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Albert then complained and explained a few more times. Many of these copper coins from the Secas Empire were of different sizes, and even the copper content was inconsistent. It was obvious that some of the imperial nobles had minted them secretly, and it was too troublesome to convert them.
More than ten seconds later, the apprentice assistant came back with an exquisite purse in his hand.
"Please keep it, Professor Lin En." Albert put the purse in Lin En's hand with a smile.
Lin En opened it and took a look, his expression became a little surprised, because the amount inside was exactly twelve golds, twenty-seven silvers, and eleven bronzes.
"Isn't it said that the currency exchange rate is two to one?" Lin En held the purse in his hand and asked in confusion.
"That's just the labor cost for recasting. Since you are a professor at the college, it would be inappropriate to charge you this fee." Albert said with a hint of flattery.
Lin En did not reply but picked up a magic gold coin and looked at it. Compared with the currency of the Sekas Empire, the workmanship was much more refined. A "gold" symbol was engraved on the front and the unique mark of the Wizard Council was on the back. Not only that, he also vaguely felt a slight fluctuation of magic power.
This is not as simple as just recasting. Lin En looked at Albert. Without a suitable reason, he was not going to accept such kindness for nothing.
"My son Alok is currently studying magic at Yieta College. If possible, please take care of him." Albert said embarrassedly.
“So that’s how it is.” Lynn nodded and took the purse.
Since the other party works at a gold exchange, there might be opportunities to deal with him/her again in the future. Sometimes accepting good intentions is also a way to build closer relationships.
"If Alok chooses this course, I will pay attention to it. But let me be clear, my Olympiad math classes are very difficult." Lin En kindly reminded.
"It's okay, my son is never afraid of doing difficult things." Albert didn't care about Lynn's warning at all and said confidently.
"That's good!" Lynn nodded with relief.
Seeing that they seemed to be very happy talking, Loud at the side couldn't help but seize the opportunity to ask, "Master Albert, do you think these copper coins in our hands are..."
"Then let's change them all!" Albert waved his hands helplessly. He naturally knew that Lord and Lynn had crossed the sea together.
Now that Lin En is standing here, we still have to give him this bit of face, but the relevant handling fees cannot be reduced by a single cent...
Under the effect of magic, more than 5,000 copper coins were quickly counted. As for the copper content, only a few could be randomly picked for testing and the lowest number would be used for calculation.
About two or three minutes later, Lord received two thousand exchanged magic copper coins and immediately distributed them.
The sailors and boatmen all looked like they were about to cry, just like migrant workers who worked hard for a whole year only to receive a reduced salary. They looked so pitiful no matter how you looked at them.
"Thank you, Mr. Lin En. If we hadn't met here, many brothers of the [Ship Gang] would have been starving and freezing." Lord said with emotion.
When he was in the Harbor Town, he was a well-known figure in the area, but when he came to the land of wizards, his identity and status plummeted. In particular, most of the wealth he had accumulated over the years was thrown into the whirlpool. Although he did not become a pauper, it also cut off the possibility of him living a comfortable life.
The sailors of the [Ship Gang] were even more miserable. Some of them only had dozens of copper coins left, and the gold exchange office refused to exchange them. That was why he insisted on blocking them here and hoping that Albert would make some concessions.
"You don't have to thank me. Mr. Albert is just following the rules." Lin En shook his head, paused, and then continued to ask. "Have you thought about what you want to do in the future?"
There are only a few Sundays every year. It would be impossible for Lord and others to go back in a short period of time. Hellram would not let these people who know the wizarding land leave easily. It is very likely that they will have to stay here for the rest of their lives.
"Next, I'll probably find some transportation work or something." Lord said hesitantly, then looked at Lin En and asked again tentatively.
"Mr. Lin, if there is anything you can do to help us, please let us know."
“If there’s a chance.” Lynn neither agreed nor refused. After a simple reply, he walked out of the exchange with Philip.
Lord looked down at the flame-shaped mark engraved on the back of his right hand, his mind full of thoughts.
Before on the Sea of Misty Sea, he wanted to remind Lin En indirectly to eliminate this magic mark that might endanger his life, but after experiencing the Great Whirlpool incident, the idea in Lord's mind changed 180 degrees.
Without the route from the harbor town to the wizard land, the entire [ship gang] has no value to the great wizard Hellram.
After losing a large amount of treasure, Lord knew very well that they urgently needed to find a new backer, otherwise the 300 people in the [Ships Gang] might all starve to death.
And Lynn is undoubtedly the best choice!
Although they had only been in contact for half a month, the abilities, talents and means displayed by the other party were enough to frighten Lord. Not only did he easily pull himself out from hiding in the dark, he also destroyed half of the harbor town by himself!
Lord had no doubt about the possibility of the other party becoming a great wizard or even a legendary wizard. Now was the time to make the most profit by placing a bet.
It was with this idea in mind that Lord kept the flame mark on his right hand. Past experience told him that sometimes putting one's life in the hands of others can bring more benefits, and the other party will feel more confident in using it.
However, what he didn't expect was that after arriving in the wizarding land, Lin En actually joined Iyeta College directly and became a full-time professor. He had fame, status, and money, but it seemed that he had no use for their [ship gang].
Lord was helpless. It seemed that there was no point if more than 300 of them forced their way forward. Obviously, they still lacked a more appropriate opportunity to contact Mr. Lin En.
……
On the other side, Lin En, who had just parted with Philip and returned to the room, was thinking about how to earn more magic coins.
As a professor at the academy, a monthly salary of three gold coins seems like a lot. It is enough to support a family of civilians for one or two years in the Sekas Empire. However, it is not enough to spend on learning magic, especially the two subjects of alchemy and potions. Money can only be spent like water.
Not to mention that he was also considering purchasing the [Source of Magic Power] on the black market, which would cost at least hundreds of magic coins. This salary was too little in comparison.
Recruiting more apprentices is one way out. The more students there are in Olympiad mathematics, the more reasons he will have to apply for various funds from Helram.
Then they were secretly embezzling... Bah, it should be said that they were using the teaching funds more reasonably.
After all, only by improving his ability as a professor can he teach better.
In addition, making some novel gadgets and selling them is also a good option, but this requires finding someone to do the work for him, otherwise it will only delay the time used to study magic.
Those halflings might be a good choice.
Lin En thought to himself. He still remembered the flight experiment over the city square yesterday. He could make a steam plane with such simple materials. The girl named Delia had an incredibly high talent in engineering, which met his requirements very well.
It shouldn't be difficult to recruit the other party to be one's apprentice and assistant. Although Delia has no magical talent, she has received a promise from Helram.
Is it difficult to fly into the sky without using magic?
As Lin En thought about it, he picked up a feather pen and started writing and drawing on the spread papyrus. He was not researching which method to use to fly into the sky, but preparing for tomorrow's Olympiad mathematics class. This was the basis for maintaining his status as a professor. It would be difficult if he messed up the first class.
Things have to be done one by one.
……
At eight o'clock the next morning, when Lin En, wearing a new uniform, came to the Psychic Academy again, the place had been cleaned up and the sign had been changed to Olympiad Mathematics. It was obvious that Philip had already reported his subject name.
Dozens of goblins, only 40 centimeters tall, were holding wet cloth strips and busying themselves by the wall, doing the final cleaning.
These fairies are not as beautiful as the elves in the fantasy works of the previous life. On the contrary, they are very ugly, with wings similar to bat wings on their backs. They are a bit similar to little devils. Their IQ is only about that of a five or six-year-old child. They can be guided by magic and obey some simple commands.
When Lin En approached, these little goblins all hid behind the wall, only sticking out their heads to secretly look at him with their ruby-like eyes, making bursts of humming and yapping sounds. It was too difficult for them to learn human language.
However, Lin En did not have time to pay attention to these magical creatures, because as soon as he opened the door, dozens of eyes looked over at him. There were more than twenty wizard apprentices sitting in the very spacious classroom.
Since this was a new course and there was no grading system, students of all ages were included, some of whom even looked older than him, including Johnny.
Although there were not many people coming to class, Lin En was already very satisfied. He was even prepared for the entire classroom to be empty today.
Chapter 63: Lin En's Bankruptcy Game
"Good morning, everyone. I am the new professor of Mathematical Olympiad at Yieta Magic Academy. You can call me Lin En..."
Under the surprised or suspicious gazes of the students, Lin En stood on the podium, used his hand as a pen and pure magic power as ink to write his name in the void.
Then the quiet classroom immediately became noisy.
"Professor Lin En, I heard that you came from the other side of the Sea of Mist. Can you tell us what it is like outside?"
"Professor Philip said that you think this continent is spherical, so why don't the people below fall off?"
……
Perhaps it was because Lin En looked too young, about the same age as them, so the wizard apprentices were not as reserved as they were when facing the other professors, and kept asking all kinds of questions.
For example, how he crossed the foggy sea and defeated the whirlpool, what kind of magic he used to destroy half of the port city, and even mentioned his free fall experiment.
Apparently, his deeds had spread in just a day and a half. The wizard apprentices who came to attend the class were not looking forward to the course but were simply extremely curious about this new professor from beyond the Sea of Mists.
Faced with this series of questions, Lynn didn't know which one to answer first. At this moment, Johnny, who was sitting next to him, suddenly asked.
"Professor Lin, what is Mathematical Olympiad?"
Lynn breathed a sigh of relief, then began to explain.
"That's a good question. Mathematical Olympiad is a discipline that studies complex concepts such as quantity, structure, change, and space. You can use it to measure the circumference of the planet under your feet, explore the laws of the movement of stars, and analyze cosmological constants... Mathematical Olympiad covers almost everything you see. It is the most important tool for gaining insight into the truth and understanding the world!"
As he spoke, Lin En used the principle of sound wave transmission to increase his volume, making everyone's eardrums buzz and successfully making the originally noisy classroom quiet again.
Every apprentice present couldn't help but feel fascinated when listening to those extremely high-sounding terms coming out of Lin En's mouth, and many of them realized that they were taking a very special magic course.
However, Lin En, who had finished drawing the pie, changed the subject and continued to speak. "Of course, these advanced Olympiad mathematics knowledge is still too far away from you. Now you must start with the simplest addition, subtraction, multiplication and division..."
"Isn't that just counting?" The apprentice sitting in the front row couldn't help but interrupt. "We've already learned all this in the basic class."
The prerequisites for learning magic are literacy and understanding the most basic principles of calculation, so Yieta Academy usually provides children born in poor families with a period of basic knowledge cram school, teaching them how to read, count, and recognize basic magic symbols.
"After learning multiplication and division, can we master some powerful magic?" another wizard apprentice asked curiously.
"No." Lynn shook her head.
Seeing his denial, the students' faces suddenly became disappointed. Some even suspected that Lin En was just trying to trick them into taking this course by talking about Olympiad mathematics in such a miraculous way.
"Then isn't this Olympiad math class the same as the basic class? Mathematics isn't that difficult. It only took me over a month to master it all..." A freckled boy who looked about fifteen years old asked proudly.
"Oh? Really? Are you sure?" Lin En asked with a smile, and then clapped his hands, attracting everyone's attention.
Although he could release [Magic - Barrage] to show these people the powerful force of the combination of magic and Olympiad mathematics, Lin En knew that if he wanted to continue the Olympiad mathematics class, he had to let these people know that even pure mathematics still had unimaginable power!
"In that case, let's make a bet!" A smile appeared on Lin En's lips. He stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers. Under the effect of [Hand of the Mage], the four desks in front of him floated up and then joined together to form a larger square table.
Then the feather pen placed on the desk automatically dipped in ink and divided the large square table into six rows horizontally and vertically, for a total of thirty-six squares.
"The rules are very simple. Place a copper coin in the first square, two in the second square, four in the third, eight in the fourth, and so on..." Lynn looked around at every apprentice in the classroom and spoke in a very seductive tone.
"If someone can fill these squares with the corresponding coins, I will immediately write an application to the Wizard Council to explain that he has completed the study of the arcane mathematics with full marks, and give him a bottle of [Source of Magic]..."
"Professor, is this true? Are you kidding me?" Another tall and thin apprentice, Pierce, who was in his twenties, stood up suddenly and asked excitedly.
What is the [Source of Magic]?
That is the most important thing for a wizard apprentice to be promoted to a formal wizard. It is worth hundreds...even tens of thousands of magic gold coins, and it cannot be bought with money!
For a poor student like him who has not yet completed any subject in his twenties, Lynn's two promises are particularly important.
"Of course, I guarantee it with my personality!" Lin En nodded and said without hesitation.
After hearing Lin En's decisive words, Pierce hesitated for a moment. His life experience told him that there could be no such cheap thing in the world. Either the professor in front of him was fooling him, or there was something wrong here.
Peirce did a rough calculation in his head, but soon he could no longer calculate. He could only roughly estimate that it would take sixty-three copper coins to fill the first six boxes in the first row, which did not seem like a lot.
"Does anyone want to try? There is only one spot!" Lin En said temptingly again.
"Let me do it!" The freckled boy who had interrupted him earlier stood up impatiently.