Adam was suspended in a ray of light, and the ray of light forcibly ejected the devil out of Adam's mind -- the runes surrounding Adam's soul emerged from his body, constantly flashing an iridescent glow under the light. Adam's aura permeated the room, and everyone in the laboratory couldn't help but back away, staring at Adam with utter awe.
"No way, is he... is he about to be promoted... to a Mage...?" an apprentice muttered.
"I'm used to it," the devil said dizzily. "This isn't the first time Master is promoting to a mage, after all."
"This isn't the first time? What do you mean?" Korver asked.
The devil nodded and boasted, "Yup! Master is a genius, so it's easy for him to get promoted, of course, with the help of me, Garfield, the great..."
Another burst of light interrupted the devil, and everybody in the lab fled from the lab, being repelled by the sheer magic radiating off Adam. At the same time, the perception device specifically equipped for Adam began to sound the alarm.
Dean Victor was abruptly awoken from deep meditation and exclaimed, "This fast?"
The Dean has the highest authority in the Academy, right below the owner of the Tower. Hence, he could freely phase and teleport to any part of the Academy in a moment's notice. However, he usually would not do this, instead choosing to go by foot. But Adam is about to be promoted, so he had no time for formalities.
The devil was bragging about their great achievements to the apprentices, but immediately lowered his head upon seeing the person standing behind the apprentices, "Great Dean Victor."
Everyone was stunned upon hearing the devil's words, and immediately bowed in respect.
The Dean didn't have time to make small talk. If he didn't suppress Adam's promotion in time, the process would be irreversible.
The Dean immediately slammed through the door, dispelling the magical lock placed on the door in an instant, but was surprised to see Adam laying on the ground.
"Good day, Your Excellency."
"You..." the Dean stuttered. "You gave up on your promotion?"
Adam nodded.
"You do know that even if you 'accidentally' promote, there aren't any punishments, right? Why stop it?"
Seeing Adam's current state, the Dean was satisfied. Not many apprentices are willing to stick to the rules of a contract when it comes to promoting themselves to become a Mage.
"Starting next month, I'll double your lab's funding, at your discretion of course."
Adam felt that the Dean had misunderstood something -- the reason why he suppressed his promotion was because he felt that he hadn't actually achieved anything yet.
Just by confirming a few simple rules regarding electricity, he could already promote. This confirmed that the Mage World was lacking in knowledge in terms of electricity magic.
In the past few months, Adam has only verified a few theorems, including Coulomb's Law, Ampere's Law, Joule's Law, Oersted's Experiment, etc. His biggest breakthrough was proving that there was a magnetic field around a current, and the current was generated by the motion of charges, so a magnetic field around an energized wire is essentially generated by moving charges.
This wasn't the knowledge he was seeking, but Adam couldn't find a way to come up with another experiment. This time, he suppressed his promotion through sheer willpower -- if there was a next time, it would be irreversible, and he would lose the opportunity to become a battlemage and ascend to another level.
However, the Dean increasing his lab's fundings would be good. Besides, Adam isn't stupid enough to reject free ether crystals.
"Dean Victor, is there any... magic that mortals could use in the wizarding world?"
The Dean didn't know why Adam asked such a question. He pondered on the question for a moment and replied, "Absolutely not. Most of the mortals in the Mage Continent use power stones as their source of energy, and the energy in the power stone is drawn out using mental power. Besides, magic is harmful to a mortal -- mortals who work under mages usually do not live very long."
With a single glance across the laboratory, the Dean suddenly realised why Adam asked this question and added, "I understand what you mean -- you're not the first to attempt to do such a thing, but the manipulation of elements is still very dependent on magic."
It seems that from the start, magic is separated from mere mortals.
In ancient times, mages and mortals had a slave owner to slave relationship. Mages would blindly abuse their slaves to maximise productivity; in modern times ever since magic has been commodified for apprentices and mages alike, there is no need for mere mortals to help out either.
The body of a mortal man is too fragile, completely collapsing under an ether-rich environment. Hence, the Mage Continent is far from any human civilization.
If it was in any other world, this hierarchical system would have collapsed sooner or later, but a mage's strength far surpasses any form of alien civilization, being able to simply ignore any natures of society. Besides, mortals will find a way to thrive regardless, and many more mages will be born among mortals. This means that mages need mortals, despite this relationship being incredibly fragile.
The most amazing thing? Nobody sees any downside to this.
Mortals are completely satisfied with their current state, despite the occasional complaints here and there. They enjoy the convenience brought by magic technology despite it whittling away at their lives, and mages happily use and manipulate whatever results that the mortals record in exchange for some benefits.
