Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 119 Interview
“Next.” Locke sat on the sofa in the living room, coldly watching the second-class wizard apprentices leave or enter the house.

He had the documents they had submitted in his hand.

He was somewhat dissatisfied with most of the people's resumes.

Although the main purpose of hiring this second-class wizard apprentice was to meet the standard requirements of the personal medicine room's review process, if someone is hired, they should at least be able to do some work.

However, the vast majority of the people who came this time were second-class wizard apprentices who came with the attitude of wanting to learn, and had never even been exposed to potion-making before.

Locke rubbed his temples. 'It must be because I didn't spread the news long enough.'

Locke glanced at the dozen or so resumes he had acquired. 'There are quite a few second-tier wizard apprentices who have some exposure to potions and even a little bit of related experience.'

'Let's take a look; maybe one of them will be usable.'

Locke recalled what the witch Sophia had said: if he had many senior and junior brothers, he would easily find a second-class wizard apprentice assistant who perfectly met his requirements.

The official wizards at Lilith's Hut are surrounded by a vast network of relationships: friends of official wizards, students of official wizards, students' students...

Within this network, second-class wizard apprentices will find it easier to find jobs that offer good value for money.

First-class wizard apprentices will also find it easier to find assistants who meet their required standards.

Unfortunately, Sophia is a newly promoted official witch and has not yet built up such a deep-rooted network of relationships over the years, so she cannot provide any help to herself in this regard.

The second-class wizard apprentices who left the house were immediately surrounded by people waiting outside, who asked them about their interview experiences and how the interviews went.

A second-class wizard apprentice, who had just stepped out of the house, shook his head with a bitter expression.

"I thought the newly promoted first-class wizard apprentices would be easy to talk to, but as soon as I went in, Senior Augustine tested me with several professional questions, and I couldn't answer a single one. It seems I have no chance of getting away with it."

"I'm really short on money lately, I don't even have enough magic stones to buy meditation training materials. I heard that the Bloodhowl Arena is hiring animal handlers, I'll go there for an interview."

Most of the second-class wizard apprentices who had been surrounding him, asking him about his interview experience, immediately shook their heads upon hearing this.

"Let's forget about it. I heard that another zookeeper's assistant died at the Bloodhowl Arena last month, bitten to death by a mad manticore. It's true that jobs are easier to find there, but that's because so many people die there, so the cost-benefit ratio is too low."

"Yes, we can't risk our lives for a few magic stones. There are a lot of mixed-blood magical creatures in the Bloodhowl Arena, with unstable personalities. Some of them are even mentally ill. We don't know what we might do to provoke them."

Among these second-class wizard apprentices was one who was studying the beast taming magic sub-specialization. He had a different opinion after hearing this.

"It's not as exaggerated as you all say. I'm just a student in the Beast Taming Magic specialization within the academy. You've all exaggerated it too much. It was a bit dangerous, but it wasn't life-threatening."

"It's just that some people lack the relevant professional skills and over-package themselves during interviews, leading my seniors to mistakenly believe that they really understand this field, which has caused so many accidents."

Some people muttered, "Which job interview doesn't involve presenting a polished image? And we haven't seen other positions with such a high accidental death rate."

One of the wizard apprentices shouted, "Stop chatting! Hurry, Senior Augustine is calling the next one in!"

"Please don't push, please line up!"

Inside the house, in the drawing room, Locke sat on the sofa, looking at the short, rather plump female wizard apprentice standing before him, head bowed, shoulders hunched, and somewhat nervous. She was freckled and had a face covered in freckles. Locke raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Hmm?"

"You once served as a potion-making assistant to a first-class wizard apprentice?"

Terri Calvin said nervously in a low voice, "Yes...yes, no...no, although that's what it says on my resume, I was actually just an assistant in that pharmaceutical lab."

"I wouldn't call myself an assistant."

"At that time, the medicine-making room had more than a dozen second-class wizard apprentices, but they were all just helpers. It was Senior Angron's medicine-making room, and his assistant was someone else, who was also a student of Lord Harun Villa.

When Terri Calvin mentioned Angron's name, a look of fear and lingering apprehension flashed across her face, along with a fleeting hint of resistance.

Locke keenly noticed her facial expression and frowned slightly.

I've heard the name Harlan Vera many times before; he's a senior, officially recognized wizard at Lilith's Hut.

He even had the opportunity to be one of seven senior advisors.

But he refused, saying he didn't want to give up the opportunity to work directly with students at the grassroots level. Besides doing research, his biggest hobby was probably teaching and nurturing students.

But Harun Vera has so many students that he doesn't need to have his most important student, Angron's personal apothecary, recruit so many second-class wizard apprentices.

After all, these second-class wizard apprentices also need to be paid. Even if the salary of an individual is not much compared to that of a first-class wizard apprentice, the combined salaries of more than a dozen people still amount to a considerable expense.

Locke seemed to realize something and asked, "Why did you leave? Of the helpers you were hired with, how many were Lord Harun Vera's students, and how many were recruited from outside?"

Terri Calvin was extremely nervous. She said, "Almost none of them are Lord Harun Vera's students. I was involved in an experimental accident..."

"Because I violated the rules, I was forced to resign... But Senior Augustine, I have mastered the centrifugal extraction method of mana, and I also have three kinds of magical flames: wood elemental magical flames, fire elemental magical flames, and wind elemental magical flames."

“I am also very proficient in the basic knowledge and operation of potion-making. So I am very useful. Please give me a job opportunity, even if it means a pay cut.”

Terri Calvin looked pitiful, with tears welling in her eyes. "I really love Potions."

"I want to continue down this path..."

Clearly, because of her previous dismissal from Anglon Pharmaceuticals, she has encountered many obstacles on this path, and her future is fraught with difficulties.

For Locke, a first-class wizard apprentice and potion-making assistant, her situation was insignificant; he could simply open his own potion-making workshop. However, for a second-class wizard apprentice, a tainted resume would undoubtedly prevent her from finding a similar job at Lilith's Cottage in the short term.

Moreover, Locke immediately understood why Angron could repeatedly violate regulations by conducting wizard apprentice experiments, even harming several promising wizards, yet nothing bad happened to him.

This in itself seems very strange.

Lilith's Cottage is so strict about this, yet Angron is still able to cause trouble.

(End of this chapter)