"Heidis Academy is a top-notch magic academy, so its enrollment process is different from other schools," Holland explained. "The academy uses a special advancement system, and all students are high-achieving students who have advanced from Heidis' affiliated magic academies."
"There are a total of thirteen affiliated magic academies, and you came from Seadot, right? Seadot Magic Academy is one of them."
"Every year, the top one hundred students from the affiliated magic academies are eligible to advance directly into Heidis Academy."
"So if you want to enter Heidis Academy, this is one way."
"But as you said, you don't want to be just a student, and considering you're a mercenary, you probably won't be obediently staying in the academy to attend classes most of the time..."
Mike snapped his fingers. "Exactly, so what should I do?"
Holland leisurely picked up a piece of cookie, and in just a short while, most of the snacks on the plate had been devoured by the little Cat girl who came with Mike.
With a slight lift of her red lips, she took a bite of the square cookie, then sipped her tea, appearing very elegant. Then she continued.
"So, you have two other ways to enter Heidis Academy."
"First, internal recruitment within the academy."
"If a mentor or someone with internal recruitment quotas within the academy takes a liking to you, they can directly recruit you into the academy, where your status can vary depending on the circumstances."
"You could be a student, a research assistant, or an assistant instructor, depending on how the mentor arranges it."
"However, the mentors at Heidis Academy have high standards, so if you don't have talent, no matter how you perform, you probably won't be noticed."
At this, Mike's eyes lit up, and he looked at Holland eagerly.
Holland raised an eyebrow, then smiled. "Don't think about it. There's no way I would recruit you internally."
"Why?" Mike asked.
"Each mentor only has one internal recruitment quota per year, and mine is already earmarked. It's for a member of my research team who needs it more than you."
"If you're willing to wait another year..." Holland teased, "maybe I'll consider you first."
Mike chuckled, waved his hand. "Let's talk about the second option."
Holland pursed her lips, finished her cookie, wiped the crumbs off her fingers, and then continued.
"The second option, which I think is most suitable for you, is to become an outbound personnel."
"In addition to students, the academy also has some official staff, and there are quotas for outbound personnel released every year."
"These outbound personnel... what are they mainly for?" Mike asked.
"You can think of them as mercenaries prioritized for tasks for the academy," Holland said.
"The academy has many tasks, some of which students cannot complete. For example, long-distance, high-risk escort missions, dangerous monster hunting or capture missions, and so on. In short, they are all high-risk or relatively troublesome tasks."
"As you know, the academy certainly protects its students. But when the academy needs help and students cannot be used, the role of outbound personnel is highlighted."
"And this is also very beneficial for you. After all, you are a mercenary yourself, so this position is not in conflict with your current occupation. Secondly, there are the rewards for academy tasks, which are generally more generous than tasks of the same level."
"Then there's the relative freedom; apart from a few mandatory tasks per month or two, the rest of the time is entirely voluntary. It can be said that this is your mercenaries' iron rice bowl; you're not afraid of not getting tasks, and you won't be constrained like students by the academy."
"You can also freely enter and exit various areas of the academy without being treated as an outsider. There are also outbound benefits, a fixed monthly salary, and..."
As Holland kept talking, Mike's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
Sure enough, he had pushed for the right bargain!
The value of these things was worth more than a single Wolf Fiend!
As long as he obtained this outbound personnel qualification, both the money and the academy problem would be solved!
So Mike immediately agreed, "I'll go with this!"
Holland chuckled, "However, there are quite a few people competing for these outbound positions."
"The number of outbound personnel from the academy is fixed, and replacements are only made when personnel are lost, either by leaving or by death."
"This year, there are 185 positions to be filled."
"But just in Gorilla City alone, there are at least 3,000 people competing for these positions. If you include surrounding areas, there are probably over ten thousand."
Mike widened his eyes.
So this is the charm of an iron rice bowl?
"So, the competition is really intense..." Mike nodded. "So what's the competition like?"
"It's simple. The academy allocates these positions to various guilds or other third parties, and the guilds conduct small-scale assessments. The specific format is determined by the guild, and each place is different. In any case, the academy is only responsible for allocating the positions."
"So, some positions are given directly by the issuer, some can be bought, some are auctioned, some require bidding, some require completing special tasks, or even a fight, and so on."
"The year before last, there were only thirty-something positions, and one of them was auctioned for 120,000 gold coins."
Mike's mouth twitched.
It seems that the competition for positions is even more difficult than he imagined...
"The most important thing is, you're not eligible to participate in the competition for positions right now," Holland suddenly said.
"Why?" Mike asked.
"Although the academy does not limit the way positions are competed for, there are requirements." Holland said.
"At least, you must be at the Gold rank, or at least a Gold-ranked mercenary."
At this, Holland suddenly had a thought and said, "Oh, I remembered. Each mentor will also have a recommended position, and the way the positions are distributed is up to the mentor."
"I was thinking of auctioning off this position, although I won't get the price from two years ago, but I think I could easily get thirty to forty thousand gold coins..."
After finishing, Holland looked at Mike with a smile, the implication couldn't be clearer.
Mike was also slightly surprised.
It has to be you, huh!
So Mike remained silent for a moment, then said earnestly, "Can I use my handsome face as an advance payment?"
Holland was stunned, then burst out laughing.
"You really have a thick skin!" she said.
Mike modestly replied, "You're too kind."
Holland said, "When did I praise you?"
Mike said, "Isn't it? The beautiful mentor speaks beautiful words."
Holland rolled her eyes. "Smooth talker."
Then she finished the last sip of tea in her cup and said, "You can have this recommended position, but I have three requirements."
Mike asked, "What are they?"
"First, as I said earlier, you must be at least Gold rank or a Gold-ranked mercenary. The positions will be distributed next month, so you must reach this level before then. Otherwise, even if I want to give it to you, I can't."
"No problem!" Mike nodded.
"Good, the second requirement," Holland continued.
"After becoming an outbound personnel, you must prioritize the tasks I assign you, and there are certain tasks you cannot refuse."
Raising an eyebrow, Mike asked, "How are these 'certain tasks' defined?"
Holland said, "I haven't thought about it specifically, but it must be tasks that are very important to me."
Mike asked, "What if the task is certain death?"
Holland replied, "I certainly won't assign you a task that leads to certain death... But considering the uncertainty of tasks, this condition can be changed."
"How about this... for 'certain tasks,' you cannot refuse them actively; you can only flip a coin to make a choice."
"Heads, you must accept."
"Tails, you can choose whether to accept or not. How about that?"
Mike laughed, "That's still full of uncertainty and challenge, I like it, deal!"
Holland's lips curved up.
"The third requirement."
"Go make me a cup of tea. The tea leaves are in the second cupboard from the top. It's High Mountain White Peach Blossom Tea. Remember to add one and a half cubes of sugar, and don't forget to warm the cup in advance to maintain the best flavor."
Mike: "..."
Ah, women.