The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 3642: Problems with the Magic Academy (Part )

Chapter 3642: Problems with the Magic Academy (Part )

Massachusetts in autumn has clear skies and colorful autumn scenery that is unique to cities in the northeastern United States. Large tracts of beech, maple and oak trees make the distant mountains full of colors. The golden color is dotted with warm red, and the quiet green and dark gray flow together.

A Bentley drove to the entrance of Greylock Nature Reserve. Strange and Schiller, both in suits, got out of the car. Schiller took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air, rolled up his sleeves, and stamped his feet.

"Let's go." Strange pointed in a direction, and the two walked towards the inside of the reserve.

"We bought a piece of land on the east side of Greylock Nature Reserve that was originally used to build a respiratory health research center, about 4000 acres..."

"Is it that big?" Schiller asked in surprise. He calculated in his mind that it was about 16 square kilometers. Then he asked in confusion, "What were they going to build here?"

“A research center dedicated to improving human respiratory health.”

“Does studying human respiratory health require such a large space?”

"You've asked the right person," Strange turned back to Schiller and said, "The last time I came into contact with the internal medicine of the respiratory system was in undergraduate school."

Schiller sighed and said, "That just shows you must have pretty good surgical skills."

Then he asked, "Why didn't they build it again?"

"I heard that it was because it was too close to a nature reserve, thus violating certain provisions of an environmental protection law."

"That's definitely not the reason," Schiller shook his head. "I guess it's because some important person who was expecting to come here for recuperation died prematurely. Have they started the construction yet?"

"Not yet," Strange said. "If they had laid the foundation, I wouldn't have bought the land. We're not trying to study the human respiratory system here. A castle is something else entirely."

"This place is really good for the human respiratory system." Schiller nodded and said, "The oxygen content should be quite high. I feel that my breathing is very easy and my spirit is very uplifted."

"That's right. I ask magicians to stay in places with good natural environments as much as possible. Not only so that they can enjoy the natural scenery, but also because the high oxygen content will help them to continue negotiating with the devil and avoid themselves from being deprived of oxygen."

"And you built your headquarters in the thinnest part of the atmosphere?"

"This is how powerful the mages of Kamar-Taj are. We can even talk to the demons for three hours at an altitude of four thousand meters, and even they will be impressed by our willpower."

"Well, you're right," Schiller could only nod.

The two walked to the reception desk of the reserve, where they were greeted by a bald man with a mustache.

"Haverley Mount, director of the Greylock Mountain Nature Reserve, is also an environmental consultant responsible for the ecological environment of the Berkshire region. If you have any questions in this regard, you can come to me."

Schiller walked up to him and shook his hand. Strange followed closely. Schiller stood in the middle of the reception hall, folded his hands in front of him and said, "Someone should have greeted you before we came. This is a big project. We must confirm all the procedures before starting, especially the environmental protection issues. We don't want to bring any pollution to the nature reserve that may cause damage to natural resources, so we need to know which construction methods are acceptable."

"Thank you for coming," said Monte. "We are actually a small place. The only thing worth mentioning is the natural environment. So local residents attach great importance to this."

"Yes, we are concerned about this," Strange said. "I heard that you had 13 protests in one month just because too much sand was used in the construction of a rural road."

"In fact, this only works for some town-level projects. And you two - I know, you may be big shots from New York or Washington. The projects you want to build here cannot be stopped by us country bumpkins."

“Stop complaining, Mr. Monte. We came here early to find out how we can build what we need without destroying the natural environment. If we didn’t value environmental protection, we wouldn’t come to you.”

Monte did not show any resentment. He just said helplessly: "I am not an extreme environmentalist, but I have to tell you that as long as you want to build modern buildings, it will definitely cause certain damage to the local environment. This is completely unavoidable."

"Are you sure you understand what we are building?" Strange asked.

"I heard it was some school? A community college?"

"That's far from it." Strange said helplessly, "It's a magic school."

Monte was stunned and said, "What?"

"A magic school. It recruits students from different countries and regions, and even different universes. They learn magic here and contribute to the protection of human civilization and the earth."

"Oh my God." Monte exclaimed, "You mean those news about magic reported on TV are true?"

"It's always been true," Strange said.

"Does the church agree?" Monte asked again.

"We are not a cult." Strange shook his head helplessly and said, "If the junior senator from Massachusetts had not revealed his intention to veto the establishment of a magic academy at the regular Senate meeting this week, we would not have come here to investigate in person."

"It sounds like you guys are really big shots."

"Let me put it this way. My position in the magic world is equivalent to that of the Pope." Strange racked his brains to translate the professional terms in his mind into words that ordinary people could understand. "What we are going to build now is equivalent to the Vatican Seminary."

"Are you really not a cult?"

"of course not!"

“Then why didn’t the senator allow you to build a school?”

"We want to know that, too," Schiller said. "He means there will be environmental problems, so we come here and come to you to find out what the environmental problems will be."

"Again, it depends on what you want to build here. But no matter what you build, there will be environmental problems. It's just a matter of size." Monte led them to the backyard and said, "If someone grabs it, even the smallest problem will become a big problem. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Of course. But we will never allow someone to interfere with our plans by making a fuss. If the environmental protection issue he mentioned is that we destroyed a blade of grass here, such a ridiculous statement will not be accepted."

"How can you guarantee that?"

"Let me make this clear. We have people who can make sure that if he tries to come up with a ridiculous excuse for his veto, he will be kicked out of the Senate in his second year in office."

They stopped at the porch leading to the backyard. Monte crossed his arms in front of him, spread his legs and said, "If you have such ability, there is no need to come to me."

Schiller sighed, held out his hand and said, "Look, we're not coming to you for any political reasons. He's a resident of Massachusetts and he said there might be an environmental problem, so we want to see if there is one. We don't want to harm the environment. Got it?"

"Oh," Monte said, as if it dawned on him. "So you're the kind of people who really care about the environment."

"That's right!" they said in unison.

"My view remains unchanged. No matter what you build here, it will definitely affect the natural environment. But the impact can be big or small, and can be divided into acceptable and unacceptable. If it is a chemical plant or something, it will certainly be difficult for local people to accept it. But if it is a school, it will be better."

They continued walking. Monte looked out the window as he walked, and then said, "The land you have chosen has more than 1000 acres of forest resources and a small lake of about 200 acres, which is connected to the water system in Canada. These two are obviously the top priorities."

They walked into the elevator and after exiting, they came to the circular viewing hall in the corner of the building. Monte stood in front of the window and pointed out, "From here you can see a corner of Mount Greylock. It looks nice, right? Your land is over there. Do you see that beautiful forest? That belongs to you."

"I believe you don't need a 4000-acre school. So don't disturb the forest and the lake. There is a small hill to the south of this land, and you can also see a corner of Mount Greylock. I think you can build the building there as a half-mountain building complex. Of course, this depends on your architectural style. If it is too modern, local residents may complain that you are destroying the view of Mount Greylock."

"We're going to build a castle," said Strange.

"Sorry, what?"

"A castle." Strange waved his hand, and a blueprint appeared in his hand, but it was not a professional architectural drawing, it was just a picture with a castle on it.

Schiller had seen this drawing before. The castle in the drawing was a Gothic castle like Hogwarts, but other than that, there was no similarity. The castle in the drawing was more symmetrical, with a purple spire that was more in line with mysticism, and more Gothic decorations than Hogwarts, as well as many narrow but gorgeous colored windows. It was less quaint but more gorgeous.

It was obvious at first glance that this was not Strange's aesthetic. Strange didn't like complicated things, but in order to conform to the public's stereotype and to give students from other universes a shocking first impression, he still chose this one among many drawings.

"God," Monte exclaimed. He even looked at Strange as if he were a mental patient. He pointed at the blueprint and said, "Are you saying that you are going to build a Fort Colwyn here?"

"It's much bigger than that." Strange nodded. "And I'm sure Dracula isn't imprisoned here."