Lecturer Zhang’s full name is Zhang Huaigu.
As a young and beautiful Lecturer, this name seemed a bit old-fashioned and dull, but since names are bestowed by elders, Instructor Zhang could only hold her nose and bear it.
As an outstanding student from First University’s class of 2000, Zhang Huaigu had already obtained her Registered Wizard certificate in her third year. Before she even graduated, the University’s Rune Research Institute extended an olive branch that all graduates dreamed of—the opportunity to stay at the University for further study.
For graduates of First University, staying at the University meant a stable and familiar work environment, the ability to always be at the forefront of the Wizarding World’s latest research, and the chance to learn more profound and secret magical knowledge.
But at the same time, staying at the University also meant poverty.
Without extraordinary talent, a Registered Wizard who graduated less than ten years ago would find it difficult to have her own laboratory at First University.
And without a laboratory, she wouldn’t receive University-approved projects.
Without projects, there would be no project funding.
And thus, no continuous magical experiments.
Wizards’ knowledge is expensive; this is a very popular notion in the Wizarding World.
However, for Zhang Huaigu, who was an honor student throughout middle school and University, this feeling wasn’t particularly strong. In her mind, the newest Wizard robes from Cloud Weaver or the new Bologna spell book from Shangyuan Bookshop were already very expensive luxuries.
As for experimental equipment and supplies, weren't those all free to use?
It wasn’t until she graduated from University and began preparing materials for her Wizard advancement ceremony, seeing the 'friendship price' list from the Research Institute, that Miss Zhang Huaigu truly understood how expensive Wizards’ knowledge was.
A dozen stable-state charms successfully imbued with spirit: friendship price, ten jade coins!
One hundred grams of finely ground, secretly baked frog liver powder: friendship price, thirty jade coins!
A small, ten-milliliter bottle of Dragon Saliva Grass extract: friendship price, one hundred jade coins! And mind you, this was only the saliva grass extract from sub-dragon species like flood dragons and hornless dragons.
For outstanding graduates of First University, they could actually produce these magical consumables themselves.
However, for a Wizard preparing for an advancement ceremony, these magical consumables had to be purchased.
Not to mention the tens of thousands of different materials required for the entire set of rituals, which would take decades of precious time for a Wizard to prepare entirely on their own; simply the short shelf life of many of these consumables cut off the path for Wizards to prepare them independently.
Take, for example, stable-state charms successfully imbued with spirit.
In the Wizard Alliance’s certification standards, a spirit-imbued charm with a validity period of one year or more can circulate normally in the market; a spirit-imbued charm with a validity period of three to five years is already considered a high-quality commodity, in short supply in the market; a spirit-imbued charm with a validity period of five years or more is a strategic commodity, which merchants without corresponding licenses and qualifications are not authorized to sell, and the products of masters capable of producing such charms are all high-pricedly acquired by the Wizard Alliance.
Even Zhang Huaigu, who had high attainments in the field of charms, could not ensure that every charm she imbued with spirit would be successful, let alone that every charm would reach a validity period of over one year.
And in a Wizard advancement ceremony, thousands of charms are used.
For most Wizards, the only hope is to purchase them.
Zhang Huaigu was no exception.
To see a broader Wizarding World, she had to advance.
For the advancement ceremony, she had to buy these materials.
So she needed money.
For a rookie at a research institute, being able to assist the big names in the magic world was already the limit. Many powerful Wizards were already troubled by experimental funding, let alone sponsoring a young Little Wizard’s advancement, which was a completely unprofitable endeavor.
Thus, with the help of her teacher and the recommendation of the Rune Research Institute, classmate Zhang Huaigu, who had recently left the Teaching Building, gloriously re-entered the classroom as a Charm and Talisman class Lecturer.
Only this time, she stood at the podium.
And her rank was merely Lecturer.
In First University’s faculty ranking system, Lecturer is only one rank above Assistant Teacher, making it the lowest rank among teachers.
Above Lecturer, there are many ranks such as Associate Professor, Full Professor, Tenured Professor, and Grand Professor.
But for Zhang Huaigu, who had only recently graduated, the Lecturer’s salary was already quite generous.
This was also because her mentor at the Research Institute was the Associate Director of the institute, which gave her such an opportunity.
Whenever she thought of this, Lecturer Zhang Huaigu always had a look of unwillingness.
It was all her fault for only focusing on charm research during University; she had too few other skills, and those teams on outdoor missions didn't dare to take her, a burden.
But the income from outdoor missions was so high!
Lecturer Zhang’s eyes once again saw Sima Yangyun’s smug smiling face. That girl had only gone on two outdoor missions and had already secured the wealth needed for her advancement ceremony.
I can do it too!
Lecturer Zhang rubbed her furrowed brow, trying to lift her spirits.
For every batch of qualified students she taught, she received a corresponding bonus. Last night, she calculated it again; as long as she successfully trained the three new student classes she was currently teaching, she would be free!
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but scan the classroom again.
The new students below were writing furiously, drawing the charms in their minds.
Lecturer Zhang looked at their crumpled little faces, a smile involuntarily appearing at the corner of her mouth.
A familiar atmosphere, a familiar feeling.
It felt like just yesterday, she too was like this, silently drawing nearly a hundred charms under the teacher’s gaze, making that stern old man overjoyed. It was also from that time on that she could never be separated from these two words.
In the back row of the classroom, a new student also let out a similar sigh.
Perhaps I will never be able to leave the words 'charm and talisman' in this life.
Familiar runes, familiar scent of ink.
It seemed that ever since he was eight or nine years old, he had been exposed to these complex drawings every day.
Opening the test paper, Zheng Qing narrowed his eyes, a smile also appearing on his face.
There was only one question on the paper:
Please draw the charms you are familiar with (Note: no spirit imbuing required).
Spirit imbuing is the last step of every charm, which is to infuse magic power into the written charm.
There are two difficult points for charms: one is outlining the runes, and the other is spirit imbuing.
Due to differences in the quality of the charm paper and the level of magic power control, everyone has a certain chance of failure when imbuing spirit. If spirit imbuing fails, at best the charm paper will be destroyed, and at worst it can lead to the charm losing control, usually manifesting as an explosion.
No spirit imbuing required; the pressure in Zheng Qing’s heart eased considerably.
As for the charms he knew? In a trance, Zheng Qing seemed to see that worn-out charm book.
That charm book that he had practiced every day since he was eight years old.
Zheng Qing remembered very clearly: the entire charm book had three hundred and twenty-four pages, with four runes on each page, totaling one thousand two hundred and ninety-six charms.
Does he have to copy them all down?
Zheng Qing pulled out his silver-white pocket watch, estimating the time.
According to his previous practice pace, it would take about three and a half hours.
Perhaps, there’s enough time.
He bit his lip, dipping his brush into the inkstone filled with thick ink.