In Sumeru, pretend to be a scholar!

The master and apprentice discussed some taboo topics within the academy, and arrived at the school's finance department.

There were three people in the office: a middle-aged woman and two young girls, presumably the manager and her secretary.

Like the middle-aged scholar before her, the middle-aged woman's face darkened when she saw Farusan enter the office, but she quickly put on a standard respectful smile.

"Senior Farusan, what brings you here?"

Wang Yan felt like he had just heard this sentence not long ago. Oh, the middle-aged scholar in the student records office also started his speech with this sentence.

Farusian didn't give her a friendly look, handing over the note the middle-aged scholar had given her: "I'm here to collect my education funding."

"Educational funds? You've received your qualified tuition..." The middle-aged woman started to speak subconsciously, but her gaze quickly fell on Wang Yan, and she swallowed the rest of her words, forcing a smile. "Congratulations, I'll process it for you right away. The funds will be transferred to your tutor's account within three days."

Farusian then smiled slightly: "Hmm, how much?"

The middle-aged woman glanced at the note Farusan had given her and then said, "Your student is a scholar of the [Tosad] level, and receives a monthly education subsidy of 50,000 Mora. In addition, for projects led by you and with students, you can apply for an extra research grant of up to 100,000 Mora. The exact amount depends on the project's rating."

Although Wang Yan was no longer short of money thanks to Khalid's help, he was still somewhat amazed to hear that a casual subsidy could be as high as 50,000 or 100,000.

The Academy of Religious Affairs is actually paying these "Habantha" (a type of religious scholar) who are so engrossed in their research to mentor more students.

However, while Wang Yan felt the subsidy was quite substantial, Farusan frowned slightly: "Why is it so little? It wasn't this much last year, junior, are you trying to fool me?"

Farusan narrowed her eyes, staring at the middle-aged woman.

The senior's imposing aura was palpable, causing the middle-aged woman's face to stiffen, and her two secretaries to tremble and dare not utter a word.

"You've misunderstood," the middle-aged woman quickly explained in a low voice, "It's almost the end of the year, and the school's budget has been completely drained..."

"Oh..." Farusan nodded, understanding.

The six major factions of the Order of the Church have limited budgets each year.

Generally speaking, the "Life Theory" school is the most numerous because it has the largest number of members, while the "Wonder Theory" school is the least numerous.

This is certainly not directed at the school of thought that uses clever arguments.

It is said that since the time of Kapilavastu, the genius of the Myo-sastra school, the annual funding allocated by the Chandrakirti to the Kshatriya Academy has never increased.

The reason was that Kapilavastu disappeared after going out to investigate, and the scholars encountered accidents while activating the Kanrija Relics mechanism when they went out to investigate. The higher-ups of the Council of the Church eventually had doubts about mechanical research and therefore imposed strict restrictions on the research and development and promotion of mechanical technology.

In addition, the Academy already imposed many restrictions on weapons research.

As a result, the funding naturally dwindled.

However, the Su Lun school also has something to say about the Miao Lun school's claim that it has the least funding.

Because their funding is often limited.

There's no way around it; compared to those who play with mechanics, the Su Lun school, who play with elements and ley lines, are even more uncontrollable when it comes to doing ruthless things.

In general, each of the various schools within the Council of Education uses its funds very carefully.

The end of the year is often the time for schools of thought to "settle accounts".

This year's budget absolutely cannot be carried over to next year; otherwise, if the higher-ups see that you haven't used up all the money this year, they'll give you less next year.

Since education funds are also in the budget, Farusan and Wang Yan naturally won't get the lion's share if they come at this time.

Having understood the situation, Farusan didn't make a scene, because this was the norm for the entire school, and it wasn't directed at her and Wang Yan.

However, Farusan added, "Then I'll write it down for now and fill it in next year."

The middle-aged woman wanted to say that there was no such thing as "remedying" for this kind of thing.

But looking into Farusan's eyes, he finally nodded with a wry smile: "Yes, yes, I'll remember it for you, senior."

"Okay, then I won't disturb your work any longer." Farusan turned around. "Wang Yan, let's go."

The two left the office.

The middle-aged woman finally breathed a sigh of relief. A secretary beside her hesitated before speaking, "Chief Financial Officer, are we really going to provide additional educational funding for Senior Farusan? But if word gets out… what about the others…?"

She was worried that if word got out, other people would come and ask for additional funds.

With such a limited budget, problems are bound to arise if this situation occurs.

The middle-aged woman glanced at her secretary: "Education funds can't be supplemented, and neither can research funds? Can't you understand how to change the pretext?"

Education funding is fixed and cannot be easily supplemented.

But how the research funding is allocated is entirely up to them. They can subsidize a little for each research project, and then they can cover all the funding by doing more research projects!

The secretary nodded quickly: "Okay, I understand."

...

the other side.

Wang Yan followed Falushan away from the school's finance department.

"Hehe, we're rich now! Come on, our mentor will treat you to dinner!" Farusan waved excitedly and said with great enthusiasm.

Are you so poor that you need funding from the Order of the Church before you can treat me to a meal?

Wang Yan looked at Farusan with some shock.

Noticing her disciple's gaze, Farusan felt a little embarrassed, but still explained, "We went to the desert to investigate the ruins, which used up all of this year's budget, and we even had to pay out of our own pockets... You know... those of us who work with mechanical arts... it's very expensive."

Wang Yan was speechless for a moment, feeling that he had joined a school of thought with no future. Would he also become a penniless social outcast in the future?

"How about I treat you, Professor? I do part-time translation work, and the pay is decent." Wang Yan ultimately didn't dare let Farusan use the Academy's educational funds to treat him to a meal.

Although I know that if Farusan dares to do this, there must be no problem.

But... what if?

Moreover, today marks my formal acceptance into Farusan's tutelage, so it's only right that I treat my mentor to a meal.

Farusan raised an eyebrow, then suddenly realized, "Oh, I almost forgot, you're a rising star in the translation world of Sumeru City."

Farussan said with a hint of envy, "It's a pity that someone at my level can't just take on any job, otherwise I wouldn't be so short of money."

The Imperial College was naturally aware of the work involved in translating classical Chinese texts.

Ordinary scholars can do it, but scholars of the [Habantha] level like Farusan definitely cannot.

Putting aside the fact that it would be somewhat embarrassing for the Faculty of Religion to have someone like [Hebantu] take on ordinary translation jobs, even if [Hebantu] did take on a job, how much would he charge?

How much would an ordinary person have to pay to hire a [Habantha] to translate a piece of text?

The gains and the costs are not equal at all.

"You should take fewer of these kinds of jobs in the future. Even if you do take them, they should only be truly challenging translations. Regular translations are best left to the 'Tiriya' school of thought."

Farusan added another instruction.

Wang Yan nodded, understanding in his heart that this translation market was probably a small treasury left by the Epistemological School for the students of this college.

No wonder when scholars came to provoke me before, after I told them that I was preparing for an exam and planning to join the epistemological school, their attitude became much better.

I guess by then, I was already considered an insider.

However, without translation as a source of income... I can certainly make a living, but if I want to conduct other research, I'm afraid I'll run out of money again.

Thinking of this, Wang Yan's eyes flickered slightly, and he began to ponder ways to make money.