Wizard: Starting with Symbiosis with Algae

The City of Mirrors and Waters, one of the most prosperous cities in the Wizarding World.

The floating city hangs above the desert, surrounded by rivers and greenery, creating a spectacular sight.

A massive hexagonal pillar encloses the entire capital city, its mirror-like exterior walls pieced together from deep purple crystals, greedily absorbing the heat from the sun and the ground.

The desert lies prostrate at its feet, the dunes solidified into silent waves.

A bearded man stood by the edge of a field in the Herbaceous College, a branch of the Atmospheric Transformation Academy, looking down at the new type of corn cultivated by his apprentices, and couldn't help but laugh.

"My apprentice has succeeded once again."

"Excellent, they'll be ready to graduate soon!"

Growing corn at a herb academy is nothing unusual.

However, the plant he brought back from the vine world perfectly compensated for the fatal flaw that corn, the mainstream plant in the current wizarding world, could never compete with vine plants.

With this alone, he could produce several papers, and some of his apprentices could receive a considerable bonus from the college.

This is an incredibly good thing.

But why isn't it still enjoyable enough?

Aigard touched his chin, where the little mustache was already turning white.

Normally, such problems wouldn't bother a formal wizard.

However, enrollment is not included in this scope.

Admissions.

Yes, it's open for enrollment.

The mere thought of that word sent chills down Aigard's spine.

Damn recruitment. He's been a tutor for so many years and is about to retire, and the college still sends him to expand the student body.

And there's no other way but to do it.

The School of Atmospheric Sciences hasn't produced a single pioneering achievement worth publicizing for over a decade.

Isn't that a coincidence?

He was the leader of the small affiliated Herbal Academy under the Atmospheric Transformation Academy, which had finally managed to lead a small team of several dozen people to a successful victory.

He is a positive role model.

Furthermore, he had already fully absorbed the benefits of the academy, and this vast, almost luxurious field before him was one of them.

He could no longer refuse.

Dry!

Greed, when will greed ever stop?

Aigard almost crushed the corncob in his hand.

There was another thing that added to the burden of the task.

A few days ago, the news that more than seventy freshmen had been killed on a recruitment ship inside the college was actually leaked by those damned media outlets.

This is an even heavier blow to the already fiercely competitive admissions process within the wizarding world.

"These unscrupulous media outlets... and which college bastard did this... if I find out..."

He gritted his teeth and put the corn on the cob down. Instinctively, he brought it to his mouth, opening his mouth to take a bite.

Suddenly, he remembered the culprit behind that incident.

"Oh, and those guys named Lynn and Ruby. You can just wait to spend 20 years growing corn on a barren planet."

Suddenly,

His eyebrows twitched, and he glanced down at the corn cob, where colorful, magical patterns were quietly flowing.

He blinked.

Ok.

This... seems to be a plant belonging to his beloved student, Melsu.

In other words, I almost devoured Melsu's graduation thesis.

What a coincidence!

Aigard carefully put the corn back in its place, coughed twice, and prepared to add some magic to make the corn taste better.

For a qualified wizard, doing such a small thing is a piece of cake.

Just then, a pretty young woman carrying a roll of newspaper walked in quickly.

Melsu, his beloved student.

Aigard quickly dusted off his clothes, put on a dignified expression, and cleared his throat.

"Mersu, you've come at the right time. I feel your return ceremony wasn't grand enough. We need to put on a grand celebration."

But the girl in front of him simply unfolded the newspaper and gently interrupted Aigard.

"Mentor, we think we don't need to hold any more celebrations."

"Not holding a celebration? That's not impossible, but what about the land and student enrollment..."

"Mentor, if you have any doubts, you might want to take a look at this first."

Aigard sighed and waved his hand.

Melsu is great in every way, except she's too stubborn.

He's already an old man; what news in the newspaper could possibly surprise him?

It's just a newspaper, why make such a fuss?

And it's related to student admissions. Young people are just prone to making a fuss over nothing.

Melsu handed him the newspaper.

The headline was printed in bold black font.

A Man, a Woman, a Cripple, and a Taken Planet

Aigard's gaze fell on the title.

Then, his face turned red.

The nerve that he had honed to an almost instinctive level through years of wits and courage against alien creatures was completely activated in that instant.

Blood rushed to my face, and my forehead felt faintly hot.

The Wizarding World has advanced communication methods, but different media channels have strict distinctions in the emphasis and seriousness of the information they publish.

Print media is the last bastion of the wizarding information system in the post-plague era.

How could they publish such a headline? It's utterly disregarding the countless living old wizards.

Aigard lowered his voice

"This is utter nonsense."

Melsu seemed to have gotten used to his mentor's attitude, so he simply took a step back and quietly waited for the problem to be discovered by himself.

At this point, Aigard no longer cared what Melsu was doing.

The immediate problem made his chest feel tight.

What kind of shady media dares to use such a headline?

That's practically suicide.

He flipped the newspaper over to look for the trademark.

They wanted to directly refute the report by questioning its source.

But to his surprise, the back of the newspaper featured a huge four-sided pillar.

The trademark of Jingdu Times, the most authoritative media in Jingdu, bar none.

He asked, speechless.

"Is it true?"

"Three apprentices, exploring a planet? How is that even possible?"

Melsu said

"The fact that the pioneering department hasn't responded at all makes it at least 80% credible. And look, isn't the name of their pioneer protagonist the same as one of the people involved in the plane crash, Lynn?"

Egad still refused to believe it.

"Lynn? I know, it's Lynn. But what about Lynn? There are as many people named Lynn in the wizarding world as there are grains of sand outside. That doesn't prove anything."

"Please continue reading."

Aigard's gaze moved down the page. His fingers traced the densely packed text line by line, and his breathing gradually quickened.

"The Herbology Department... Lynn. Ruby from the Worm Department. And Joe from the Alchemy Department?"

In fact, he heard similar news yesterday.

A wizard apprentice named Lynn led a team to explore a planet.

But there are so many Lynn in the world.

He didn't take it to heart at all.

I never expected to miss such a big event.

Aigard paused for a moment, then immediately made arrangements.

"We have to leave immediately. Melsu, you're with me. Call your team, everyone, let's go right now."

"Now? My thesis is still a little short."

"Now, the sooner the better, let's witness the return of a legend."

Melsu smiled; this was actually what she had hoped for.

Their pioneering efforts were far too ordinary compared to those of these three.

She was so enraged by just seeing the newspaper that she couldn't speak.

Three people, without much preparation, pioneered a planet.

It's simply unimaginable.

……

On the other side, in the lower middle part of the flexible phase channel.

Lynn just drifted and drifted.

Enveloped by a gentle force, it slowly descended to the ground.

Looking down from the sky, everything before him was completely different from the academy city he remembered.

"Closer, even closer."