MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1821: Scholar of Great Earth

"Miss Avantis! Miss Avantis!"

"Hmm?"

Hearing her name being called of a sudden, Veradine stopped in her tracks as she turned to look around to see who was calling for her.

Seeing that it was a Student she was familiar with, a faint smile appeared on her face as she asked him, "What’s the matter, Lawrence? Did one of the other Scholars tell you off again?"

"I think I did get told off yesterday..." muttered Lawrence in response, only to remind himself that his thoughts had begun to go astray. "No, wait! There’s actually something that I want to ask you, Miss Avantis."

"Oh?" The former raised her eyebrow in curiosity. "For someone who’s known throughout the university as a troublemaker, it’s quite interesting to hear that you have a question for me."

Feeling a hint of embarrassment in response to her chuckle, that feeling immediately disappeared the moment she returned to looking at him with a calm expression.

"So? What question do you have?"

"It’s about the growth mechanics you discovered from the Great Laniva Fern," replied Lawrence, his expression turning serious as well. "I’ve noticed that some of them match up with the growth mechanics on your article that’s about the Nerife family of orchids."

"And what did you do after that discovery?" asked Veradine after that, her curiosity towards the young man’s question gradually increasing by the second.

"Well, I spent a bit of my spare time to see if these growth mechanics could be found in other plants," the latter replied as excitement slowly appeared on his face. "What do you think I found out, Miss Avantis?"

"You found out that those same growth mechanics exist beyond those two subjects?"

"Even better." Lawrence gave her a toothy grin. "A theoretical set of universal growth mechanics."

"Universal growth mechanics..." As those words left her mouth, Veradine could not help but feel a hint of excitement as the urge to explore more about the topic began to surface within her mind.

However, rather than let this urge get the better of her, she instead forced herself to calm down as she looked at the young man in front of her once more.

"You do know the implications of this, right?" she asked him, her expression the pinnacle of seriousness. "If a set of universal growth mechanics for all plants does exist, then..."

"We would be welcoming a new era of understanding the intricacy of nature’s rules," continued Lawrence where he left off, his expression a mix of anticipation and excitement. "Yes, Miss Avantis. The moment I came to that conclusion, the thought has already crossed my mind."

"However, even though I’ve already published a couple of first-tier articles, I’m still considered a Second-tier Student by the governing body," he continued as he awkwardly scratched his cheeks. "With my current rank, they would probably say a couple of passing words about the topic at most before forgetting it not long after."

"Of course, if you were one handling this, Miss Avantis, then things might turn out different." Lawrence looked at Veradine as if she was the solution to his problem. "After all, not only are you already a One-star Scholar, but you’re also a Scholar that the governing body is paying great attention to."

"Then again, you’re not called the Scholar of Great Earth for no reason."

"Save me the flattery, Lawrence," said Veradine in response, her eyebrows slightly furrowed as she weighed the pros and cons behind the young man’s suggestion.

Though the topic Lawrence gave her was something that was basically meant to be included in the scope of her articles, now that she had become a One-star Scholar, Veradine had to give the idea more thought.

Of course, it was not because the topic was incompatible with her prior research. If anything, the prior research she had made on other plants would prove immensely helpful in exploring the universal growth mechanics that Lawrence had mentioned.

However, because she had become a One-star Scholar, she now wanted to pursue a research direction that aligned more with her original goal.

Specifcally, topics that involved either Sages or magic.

’Well, if I think about it, it’ll take me a while to deviate my research direction to where it would fully align with Sage-related stuff,’ thought Veradine to herself, recalling the hardships she had gone through these past seven years.

After astounding the world of Scholars for being the fastest person to become a Second-tier Student, Veradine continued to astound the world by keeping up the pace after that, publishing a number of first-tier articles to the governing body in just a few months.

Naturally, with how fast Veradine had published those articles, some had begun to wonder if she had falsified some of the data in her articles or had these articles written by other Students in her stead.

Yet, once the governing body took action to find out the truth, they came to the conclusion that all of those rumors were just lies.

Instead, Veradine had indeed written all of those articles herself back-to-back.

And thus, her rise to becoming a Scholar grew faster.

By her third year, she had become a First-tier Student, prompting the governing body to send her to the university where all of the greatest Students of the planet gathered together.

However, that only caused her to grow even faster, only taking two years to accumulate enough knowledge and understanding to write the exemplary-tier article that not only made her be recognized as a true Scholar...

But that same article also gave birth to her moniker as the Scholar of Great Earth.

’The Fundamental Theory of Great Earth.’

With that article, as well as nature and its inner workings as her foundation, it only took her two more years to ascend to the rank of a One-star Scholar, which was already recognized as a profession that was equal to a Sage of the 1st Lower Boundary.

’You know what? It wouldn’t hurt to give the topic a shot.’

By the time she was done reminiscing over the journey she took to get where she currently was, Veradine eventually came to a conclusion on what she would do with Lawrence’s idea.

Thinking that it would greatly help her on the path of becoming a Two-star Scholar, she agreed to work on the young man’s idea, which caused the latter to grin with excitement.

However, before the young man could even celebrate, the former told him that he would be working alongside her until the article was finished.

On top of that, she would also list him as a co-author of the article, making sure that the governing body recognized the fact that he was the one that gave the idea in the first place.

Although being listed as a co-author in an article didn’t help much in one’s path as a Scholar, for a Student to become a co-author in a Scholar’s work definitely made it easier for the former to rise through the ranks.

After all, if a Student could already help out in a Scholar’s work themselves, then that meant it wouldn’t take long before they wrote articles at the Scholar level as well.

Realizing what Veradine was trying to do, Lawrence profusely thanked her in response, being reminded of the other reason why she was called the Scholar of Great Earth.

Of course, part of the reason why she was called that was because of the research direction she chose, which focused on understanding more about nature and its inner workings.

However, the other reason why she was given that title, as well as the main reason in many people’s eyes, was because of the kindness and generosity she showed while working with other Students and Scholars.

To them, working alongside her felt as if they were being cared for by the earth itself, hence her eventual title.