At the same time, the Lachman Kingdom, thousands of miles away, was thriving.
Duriel, the capital of the kingdom, was near the sea. It was a great city built by mages on a mountain by the sea. After defeating the Church and liberating the people, these mages refused to use the original holy city as the capital. Instead, they flattened a dangerous cliff and built a real mage paradise on it.
Lachiman's giant floating space tower was reconstructed from the mountain peaks that had been cut off. They were now submerged in the seabed below the cliff. Only when there was a state of emergency would these huge mountains float into the air and deter any enemies who wanted to approach Lachiman with the towers and ballistae above them.
In the center of Duriel, there was a 100-meter-tall octagonal Magic Tower that stood in the center of all the buildings. This was the core of the whole kingdom, the most authoritative school that countless mages yearned for, and also the office area of the highest magic council in Lachman — Corumiel.
In Lachman's language, Corumiel had the meaning of "Eye of Truth." This was also the confidence and conceit of a group of high-rank mages. The biggest difference between them and the Church was the pursuit of "Truth." The mages of Lachman did not need to worship an illusory god. They only believed in themselves.
There was no king in Lachman, only a council of mages. The chairman of the council was Jeremy. There were more than eighty members in the council, each from the six largest magic academies in the country. The six core members of each academy could be re-elected for a maximum of three times. The rest of the ordinary members had a term of up to five years and had to abdicate at the end of the term.
This was to continuously let new members join the council to ensure that the political trend would not become more dull and conservative like the Church.
The qualification to enter the council involved many aspects. "Magus" was only one of the requirements. It was not a hard requirement. Mages also knew that some people were better at fighting and some were better at politics. They did not expect those who were good at fighting to be able to govern the country. Therefore, to enter the council, one not only had to be recognized by the council in terms of academics, but also had to have a strong foundation in their respective academies and achievements that could convince the public.
That was why Houdini had not been able to enter the council until now.
The council would hold a meeting every week, but such meetings usually did not require everyone to be present. When it was not explicitly stated that a resolution was required, more than 70% of the members were present to discuss and vote on the decision. At this moment, the ongoing meeting was as boring as usual.
"No other wizards have been able to replicate the contents of Mage Cole's thesis. I believe that his thesis is a fraud, and his goal is to cheat a large amount of gold coins and Arcane Energy Points. So, on behalf of Barrenna Academy, I propose to expel this student from further studies, revoke his thesis, and punish the reviewer who submitted it!"
There was a lot of discussion in the council. The mages present could be said to be the elites of the entire Lachiman Kingdom. Even if their level of magic was poor, they were all people who had done solid research on magic. What these old fellows, who were top students, despised the most was "fake papers", so the request made by the chief councilor of Ballenner Academy was quickly approved by many people.
The final result of the vote was also very clear: The mage named "Cole" was stripped of his "researcher" title from the Lassiman Mage Association, his "Arcane Energy Points" were reset to zero, and he was expelled from the academy's residence. His previous thesis was also invalid.
For a mage like Lassiman, the title of "researcher" was very high. Being stripped of the title basically meant that one's future was completely ruined. Although it was cruel, Lassiman was always very strict with those who committed fraud.
"Arcane Energy Points" was a system unique to Lassiman. It was the "contribution value" of every mage to the entire Lassiman Magic System. The "Eye of Truth" Magic Tower had the resources that all mages dreamed of, but there was also a strict grading system.
Want to use more resources? Yes, you must have enough "Arcane Energy Points" to enjoy it.
There were two ways to obtain Arcane Energy Points. One was to complete the missions issued by the Lassiman Mage Association, such as hunting magical beasts, exploring unknown areas, collecting rare plants, and so on. The other was to publish a magic thesis of sufficient weight. When the thesis was published in the newspapers or journals of the various academies, the Arcane Energy Points could be calculated according to a certain ratio and allocated to the author.
If other theses or journals were cited, the Arcane Energy Points would also be calculated according to the ratio. Therefore, every groundbreaking magic research would bring about a large number of Arcane Energy Points. It could even allow the original author to enter the highest ranks of the council.
High Arcane Energy Points could bring about a more honorable title, access to a more advanced library, and borrow more comprehensive equipment in the laboratory. All the Arcane Energy Points were recorded in the book, so they could not be traded. Therefore, in the eyes of the high-ranked mages of Lassiman, Arcane Energy Points were far more important than money.
It was precisely because Arcane Energy Points were so important that most of the topics in the council revolved around the rewards of Arcane Energy Points. At this moment, after severely punishing the mages who had committed fraud, the next topic involved the problem that many high-ranked mages of Lassiman were currently researching: the improvement of the floating-space tower's magic circle.
"Currently, Ballenner Academy has published three new related theses and has received the unanimous approval of all the other chief councilors …"
There were six magic academies in Lassiman. From the largest to the smallest, they were Ballenner, Defoe, Catzmore, Moffett, Tim, and Brenka Academies. In the current council, Ballenner Academy, which was the most powerful, had almost monopolized all the research projects on the "floating-space tower." This was because the cobalt mining areas were basically controlled by Ballenner Academy. Therefore, they were far ahead in terms of Arcane Energy Points and allowed the mages in the academy to become "researchers" one after another.
At the same time, the number of councilors in Ballenner Academy had reached as many as ten people. They had the absolute right to speak.
And Brenka Academy, where Wizard Houdini was from, happened to be the weakest of the six academies. Originally, Brenka Academy lived a peaceful life and basically did not participate in the battles of other academies. Unfortunately, when Houdini sent news about Elsen City a month ago, the entire academy was pushed into the teeth of the storm.
When Houdini contacted the council on the Boralini, the disappointing replies were all because of Ballenner Academy. To put it bluntly, the "cobalt mine" was the biggest trump card that allowed Ballenner Academy to establish a foothold in the council. As a monopolist, how could he hope for others to break his dominant position?
Therefore, Brenka Academy, which was originally not that powerful, was continuously pushed aside. In the end, even their appeal was ineffective. They directly voted to reject Houdini's request …
At that time, Houdini did not know what had happened behind the scenes. The transmission circle on the Boralini was "public to public". He also did not have private channels to contact Brenka Academy to understand the cause and effect. Therefore, the letters that said "rejected request" really broke his heart.
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