"X, sir? Haha, very much like that kind of mysterious, evil villain. 'X · ♠ Si ♥ Lu ♣ Ke ♦'." Having grown more familiar with Lucian, Lazarus was letting more of his enthusiastic, talkative, and uninhibited personality show.
Lucian chuckled: "Someday, when I do something that shocks the entire world of Arcane Magic, I'll leave behind a bloody X at the scene."
"A bloody X? That sounds absolutely fantastic! But why does it keep reminding me of those words the Professor on the Purification List left when he killed the traitors… that ruthlessly captivating elegance." Lazarus murmured to himself, lost in his own musings, completely oblivious to the slight change in his friend's expression.
Over time, the reason why the Professor had ended up on the Purification List had leaked out to some extent—particularly since Rogelio, whom the Magic Parliament had dispatched, had spent a period of time living in Altor.
"Heh heh." Lucian let out a dry laugh and hurriedly changed the subject, steering the conversation toward Allentown's famous alchemy shops and the like.
As they talked, the two soon arrived at the "Magician Management Division." This time, Lucian successfully activated his Archanist emblem—a faint luminescence appeared over its deep black surface, and seven silver points flickered faintly upon it, deep and mysterious.
This emblem primarily recorded one's name, Arcane Points, and Archanist rank, with no other magical effects. However, as Lazarus explained, upon becoming a mid-rank Archanist, the emblem would have one permanent magical effect inscribed on it; at the high-rank level, another would be added. Similar magical emblems worked the same way.
"Evans, have you decided to add an X after your name?" Eric asked sternly as he watched Lucian clip the Archanist emblem to his left breast. Lazarus had already cheerfully called out "Mr. X" several times just moments ago.
Lucian nodded solemnly: "Yes. Is there anything else, Mr. Eric?"
"Nothing much—just a reminder to arrange your living situation and accommodations for the near future as soon as possible, then come to me to leave your contact address and method. Oh, and when you reply to the invitation from the *Monthly Journal for Ordinary Archanists*, you should include that information as well. You may be in frequent contact in the future. Come in—the door isn't locked." Eric offered a few casual instructions.
Just then, someone knocked on the door of Eric's office.
Seeing that Eric still had matters to attend to, Lucian and Lazarus quickly excused themselves and left.
"Mr. Eric seems quite busy…" Lucian glanced back.
Lazarus laughed as though he'd heard a joke: "Because he only has to work two days a week—fourteen hours in total. The rest of his time is his own, for studying Arcane Magic and conducting magical experiments. And the pay is generous—thirty Gold Thalers or Arcane Points per month—on top of the money he earns from taking on tasks, inventing spells, and so on."
"The ten stewards of the Magician Management Division take turns working like this. It's truly enviable, but unfortunately it's a perk reserved only for mid-rank magicians."
Lucian felt a pang of genuine envy: "Little work time, generous pay, and it seems the commute is short too. It's the perfect job."
"If the Parliament didn't arrange things this way, very few mid-rank magicians would be willing to take on this kind of tedious, low-prestige management work. After all, the most important thing for a magician is studying Arcane Magic and advancing one's knowledge. Only those gentlemen who've lost hope of further progress would immerse themselves in the accumulation of wealth." Lazarus was young and in the prime of his ambition—he naturally looked down on those dispirited, stagnant magicians who had given up hope.
His expression turned serious: "By the way, Lucian, have you considered what you'll mainly be doing in the near future? Will you focus on conducting magical experiments and studying to shore up your Arcane fundamentals? Or will you go adventuring and take on missions to amass a large fortune, then purchase magical items and exchange for potions and materials to boost your strength?"
"Focus on studying and conducting magical experiments." Lucian had spent the past year and more living under suppression, and had gone through considerable danger. He wasn't in the mood for adventure just yet.
Lazarus returned to his usual smile: "Then I'd suggest you wait and choose work at a magic school."
"Why?" Lucian had actually planned to take on no tasks or jobs at all, and instead devote himself entirely to studying the Arcane and magical knowledge in the Magic Parliament's library. Once he'd gotten a handle on the Parliament's standards across various fields, filled in his foundational knowledge, and advanced to the Second Ring, he would make further plans.
Lazarus grinned: "First of all, your mentoring task only counts as half-complete. You can choose to personally guide two full Magic Apprentices to high-rank and have them pass the routine assessment by the Apprentice Review Division—but you won't receive a single Copper Fel in payment for that. Alternatively, you can choose work at a magic school, which not only comes with a salary, but only requires six of the apprentices in your class to reach high-rank for the task to count as complete. It's very easy."
"And I believe, Lucian, you only have sixty Gold Thalers and nine Arcane Points?"
"That's right." Lucian nodded honestly.
Lazarus lightly clapped his hands: "While that sum of money is a fortune an ordinary commoner could never accumulate in a lifetime, for a magician it's like a stone tossed into the ocean—barely a ripple. As long as you wish to acquire more knowledge and master greater power, being a magician is absolutely the most money-consuming profession there is."
"For borrowing books from the library, you need money. For renting an auxiliary Meditation chamber, you need money. For conducting magical experiments—whether the laboratory or the materials—you need money. For analyzing and casting spells over and over, you still need money. Just for daily necessities, sixty Gold Thalers would probably last about half a year. And once your rank rises higher, the materials you need become increasingly precious. At that point, a single magical experiment or a single summoning attempt might consume sixty Gold Thalers."
Lucian nodded gently: "I once heard someone say that without sufficient wealth, one cannot become a good magician. Fortunately, magicians can earn money through their own abilities."
"So besides taking on missions, adventuring, and crafting magical items to earn wealth, the Parliament offers two other avenues. First, the higher your Arcane and magical rank, the cheaper it is to purchase materials from and rent laboratories through the Parliament. Moreover, high-level papers award generous Arcane Points, and when your newly invented spells are redeemed by others, the Arcane Points are enough to let an Archanist whose strengths lie in exploratory research live in luxury even after accounting for magical expenditures."
Lazarus seemed to envy that kind of Archanist. "The second is for several Archanists or magicians to band together and propose a research plan for Arcane or magical study in a given field. If it passes review by the Parliament's Magic Research Committee, they'll not only provide magical laboratories and alchemical apparatus free of charge, but also directly award a large number of Arcane Points. Unfortunately, most such research projects are led by high-rank Archanists."
Lucian couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, thinking silently: *Is this the part where they teach me how to scam research funding?*
"For us first-rank magicians, if you don't want to go adventuring or take on dangerous missions, then you either need a good teacher to follow for study and experiments, or you need to find a good position. And working at a magic school is the most popular choice among first-rank magicians."
Lazarus clicked his tongue appreciatively: "If you, Lucian, became a teacher at a magic school, you'd only need to teach ten classes—twenty hours—per week, with the rest of your time your own to arrange. The salary is only ten Arcane Points per month, but Lucian, remember—the laboratories for magical study can be used free of charge by teachers, the school's basic library can be read free of charge by teachers, the materials for guiding apprentices in their experiments are all provided free of charge by the school…"
"What chance would I have of landing such a good job?" Honestly, Lucian was tempted—especially upon hearing that both the magical laboratory and the basic library would be free. Think of how much money that would save! Lucian had always been a little money-minded.