The old man had a head full of white hair and wrinkles on his face. He had obvious liver spots on the sides of his head, and was likely quite old. Xiao Lin was quite surprised to see it, since the existence of lifewater meant that most of the colonists usually maintained a youthful look. However, this old man looked really old.
The blond girl with short hair was a stereotypical American beauty, and Xiao Lin was familiar with her. He did not know many Americans, but when the girl waved around her small wand to cast a spell on Xiao Lin, he immediately recognized her as the one who used the spirit chain on Commander Harry and him on the teleportation platform.
She was once again casting the same spell, but the target seemed to be everyone in the hall. After using the spell a few times, the chains connected him with everyone in the room. He was not very clear on the actual use of the spell, but it was quite useful as an automatic translator.
After using all that magic, the girl’s face was very pale. It was obviously taxing her mentally, which made Xiao Lin think she was not very high-leveled. Xiao Lin could understand her next words perfectly thanks to the spirit chain.
“This is Professor Brown. My apologies, I’m quite tired at the moment and will need to rest. My spirit chain is still relatively low ranked, so I can only cast it with a single target and it uses a lot of mental power. Please continue communicating amongst yourselves, I’ll come back to refresh the spell after an hour.” The girl was obviously exhausted, so she headed upstairs before even introducing herself.
Professor Brown was the white-haired old man in front of him. He did not even bother properly appraising Xiao Lin before pointing at a table in the corner, sternly saying, “This is the part you’re responsible for. I’ve seen your information, your LV1 in Ancient Normese is the lowest level here, so your job scope will be very simple. You will just be recording the stone plates that everyone else has arranged, understood?”
Xiao Lin nodded, only half understanding him.
Professor Brown grunted in acknowledgement, not bothering with further instructions.
“Hold on, Professor Brown. I’d like to ask if my wages can be given daily. Mr. Hank discussed that with me before I came over.”
“Okay,” Professor Brown answered without hesitation, then turned around to head back upstairs.
It did not take even two minutes for Brown to appear and leave. Xiao Lin’s job scope had been completely allocated to him, and it caused him to stare incredulously. It was quite different from what he had in mind.
The dark-skinned man who called over the professor earlier patted him on the shoulder, laughing as he said, “Professor Brown is an uptight man, and doesn’t really talk much. I wasn’t really used to it when I first got here too. Alright, stop dreaming! Qe have a lot to do!”
“I’m Xiao Lin, I’m from Dawn Academy.” Xiao Lin introduced himself.
“Lolander, Sainte Académie.” The man smiled and said, “I just graduated not too long ago. I was actually worrying about not having a good place to go to when I received the invitation from Judge Academy. I did not expect that the Ancient Normese I learned out of boredom a few years ago would actually be useful. The salary is high and the job is pretty easy, so I immediately rushed over.”
“You’re a graduate? I actually just enrolled a month ago.”
“You’re a new student?!”
The rest who were busy working raised their heads up; another Caucasian woman said in surprise, “When I heard that the last member of our team would be a new student, I didn’t really believe it... I can’t believe that a new student would actually have the time to learn this language. Does Dawn Academy teach Ancient Normese in the first year?”
“No, I learned it by myself.”
“My God! You actually bothered to learn such a weird language by yourself! How easy do the new students at Dawn Academy have it?” Even more people joined the conversation.
“Ah, I’m probably a special case.” Xiao Lin corrected them, not wanting to drag the others from Dawn Academy into it.
“That’s true, the colonized territories of Dawn Academy don’t really intersect with the Thunder Kingdom.”
“I heard that your Ancient Normese is only LV1, but that’s not bad still! To be frank, the only reason I stubbornly learnt this language was only because our academy gave extra credits for different languages, and I needed just a bit more to graduate. I really did not imagine I would actually use it!”
Everyone there was probably chatting out of boredom. When Xiao Lin arrived, his status as a new student piqued everyone’s interest. The good thing was it allowed Xiao Lin to gain a lot of insight into the team .
Including himself, there were only nine people there. The number of people caught him by surprise, since Hank told him the Judge Academy invited people from all the academies. However, to end up with only nine people, it was no wonder they were even willing to pay for a LV1 like Xiao Lin.
The level of Ancient Normese among the people there was not too high either. The highest was the Caucasian woman at LV6, whereas the rest of them were around LV3 to LV4. Xiao Lin was the only one at LV1.
However, Lolander said that, out of everyone in the world who knew the language, they were actually not even among the more fluent ones. For instance, Professor Brown’s rank for Ancient Normese was MAX.
If not for the fact it was all a massive undertaking, and Professor Brown entering the academy late in his life and missing out on the best time to consume lifewater, which meant his body was not in the best condition, Judge Academy would not have needed to invite people from the other academies.
Another man explained that the true experts of the language were not there. Those people had high ranks in Ancient Normese, but Judge Academy did not have a way to invite them. Rather, they could not offer enough incentive to actually interest those people.
“The only reason they invited us is because we’re the cheapest!” The man seemed unhappy with his wages, and was venting.
As for how much everyone was actually getting paid, everyone smartly avoided discussing that in front of unfamiliar faces.
The conversation got louder and louder, causing Professor Brown to rush downstairs once again. The old man gave everyone a proper scolding, and warned everyone that if they kept at it, they would have their salaries deducted just like Lolander.
No one was from the same academy, and Professor Brown’s standing at Judge Academy did not affect them too much, but they could not help but lower their heads to him, especially since their salaries were in his hands. After the scolding, everyone obediently shut their mouths and continued working.
“Your salary was deducted? Xiao Lin asked softly.
“I was half an hour late this morning, so I was fined a day’s wages! That harsh old man!” Lolander complained.
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