I made up magic and taught a world-destroying witch?

"That's a good thing, sir!"

Marco, completely oblivious to Joseph's silence, continued excitedly:

If this review goes smoothly, your new magical revival project may become one of the most important educational attempts by the Magic Association in the past decade, no, not just decade, but perhaps since the fall of the gods!

This is a historic moment worthy of being recorded in the archives of the Royal Academy's educational reforms!

Joseph stared at Marco's incessant chatter and for a moment didn't know where to begin his吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or critical comments).

A historic turning point?

No, it's really not that bad.

A finger flashed, a spark appeared in a palm—if these things could be written into history, then history would be far too easy to write.

His initial attempt was mainly to pile together a bunch of technical terms that he himself couldn't understand, and then make the judges, the old guys, have the illusion that it was something that could be developed and developed.

But then again, given how much magic has declined in this world, it's not entirely incomprehensible that a student can earn applause for consistently conjuring a fireball.

Now, things have gotten even worse. Not only have these people believed it, but they've also started preparing to put this thing into historical archives.

"Marco, it's precisely at times like these that we mustn't rush things."

Marco was taken aback.

Joseph looked at him and said:

What we are showing today is only the initial phenomenon.

If we rush to label something based on its outward appearance, how is that any different from the old magic system's haste to judge a student as a genius or a failure?

Marco's expression changed little by little.

  

Yes!

Mr. Grantham was not overjoyed by today's results, nor did he rush to announce that the new magic had been successful.

Because in his eyes, these are just the first steps on a long road.

Truly great scholars are never blinded by temporary victories!

"Sir, you're right!"

Marco was filled with awe.

"I see.

The report should be rigorous enough to allow for further observation, and it should also demonstrate the new magic education system's long-term focus on failure and biased samples!

Joseph nodded in satisfaction.

Excellent. This administrator is really good at self-completion. He doesn't even need to explain himself clearly; the other party can automatically organize his stalling rhetoric into beautiful sentences that can be included in a report.

This person must be at least a master at portraying slacking off in the department as a strategic build-up of strength in the year-end summary.

"Furthermore," Joseph continued,

"Regarding the association's review, I suggest that it not be disseminated now. Prematurely increasing expectations will only interfere with the students' training."

These were his honest thoughts. He truly hoped that these administrators would stop shouting everywhere and attracting crowds, lest he, this fake great magician, be surrounded like a monkey before he even had a chance to patch up his own mistakes.

Marco immediately nodded solemnly and said:

"I see!

Sir, you've thought of everything so thoroughly!

Joseph looked at him and suddenly realized that although the man was a bit bald, he was indeed very useful.

He truly deserves to be one of the few people in the entire Magic Association still working...

"I'll head back to the administration office right away to draft a report framework. Once you've reviewed it, I'll formally submit it to the association!"

Joseph nodded.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Marco nodded, picked up the documents, and quickly left.

As he watched his figure disappear into the crowd outside the assessment tower, Joseph's expression slowly crumbled.

Ugh, so annoying, what's going on here?

All he wants now is to find a place where no one knows him, quietly drink a cup of tea, and then seriously reflect on where his life started to go astray.

When he wrote that new magical revival plan, his only goal was to apply for funding, delay the assessment, and find an opportunity to run away.

And now?

Now everyone thinks he's succeeded.

Marco felt he was going to reinvent magic education, Academician Wade thought he had hit the jackpot with a project that he could brag about for twenty years at the association’s annual meeting, and the theoretical old professor thought he could grab a co-authorship and form an observation group for it.

Grace and Mia were even more outrageous; they actually learned something from his nonsense, which meant he would have to undergo a re-examination a month later.

Let's just do a re-verification; why bother with training, recording, and observation plans?

Isn't this just like a conman setting up his stall, only to have the authorities suddenly announce that his stall has great potential and that he'll be officially licensed to operate from tomorrow, with regular checks on his accounts?

He made all of that up.

What kind of observation plan can be made up?

Do you observe the air quality? Do you observe how many times a student's eyebrows twitch when their eyes are closed?

Joseph felt a growing headache the more he thought about it.

His most important task now is to convert the existing funding into long-term research assets as much as possible before the additional funding comes through.

Once the storm had died down a bit, he would find an excuse to apply for a long-term field trip, and then head south to buy a manor and run away, completely distancing himself from the Magic Association and those old guys who were all a bit off their minds.

But then again...

Since Grace and Mia were actually able to grasp the basics of magic from his fabricated nonsense, is there any possibility...?

The things he made up actually seem to have some use?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when Joseph immediately shook his head inwardly.

Impossible. He tried to cast spells using all the knowledge in his mind but never succeeded. Could a theory he casually came up with, relying solely on his memory of spell slots from the game and a bunch of academic jargon, really drive a magical revival?

If he can't even practice it himself, how could it possibly be useful?

If this is true, then the magic system of this world is far too sloppy.

Therefore, the more reasonable explanation is still that one.

He was lucky.

He casually recruited two hidden genius girls who hadn't been identified by the old system, giving them a not-too-outrageous psychological suggestion and a training pretext.

But that doesn’t stop him from taking credit for the achievements.

How can academic matters be called fraud? This is called the project leader redefining the value of the sample.

The more Joseph thought about it, the more at peace he felt.

Now that everyone has acknowledged that his new magic project has yielded results, his wisest course of action is to continue down this path of misunderstanding.

Since everyone believes that he taught them, why is he in such a hurry to deny it?

Anyway, Grace and Mia did indeed develop something, and the testing crystal did indeed light up. Academician Wade and that group of theoretical old professors even took the initiative to seize the right to interpret it.

What he needs to do now is make everyone believe that the new magic is real!

As long as we can stall until he has reasonably converted the funds and is ready to abscond, then everything will be fine.

As for Brewster, who was just causing him trouble...

We're all colleagues in the college, we see each other all the time, so we should at least have some basic manners.

Joseph silently made a mental note of Brewster's mistake.

Just you wait, he'll definitely give this weasel a generous gift.

Just as Joseph had sorted out his thoughts, he heard very light footsteps behind him.

Grace and Mia followed behind him.

The two of them had been unusually quiet ever since they came out of the assessment tower.

Really? Are these two life-saving devices still feeling guilty about what happened earlier?

This won't do; we need to appease the whole group of people who are just making empty promises!

Joseph coughed softly.

"Still thinking about the demonstration just now?"