Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1250 - 36 The Downcast Vivian

Chapter 1250: Chapter 36 The Downcast Vivian

"I am Vivian, the alchemist Vivian Silas from Nellie’s Adventure Team. Today, I bring before you my research achievements over recent years. The specific content has already been distributed to each attendee, and the finished products of my research have also been submitted to the Supreme Council for performance testing. Now, I will give everyone ten minutes to read the research summary. After ten minutes, I will make a brief presentation. Furthermore, due to time constraints, during the public defense session, I will refuse to answer overly basic questions or questions unrelated to my research content. Of course, this does not include the evaluation defense. Now, ten minutes, the timer starts."

Vivian dusted off her black standard-issue robe and walked down from the reviewers’ platform, step by step, heading towards the podium under the spotlight. The murmuring in the venue, originally stirred by the unusual scene of an officer also participating in the evaluation, gradually hushed as Vivian took her deliberate steps. The girl’s expression was tightly drawn, her gaze carrying a shade of gloom as it danced across the crowd. When her magic staff struck the wooden floor, it was with extra force, producing a heavy thud. These signs were clear indicators, without much thought needed, that the young woman’s mood was particularly foul—to the point that the attendees, including mages and scholars of equal rank or knowledge level, instinctively shut their mouths.

In fact, from being a prodigy to pitiful, and from pitiful to respected, Vivian’s name had been circulating among the members of the Mage Guild. Over the past decade, the peaks and troughs that fate had brought her had nearly turned her story into a legend within the Guild. Even though she was still young, even though she was but a girl, whenever her frail silhouette passed by, she would receive respectful gazes from her colleagues and even from her seniors. After all, to have reached this point dragging a broken body, was something most people would find extremely difficult to achieve. Therefore, the majority of the Guild’s mages sincerely respected the young girl.

At the same time, within the Guild, the young magician also had a good reputation. Despite being employed by an adventure team, and dragging her broken body every day, she still insisted on teaching at the school, passing on her most mastered knowledge to the future Magician Apprentices without reservation. In recent years, the students who graduated from the Mage School to become apprentices to other mages, those who had been taught by Vivian, had a significantly stronger grasp of knowledge than their peers, leading their new mentors to have a better impression of the young mage. In fact, many new mentors had even visited Vivian with their students to express their thanks.

Furthermore, although the young mage was cold to outsiders, often losing herself in thought and leaving them awkwardly standing there, she rarely refused the requests of her colleagues and almost never truly harmed them. This earned her the unanimous goodwill of her colleagues. Seeing the young girl’s tense face, all had appropriately kept silent. Even if a mage unfamiliar with Vivian occasionally whispered a question, they were promptly silenced by angry glares from those around them.

After issuing her authoritative, though not entirely standard, announcement, the girl’s piercing gaze carefully swept around the hall. After observing everybody present, a barely noticeable shade of disappointment flickered across her face. She sighed deeply when no one could hear, and even her two blue ponytails seemed to droop in discouragement.

However, the girl, after all, still maintained enough sense not to lose her composure—or to be precise, not to completely lose her composure. She remained on the podium and, after making the announcement, reached behind her and drew a few lines in the air with her finger. Delicate flames formed into linework as they followed the movements of her fingers, creating a flame-fashioned chair on the ground. The young girl serenely took her seat with her eyes closed, dominating the stage amidst the blaze, allowing flames to burn around her without them affecting her in the slightest.

Once again, the venue fell silent. Attendees bowed their heads to go through the documents in their hands and, after reading for a while, would lift their eyes in surprise to look at the girl on the podium, their faces unconsciously betraying disbelief. The officials on the high platform were also diligently reading the more detailed evaluation material. They were already aware of the girl’s participation in the evaluation and had even read this material in advance. Nonetheless, they read carefully, understanding that the outcome of this evaluation was too important for all professionals, particularly those in casting professions.

Time passed in silence, and the moment the timer completed its tenth rotation, the girl on the podium abruptly opened her eyes and stood up. The chair made of fire vanished without a trace. Without looking back, she banged her staff forcefully on the podium and said with a straight face, "Ten minutes have passed. The presentation begins."

"Today, I present improvements to three potions. When I say improvements, I refer solely to their effects. Looking at the formulae, the potion that shares the most ingredients with its original has only three similar auxiliary materials. Thus, it is permissible to consider these as three brand new potions." The girl’s voice didn’t carry the slightest hint of excitement expected of her. She seemed to be speaking just to fulfill a task, her tone flat and monotonous, "Meditation Potion, Deep Sleep Potion, Vitality Recovery Potion—these are the three potions I have improved. The specific data following the improvements are detailed in the report, so I will not repeat them here."

In the quiet conference hall, a subtle ripple of commotion stirred among the audience. Clearly, Vivian’s approach severely deviated from the council’s protocols. However, the content she submitted was of such paramount importance to the mages that they were willing to overlook her breach of etiquette. Even if she had flung the documents in the face of any mage present, out of respect, they would have picked them up and handed them back to her, eagerly waiting for her to continue. That said, even if the mages revered her, they couldn’t help but feel a touch of dissatisfaction.

"I have submitted twenty batches of the finished product to the Supreme Council," Vivian spoke as if entirely unaware of the surrounding disapproval, her face expressionless, "Thereby proving their replicability is without any issue. Moreover, these twenty batches have a production span of over half a year. The difference in effectiveness between the first and the twentieth batch is within reasonable error, which also proves their stability is not a problem."

"Alright, my presentation is over. If there are any questions, please begin," she said.

But no one asked a question. Those in attendance exchanged perplexed glances. What the girl had just said could hardly be classified as a presentation, and everyone was momentarily at a loss as to where even to begin with their inquiries.

"I have a question." A voice, impossible to pinpoint from where, suddenly rang out, "These three potions—if I wanted to buy them, how much would you sell them to me for? Can you give me a discount? I’m quite poor, you see."

"Stupid question, stupid person," everyone thought. "The other party is obviously in a grumpy, unhinged state, and yet he dares to tease her with such a trivial question. He must be an idiot."

However, to everyone’s disbelief, the girl at the podium transformed the moment she heard the question. A spark lit up in her eyes, and her voice filled with vigor, "My apologies, everyone. Due to the exhaustion from traveling these past few days, I wasn’t in the best state of mind just now and lost my composure. Allow me to supplement the parts of my presentation I didn’t finish earlier. I hope you can forgive me."