Chapter 701: Junior Technician, Recognizing the Situation

In the blink of an eye, two days passed quickly. During this period, the Magic Technicians who had temporarily placed their affiliation under the Tilake Research Lab had already begun their intense and busy pre-job training.

Calculating based on the optimal configuration of one production line—"17 Apprentices + 3 Official Mages"—the production of the New Communication Magic Artifact could currently only start two production lines.

Moreover, there was now a problem even more serious than the shortage of Apprentice-level Technicians, which was that there was also a lack of Magic Technicians at the Official Mage level.

Previous trial production runs had all been attended by members of the Tilake Research Lab, but one couldn't keep having these Mages with research potential engage in production!

Outside the Workshop.

Xia Duo pulled Tilake aside and earnestly instructed: "After the training is qualified, start producing semi-finished products. You must identify suitable Junior Magic Technicians as soon as possible, based on voluntary participation; do not deceive or force them."

The so-called 【Junior Magic Technician】 actually refers to a technician role filled by a low-rank Mage. Later, of course, there will be Intermediate and Advanced Technicians, which, as the name implies, are technicians filled by Intermediate and High Mages.

As for those Mage Apprentices, they will continue to be Magic Technician Apprentices in the future.

Hearing Xia Duo's instructions, Tilake's anxious heart immediately settled. He had originally worried that Xia Duo would make him supplement the production lines with people from his Research Lab. Fortunately, that wasn't the case, so he immediately agreed:

"I will. Actually, I already have suitable candidates."

"Who is it? Is it those people?" Xia Duo asked immediately.

"Yes. Yesterday, Mage He Sai found me and said that several people were asking him about the situation in our Research Lab. After I contacted them, I found that they were not interested in research, but simply envied the treatment in our Research Lab, so I thought—"

Speaking of this, Tilake hesitated somewhat, "It's just that I don't know if their mentors will let them go."

"That is indeed a problem."

Xia Duo did not give an answer immediately. In the rules of the Tower of Time, there is no explicit personal attachment relationship between Apprentices and mentors, but in actual practice, mentors can almost restrict Apprentices in every way.

And changing mentors is almost impossible to achieve; the tacit understanding among Intermediate Mages regarding unwritten rules is far from something a low-rank Mage can shake.

In the past, when Xia Duo pushed for the transformation of the Tower of Time, he did not touch the core interests of those Intermediate Mages, namely Tower of Time Permission Level and Apprentices.

Tower of Time Permission Level is the formal channel for Intermediate Mages to obtain Knowledge and resources from the Tower of Time, which is implemented in contracts, while Apprentices are a kind of hidden wealth.

Especially Apprentices at the Official Mage level; Intermediate Mages often need to use them as "Spell Batteries" in hopes of being able to conduct more spell experiments, or even processing and manufacturing, within their own energy range.

Therefore, Apprentices, especially skilled ones at the Official Mage level, are almost never easily let go by any Intermediate Mage.

To get rid of the Apprentice status, one can only become an Intermediate Mage oneself, then recruit Apprentices, and recover what was exploited in the past from one's own Apprentices.

It is simply a vicious cycle.

Xia Duo was quite dissatisfied with this, but there was nothing he could do. Almost all of Netheril did this, and all he could do was plan slowly.

After thinking for a while, Xia Duo summoned the Tower Spirit to check the list of Progress Society members, especially those Level 3 Apprentices, but some problems cannot be reflected by cold data.

However, Tilake had more contact with those Level 3 Apprentices and should know, so Xia Duo asked again: "Do you know how many Level 3 Apprentices in the Progress Society can pass the 【Ascension Trial】 in a short time?"

"Currently, there are 7 Level 3 Apprentices in the Progress Society, but only 3 or 4 are confident in passing the 【Ascension Trial】 to become Official Mages in a short time."

Tilake immediately reported the data he knew. Looking at Xia Duo, he seemed to have thought of something, "Xia Duo, are you trying to—"

"No, it's not that. These good seedlings should have more choices, rather than being restricted to the production line."

How could Xia Duo not see what Tilake wanted to say? But as he said, these good seedlings should have more choices; stuffing them directly into the production line would truly be a waste.

Furthermore, although the 【Magic Net Background Communication】 at the core of the New Communication Magic Artifact has been simplified, it is still as high as 2nd Ring, and it is not something a New Mage can participate in producing; at the very least, the Spellcasting Level must be 3 or above.

Unless they do the work of those Apprentices, but that would be an even greater waste.

"I will open a dedicated Spell Laboratory for them to let them try to their heart's content, but there is one point: upgrade as soon as possible, and pay attention to safety at the same time."

"Xia Duo—"

"Don't worry, it's just to show those stubborn elements the speed of Mage cultivation under the new system. If they still insist on resisting the new system, then they will only be swept into the dust in the future."

Actually, Xia Duo was very reluctant to do this. He hoped more that those people could take the initiative to recognize the situation and actively embrace the new system, rather than being pushed by him.

However, since even the daily service duty had been moved forward, Xia Duo didn't mind speeding things up a bit in other directions as well. After all, this was all "forced by the situation"!

Thinking about it this way, he really was a great philanthropist!

After leaving the Workshop, Xia Duo was about to return to his residence to continue completing his Spellbook when Niya suddenly sent a message, "Come quickly! Teleportation Room! Archmage Greta is arriving soon!"

Only then did Xia Duo remember that two days ago Niya said that Rodney Lord had invited Archmage Greta to act as a witness. These past two days he had been busy inspecting the training situation of the communication magic artifact production line or busy making Spellbooks, and almost forgot about this matter.

This Niya is really something, only notifying him when Archmage Greta was about to arrive. After a small internal grumble, Xia Duo immediately summoned the Tower Spirit and teleported into the room.

As soon as his vision returned to normal, he saw that Niya was already standing quietly beside the Teleportation Array, her expression not at all showing the anxiety she had just now when sending the message.

Xia Duo walked over, stood beside Niya, straightened his attire, and then stood still. However, after waiting for a while, he did not see any reaction from the Teleportation Array, so Xia Duo asked Niya:

"Didn't you say she was arriving soon? Why hasn't she arrived yet?"

At this moment, Niya finally couldn't help but show a trace of anxiety on her face. If Archmage Greta didn't come, did that mean something unexpected happened on Rodney Lord's side? This was not what she wanted.

"I clearly already sent the Access Key over, why haven't they come over yet? If they don't come soon, the key will expire!"

Xia Duo heard the tension in Niya's voice. He attached great importance to the deal with Rodney Lord, but compared to Niya, he was indeed a bit less urgent.

Seeing that Niya was so nervous that she was wringing her fingers, Xia Duo felt that it must have been his question just now that caused Niya's well-controlled emotions to spiral out of control.

So he extended his finger, let Arcane Energy flow from his fingertip, and then quickly transformed it into a dark blue rose, constantly blooming and withering.

This trick immediately attracted Niya's attention. It wasn't the Arcane Energy rose itself, but Niya felt a bit confused as to why Xia Duo would suddenly do such a thing on this occasion.