Chapter 1836 - 20 Years

"...Hey guys."

Arriving at her research lab after not showing up for the past half year, Veradine had an apologetic look on her face as she glanced at all the people that came outside to see her.

After finally obtaining the answer to her question, it went without saying that she immediately proceeded to try and create an Ether Gathering Technique that incorporated the missing piece she discovered.

However, even with the massive amounts of knowledge and experience she had accumulated throughout the past half year, none of them were as effective as the techniques that she had modified from already existing techniques.

Realizing that she wouldn’t get anywhere with it even after spending an additional week solely to create her own Ether Gathering Technique, it was only then did Veradine finally take a look at her messages.

And of course, with all of them left unread, that meant that she had a lot to go through the moment she was done with her seclusion of sorts.

Fortunately, after working as a Scholar for so many years, she was able to swiftly go through the messages she received in a couple of hours, responding to those that needed responses while reading those that needed her attention.

By the time she was done going through all of them, Veradine could not help but feel immensely thankful for the people that she worked with in her research lab.

Even though she hadn’t given them any instructions regarding how the article would be done, the people there knew her well enough that the research they showed her was already close to being done.

Sending an announcement to her fellow coworkers through the messaging app they used, she went ahead and informed them that she had something important to say the following day.

Of course, with her being out of reach from them for the past few months, she also apologized to them with a lengthy wall of text.

Yet, unlike before, where almost all of them immediately responded to her the moment she sent a message to their group, only a handful of them responded this time around.

Because of that, she could not help but feel nervous the moment she arrived the following day.

’I should have at least given them a heads-up,’ thought Veradine to herself as she swept her gaze over the group that had gathered in front of her once more.

After some time, one of the Scholars at the front took a few steps forward, looking at her with a serious gaze.

Then, out of nowhere, that Scholar gave her a beaming smile as she said, "Welcome back, Professor! Happy 20 years as a Scholar!"

"Welcome back, Professor Avantis! Happy 20 years as a Scholar!"

"...?"

For a while, Veradine was stunned by the sudden shift in their expressions. After all, she had come to the lab with the expectation that she’d be told by her fellow coworkers for failing to live up to her role as the lab’s leader.

Though, as their cheers and celebrations continued to echo in her ears, she soon had an idea of what was going on.

"You..." Feeling her eyes becoming somewhat moist, Veradine forced herself to remain calm as she noticed the smiles on everyone’s faces. "You guys aren’t mad?"

"Why would we be?" one of her assistants responded back with a chuckle. "Sure, we were a bit surprised you were away for that long, but it’s not like we couldn’t handle it."

"We do feel like we might have misinterpreted your research direction," said the Scholar that first greeted her, giving her a slightly wry smile. "If you have the time later, Professor, it would be nice if you could tell us what our group should do next."

Soon, the others began to chime in.

"Professor, we’ve already gone through the usual methodology for eight of the techniques you’ve chosen. We just need to do a couple more major tests for the remaining two and then we’ll be done with data gathering."

"Professor, can you believe it? I told Merenna that she had to write up the documentation according to the lab’s format, yet she still made up her own format for it!"

"I’ve been telling you this many times already, Aurene! I modified the lab’s standard format to fit the data we gathered! If I didn’t adjust the format to the data our lab’s gathered, our article would be delayed to at least next year!"

"Haah... can you talk some sense into her, Professor?"

Hearing how her fellow coworkers were talking to her as if she hadn’t gone away for a single day, tears soon began to flow from Veradine’s eyes as she felt a multitude of emotions at the sight.

Noticing that their leader was crying all of a sudden, some of them began to panic and worry for her, while others let out peals of laughter as they had a rough idea of what was going on through her head.

Thankfully, it did not take long for Veradine to regain her bearings, wiping away the tears from her face as she took in a deep breath.

"I thought... I thought you guys were mad at me." By the time she had somewhat calmed down, she spoke to them once more. "I sent out some messages to the group last night, but only a few of you replied."

"That... was our fault," answered one of the Scholars as they let out a slightly wry chuckle. "Most of us were either decorating the lab in preparation for this day, or were organizing the other things needed for the celebration."

"...But it’s nowhere near my 20th year as a Scholar yet," replied Veradine, the gears in her head turning. "Unless you’re also counting the time when I was at school, that is."

"Is that not included?" asked one of the other Scholars with an innocent look on her face. "My teacher back then told me that the moment we entered the academy, we were officially Scholars of the Thymesion Civilization."

"Well... you’re not wrong."

Realizing that she couldn’t really refute her words, Veradine moved on from the topic.

"My 20 years as a Scholar aside, that milestone should be something that I should celebrate by myself," she said, giving them a slightly confused look. "You shouldn’t have gone out of your way to do something like this for me."

"It’s the least we can do for you, Professor," said one of the assistants as she gave the former a smile. "For the past few years, you’ve taught us a lot of things."

"Though some of them might just be stating the obvious, most of them are truly things we wouldn’t have thought about from our perspective."

"Yet you were there to give us that idea."

"Because of you, a lot of us have become accomplished Scholars in our own rights, with some of us even having the credentials necessary to establish our own respective labs."

"However, none of us ever thought about doing so. Because we know that we’d go farther if we continued to work along with you."

"You’ve taken great care of us these past few years, Professor," said one of the Scholars at that moment. "Even if it’s only for today..."

"Let us take care of you as well."