lab would they be running!