Chapter 1839: A Decade of Hard Work (2)

"...After they’re done correcting the mistakes on the set of instructions I’ve tasked them to add, the lab’s next article is basically complete."

As she muttered these words to herself, Veradine took out her laptop to ask her colleagues on the progress regarding the next article.

Seeing that they were close to being done even though there were still about three months before the year ended, a faint smile hung on her face as she deliberated on the thoughts currently lingering in her mind.

Eventually, she decided to go through with it, announcing to everyone through their chat group that the entire lab would go on a three month vacation as a reward and as thanks for their hard work.

Naturally, some of them took this as a sign that the lab was about to close, causing them to contact Veradine and ask if she was finally shutting the lab down after so long.

In response, she cleared up these doubts and fears, saying that she truly wanted everyone to get some well-needed rest after working real hard for the past decade or so.

Fortunately, after informing everyone that they’d still be paid their monthly wages even while on vacation, the skeptics within the lab finally calmed down.

Not long after, these same people also began to send messages in the chat group, thanking Veradine for the vacation while also looking forward to it with expectation and excitement, hyping the others up as they began to talk about their plans for the next three months.

Of course, Veradine was also looking forward to this vacation. Having worked almost nonstop over the past two decades as a Scholar, she felt that it was about time for her to give herself some breathing room.

However, unlike her colleagues, she was also looking forward to this vacation for a couple of other reasons.

For one, she felt that three months would be more than enough time for her to consolidate all of her efforts throughout the past decade into finally creating her own Ether Gathering Technique.

But at the same time, she felt that this vacation would allow her and her colleagues to avoid the majority of the reaction that they would get from the entirety of Thymesion once the new article was published.

After all, the instructions she had tasked her colleagues to put in her newest article was not just any random set of instructions.

In fact, she had tasked them to write down the set of instructions needed to practice the first version of the optimized Basic Ether Gathering Technique in the new article.

Although the decision to do so was partly a spur of the moment on her part, Veradine first sought permission from the Grand Sage to share the information, especially since sharing it would turn every Ether Gathering Technique below Pseudo-Class D level useless.

Yet, contrary to her expectations, the Grand Sage quickly agreed to the proposal. In fact, he even greatly supported the move, telling her that doing so would usher in a new era among the Sages.

Just like how the articles she and her lab had published throughout the years had ushered in an increase of articles from other Scholars.

And so, with the Grand Sage’s support, as well as her responsibility as a Scholar to make more knowledge accessible, Veradine went ahead and informed her colleagues in a meeting about it.

"Aside from working on our next article about optimizing the Basic Ether Gathering Technique to 200% efficacy, I would also like everyone to work with me in writing down the instructions needed to practice the first optimization I made to the Basic Ether Gathering Technique."

When her colleagues heard these words, at first, they thought that she wanted them to put down the first version of the optimized Basic Ether Gathering Technique as a way for those reading it to see how far she had optimized the technique.

However, after clarifying that she truly wanted them to write down the step-by-step instructions needed to practice the same Ether Gathering Technique many of them were practicing, almost all of them were left at a loss for words.

Why?

Because throughout all of the articles they published that involved Ether Gathering Techniques, the information they included in it were more or less the changes that they made to the technique.

Never was there a precedent in their articles where they posted the entirety of the optimized technique for others to see.

After all, even though they were Scholars that shared knowledge, sharing the optimized technique as a whole made them feel as if they were just treating their hard work like nothing.

Of course, withholding information that they considered unnecessary in the article did not stop others from deducing the entire technique.

Then again, all one needed to do to deduce the technique was to replace the steps in the original technique bit by bit with the changes made in the article.

Although it would take a bit of trial and error to achieve the level of improved efficacy advertised in the article, those that had the knowhow, as well as the time and effort to do so, would eventually be able to get it.

With that in mind, by the time they finally recovered from the shock Veradine’s words gave them, a good chunk of them immediately told her that her articles were already doing what she wanted to do in a way.

However, before they could dissuade her any further, she soon dropped a bomb that immediately left them dumbfounded once more.

"The Grand Sage approves of it."

With those words acting as a heavy weight that pushed their previous thoughts to the side, the majority eventually agreed with the idea, telling Veradine that her decision to share the technique would undoubtedly help a lot of aspiring Sages.

Of course, there was still a small minority that rejected the idea, talking about how doing so was unfair not only for Veradine, but also for them since everyone in the lab worked hard to obtain the results in that article.

Thankfully, a heart-to-heart conversation with everyone in the lab, as well as an extra monetary incentive was enough to dispel these negative opinions, allowing Veradine to continue with her idea of sharing the optimized Basic Ether Gathering Technique with the masses.

’But of course, sharing it with everyone is only preparation for what’s to come.’

As these thoughts came to mind, she closed her laptop as she focused her senses inward.

Whoosh!

Summoning the ether within her body, Veradine willed all of it to head towards her navel as she then used the Siphoning Force she cultivated to act upon it.

Fwoosh!

Feeling the gathered ether become heavier in response, she then proceeded to condense the ether into an ocean, moving the ether in waves as the ether began to gain a certain pressure to it.

Once Veradine felt that the ether had reached its limit in both weight and pressure, she then willed the ether to gather up and form a False Ether Core, causing its weight and pressure to go one last change as she felt the ether improve in quality.

Going through these motions a couple more times, Veradine eventually nodded in satisfaction.

’Though it still hasn’t reached that level in my mind, this technique is already as polished as it could get.’

’However, once I find the missing element that would make this technique whole, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that this technique could change the way Sages become stronger.’

’It wouldn’t even be far-fetched to say that it could act as a new pillar for the path of Sages.’

’...’

’...But until I get back at the Grand Sage, this technique will never see the light of day.’

’...’

’...’

’...For now anyway.’