The Omniscience Wizards of the library system stood like an insurmountable chasm, blocking all unqualified papers from passing through.
Locke sighed inwardly. 'With Yuli's connections through Harun Vera's network, she should have plenty of resources to publish papers. Then again, she's already been marginalized.'
Suddenly thinking of his mentor, the witch Sophia, Locke asked the dwarven scholar Ol, "My Wizard Mentor is the witch Sophia. Could I inquire how many papers she's published and their respective grades? If this involves personal privacy, then never mind."
The dwarven scholar Ol laughed as if hearing a joke. "Other matters might involve privacy concerns, but when it comes to the number and grades of published papers, I believe most outstanding wizards wouldn't mind others knowing."
Ol's eyes filled with numerous runes as he said, "Using the Omniscience Spell Model, I'll perform a Query Spell for you."
"Here we go. Your Wizard Mentor, the witch Sophia, is a core student of Madam Morgana. With access to vast academic resources, she's naturally published numerous papers."
"She began publishing during her time as a third-class wizard apprentice, totaling 211 papers."
"During her third-class and second-class wizard apprentice periods, she published over 70 papers scoring below 60 points. But in total, she has 5 S-class papers, 15 A-class, 49 B-class, and 72 C-class papers."
Locke looked astonished. "That many?"
Ol, sitting behind the library counter, smiled. "Of course it's many. Lady Sophia is Madam Morgana's student. With just a fraction of Madam Morgana's research resources, publishing papers becomes effortless."
"Take that vampire you have—it was given by your Wizard Mentor, wasn't it? With that vampire, you can produce numerous papers. She can lend it to her students or research teams."
"In a Wizard Mentor's network, if you're a key cultivation target, you receive concentrated resources... You can start attempting to publish papers from your third-class wizard apprentice days," Ol explained with a smile.
Locke nodded. "I see."
In the White Wizard society of the Southeast Corner Domain, papers couldn't have joint authorship—they had to be published under a single name. Thus, a paper wouldn't show who the Wizard Mentor was.
However, when Sophia first joined Madam Morgana's circle, she must have entered with 7th-grade qualifications, naturally receiving the best treatment. From her third-class wizard apprentice days, she could leverage Madam Morgana's network for various endeavors.
With Madam Morgana directing her other students to provide resources and teams to Sophia, combined with Sophia's own brilliance, producing results and papers would have been effortless.
"So this is the standard treatment a 7th-grade Element Child receives within the academy," Locke realized belatedly. "There are two reasons why I didn't get this kind of treatment."
"First, my initial aptitude was only third-grade, so Mentor Sophia didn't prioritize me much at first. Her attention only increased later."
"But I've only been a First Class Wizard Apprentice for two years in total."
"The second reason is that my Wizard Mentor, Sophia, doesn't have her own network of connections."
Locke suddenly remembered—Madam Morgana, wasn't she the chief examiner for this year's official Breeder examination?
A strange expression crossed Locke's face.
Mentor Sophia had mentioned that she had a poor relationship with this year's Breeder chief examiner, yet the two of them were also mentor and student.
"I wonder what their real relationship is like," Locke pondered. "Never mind, I'll just take the exam normally."
"Whatever happens has nothing to do with me."
Locke turned to the dwarf scholar Ol. "Scholar Ol, I'd like to inquire about the number of articles Madam Morgana has published. Is that possible?"
The dwarf scholar Ol smiled. "Of course, and it's free. This is one of the privileges First Class Wizard Apprentices enjoy within the academy."
"Let me use the Query Spell to check... Ah, I've found that Madam Morgana has published a total of 2,143 articles in Lilith's Cottage's public library. However, she pays an annual confidentiality fee to restrict access to the specific grades of her articles, so only the quantity can be checked."
"The only publicly available grade is the number of S-grade articles, which totals 46."
Scholar Ol explained to Locke, "Aside from S-grade articles, which Madam Morgana publishes herself, she likely delegates the publication of A-grade and below articles to her students."
"After all, the quantity of these articles can determine whether wizard apprentices qualify for Lilith's Cottage's [Wizard Seed] designation."
"As everyone knows, the criteria White Wizards use to select Wizard Seeds are completely different from those of Black Wizards—it's a comprehensive evaluation across various fields: aptitude level, certifications held, though those are mostly similar."
"So the number of published articles is the most concrete indicator of a wizard's talent."
Locke nodded thoughtfully. "Can I look up Madam Morgana's specific articles?"
Scholar Ol replied, "Certainly. But in the public library, only D-grade articles are completely free. C-grade articles are partially free, so to access specific articles, you'll need to pay a certain number of Contribution Points. If you don't have Contribution Points, you'll need to pay in Magic Stones."
"In the public library, 1 Contribution Point equals 10 Magic Stones."
"Accessing a C-grade article costs 1 Contribution Point, a B-grade article costs 5, an A-grade article costs 10, and S-grade articles... you currently don't have the required clearance for those."
Locke's face darkened slightly.
In other words, the 50 Contribution Points he had just earned would only allow him to view the contents of A-grade articles five times. But as far as he knew, Contribution Points were most valuable for exchanging opportunities to enter Wizard Secret Realms, as well as certain academy-exclusive potions, Magic Plants, and alchemical items that could only be obtained with Contribution Points.
Using this for such a query seemed too extravagant. He didn't have any special experiments to conduct and didn't need to look up any materials.
Locke shook his head slightly. "Better not."
Come to think of it, if he ever needed to consult large amounts of information in the future, he could simply use Magic Stones to purchase resources. He should save his contribution points for things that couldn't be bought with Magic Stones, like entry opportunities to Wizard Secret Realms.
Wait—Locke suddenly realized that if he wanted to understand the peculiar Bloodline in his body, he might be able to purchase some reference materials here. Conducting preliminary research on his own might prove useful.
(End of Chapter)