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

"gentlemen?"

Grace noticed that Joseph hadn't said anything after reading the note, so she asked softly.

"There's an emergency meeting at the academy." Joseph tossed the note on the table and gently tapped the dove on the head.

"go out."

The white dove tilted its head, and seeing that the human had no intention of giving it a treat, it slowly hopped back to the windowsill, flapped its wings, and flew away.

"Sir, would you like to go over now?"

Joseph glanced at the time crystal; it wasn't too far from 10 a.m.

If he continues to dawdle for a while, he can arrive at the council tower at a time that is neither too late nor too late, nor too eager.

After all, in a magic academy, the most important thing is to maintain a proper balance. If a professor is too enthusiastic about an impromptu meeting, what will others think?

Others might think he's idle, but a professor who's very idle usually quickly becomes a professor who's not idle at all.

This is an ironclad rule in the workplace, and it's pretty much the same in any world.

Taking it easy is the true essence of life!

"It's about time we went," Joseph said. "You go first..."

"Then I'll go downstairs to the living room first," Grace quickly replied.

Joseph: "..."

He originally wanted to suggest that you go back to your dorm and rest, or to put it more tactfully, that you go back and organize your thoughts from today.

As it turned out, Grace had already made arrangements for herself.

What's so great about this experimental tower?

This is his experimental tower, not Her Highness the Princess's second bedroom!

But Grace had already bowed to him respectfully.

"I will follow your advice and first confirm my own light, without rushing to manifest it externally."

Joseph opened his mouth, then swallowed his words back.

Whatever, do whatever you want.

Joseph watched her figure disappear through the door, then glanced again at the meeting notes on the table, and his mood immediately soured a little.

He picked up the robe hanging to the side and put it on. Just as he was about to leave, he glanced at the box of court pastries on the table, hesitated for a moment, and then took a small pastry from it and put it in his mouth.

It's sweet and quite delicious.

Joseph's mood was slightly soothed by the snacks Grace brought, so it wasn't a complete loss.

As he walked out of the experimental tower, several small cleaning brooms were slowly sweeping past the roadside, looking even less willing to go to work than he was.

  

He walked along the path to the council tower, but his mind involuntarily began to calculate money.

There's no way around it; people always need to find something to calm themselves down before facing trouble.

For example, money.

He roughly counted the bag of rewards the Dwarf Merchant Guild gave him yesterday when he got back last night, and it was a full thousand gold coins.

Of course, this amount is nothing compared to the two million gold coins allocated to the new magical revival project.

The problem is that those two million gold coins were project funding.

Project funding is something that everyone who knows about it understands.

But this thousand gold coins are different; they belong to his personal earnings!

Although he didn't play much of a role in the Dwarf Merchant Guild incident...

But it is not important.

Adding to the 100,000 gold coins that Penny promised as funding for the first phase of observation, the total comes to 110,000 gold coins.

Joseph's steps quickened as he thought of this.

Although the 100,000 yuan hasn't actually arrived yet, well, it's not a sin for people to have a little fun in advance.

What can you do with 110,000 gold coins?

In this world, if an ordinary worker has a stable job, after working themselves to the bone for a year and deducting rent, food, and various taxes, it's considered quite good if they can save a few hundred to a couple thousand gold coins.

If you work long-term in places like the capital city, academies, ports, large merchant guilds, or adventurer associations, you might be able to save up around four thousand, but that's all earned with your life and time.

As for going even higher, that depends on both fate and looks.

In the outer city of the capital, you can rent a place for a few hundred gold coins a month, but those are usually just small rooms that can keep out the rain and prevent the wind from getting in through the cracks in the walls.

If you want to live like a human being, you'll need at least 1,000 to 3,000 gold coins a month. If you want something even better, like a house with a small yard, you'll need at least 5,000 gold coins to start.

Further up, closer to the capital, the rent starts to become a punishment for moving closer to civilization.

But buying it is another matter entirely.

Houses near the capital city that feature gardens, offer privacy, have high walls, and are not far from patrol routes but not so far that you can hear the sound of knights' boots every day can easily cost 30 million gold coins.

This falls into the category of things that are present at birth and not present at birth.

Of course, Joseph's goal wasn't this kind of city house.

What's the significance of houses in the city?

He wouldn't be stupid enough to run to the capital. Even though the safest place is the most dangerous place, please, this is a magical world, even if it has declined, it is still a magical world!

Joseph wasn't that pessimistic; his ideal was always simple: the South would be best.

The Southern Territory is quite far from the capital. Heading south along Silver Tide Bay, it is separated by the Silverleaf Plains and the old underground city zone, as well as a bunch of dilapidated post stations left behind after the old-era teleportation portals broke down, and it also borders the Elf Forest.

If you take a horse-drawn carriage there, your backside will be so sore that you'll start to wonder if you owed the carriage money in your past life.

That place is an adventurer's paradise, or in other words, it's chaotic enough.

However, it's not entirely chaotic. After all, areas near the Golden City are relatively safe due to trade routes, churches, adventurers' guilds, and border patrols. At least during the day, you won't see a monster randomly pop out on the street to greet you.

Actually, it doesn't matter if it pops out. The combat power of things like magic decay is only slightly higher than that of the enhanced goose.

Further out are the old ruins, the edge of the Dragon Bone Mountain Range, and some underground city entrances that no one knows who built.

Adventurers love that place because they feel there are many opportunities.

Joseph also liked that place because more opportunities meant a diverse population, and with a diverse population, one's identity became less conspicuous.

From a practical standpoint, this is already quite good.

Joseph's future goal is to buy an estate in the South with gardens, fishponds, and vineyards, and then have a butler and maids as standard equipment; that would make his life almost perfect.

The problem is, southern estates are expensive too.

If it's just a small, remote estate with an old house and a few plots of land, you can get started for about three to four million gold coins.

If you want to buy something decent enough that won't leave your roof and servants soaked in the rain, you'd need at least five million gold coins.

If you also want a vineyard, a nicer main house, a stable, a garden, etc., then it will basically cost eight to ten million gold coins.

Further up, that's a proper gentry manor.

Only those with over ten million gold coins are qualified to talk about scenery and heritage.

This is just the purchase; the subsequent maintenance will cost money, not to mention the servants, their daily food and drink, and the escape route that needs to be prepared in advance in case something happens.

When you calculate it this way, money suddenly becomes less appealing.

But that's okay, you should always have dreams.

If a person doesn't even dare to dream of owning a manor, what's the difference between them and those poor professors who only apply for supplies but don't even dare to replace their sofas?

However, having more money brings new problems: where to put the money?

Putting it in an outside bank? That doesn't seem like a good idea either.

There are similar money shops and chamber of commerce notes in this world, but in a place like the capital, as long as the amount is large enough, someone will eventually catch a whiff of it.

Should we keep it in the experimental tower?

It's not that it's impossible, but there are always times when he's not at the experimental tower, and now more and more people are coming to his experimental tower.

Joseph walked along, pondering as he went, and the more he pondered, the more troublesome money seemed.

Being broke is painful, and being rich is just as painful. The only difference is that the pain of being rich sounds a tiny bit more pleasant.

Joseph was walking towards the corner leading to the council tower when a familiar yet unpleasant voice suddenly came from ahead.

"Professor Grantham."

Joseph looked up and saw Maurice Brewster walking towards him from the other end of the corridor.