Everyone followed the alchemy puppet to the second floor of the Task Hall. After a short greeting, Adam produced the crystal skeleton from his portable space and handed it over to the Black Mage, briefing him on the entire mission process.
The Black Mage summoned an alchemy puppet to deliver the skeleton to the Dean, then patted Crystal on the shoulder and announced, "In view of your excellent completion of the mission..."
Hearing this, William's heart froze. Adam didn't spare any detail about the casualties and massacre of the ordinary people on Madeira, but it was clear that the Black Mage didn't care at all.
"On behalf of the Academy, I have decided to give you additional rewards for the mission, including whatever needs to be compensated during the mission."
The four of them were happy after hearing about it, but they didn't expect additional rewards.
The Black Mage took out a few items from his robe and handed them over one by one.
"William Alfred, here is a set of runes for high-levelled fire magic."
"Ophelia Johnson, in addition to the injection you used, here is an active potion that the Academy compensates you for."
"As for you," the Black Mage said, frowning at Adam. "There isn't much research on electric magic in the Academy. You can choose an advanced magic for other elements."
Adam shook his head, since he wanted to research on electric magic more. "Dearest Black Mage, could you convert this reward to ether crystals?"
"Of course," the Black Mage nodded. "But, don't you want to think over it for a bit?"
Adam confirmed his choice and the Black Mage was about to say something, but suddenly froze in place, "The Dean wants to see you now."
...
After seeing the Dean again, Adam felt slightly fearful of him. He could hardly imagine how powerful the Dean was. Standing in front of him, Adam didn't feel any threat, but he could feel power radiating from Dean Victor.
"Good day, Dean Victor."
As he said this, Adam's eyes went dark. He found himself in another room shortly after, with the Dean's human form in front of him, fiddling with the crystal skeleton in his hand.
"Little guy, you really did surprise me," the Dean praised. "In such a short amount of time, you had already healed the wound in your soul."
"Sure enough, you'll be able to be promoted to a Mage in no time once again."
Adam bowed slightly, waiting for the Dean to continue.
"You should know that the overall strength of the Moldo Tower isn't that strong," Dean Victor explained.
"These are unavoidable shortcomings -- we don't have many mages left in the Academy, and the total resources allocated to us have been decreasing as well."
"And as you can tell, fresh talent cultivated by us is generally... not very talented. So far, we have only managed to produce one transdimensional mage."
Adam became even more puzzled. How does this have anything to do with him?
"I really hope you manage to suppress your promotion for 20 years," Dean Victor continued.
Adam froze, looking at the Dean for any sort of explanation.
"There isn't any malice," the Dean explained. "The Elemental Sacred Tower organises an apprentice promotion trial every 100 years. Every apprentice who passes will be immediately promoted, joining the tower to become a battlemage. Battlemages have a higher status than regular mages in this world."
"What do you mean by battlemage, Dean Victor?"
"They are qualified mages that fight in other worlds -- as long as you survive each expedition, you can obtain extremely powerful resources, which will be of great help to your future research."
"Can't every qualified mage join?" Adam asked.
"Of course not," Dean Victor chuckled. "Traversing to other worlds comes with its own dangers, venturing into the unknown. Ordinary mages aren't qualified to participate in this. Praise Annecroft, the World Guardian -- because of her, our world has a magic net."
"A net?"
"All True Archmages jointly maintain this net, connecting the souls of every battlemage. Battlemages imprint their souls onto this web, resisting the will of the world. It repels and protects the mage's soul from being spied on by otherworldly creatures, and battlemages can communicate through the magic net as well. It's good for you to know this."
Adam's heart is pounding fast from this information dump -- isn't this magic net equivalent to the Internet?
"They have a selection for battlemages once every 100 years -- after that, although you can apply for the test at any time, you are no longer eligible to join the Holy Tower. It is good for you to suppress your own promotion for the time being."
Although Adam doesn't know the benefits if he becomes a battlemage, he knows the rewards will be great. However, what benefit does this bring to the Academy?
The Dean could hear his thoughts, and explained, "Successfully cultivating a battlemage means our Tower will receive great rewards as well. Other qualified mages are forced to stay in the Tower by contract, unfortunately."
Adam likes how direct and open mages are. They point out the pros and cons and let the apprentices choose their own path.
"Why me, then?"
The Dean Victor chuckled regretfully, "All battlemages are far superior to other types of mages -- besides, only you have a high probability of passing the test. I can't say the same for anybody else."
Adam bowed in humility, "What's the trial?"
"Easy. Destroy an antimage."
