Chapter 470: Chapter 401 News!
’Helz Duchy’ southwestern border, ’Summoning Cottage’ Magic Tower.
"As of the end of September, the first batch of graduates has all returned home. Among them, twenty-two have used the recommendation letters issued by the academy to secure positions in various countries and organizations, with overwhelmingly positive feedback so far."
The chief mentor, ’Morris,’ was reporting on the employment situation of the graduates to Chen Jichuan in the Dean’s Office.
The situation was currently promising.
Beside him, ’Mina,’ the Secretary-General of the Administrative Office, smiled and said, "This batch of students had average talent, but they were quite lucky. The benefits provided at graduation significantly boosted their abilities. Even compared to graduates from the most renowned academies on the continent, they are not inferior."
There was a trace of envy in Mina’s tone, which showed that the benefits for this batch of graduates were indeed remarkable.
"After all, they’re the first batch of graduates from our ’Summoning Cottage.’ We couldn’t have them looking too shabby,"
Chen Jichuan chuckled.
This batch of graduates still fell quite short of his expectations. Ideally, after four years, all graduates should have successfully advanced to Level 1 Mage by the time they left.
That would align with the standards of top-level mage academies across the Three Continents.
However, in terms of student recruitment, faculty, teaching facilities, and environment, they couldn’t compare. Elevating the first batch of graduates to high-level professionals was only possible through ’Enlightenment’—a form of cheating—and expecting more would have been too much.
Nevertheless, this level of achievements already made ’Summoning Cottage’ a ’prestigious school’ within Valgrion.
Moreover, ’Summoning Cottage’ specialized in ’Summoning Skill.’ At graduation, Chen Jichuan organized a collective summoning for the students, enabling each to contract with a powerful summoned partner.
Like Green’s ’Bat Monster.’
Although it was merely at high-level professional strength when described, anyone who fought it would realize that this ’Bat Monster’ was among the strongest in its tier. It was one of the top creatures under the command of the ’Abyssal Bat Monarch’ that Chen Jichuan had personally contracted, standing out among thousands of other bat monsters at the same level.
The other graduates had similarly summoned top-tier high-level beings from the various races within the pan-plane, significantly enhancing their strength, far beyond what ordinary high-level professionals could compete with.
As the thirty-some graduates returned to their homelands, the reputation of ’Summoning Cottage’ would gradually grow, and over time, the quality of new recruits would naturally improve.
And with better new recruits, the graduates’ quality would rise further. After graduation, they would secure even better careers and take on more significant roles.
If ’Summoning Cottage’ managed its graduates well, it could develop a powerful network of connections and intelligence, which would greatly benefit both future recruitment and post-graduation job placements.
A virtuous cycle would take form.
Most importantly, these graduates, stationed across various regions, would help Chen Jichuan uncover information about ’Holy Artifacts’ and ’Divine Artifacts.’
That was his primary reason for entering the Divine Throne Continent in the first place.
Having these students as allies was far more efficient than blindly wandering around hoping for luck.
Given the pace of growth among mages on the Divine Throne Continent, the network and intelligence system of ’Summoning Cottage’ could be fully operational within 100 to 200 years at most.
Being just over twenty thousand years old, Chen Jichuan had plenty of time to wait for ’Summoning Cottage’ to grow into a formidable force spanning the Main Material Plane and perhaps even the pan-plane.
Longevity was indeed an advantage.
...
With the successful graduation of the first batch of students, ’Summoning Cottage’ was now firmly on track.
By the second and third years, as more and more talented recruits joined, ’Summoning Cottage’ entered a rapid growth phase.
New cohorts of students arrived at ’Summoning Cottage.’
And batch after batch of graduates entered the various nations.
The reputation and influence of ’Summoning Cottage’ grew steadily, and the pseudonym ’Elemental Hand Benage’ that Chen Jichuan adopted became increasingly renowned.
Time flew by, and forty years passed in the blink of an eye.
...
On this day,
in the northeastern seas of Valgrion Continent, a fleet flying the ’Black Bat’ banner sailed through the waters.
Green stood on the deck, clad in a pristine white Magic Robe. Beside him were two other mages—one wearing a gray robe and looking weathered, called ’Vigo,’ and the other, a woman with a slender build and an unremarkable appearance, named ’Levia.’
The former was an independent mage hailing from the East Continent decades ago, who had traveled across Valgrion and its surrounding islands, making him incredibly familiar with the seas.
The latter was Green’s classmate from ’Summoning Cottage,’ and like him, a member of the academy’s first graduating class.
Forty years ago.
After graduating from ’Summoning Cottage,’ Green returned to his homeland. Armed with the recommendation letter, he joined the City Defense Department of Silver Moon Kingdom’s Holy Luo City, becoming a stationed mage and enjoying a few stable and peaceful years.
His family moved with him to Holy Luo City, where they lived a prosperous and dignified life.
However, after a few years, Green became weary of the monotonous lifestyle. Coupled with slow progress in his magical abilities, he decided to resign and leave Holy Luo City to travel the continent.
Initially aimless, he used the ’Classmate Album’ sent periodically by ’Summoning Cottage,’ and, using the contact information and addresses, visited each of the thirty-odd classmates from his year one by one.
A decade had passed since their graduation by then. Some of his peers had advanced to become mages, others had settled down with families, and still others had returned to ’Summoning Cottage’ to work as assistant mentors.
Green’s final visit was to ’Levia,’ a female classmate he had been fond of during their time in ’Summoning Cottage.’
Ten years had passed since they’d last met, yet neither of them had married. With mutual affection, they eventually came together. After getting married, the two continued their journeys across the continent. Bold and tenacious, they supported each other, relied on the influence of ’Summoning Cottage,’ and leveraged relationships with fellow graduates and younger alumni. Astonishingly, within just twenty years, they both made successive breakthroughs, becoming Second-level Mages and emerging as the flagship figures of ’Summoning Cottage’s’ first graduating class.