Chapter 62: Chapter 62

In the First Circle wizard area of Lilith's Cottage, inside the advisor's office.

Witch Sophia calmly walked into this office and sat in front of Senior Academy Advisor Francis Zoe.

Francis Zoe was an old man with a white beard and white hair. He wore a black wizard hat and looked aged, though shrewd glints occasionally flashed in his eyes.

His chest was adorned with numerous honor medals, including various awards given to him for important new magical potion discoveries in the southeastern quadrant.

Advisor Francis smiled at Witch Sophia, "Sophia, time has passed in the blink of an eye. That stubborn little girl from back then has unexpectedly become a formal wizard and is now someone else's wizard mentor."

"How many years has it been?"

"Time truly is wondrous. It feels like just a second ago you were still a little girl who had just enrolled and knew nothing, standing before me. The next second, you've already become a formal wizard on equal footing with us."

The flower on the vine of Witch Sophia's wizard hat had turned pale yellow, a color that appeared both serious and not overly aged, just right.

Francis Zoe wasn't as kind as he appeared.

Sometimes, to achieve his goals, he wouldn't even care what methods he used. Sophia had always kept a respectful distance from him.

Witch Sophia nodded slightly. "Supervisor Francis, thank you for your past guidance."

Advisor Francis smiled, "I called you here this time, which is truly a disturbance, but as a senior advisor of Lilith's Cottage and concurrent supervisor, I still find it necessary to inquire."

He placed a file on Locke Augustine in front of Witch Sophia. "This student only had Level 3 aptitude during enrollment, but he became a second-class wizard apprentice and obtained a breeder assistant certificate within a year and a half."

"His advancement speed is very unusual."

"The academy wants me to confirm..."

Witch Sophia understood his subtext and said, "Mm, I know all of this."

"My student has a simple background. He just came from an overseas mortal world and hasn't signed contracts with any local wizard families. He simply has special talents in mana stability and potion absorption."

"At the same time, he has high talent in the breeding field. Most of the work on the Super Mandrake Vines this time, including the conceptualization, was completed by him."

Francis Zoe's eyes flashed with insight as his gaze fell on Locke Augustine's file on the desk. So that's how it was, he had miscalculated.

Strictly speaking, Witch Sophia wasn't yet an official member of Lilith's Cottage. Assigning a student of this caliber to her was a dereliction of duty on his part, as the one responsible for distributing student assignments.

At this moment, Advisor Francis felt a faint regret rising in his heart.

If he had known Locke's talent earlier, he should have prioritized assigning Locke to one of the core First Circle breeders in the academy. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novel⚑fire.net

Francis Zoe smiled imperceptibly, "That's good. The academy naturally trusts your judgment, Sophia."

"I just needed to rule out the possibility that this student is a black wizard spy, or that black wizards have invested large amounts of additional resources in this student, wanting to use him for malicious competition over magical resources and disrupting order."

"However, this student's background is very simple, and his interpersonal relationships are also simple, so I don't have concerns in that regard."

"Moreover, in the breeding field, even with sufficient resource investment, it's very difficult to achieve results. It's a field where even burning money can't create genius."

Witch Sophia nodded. "Advisor, if there's nothing else, I'll leave."

"The academy has assigned me quite a few tasks recently."

Lilith's Cottage had been growing increasingly impatient seeing Sophia hadn't signed a contract for two consecutive years. Seemingly sensing something, they had begun continuously assigning tasks to Sophia.

Witch Sophia hadn't refused.

She was a wizard who originated from Lilith's Cottage, a fact that no one could change.

Where there were gains, there must be returns.

Otherwise, Lilith's Cottage wouldn't easily let people go.

In fact, as her wizard academy, Lilith's Cottage would remain very important for a considerable time in the future.

Before she achieved significant results, when she wanted to pass teaching qualification assessments at other wizard organizations, they would first look at what level her originating wizard organization was.

Advisor Francis smiled, "Sophia, the academy has already approved your student's request to establish a small botanical garden in advance and transferred him out of the patrol team, assigning him a new task: Magical Plant Investigation."

"Sophia, Locke is a student with good potential. Having such a student is truly wonderful for you."

"I hope Locke can be cultivated into talent under your guidance and become an excellent breeder. You know the importance of breeders to the academy. More than half the wizards in Lilith's Cottage know some plant magic."

The prerequisite for learning potion science was for the wizard to have the most basic wood element particle affinity, so wizards who excelled at plant magic basically all knew some potion science.

Wizards with completely no wood element particle affinity could at most learn a little basic potion science only after reaching higher levels.

Therefore, there were many wizards using plant magic in Lilith's Cottage, and the existence of excellent breeders could qualitatively improve the overall level of wizards using plant magic in this wizard organization.

Because of this, breeders held a status in Lilith's Cottage that was three points higher than elsewhere.

Advisor Francis smiled, "Sophia, won't you really sign a contract? Even if it's to stay for these excellent students."

"You know, formal wizards can form a small power faction by teaching students alone, building their own resource network, collecting many magical resources, and delegating many tasks to their students."

"Even when formal wizards, or even senior breeders and potion masters emerge among your students, you can expand your power through your own students and brew magic that belongs to you."

"Formal wizards are powerful not only because of themselves, but also because of their students."

Sophia knew that Francis's purpose was simply to make her stay at Lilith's Cottage.

Now he was merely using Locke and other students as an excuse to speak up again.

Sophia said, "I still need to consider it further."

Advisor Francis maintained his smile, "Very well."

"Regardless of the outcome, you are always welcome here."

After Witch Sophia left, Advisor Francis looked at Locke's file on the desk, a trace of confusion showing in his eyes.

He was somewhat puzzled, continuously tapping the desktop with his finger. "Fast advancement speed is one thing, that might really be because some talent wasn't detected during testing. Such things have happened before."

"But how could a wizard prospect from a mortal world achieve significant results in the breeding field in such a short time? We still can't rule out the possibility that Witch Sophia gave him resources, leading to this result."

"But that doesn't make sense either. Sophia has no reason to do this. Could I really be overthinking?"

Advisor Francis came back to his senses, "Forget it, he's just an insignificant second-class wizard apprentice anyway."

"Maybe I really did assign him wrong. But if I assigned him wrong, so be it. This level isn't enough to attract the attention of the academy's upper echelons."

"The key is to find a way to make Sophia, a formal wizard who is both a senior breeder and potion master, stay at Lilith's Cottage."

Today's matter was originally just him taking the opportunity to make a point while feeling confused.

If it were any other formal wizard, he wouldn't bother, because those formal wizards would handle such matters themselves.

A second-class wizard apprentice wasn't worthy of his attention.