I Arrived At Wizard World While Cultivating Immortality Chapter 837: The Dean’s Return

More than a decade slipped by in a flash.

On this day, inside Jie Ming’s laboratory, the new-version Talisman-Rune Artifact hung quietly at the center of the experimental bench.

Silver-white runes turned slowly along the artifact’s surface, like countless tiny rivers of stars meeting one another, flowing without pause.

The Talisman-Rune Artifact still took the most classic gemstone shape, only its internal precision far exceeded Jie Ming’s work of years ago.

Jie Ming stood before the bench, silently regarding the finished piece. Over these years he had put very nearly all his energy into producing the new-version Talisman-Rune Artifact.

At the cost of untold energy and time, he had at last worked it through to its present state.

A moment later the display instrument beside him showed the test results. Everything had reached the expected standard.

Jie Ming raised a hand and touched a fingertip lightly to the Talisman-Rune Artifact.

Hmmm…

The whole Talisman-Rune Artifact at once lit with a soft radiance, countless rune circuits inside it lighting in sequence, energy nodes connecting to one another and finally interweaving into a very nearly perfect whole.

“No lag in the energy operation, no trace of energy leakage anywhere, and the efficiency of mobilizing external elements is above standard as well…” Jie Ming confirmed it a second time through the True-False Void-Piercing Pupil.

A moment later the radiance slowly drew in, and Jie Ming nodded, satisfied.

“Very good! With that, the basic portion counts as complete.”

This new-version Talisman-Rune Artifact now far surpassed the original version in stability, operating efficiency and bearing capacity alike.

However…

Jie Ming’s gaze fell on the Talisman-Rune Artifact’s most central position, where an array purely for testing purposes was currently inscribed.

Jie Ming laughed softly. “Now there is only the last step left.”

Strictly speaking, this thing could already be formally put to use.

He had only to buy a few mature sixth-level spells and inscribe their rune structures into the core, and it would be an excellent weapon.

But Jie Ming intended to create a spell of his own and inscribe that instead.

Or to put it more precisely, an entirely new spell created specifically after incorporating Wizard Rades’s mental energy fluctuation theory.

Over these years, besides perfecting the Talisman-Rune Artifact itself, he had never stopped studying that mental energy frequency regulation technique of Rades’s either.

The deeper he researched, the more Jie Ming felt the possibilities hidden in this technique were far more astonishing than imagined.

At this stage, though, he had not yet found the technique’s fundamental principle, so for the time being he could only use the established rune combinations.

And with the initial rune combinations thus restricted, designing a sixth-level spell of his own became a good deal more difficult.

“Still, the design of the new spell is very nearly at its last step too. In a few more years I should be able to complete a Talisman-Rune Artifact in its full form.”

Thinking that, Jie Ming waved a hand lightly and put the Talisman-Rune Artifact away on the storage rack beside him.

Just then, with a hum, the magical network terminal beside him suddenly lit up with a light screen, and a familiar notification tone sounded with it.

Jie Ming glanced at the information on the screen:

【Noren Academy No. 147 assembly notice. All unoccupied formal Mentors are to proceed to the Academy’s central conference room within one day.】

Looking at this message, Jie Ming was slightly taken aback.

It was plainly an assembly of the whole Academy, and yet only unoccupied Mentors were invited.

He slid the light screen and saw the note below, and only then understood.

【Dean Avery Knight has returned.】

So Dean Avery Knight was back.

Since leaving last time to take part in a mission at the front, the Dean had not returned to the Academy for several hundred years.

Over these years, the Academy’s affairs large and small had been managed jointly by the vice-dean and the heads of the various departments.

Of course, similar arrangements counted as the norm across the various academies as well.

It was only because Jie Ming had won his wager with Augusta that he had not been tangled up in all sorts of affairs these years.

Now that Dean Avery Knight had returned, an Academy-wide meeting would naturally be called to arrange what came next.

At that thought Jie Ming did not delay. He straightened his robe briefly and stepped into the spatial teleportation array.

…

…

Noren Academy No. 147, the central conference hall.

By the time Jie Ming reached the conference hall, a good many Mentors had already gathered inside.

Some stood in groups of three and five, exchanging news in low voices; others sat alone in their seats, quietly leafing through materials in hand.

As Jie Ming appeared, a good many Mentors nodded to him in greeting, undisguised respect in their expressions.

After all, Jie Ming’s showing at this academic exchange conference had done them enormous credit.

What was more, even leaving aside his contributions at the conference, Jie Ming’s standing alone as one of the several strongest combatants in the whole Academy was enough to earn their respect.

Jie Ming answered everyone’s greetings with a smile as he went, his pace unbroken, and soon found his own seat and sat down.

Before long, the space at the center of the hall suddenly rippled softly, and a tall, slender figure walked slowly out of it.

It was Dean Avery Knight.

Compared with when he had left, very nearly nothing about his attire had changed.

But judging by the faint trace of a smile at the corner of his mouth, the gains of this mission should have been good.

In the instant he appeared, the whole hall at once fell silent, and every wizard rose together in salute.

“Dean Avery!”

Avery nodded with a smile, his gaze sweeping the room. “Everyone, it has been a long time. It seems that in the years I have been away you have developed the Academy very well, and there are a good many new faces. Excellent!”

His voice was very mild, and yet carried a weight that made one believe him despite oneself, and every new Mentor his gaze fell upon straightened his back without meaning to.

After a few brief pleasantries, the meeting quickly moved to business.

The content of this meeting was in fact nothing especially unusual: several wizards responsible for administration summarized the Academy’s development over these years, and then Dean Avery Knight and the Mentors newly appointed over the past several hundred years made one another’s acquaintance.

Finally Dean Avery Knight discussed in broad terms with several sixth-level Mentors some arrangements for Noren Plane No. 147 over the next few centuries.

The whole process was not long-winded, and the meeting soon ended.

Afterward, watching Dean Avery Knight leave, the wizards present rose and departed one after another as well.

Just as Jie Ming was preparing to return to his laboratory, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Jie Ming.”

He turned to see a tall woman with black hair falling to her shoulders standing not far off, a faint smile on her face.

It was Berta Vera Augusta.

Seeing it was her, Jie Ming nodded slightly. “Lady Augusta, it has been a long time. And thank you for standing in for me all these years.”

“I lost the wager and accepted it, that is all. Do you have time to talk?” Augusta asked.

“Of course.”