Universe Infinite Canteen

Ma Lu looked at this pair from the investment world, a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger, and didn't know what to say. Then he turned his head to look at Qi Baichuan; this one was even more significant. However, this guy also had his merits, eloquent and perceptive, good at networking, and he had even been a top salesman. Although he might not be very useful as a teacher, he would be an excellent hand in business. It just so happened that Ma Lu had also lit up the [Business Plan] that could slightly increase the school's commercial attractiveness after a successful study next week, bringing in some commercial cooperation. And even if this Skill weren't illuminated, relying on Qi Baichuan's persuasive tongue, they should be able to bluff some money. Although the Ministry of Education provided subsidies for cleansing the catastrophe belt after the reforms, the expenses were not low at Ma Lu's side, which included charter flights, new instructors' introduction, and preparations for purchasing another batch of training and Recovery facilities. The need for funds was substantial. Unless Ma Lu was willing to sell a portion of the captive roaming fruits, these were precious talisman-making materials, and randomly chosen ones could exchange for a lot of money. But unless it was a last resort, Ma Lu didn't want to do that. Apart from the restaurant also needing these ingredients, the most important reason was that the Talisman Master Association would register the spoils after every cleanup of the Disaster belt. Suddenly presenting so many rare materials not listed in the records would be hard to explain. So the school still had to have a legitimate way to earn money. The talisman master schools on this Plane typically have commercial operations, not just as schools but also as agencies. They would carry out commercial exploitation of the highly popular Talisman Masters at the schools - books, movies, and all sorts of peripherals. Everyone was making money from this; there was no reason why Hou De shouldn't. So Ma Lu thought about it and said to Qi Baichuan and Zhou Zuolin, "Both of you... have passed." "Really?" Zhou Zuolin was delighted. Qi Baichuan, too, swept away his previous listlessness. He knew he had bet correctly; the new leader did place a higher value on capability. However, with this, out of the six candidates, Ma Lu had already generously accepted four, leaving only the fat man and the jacquard satin tube skirt. Among them, Ma Lu had given the jacquard satin tube skirt a pending status. He had not yet had time to look at the fat man's answer sheet. But the pressure on both was undeniable, especially when they couldn't accept that Qi Baichuan, a swindler, had even passed the recruitment process and had become an instructor at Hou De. Were they aiming to cultivate Talisman Masters or criminals at this school? A similar question couldn't help but rise in their hearts. Meanwhile, Ma Lu was pondering another matter; he knew that Li Zhengwei had no choice but to come teach at Hou De because he had offended the General Staff, while Qi Baichuan was a gold medal salesman who had come to hide out after a company explosion. Yang the Boxer's reason for applying was written right on his resume - he had trained a thankless student, and as a result, he was driven away from his hometown at an old age. Zhou Zuolin didn't say, but he had been an editor at a publishing house before, which should be better than teaching at Hou De. Ma Lu guessed it was also because he had offended someone or made some misstep. The only one left, the jacquard satin tube skirt, had blurted out in excitement that she had been someone's mistress, likely causing a scandal at her former school, forcing her to leave. As for the fat man, the details were unclear, but Ma Lu guessed he must have gotten into some trouble. So, is coming to teach at Hou De everyone's fall-back option? However, this was also quite normal. Hou De was at the bottom of the talisman master schools. With rumors of bankruptcy, any person of integrity and ability wouldn't come. Frankly speaking, if Ma Lu hadn't had a case of chuunibyou, wishing to create Hou De's version of Evil Valley and gather an achievement of all bad characters, he, too, would want people of both good character and ability. Unfortunately, such talents currently couldn't be recruited by Hou De. To have found Cao Youyi was already a stroke of luck. If they had to choose between morality and capability, Ma Lu would prioritize capability, since he, the principal, was there to play the tyrant and suppress these dishonest folks. The fat man in the blue vest was the last to submit his paper, looking uneasy. Ma Lu took his paper and felt puzzled. "What on earth is this that you've answered?" "Talisman... talisman," the fat man swallowed hard. "This is a talisman." "I asked you how to defeat Lingnan in a week, and you draw me a talisman. Could this talisman summon heaven soldiers and heavenly generals during the competition?" "No, but it can help you cast your spells faster." "Oh?" Ma Lu became somewhat interested. "Go on." At this moment, Zhou Zuolin also leaned in. Though it wasn't in his nature to flatter leaders, he wanted to show some initiative as he had just found a new job. And talismans were his professional field, after all. "This is an Item Retrieving Talisman, hmm, but it's not quite like the standard Item Retrieving Talismans. You've made some changes." "Not much, just alterations in two places so that the spellcasting can be more covert." While the fat man spoke, a pen had already quietly flown in front of everyone. The jacquard satin tube skirt exclaimed in surprise, "When? When did you cast the spell? I didn't notice at all." This technique was indeed very hidden. Imagine if, instead of a pen, the fat man was manipulating a sharp object like a knife and stealthily stabbed towards the opponent when they were not paying attention, the chances of success were still quite high. The fat man chuckled, but before he could say anything, Zhou Zuolin had already shaken his head and said, "It won't work. The talisman can't just be altered, especially the foundational ones. They are meticulously chosen by the Talisman Master Association and the Ministry of Education. "Altering them will lower the casting success rate, intensify the consumption of spiritual power, and increase the learning difficulty for students. Talismans, in essence, borrow power from the world. If you write the request wrong, even if you manage to borrow the power, it will be hard to control." The fat man did not speak, but Ma Lu already saw from his embarrassed expression that Zhou Zuolin was right. However, for Ma Lu, this wasn't an issue, as Hou De didn't intend to train Talisman Masters for monster hunting but rather for fighting humans. Ma Lu's requirement for them was to be amateurs in external battles but to be experts in internal battles. And human adversaries are known for being fragile. If the battle could be ended quickly, the expenditure of spiritual power became insignificant. As learning difficulty wasn't an issue - after all, most students at Hou De were of Grade D or Grade E, it wasn't realistic to expect them to learn talismanic magic by themselves. They still needed "Enlightenment Cola." And "Enlightenment Cola" was purely about chance. It didn't matter whether a piece of talismanic magic was easy or hard to learn. So the only downside was the decreased success rate. Fortunately, Ma Lu inquired with the fat man and found that the general decrease was just by ten to twenty percent, and inter-school sparring consisted of several rounds, with the final result based on points. Losing one or two rounds was acceptable. Ma Lu then further inquired with the fat man and learned that he could modify more than ten types of talismans and that given time, he could improve other talismans as well.