Chapter 614 - 237: Landing on the Island

"Or," Escobar’s expression changed, "the Director is qualified to make an entry in the Wizard’s Manual, to be remembered by all Wizards."

"The Wizard’s Manual?"

The other Wizards grew excited at the thought of this possibility. If that were true, then as researchers of the Wei’en Research Institute, they too would be mentioned.

"Alright, let’s put that aside for now. All of you get some proper rest." Seeing their expressions grow increasingly excited, Wei’en had to interrupt their wild fantasies once more.

"Understood, Director!"

"Thank you, Director!"

"..."

"Any other questions?"

Compared to their dreams of being remembered by Wizards and making entries in the Wizard’s Manual, Wei’en’s ambitions ran far deeper.

For the past several days, aside from increasing his strength and conducting experiments for his research project, he had spent the rest of his time building a sand table with a simple map of the four continents and the Cordo Sea Region.

On it, he not only marked the territories of the various organizations and factions across the continents but also factored in everyone in the Cordo Sea Region who could make a move against the Dusk Sect.

According to his deductions, given the vastness of the Cordo Sea Region, even if some Wizards from the four great Wizard Schools—the Ghost, Spiritual Secret, Shadow, and Blood Spirit Schools—took action alongside the Eternal Life Association and the Black Pearl, they could at most occupy one-fifth of the sea region in a short time.

’Oh, and I also have to factor in the Sea Cow Race that Menor just told me about. They’ll also be attacking members of the Dusk Sect in the Cordo Sea Region.’

By this calculation, and after excluding the Forbidden Sea and other rarely traversed waters, the Dusk Sect could still operate in at least one-third of the sea region to retrieve "Gamedia’s Dream."

Therefore, after discussing it with Menor, Wei’en decided to add more fuel to the fire and get the Wizards from the Mechanical School to join the hunt for the Dusk Sect.

And the Rune Array Board Card, engraved with the patterns of a Rune Array, was the very gift he had prepared to get the Mechanical School to act—compared to the Mechanical Undead, the Rune Array Board Card offered a much greater upgrade for them!

It wasn’t just for the Wizards who chose to enhance themselves with mechanical modifications; the numerous Mechanical Puppets were what the Mechanical School truly coveted.

’If they still refuse, then I’ll have no choice but to reveal the existence of Model Zero and offer the "Cornerstone (Death God)" rune as a bargaining chip.’

’However, unless it’s a last resort, I don’t want to give away the method for creating Mechanical Life, especially not to the Wizards of the Mechanical School.’

’Because that would boost the Mechanical School’s power to a terrifying degree!’

’This is all to prepare a grand gift for the Dusk Sect—I hope the "Master of True Slaughter," McCarthy, likes what I have in store for him!’

"I do!" Teresa glanced at the others. "Director, may I submit the interim research report to Dean Josue today?"

Wei’en was taken aback. "Aren’t you going to rest? There’s no need to rush the report, is there?"

"Well," Teresa adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses, "you’ve been focused on your research project for the past few days, so there’s something I haven’t had a chance to report."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember when I mentioned the Shadow School was coming for an academic exchange and a Wizard competition? They arrived at the Ice Castle Research Center yesterday."

Wei’en nodded. "I remember. And?"

"This morning, during the academic exchange, they presented a research report and said that if we could produce a report of equivalent value, it would be our win."

Teresa looked indignant. "At noon, Dean Josue said their report was on the fusion of Wizard Origin characteristics, and the technology is already quite mature. We don’t have a comparable research report at the moment..."

"Hm? Fusion of Origin characteristics?" Wei’en’s interest was piqued. "What kind of fusion?"

He suddenly recalled the thirteen faces he had seen in the Origin World. ’That must be a case of fusing Origin characteristics, right?’

’If I can understand the implementation process from that report, couldn’t I then reverse-engineer the reason why that giant tree and the bizarre aberration appeared in the Origin World?’

’It’s better than just waiting passively!’

"They haven’t released the specifics of their report. They only said they’d give us three days. After three days, Master Boras and the lead master from their school will compare the value of the two reports."

"Three days..."

Wei’en thought for a few seconds before making his decision. "I approve. Submit the interim research report, and, hmm... include the research on the Rune Array Board Card and the Mechanical Heart Rune Device as well."

’If they really did succeed in their research on fusing Origin characteristics, then the value of the Mechanical Undead modification alone won’t be enough. I have to include the further improvements to make it comparable.’

"That’s great! As long as you approve, I’ll go speak with the Dean right away."

"Mm."

Wei’en nodded. Seeing that everything was covered, he closed the communication channel and prepared to head out and meet up with Ronan and the others.

Nearly a month had passed since he had last set foot on Dakman Island. He hadn’t been on solid ground in a while, so he planned to take advantage of the ship’s repairs to go out and look around.

Meanwhile, after the holographic screen winked out, Teresa and the others burst into cheers.

"We’re... so lucky!"

"I’m more convinced than ever that it was incredibly foolish of Senior Benoy to contradict the Director and get himself fired from the institute."

"Hahaha, forget about him! I can hardly wait to see what happens..."

A smile spread across Teresa’s face. Despite her physical and mental exhaustion, she was overjoyed by the progress their research institute had made on the project.