Adam came to the High Tower. He intends to seek approval from the Approval Department to replace his research project in the laboratory.
Mage Erin was nowhere to be seen. Instead, an unknown female apprentice was in charge of the affairs.
"Hello, Mage Erin is not present at the moment. If you want to apply for the establishment of a laboratory, please give me the certificate issued by the Academic Department, and I will notify you as soon as Mage Erin returns," the female apprentice explained, not knowing who Adam was. However, she treaded carefully with her words, not wanting to provoke an apprentice who was fully capable of building their own laboratory.
Adam handed the contract of his meditation laboratory stored in his portable space over to the female apprentice. After the female apprentice took a short glance, she was stunned, "You have already established your own laboratory?"
"Yes," Adam nodded. "I want to apply for a change of research, from meditation to electricity."
The female apprentice has never encountered such a request and was flustered. She looked to the ground and said, "Sorry, I'm not sure what to do in these situations..."
"No matter. Let me know after Mage Erin approves my documents."
...
Back in the laboratory, the three assistants and Elliott were sitting at the table. They knew Adam looked for a qualified mage to solve his doubts, and after seeing him enter, Elliott immediately got up, "How was it?"
Adam wordlessly handed James some research papers on a newly optimised meditation method, which he had constructed while he was busy fighting for dominance of his soul. These runes were of course more efficient, but were less friendly to ordinary apprentices.
After taking the papers, they continued to look at Adam.
"I'll get to the point -- the meditation research laboratory is about to be disbanded."
"What?" James anxiously said. "Are you going to give up? You haven't even made a break though yet! You still have a lot of time, there is no need to make hasty decisions!"
If the laboratory was disbanded, it would impact James the most. He has the lowest qualifications among the three, so if he doesn't receive Adam's guidance, he might just wither away.
The other two were also stunned. They didn't think Adam would give up that easily.
The devil popped out of Adam's mind and slithered around him, taunting, "It's because all of you are too stupid, so my master wants to give up on you!"
Adam rubbed two fingers together, generating a charge of electricity to shock the devil. Elliott walked forward to appeal, "My friend, are you really sure you want to do this?"
"Yes," Adam motioned. "I found what I want to research."
Elliott's mouth was agape. So, Adam found his research direction.
Then, Adam pushed three of their contracts towards William, James, and Frank, and explained, "I'm changing this laboratory to focus on electricity and anything related to electricity in the near future. You can choose to cooperate with me or cancel the contract. I will compensate all of you accordingly as I have breached the contract terms."
"Electricity?" Elliott asked. "You do know that no electricity mages have ever been promoted to become a trans-dimensional mage, right?"
William didn't know why, but James and Frank had worried looks on them. "Adam, he's right. Electricity lags behind other elements considerably, you shouldn't delve into this!"
Adam couldn't explain to them that the mages in this world have a wrong understanding of electricity. Even if he did, they would not understand a shred of what he said.
Adam was determined to make it work.
Adam felt more human. If this was before, he would simply abandon electricity and focus on other elements, but now, he felt like he had purpose.
They saw that their persuasions were useless and gave it up. They figured that Adam was being stubborn, and if he happened to hit a bottleneck, he would abandon electricity.
James sighed, and pushed the contract back to Adam, "I'm not cancelling the contract. I have nowhere to go. Besides, you need manpower in your laboratory."
The same is true for Frank. Because of Adam's research, the incompatibility between his mechanical body and human body was almost resolved. He had no reason to leave the laboratory either.
Adam put away their contracts, then looked at William.
"Sorry," William muttered. "I quit."
William needed to pursue his own path -- electricity was not what he was interested in anyway. He needed to join a laboratory focusing on the fire element, or become a student of an official fire mage.
"I just don't have any affinity or interest in electricity. I'm sor-"
"Don't be sorry. It is your choice."
To Adam, William was just an employee working in his laboratory, and it was normal for employees to resign or change jobs. Of course, it was natural for Adam to give him compensation.
Adam handed a couple of copies of research papers to William, "This is the best set of runes I've built so far. You can use it for free, but in the future, you'll have to pay."
William nodded, and Adam continued, "Give me your ID."
Adam allocated William's remaining pay into his identity token and William left the laboratory.
When he walked away from the laboratory, he looked back, thinking of Crystal. She has already found her own path, perhaps even surpassing the likes of Adam. William looks forward to surpassing Adam as well, standing side-by-side with him.
...
Adam didn't need to wait long for a response from the Approval Department. On the third day, the female apprentice knocked on the door of the laboratory. In the past few days, she learnt of Adam's identity, who turns out to be incredibly popular among new apprentices, "Greetings, Mage Erin requests your presence."
Adam didn't know why the female apprentice was being so formal, but hurried to the Approval Department.
As soon as they arrived at the department, Mage Erin leaned over her table and smiled, "I heard of what happened to you. It isn't easy to endure your soul being torn apart, neither is it easy for you to forcibly stop your promotion of becoming an antimage."
Mage Erin had reason for praise -- transformations like that are practically unstoppable, since joy and euphoria would flood the apprentice's brain and cloud their judgement. However, Adam was able to rationalise and stop the transformation, preventing his untimely death from the hands of the Dean.
The female apprentice's eyes widened. She couldn't believe that the apprentice in front of her had forcibly stopped his own promotion!
"The honour is all mine, Mage Erin," Adam replied.
"Now, there are some questions I have for your application," Mage Erin said, conjuring Adam's contract in front of her.
Adam waited.
"The establishment of an apprentice-level laboratory is not as strict as that of a mage, but the most basic theoretical results are required. Before this, you had evidence to support your meditation laboratory, but now, I need evidence for your research of electricity. Otherwise, the Academy would never approve of your laboratory."
Adam was stunned, seemingly forgetting about this matter. All he had were theories, but no evidence.
"I assume you don't have any evidence. In that case, I can't accept your application."