The next day, Lilith's Cottage's Central Academy Library, located on the western side of the port city, stood as a massive structure—not an Alchemy Cabin, but an imposing seven-story wooden tower-like building with an antique charm, distinct from the stone constructions of the Southeast Corner Domain.
At its core, the library was supported by an advanced Magic Plant—the Babel Tree. Its sprawling canopy upheld the various auxiliary rooms of the library, giving Lilith's Cottage's public library a uniquely distinctive appearance.
First Floor of the Library
A dwarven scholar sat in a chair, exuding a tranquil demeanor entirely unlike that of an Alchemist. Wearing a pair of plain glasses, he flipped through a book thicker than a brick. His fingers were gaunt and slender, the bones clearly visible beneath the skin.
Aside from this dwarven scholar, the library was staffed by many other quiet workers. Among them was a halfling, a Formal Wizard specializing in General Studies, who was leading his students on the first floor, teaching them about the library's history.
Locke entered the library, bowed respectfully to the halfling Formal Wizard in the distance, and then quickly approached the first-floor administrator—the dwarven scholar.
The public library was one of Lilith's Cottage's communal structures and served as the stronghold—the teaching and research base—for scholars of General Studies within the cottage.
General Studies, in essence, was a sub-branch of the Divination school of magic. Wizards who pursued this Magic Category had two ultimate certification goals:
1.
Obtain a
Doctor of General Studies
certification, becoming a versatile scholar working within the library system.
2.
Forgo the doctorate and instead pursue the path of an
Appraiser
, advancing from
Appraiser Assistant
to
Appraiser
and eventually to
Senior Appraiser
.
However, the latter path meant leaving the library system, stepping away from the subsidies provided by the academy's higher-ups and the White Wizard Association, and embarking on a self-reliant journey.
To some extent, General Studies was a highly specialized Magic Category with a very narrow field of application. Thus, it was only found in the larger wizard academies of the Southeast Corner Domain, and the job opportunities for its practitioners were extremely limited. Most relied on subsidies from the White Wizard Association to survive—though some Senior Appraisers lived quite comfortably.
Locke approached the First Class Wizard Apprentice, the dwarf Ol, and asked, "Scholar Ol, what score did the article I submitted six days ago receive?"
Ol's eyes brightened slightly upon seeing Locke. "Potionology Master Augustine, you're here. I was just about to send you a letter."
"Potionology Master Augustine, the article you submitted six days ago has been cross-reviewed by three Doctors of General Studies (First Class Wizard Apprentices). It received a score of 71, classified as B-Grade."
"You will be awarded 50 Contribution Points."
The dwarf Ol, with fingers as slender as withered bones, handed a yellow envelope to Locke. "You don't need to come in person from now on. You Potionology Masters are always so busy. I'll arrange for the library servants to deliver the letters to you."
"You've only recently advanced to First Class Wizard Apprentice, haven't you? I didn't expect you to publish a 70-plus-point article so quickly."
Ol's eyes flickered with a cunning gleam. "And you must have a high-level Vampire captive in your possession—otherwise, you couldn't have written that article."
"How enviable. From that Vampire, you could probably publish five or six more related articles. As long as they score above 60 points—that is, C-grade—you can earn 20 Contribution Points each."
"Even if you just accumulate them, publishing a few more articles could exchange for quite a lot of resources."
The dwarf scholar Ol gave Locke a friendly smile. "Your article was quite interesting. I enjoy reading about Vampires, but unfortunately, such articles are limited in number and rarely studied."
"I hope you'll publish a few more. Oh, by the way, does the academy know you've captured a Vampire?"
Locke nodded slightly in gratitude. "Thank you. I'll try to be quick. Scholar Ol, I've placed that Vampire in my Wizard Mentor's Magical Creature Breeding Room."
Scholar Ol nodded in understanding. "Ah, a Formal Wizard's collection. That explains it."
"You can keep that Vampire for your own research then."
Within the library system, First Class Wizard Apprentices didn't necessarily need to rely on their Wizard Mentors to publish articles. After all, the library system had plenty of General Studies doctors and wizard apprentices specializing in General Studies.
General Studies meant learning a bit of everything and being able to understand a wide range of topics. While they couldn't conduct hands-on research themselves, they were highly professional in evaluation and appreciation.
The greatest value of these General Studies scholars lay in preserving knowledge and traditions for the academy, recording its various achievements, reviewing these results, and categorizing them into different grades.
Moreover, these General Studies wizards could use Spells from the divination school.
When recording information within the library or querying certain knowledge, their skills were indispensable.
The library's internal archives were vast, and without divination Spells, it would be genuinely difficult to locate the specific knowledge one needed.
The academy's article grading system was divided into S-grade (90-100 points), A-grade (80-89 points), B-grade (70-79 points), C-grade (60-69 points), and D-grade (below 60 points).
The Contribution Points earned within the same grade were roughly the same. The point subdivisions within each grade merely helped wizards searching for information understand the reliability of the data and the quality of the research methods.
Thus, the points were mostly for personal reference. If one cared about the magical resources and seniority gained from them, the article's grade was what truly mattered.
S-grade represented groundbreaking achievements with revolutionary potential and extremely high citation rates—things that were currently beyond reach, reserved for Formal Wizards.
A-grade signified significant research breakthroughs that substantially advanced existing theories or technologies.
If Locke dared to publicly disclose his Memory Ointment formula and several Magic Plant cultivation methods, his articles would likely all reach this grade. They were only limited by their apprentice-level content, which kept the scores from being higher.
Grade B articles employed qualified research methods but had limited innovation, merely containing some highlights. Relatively speaking, they were still somewhat useful as reference materials.
Initially, Locke thought the article he submitted wouldn't be rated as Grade B, but to his surprise, it still received that evaluation.
This was probably due to the ongoing wizard war between the academy and the Blood Curse Court.
As for Grade C, these were relatively basic studies with minor practical value—articles that weren't particularly impactful.
Grade D articles received no rewards whatsoever. Their sole purpose was to fill the library shelves, offering little else. These made up the majority of the library's collection.
Many First Class Wizard Apprentices, in their rush to publish articles, couldn't maintain quality. Sometimes relying purely on luck, their shallow works would eventually be identified by the General Studies wizards as mere filler.
Thus, they ended up as nothing more than padding for the library's collection.
This grading system was similar across all academy libraries in the Southeast Corner Domain and the White Wizard Association's libraries.
However, the Association's libraries were stricter. Essentially, any material rated in an Association library would automatically be elevated by one grade when brought to an academy library.
For example, a Grade B article from the Association library would typically be rated half a grade higher in a decent academy library, while in poorer ones, it might even be considered Grade A.
Locke opened the envelope and saw the academy library scholars' congratulations, along with a reward of 50 contribution points.
For a moment, Locke was dazed. 'Yuli worked hard for months in the mortal world and only earned 20 contribution points, while I casually published an article and got 50.'
'Dean Tungus and the others spent their entire lives there, guiding my batch with Patty and Code, and only received 15 contribution points...'
'So publishing articles is the fastest way to earn contribution points.'
Locke sighed in realization.
But upon further reflection, he realized this wasn't entirely accurate. Everyone knew that publishing articles was the quickest method to gain contribution points.
The real issue was that not everyone had the ability to produce high-scoring articles. Most could only churn out inferior works scoring below 60.
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