Chapter 104: Chapter 104: Pricing and Doubts
A moment later.
"Argh—roar—"
Several howls of demons echoed successively from the three dissection rooms.
As the howls subsided, three Third Ring Great Wizards emerged from the dissection rooms.
"I extracted this basic rune fragment from the Bone Demon." Alicia tapped her Continent Communication Device, revealing a point of faint crimson fragment on the light screen.
"I extracted this from the Winged Demon."
"I extracted from..."
The elder and the middle-aged wizard each activated a light screen on their Continent Communication Devices, displaying the rune fragments extracted from the Abyssal Demons.
The three exchanged glances at each other’s extracted rune fragments and found two similar, one dissimilar.
"This basic rune fragment is indeed very special." Alicia wore a solemn expression, asking her colleagues, "Should we report it to Representative Ron first?"
Whenever a basic rune is difficult to extract, it is undoubtedly special.
Although not yet verified, she believed there was already a necessity for an upward report.
"Let’s wait." The elder shook his head slightly, "Reporting it now is meaningless; we should complete the basic rune and make a decision only after testing."
As the Chairman’s representative, Ron manages all affairs of the Betula Continent and is exceedingly busy.
He believed that each report must be substantial.
Rather than deliver a report based on a possible conjecture and risk ending up with dashed hopes.
"I think Bernard is right." The middle-aged wizard agreed, "Let’s verify the results first."
"Alright, what do you think is a suitable starting price for this ’conjecture’? 10 million contribution points?" Alicia asked.
Their task was to select valuable conjectures and results, undergoing preliminary pricing and recommendation.
The value of this conjecture was unquestionable, and setting an appropriate price was crucial to their reputation.
She directly proposed a price that was astronomical compared to other conjectures but just right for this one.
"Ten million is way too much." The middle-aged male wizard frowned slightly, "Other conjectures at most only go for one million contribution points; increasing it tenfold is too steep, I think five million is better."
Their total annual distribution of contribution points is only three billion, and losing one-thirtieth of that so swiftly—what if the conjecture turns out to be less useful?
"Hayes, you’re too conservative; I think directly giving twenty million is more appropriate."
Elder Bernard chuckled, "Anyway, the year is nearly over, and we still have one billion three hundred million left. We might as well set a precedent and give other research wizards some motivation."
Personally, he was quite optimistic about this new discovery.
Since the contribution point quota will reset next year, giving a bit more now was inconsequential.
"Cough, then let’s go with ten million." The middle-aged male wizard Hayes coughed and decisively sided with Alicia.
That Bernard, truly unafraid of being questioned by many research wizards, immediately proposed two million as a starting point.
If it were published at this price, he suspected his communication device would explode the next second.
"Ten million, two to one, so it’s settled." Alicia, without hesitation, immediately started operating the communication device.
She was also startled by Bernard’s proposal, for twenty million was indeed a bit outrageous.
After all, this was merely a conjecture; before results emerged, no one could predict how significant that basic rune could be.
If it truly yields significant results, they could always increase the price later.
...
The first underground floor of the Cooper Wizard Tower, in Lor’s dissection room bedroom.
"An initial pricing of ten million?"
Lor raised an eyebrow slightly in surprise at the notice in the section, "Those three wizards responsible for the pricing do have some skill!"
Initially, he estimated that an initial pricing of five million would have been quite good, as it was just a conjecture.
If their judgment was lacking, they might have first valued his conjecture at just one million contribution points.
Only when results emerged later on would it be time to see how generous Ron would be.
Closing the notice, Lor browsed through the section.
With just a glance, he noticed his conjecture pinned at the top of the section.
Entering the conjecture and scrolling to the bottom.
Lines of commentary met his gaze, increasing moment by moment.
[A conjecture priced at ten million? What a joke!]
[If not stated as a conjecture, I’d have thought it was a result.]
[What are those three Great Wizards doing?]
[This conjecture is actually quite interesting.]
[This name, I seem to have heard a friend mention it.]
[Isn’t the Meteor Mage called by this name? Wasn’t he always at the frontline? How did he suddenly publish a conjecture?]
[I’ll go ask...]
The majority of comments questioned the rationale behind those three Great Wizards pricing a conjecture at ten million contribution points.
This was understandable, as other conjectures maxed out at one million.
A conjecture suddenly valued at ten million contribution points felt rather abrupt.
Only a few people didn’t focus on the value of the conjecture but rather its content.
Meanwhile, others noticed Lor’s name.
Although Lor’s reputation in the experimental circles was not prominent, some wizards had heard of him from friends.
These people appeared especially shocked.
A titled wizard continually engaged in frontline support missions casually published a conjecture that overshadowed them all.
How could they endure?
"Everyone should hurry and verify it." Lor leisurely browsed through the comments, with a slight curve at the corner of his mouth, "Once it’s verified, I’ll at least break through the Third Ring."
The more doubts about this conjecture, the happier he became.
Because the more doubts arising, the more people would go to verify it.
Once they verify and summarize the results, it would lay the foundation for the achievements in the conjecture.
Ultimately successfully piecing together that complete Abyssal Energy Basic Rune.
"Judging by this situation, it won’t take more than half a year for the results to be fully revealed." Lor, after reading comments for quite some time, finally closed it with satisfaction.
Before then, he had to carefully plan out the fusion process for his third Fusion Witchcraft.
The third Fusion Witchcraft inevitably had to be one that facilitated speed or, in other words, offered escape abilities.
Escaping was always one of the primary strengths of Spatial Mages... among others.
It was also one of the fundamental reasons why Lor chose to become a Spatial Mage without hesitation back then.
Should there not appear any mishaps like a ’virtualized’ Space Rune, Lor would formally master the first true contact with space witchcraft.
"Soon, soon," Lor’s heart was full of anticipation, "In no time, even most fourth-rank beings won’t be able to do anything to me."