Chapter 248


    Who agrees, who disagrees?


    Seven pairs of eyes all looked at the necromancer in ck robes. The necromancer froze on the spot—what, after all that trouble, I end up with the boomerang hitting me back?


    Before the establishment of the Magic Council, it was customary for each school of magic, and even each mage conducting research, to mind their own business, without interference from others. Everyone had their own research methods, their own secret techniques. Who would want interference?


    If something really irked you, or if your research was genuinely impeded, you’d go argue about it, maybe even resort to physical altercation. For example, mages specializing in healing magic didn’t appreciate bodies being dragged into their territory from the ck Crow Swamp...


    After the establishment of the Magic Council, each school and organization finally had a ce to sit down and discuss matters. Even so, the Council granted mages enough freedom in their research endeavors.


    Take the Necromancy School, for instance. Even in the case of the gue branch, as long as it didn’t cause widespread disease in the kingdom or was confined to its own territory, the attitude of the Magic Council was—do as you please.


    But this time it’s different!


    Themotion caused by Garrett’s gue seeds, even with a slight leak, immediately exploded in two different ces—two different scenarios at that. Considering that this project was funded by the gue branch, a group of necromancers was itching to get their hands on it, and the evaluationmittee, or rather, except for the seven members of the necromancer branch, their attitude was quite consistent:


    This must be addressed!A little Garrett caused such a big stir; a group of gue branch mages were tinkering with what he gave them, and everyone else, can they still live peacefully?


    There must be a solution!


    Hmm, the first step in the solution is to call Garrett over, scare him a bit...


    Now it seems that the scare tactics worked pretty well, maybe a bit too well. Garrett scribbled a bunch of things, just those items looked like a big project. At the same time, the City of Radiance experienced a bigmotion...


    The necromancer was at a loss. Who agrees, who disagrees? If you agree, it’s like putting a shackle on your own head. You can imagine how the mages of the gue branch, even the legendary ones from his own sect, would punish him. But to disagree?


    Even the Radiant Church had to resort to a big move. If this gue erupted in their own territory, the Magic Council didn’t have enough high-ranking priests to handle it.


    If you dared to voice opposition, it’s likely that the ck Crow Swamp, or at least the gue branch within it, would be eradicated on the spot...


    "I need to report to the Archmage of Immortality first." He answered with a stiff scalp. The Archmage of Immortality, a legendary mage stationed at the headquarters of the Necromancy School. In theory, concerning the policies of the Necromancy School, his venerable self had the final say...


    "This is a reasonable request. Today’s events, I also need to report to the Lord of Thunder." Old Sam’s deep brown eyes flickered slightly, staring straight at the necromancer. And by the way, he wants to recruit our people! I must report it! Comin fiercely! Themittee members tentatively reached a consensus. After observing the situation in the conference room for a while, when Garrett was about toplete his advancement and finish his meditation, they quietly dispersed. Uh, so many people waiting for him, the little guy must be feeling smug...


    When Garrett walked out of the conference room, he saw a metal puppet standing at the door, its eyes gleaming. It turned on the spot and held up a piece of paper in front of him:


    "Mr. Garrett Nordmark:


    1. There’s a restaurant on the 2nd floor of the Tower of Heaven. Come in anytime, it’s free.


    2. The guest rooms on Carlisle’s side are still avable.


    3. The things you wrote during the day, it’s rmended toplete them as soon as possible. Especially in terms ofboratory management.


    4. Tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock, 120th floor of the Tower of Heaven, same ce as before.


    Also, congrattions on advancing to level 3 mage.


    Sam Lynn"


    "What? Do I have to finish writing tonight???"


    Garrett howled.


    Regardless of his howling, he continued to work untilte into the night. The next day, with dark circles under his eyes, he crawled to the conference room, where eightmittee members were lined up, smiling at him.


    Uh... not all of them were smiling. At least that necromancer, aside from his robe being ck, his eye sockets were ck, even his face was ck. When he looked at him, his gaze was so full of resentment, it was almost as if he was emitting steam...


    "Mr. Garrett Nordmark." The senior mage who was smiling and calcting with him at yesterday’s meeting was the first to greet him. Before Garrett could escape, he opened a ledger and leisurely said:


    "The evaluationmittee carefully considered your opinions. —To be honest, intentionally causing destruction and causing damage due to negligence arepletely different in nature. The leak of the gue seeds due to espionage, the fault is not entirely yours. But ountability andpensation cannot bepletely waived— " He pointed at Garrett, stopping him from speaking up:


    "So, the evaluationmittee has determined that you bear secondary responsibility. For this leakage incident, the Council will bear 60% of the losses, Thunder Horn will bear 30%, and you personally willpensate 10%. Do you agree?"


    10% huh... Garrett felt much better. After all, in his past life, being found partially responsible for a car ident meant having to pay 30%. And making Thunder Horn bear 30% of the loss, he felt really sorry, really embarrassed...


    But thinking about the rental fees for theboratories, the fees for personnel attendance, he didn’t have the mood to worry about others. Even if Thunder Horn bears 30% of the loss, it actually just means paying forbor costs andboratory rent, no actual money is involved, Thunder Horn didn’t spend a single cent, didn’t even need to do any bookkeeping.


    "So, how much do I have topensate?"


    "3750 contribution points." The senior mage smiled amicably, pushing the list forward:


    "The fractions have already been rounded down for you. You can take a look at the list, if you have any questions, you can also raise them."


    Garrett didn’t even bother to look at it. Rental fees for theboratory were one thing, but personnel attendance fees, those were up to them to decide. Trying to bnce the books, no, trying to bankrupt me, you can do it casually, what do I have to counter with?


    ountants?


    Being unfamiliar with the ce, where can I hire an independent ountant who can counter the Council?


    He only asked one question:


    "Does Thunder Horn agree?"


    Old Sam’s eyes shed with a hint of amusement. This kid is quite interesting, he thought, he’s well aware of his position and strength, won’t fuss over what he can’t control


    , won’t give in if he can resist, I like that. He nodded gently:


    "Thunder Horn agrees to thepensation n."


    Since all the work is done by Carlisle’s apprentices, when they’re short-handed, they’ll just fill in, they’re also disciples of the old man. It doesn’t matter if the legendary mages use their own people for work, there’s no need for them to pay. The so-called 30% loss is justbor costs,boratory rent, Thunder Horn didn’t spend a single penny, didn’t even need to keep ounts.


    Ah... without the person who helped bear the burden of the me, bankruptcy is truly imminent now. Garrett silently lowered his head, retrieving the manuscript he stayed up all night writing from his spatial bag, and spread them out like a fan, one by one:


    "I agree with the evaluationmittee’s decision. I agree with thepensation n and amount. —Now, let’s discuss the authorization fees for gue prevention measures."


    "Epidemiology: Bacterial Infectious Diseases!"


    "Bacterial Infectious Disease Prevention n!"


    "Biological Laboratory Management Regtions!"


    "Biological Laboratory Architectural Drawings!"


    "Public Health Management Regtions!"


    "Epidemic Reporting System!"


    "Epidemic Hospital nning Proposal!"


    Bring it on!


    No knowledge is worthless!


    ording to the regtions of the Magic Council, no mage, no person, is allowed to be forced to surrender their knowledge!


    All these pieces of knowledge are interconnected. If one is missing, it won’t work. You want to cut one piece, and the public health system will have another gap...


    A group of middle-aged men looked at each other and smiled simultaneously. They circled around such a big deal, and what they wanted was nothing more than this: money doesn’t matter, squeezing out knowledge is what’s important.


    Of course, it’s best to try to lower the price, to squeeze this kid’s wallet dry, so he can only take on projects given by the Council. Otherwise, if he loses track one day, there might be another big uproar...


    They smiled, Garrett sat across from them, smiling confidently. He took out the second page of each document, which was the summary, and neatly organized them into a stack. Standing in ce, he showed them to the members of the evaluationmittee:


    "Gentlemen, can I assume that the questioning is over now? Shouldn’t I be given a corresponding status if we’re entering the negotiation stage?"


    Negotiation, negotiation!


    The content is important, but the momentum and posture are equally important!


    The upper limit of negotiation is not topensate at all, and the lower limit of negotiation is to never go bankrupt!


    The transmutation mageughed. He waved his hand lightly and mmed the long table. A magical light shed, and the long table covered with red velvet tablecloth immediately widened and transformed into an elegant oval shape, along with the tablecloth, bing a graceful oval.


    Another beam of light fell behind Garrett, and the thin, pitiful little backrest chair immediately turned into a beautiful high-back armchair.


    Althoughpared to the gentlemen of the evaluationmittee, there were no carvings or gold iys on the chair back, it looked pretty much the same overall.


    Garrett was satisfied. He pushed the documents forward and folded his arms: Gentlemen, make your offer.


    The members of themittee exchanged nces. They each lowered their heads and read through the summaries quickly. The transmutation mage was the first to speak:


    "100 contribution points per document. —There is no involvement of unique magic in these, so 100 contribution points is already quite high."


    "1000 per document." Garrett didn’t hesitate to counteroffer. "Each of these documents is supported by an independent body of knowledge. Gentlemen, don’t tell me you can’t see that."


    "1000 is too much! The paper on pyrotechnics was only rewarded with 1000 contribution points!"


    Um...paring a chapter from "Epidemiology" to the discovery thatid the foundation for modern chemistry does indeed show a big difference in weight. Garrett felt a slight pang of guilt, but his momentum remained unfazed:


    "But the scope of these documents is broader!"


    "But..."


    "But..."


    The negotiation quickly turned into meaningless haggling. Tables were mmed, documents were thrown, and saliva flew. It went from an opening offer of 300 per document to 700 per document, with the necromancer demanding to read the entire text. Garrett generously handed over the documents, and themittee members exchanged them to read, then made another offer:


    "Your documents are indeed very detailed, with many innovative aspects. In light of the level of detail, 400 contribution points per document!"


    "600!"


    "500! Not a point more!"


    "3750! Total price!"


    "Deal!"


    Both sides stood up and shook hands. The evaluationmittee breathed a sigh of relief, and so did Garrett:


    Finally, no need to lose money!


    Those regtions have also been handed over! Someone will take care of implementing them for me!


    Oh yeah!


    He shook hands with each of themittee members one by one, and when he shook hands with thest one, the transmutation mage’s eyes shed, and he suddenly asked:


    "Little Garrett, ording to your documents, isn’t it true thatboratories that do not meet the standard andck sufficient defense cannot conduct gue research?"


    "Of course!"


    "Then," the transmutation mage’s eyes lit up with a smile, "do you want us to help reinforce the defenses? I’ll give you a 20% discount!"


    What?


    A discount?


    Wait, does that mean money?


    How much would it cost for high-level defense magic? The Magic Council has set public prices, but for constant defense magic, it seems, it’s a sky-high price...


    Am I still going bankrupt?


    Garrett quickly did some mental calctions. Then, he extended his palm and pointed solemnly to the documents he just handed over:


    "I dere. The authorization fees just agreed upon only cover the transfer of documents—


    In other words, additional exnations, instructions, teachings, improvements, including inspections ofboratory defense measures, are not included!"<ul><li>Your invaluable feedback and ratings mean the world to me. Please take a moment to rate this novel at <strong>Novelupdate</strong>.</li><li>If youe across any mistakes within this chapter, kindly notify me in thements below, so that I can make the necessary corrections.</li></ul>