Chapter 227 - 11: Cover Paper Reward, Bumper Harvest, Underground Mine Trial

Chapter 227: Chapter 11: Cover Paper Reward, Bumper Harvest, Underground Mine Trial

An unexpected stream of information quietly seeped into Mo Ning’s mind.

[Your outstanding achievements in Divination Theory research have earned the unanimous approval of twelve Reviewing Editors-in-Chief and high praise from numerous Wizards. Therefore, the academy is honored to invite you to become a "Golden Pen Member" of the society.]

[Note 1: The Golden Pen Member is the society’s highest honorary title. It does not restrict you from submitting to any journal. For each paper submitted to the *Shining Light of the Black Tower*, you will receive an additional incentive of 50 Black Tower Points.]

[Note 2: Golden Pen Members receive every issue of the society’s journal for free. Golden Pen Members may also participate in reviewing submitted papers and will be compensated accordingly.]

[Note 3: At your request, the society will add one Level Zero Witchcraft to your Golden Pen Member Badge, free of charge.]

[Are you willing to accept this honorary title?]

For once, Mo Ning was stunned.

As far as he knew, this honor was usually reserved for Official Wizards, and not even all of them could obtain this badge.

The society had established very clear criteria:

First, one must have published more than fifteen first-area papers.

Second, one of those papers must have made the journal’s cover.

For a Wizard, the first condition wasn’t difficult.

Anyone capable of becoming a Wizard was bound to have a decent level of skill in Divination. As long as they stayed at the academy long enough and led or participated in enough research projects, they could eventually accumulate fifteen first-area papers.

But the second condition was much harder. Only one paper could make the cover of each issue, which meant competing against half the Wizards in the academy, including quite a few Second Level Wizards.

The reason it was "half the academy" was that the other half submitted their papers to a different journal.

Even Second Level Wizards couldn’t guarantee their paper would make the cover.

According to academy rumors, less than a tenth of all First Level Wizards had obtained a Golden Pen Member Badge, with the number of Golden Pen Members being split roughly fifty-fifty between the two journals.

As for why the *Shine* society had suddenly extended an invitation, the reason wasn’t hard to guess.

A First Level Apprentice writing two heavyweight cover papers... even a fool could see he had a boundless future.

If *Shine* wasn’t willing to offer better treatment and the other journal, *Mystery*, extended the Golden Pen Member olive branch first, wouldn’t the former have to just stand by and watch a talent slip away?

To keep this genius, *Shine* had no choice but to break convention.

Mo Ning leaped down from the branch of a frost-pine and, without hesitation, silently recited, ’I am willing to accept the honorary title!’

The other benefits of being a Golden Pen Member, like the 50 Black Tower Points incentive, held pitifully little appeal for him.

But the fact that a Level Zero Witchcraft could be added to the Golden Pen Member Badge for free—equivalent to getting a Witchcraft Item for nothing—gave him no reason to refuse.

A message quickly came from his Guiding Ring:

[The *Shine* society sincerely welcomes you as a Golden Pen Member of the academy. Please select the Level Zero Witchcraft you would like to add to your badge.]

Mo Ning didn’t even have to think about it. He decisively thought, ’I want to add the Magic Deflection Shield.’

Many of the manuscripts and notes he had read listed this Witchcraft as the number one must-learn for every Apprentice.

For a Wizard, defense was always more important than offense.

No matter how powerful one’s attacks, with poor defenses, stepping onto a battlefield was like being a glass cannon—there was a high chance one would never leave.

In short, only the living have a future.

And the Magic Deflection Shield was a defensive Witchcraft that could be described as a "jack-of-all-trades."

The magic deflection field it released provided a passable defense against physical attacks, a decent defense against Elemental Attacks, and even some resistance to Spiritual Attacks.

Although it didn’t excel in any single area, its balance and versatility were its greatest strengths.

As any Wizard knew, Spell Slots were always in short supply. A multi-purpose Witchcraft could save several Spell Slots.

The Guiding Ring quickly provided feedback:

[The *Shine* society has received your customization request. Your Golden Pen Member Badge is expected to be ready in 12 hours. It will be delivered to the secure locker at your residence. Please be sure to collect it.]

A slight smile touched the corners of Mo Ning’s lips.

’This is much faster than I had expected. It seems the society really does place a high value on its Golden Pen Members.’

’Best of all, there’s a chance I can actually use the Magic Deflection Shield attached to this badge.’

The Level Zero Witchcraft embedded in Witchcraft Items usually had requirements for both Spiritual Strength and Magic Pool—for example, a Spiritual Strength over 1 and a Magic Pool of at least 5.

Newcomers hadn’t yet condensed a Spirit Ring, so how could they have a Magic Pool?

In other words, only an Apprentice could use them.

But he had a way.

More rewards came flooding in.

[Reward 1: In light of your outstanding contributions to Witchcraft research, the society has decided to award you a manuscript fee of 500 Black Tower Points.]

[Reward 2: In light of your creation of the Divination Theory, the "Red-Green Light Technique," which provides an unprecedented new approach to the highly complex problem of Magic Parallel Streams, the society has decided to grant an additional special reward of 1,000 Black Tower Points.]

[The payment has been transferred to your Guiding Ring account. Current balance: 8,194 Black Tower Points.]

A faint glint of joy flashed in Mo Ning’s eyes.

’My last cover paper earned me a fee of 1,000 Black Tower Points. This one brought in 1,500 directly.’

[Reward 3: The Distant Mountain Witchcraft Laboratory, the Giant Witchcraft Laboratory, the Thorn Witchcraft Laboratory, and several other laboratories have used your "Red-Green Light Technique" to solve multiple problems related to Magic Parallel Streams. To encourage your continued exploration of the ocean of Witchcraft knowledge, these laboratories will sponsor you with the following materials.]