Doman narrowed his eyes and confirmed, "You mean... the Wood Spirit magic experiment?"
Dorothy nodded eagerly.
Doman's expression turned serious.
As a leading figure in Wood Spirit magic in the Kvir Empire, known as the "Son of the Forest," Doman's magical attainment was only at the Archmage level, but his status was three points more important than some Great Archmages.
Many Wood Spirit magic spells in the Kvir Empire were researched and created by him.
Some even boldly predicted that if Doman could advance to Great Archmage, he might be able to push Wood Spirit magic from a special system to a conventional system in one fell swoop!
This shows how profound his mastery of Wood Spirit magic was.
As his most favored granddaughter, Dorothy, influenced by her environment, might not have profound Wood Spirit magic attainment, but she had vision.
For her to be so shocked and excited, it's clear how strong an impact Ajev's magic experiment had on her!
His granddaughter's behavior clearly showed that she was risking offending Ajev to tell him the importance of this magic experiment.
—If he could participate, with his attainment in Wood Spirit magic, if he could learn a few tricks and gain something, he might be able to break through to the Great Archmage realm as a result!
No one knew that Doman's research into Wood Spirit magic had long since stagnated.
If it weren't for the ties of family, empire, and kinship, he would have long since left to seek a breakthrough opportunity in other regions.
Now, a possible opportunity had appeared.
Doman stood up and paced in his study, his expression flickering.
It sounded a bit incredible, but he still hadn't found out Ajev's identity.
One should know that relying on Wood Spirit magic, his network of connections in the empire was intricate and widespread, allowing him to maneuver easily.
Even the Magic God was very polite to him.
It could be said that in the Kvir Empire, his status was as stable as Mount Tai.
But even so, he still hadn't found out Ajev's identity, which made him feel a little uneasy.
Especially after seeing his granddaughter forced to participate in Ajev's magic experiment, he gritted his teeth and sent that dead egg over.
Now, seeing his granddaughter's reaction, Doman felt a strong sense of relief.
He hadn't made the wrong move!
He suspected that Ajev was very likely a Wood Spirit mage with even higher magical attainment than him!
Even if not, he might possess magical knowledge vastly different from that of the Kvir Empire.
Precisely because of this, Magic God Dendall valued him so highly yet kept his identity a secret.
Thinking of this, Doman's body trembled slightly, a mix of confusion and excitement.
He was confused about whether this person's appearance would replace his position in the empire's Wood Spirit magic field.
He was excited that his stagnant Wood Spirit magic had the possibility of further advancement.
"I understand. You can go back!"
Doman took a deep breath and waved his hand.
"Yes."
Dorothy didn't try to persuade him further; her grandfather's long period of thought earlier had clearly led to a decision.
After his granddaughter left, Doman pondered for a moment, called his personal butler, and whispered a few words.
The butler nodded and left to carry out the order.
He asked the butler to inquire about the attitudes of the other magic apprentices who participated in Ajev's magic experiment. Although the secrecy contract would prevent them from leaking secrets, emotions could not be restrained.
His granddaughter, Dorothy, was after all just a magic apprentice, and it was not impossible for her to make a misjudgment.
Therefore, he had to synthesize the information before making a final decision.
... ...
At the same time, Felix Magic Academy, no, the entire magic world of Willis City, was intentionally or unintentionally inquiring about Ajev's magic experiment.
His experiment was simply too high-profile; it was impossible not to attract attention.
However, as the magic apprentices returned from the experiment, countless people, after inquiring, cursed incessantly!
Ajev actually made all the magic apprentices sign a secrecy contract?!
Damn it, this move stunned countless people.
However, despite the cursing, the fire of gossip in everyone's hearts burned brighter.
Because when the participating magic apprentices mentioned this experiment, their expressions changed drastically, and their eyes showed disbelief and horror.
According to some magic apprentices who privately revealed information, this was an experiment involving divine authority.
As soon as this news spread, it immediately caused an uproar in the Willis magic world.
Some finally realized why Magic God Dendall went to such great lengths to support Ajev's experiment.
Of course, some also scoffed at this!
"Divine authority, my foot! A bunch of bumpkins who haven't seen the world, just spouting nonsense!"
"I had someone inquire indirectly. There was no creation of new species, no appearance of unknown plants, no involvement of flesh magic, and no involvement of divine spells. This should just be a conventional Wood Spirit magic experiment."
In the hall of a villa, members of the [Willis Magic Plantation Association] gathered and discussed animatedly.
For these high-level mages, cracking a secrecy contract might not be a piece of cake, but estimating the purpose and general content of the experiment through the process of elimination was very easy.
Precisely because of this, they showed disdain for the magic apprentices' claims of involving "divine authority."
This was quite normal; some magic apprentices who were fortunate enough to participate in a Great Archmage's magic experiment would almost always experience a state of mental abnormality upon returning.
People, after all, tend to overestimate the unknown.
Just like in the eyes of ordinary people, magic apprentices are considered important figures.
Some magic apprentices on missions outside are occasionally even worshipped as deities by ignorant villages.
However, are magic apprentices really that formidable?
Clearly not.
In the eyes of magic instructors, they are nothing more than free labor.
The members of the [Willis Magic Plantation Association] gathered again to plot how to reclaim their free labor.
"Dendall is clearly biased towards Ajev. Are we just going to let this go?" a member brought the discussion back to reality.
Upon hearing this, everyone's faces immediately darkened.
Yesterday, they collectively went to see Magic God Dendall, ready to apply pressure.
Unexpectedly, Magic God Dendall suddenly said, "You've come at the right time; I also have something I want to talk to you about."
Then he opened the empire's official website, pulled up the complaint page, pointed to a large number of anonymous complaints, and questioned them.
Looking closely, almost half of the complaints were accusations of them seizing fertile land by force.
Seeing this, everyone's expressions immediately turned ugly.
Magic plants require very fertile land, especially plants grown using magic acceleration, which consume soil fertility particularly intensely.
A piece of fertile land, after being planted with magic plants for three to five years, often cannot be planted again.
Precisely because of this, magic plantation owners need to continuously acquire fertile land, or exchange infertile land with greatly reduced fertility.
In this process, it is clearly impossible to say there was no forceful seizure.
Facing the Magic God's questioning, the plantation owners could only push the responsibility onto their subordinates and promised to deal with it immediately upon returning.
After this interruption, where did they still have the courage to apply pressure?
They could only leave in a dejected and embarrassed manner.
Upon returning, everyone gradually came to their senses.
Regarding the civilian complaints, Dendall could have brought them up earlier or later, but he chose that specific time, clearly using this as leverage, favoring Ajev, and warning them.
Understanding this point, everyone immediately became annoyed.
"Oh right, where's Anthony?" someone suddenly asked.
"Him? He said something happened at home and he couldn't come," someone replied.
Hearing this, everyone's eyes flickered.
Anthony had always been quite close to Dendall's faction. At this time, deliberately making an excuse not to participate in the association meeting was clearly because he was afraid of Dendall.
Or rather, he had completely sided with Dendall and no longer opposed Dendall's orders, even if these orders harmed his own interests.
"I suggest we talk to Ajev. Nearly four hundred magic apprentices are too many. Giving us half shouldn't have much impact on him," someone suggested.
"What if he refuses?"
"Hmph, I don't believe it. Does he dare to offend all of us?"
"His attitude isn't important; Master Dendall's attitude is the most important. Haven't you seen it yet? Master Dendall has taken a liking to our plantations!"
"This..."
"Let's give up some of the profits. Otherwise, this matter will drag on indefinitely, and we'll suffer greater losses."
"Alas, that's the only way."