The Red Dragon Lord is OP, but Insists on a Pop Culture Invasion!

Chapter 246: Chapter 209: Entertainment Drives Technological Breakthroughs

"Professor Booker, what brings you here?"

The principal looked at the old Mage at the door and asked, a little puzzled.

As far as she could recall, the Curse School hadn’t had any matters recently that required her attention.

’He’s probably here to complain again.’ Over the past year, an old professor from one School or another would show up every so often to complain. They’d say fewer and fewer students were choosing their classes, that reforms were needed, that switching Schools should be restricted, that quotas should be set for each School upon admission...

It was always something along those lines.

To sum it up, the Illusion School was putting too much pressure on them.

But the principal had always believed there was no need to forcibly limit the number of students in each School. The current popularity of Illusion magic was simply due to high demand for Illusionist Mages in society. Once that demand was met, the Schools would return to a state of equilibrium.

It was like the theory of feedback regulation in biology.

So, when faced with the professors’ complaints, she had always just put them off, never giving a direct response. She would wait for time to solve the problem, thus not offending either side—the way of a true administrator.

However, the Curse and Molding Energy Schools, two other popular disciplines, hadn’t faced major recruitment problems before.

She remembered that Professor Booker’s Fire Element Curse Magic Class shouldn’t be short on students.

"Er, I’m here to, well, how should I put it?"

Professor Booker was conflicted. The moment he saw an Ancient Beast Golem in the principal’s office as well, he knew this would be a test of his Emotional Intelligence.

Outright saying that these games and toys were the root of all evil would be inappropriate; it would be no different from slapping the principal in the face.

He held back for a good while but felt he had to speak up. This concerned the future of the entire academy. As an old professor who had been teaching at Repin ever since graduating from it, he had deep feelings for the institution.

He finally spoke, "This Digital Monster Machine is quite popular now, isn’t it? I see that you and Soron Mage are also quite interested in it. I don’t really get it, but the students all love this thing, so much so that... so much so that..."

"Many students are addicted to it and are skipping their classes."

As the old Mage struggled to find the right words, Soron finished his sentence for him.

"Yes." Professor Booker immediately affirmed. ’As expected of the most famous Legendary Mage in Twin Tower City, Mr. Soron understands my concerns.’

"So you want to restrict the students from using these things for entertainment," Soron continued.

"That is what I was thinking. The students are constantly engrossed in them, spending all their time on entertainment. It will affect their study of Magic and, in turn, damage the academy’s reputation."

"Therefore, at least within the campus grounds, we should ban the use of the internet and entertainment devices like game consoles. Or perhaps only allow them in the evening until midnight, and on holidays..."

Professor Booker laid out his ideas.

The principal was about to use her usual tactic of evasion and brush the matter aside, just as she always did.

But Soron gestured for her to wait, indicating that he would handle it.

To be honest, the principal didn’t have much faith in Soron’s powers of persuasion. His erratic style was well-known, and she had no idea what kind of crazy stunt he might pull.

Soron scratched his large, bald head and interrupted Professor Booker, saying, "As for those students skipping class, deduct their points if you must, give them demerits if they deserve them. In short, just handle it according to the school rules. As for restricting what students can use, I see no need for that."

"But, them..." Professor Booker pointed toward the door, gesturing at the students’ current state of frenzy.

"They’re all young. They need entertainment. If you don’t let them play with this, they’ll just go play with something else. It’s just that the Digital Monster Machine just came out, so everyone’s curious. The hype won’t be this high after a while."

As a loyal fan of Zog’s toys, Soron—who could now solve a Magic Cube in under 30 seconds—knew very well that Zog Group’s products were most popular right after their release. Everyone would jump on the bandwagon; the hype came fast, but it also faded fast.

"These kids all got into Repin based on their own abilities. They surely understand a simple principle like this: they came here to study and become outstanding Mages. If they really get completely addicted to entertainment and have no self-control, I believe people like that can’t become qualified Mages anyway."

"On the contrary, an outright ban would go against Repin’s long-standing atmosphere of freedom. Besides, sometimes banning something just makes people more passionate about it, you understand?"

Professor Booker found it hard to argue, as what Soron said was indeed very reasonable.

The principal was even more surprised. ’Soron is actually speaking so sensibly.’

Soron pressed on. "Here, take a look." He held the Agumon up in front of Professor Booker.

"Hello!" The Agumon extended a claw in greeting.

"Do you know anything about Golems?" Soron asked.

"A little," Professor Booker answered humbly. Mages, especially old Mages, were masters of one subject and knowledgeable in all. Of course he had studied Golems.

"Look at this Agumon and tell me what’s different about it."

Professor Booker looked at the unremarkable little Golem before him. When he first came in, he hadn’t paid it much mind, assuming it was a defective product like the toy Mechanical Armors from before.

However, upon closer inspection, he saw the Agumon sitting on the floor by itself, swinging its little feet, without having received any command.

Come to think of it, its greeting just now was also given without any command.

"This Golem, it’s more... more..."

"More intelligent, right?" said Soron. "In fact, this thing’s intelligence is far higher than any known Golem."

Professor Booker’s eyes widened. The more he looked, the more extraordinary this Agumon seemed.

Creating intelligent life had always been the ultimate, supreme ideal among a Mage’s achievements. Countless Mages had dedicated their entire lives to achieving this goal.

Yet, for hundreds of years, there had been no significant breakthroughs.

Now, he was seeing such a huge leap in intelligence in a Golem—and this Golem was just a toy. No matter how expensive it was, it was still positioned as a toy.