Chapter 299 (1/2)

Reif did not go home to rest. He was the only member of his family, so there was no need to go back home.

There was a table, some chairs, and a heated brick bed in the duty room next to the construction site. The most important thing was that there was also a hot stove. The old man on duty was very easy-going. As long as you brought your own food, he didn’t mind helping you to make some while preparing lunch for himself. With hot soup, Rief could eat a warm meal. He then went for a walk under the sunshine or chatted with a few co-workers; that was how he spent his afternoon.

The food that Reif had brought with him was Golden Vine Powder, almost the same as the other co-workers. The old man on duty had originally helped them make to bake some cakes. Later when the mayor had come to check up on them, she had said that the lunch should at least contain some oil and had ordered people to send them some. With oil, they could make pancakes, and those tasted much better.

In terms of soup, the old man on duty paid much attention to it. He used rye flakes and small green vegetables to stew it, occasionally adding in some minced meat into the soup. The rye flakes were his own, the minced meat was a gift from Lord Jose, and the small green vegetables were given to him by a student of the magic school. The young mage was doing experiments on plants being grown in the winter time.

Unlike the big men that Reif had met in the past, the newcomers in Pyroxene Town were very amiable. The key point was that they were willing to actually help the poor, not just be polite in words.

The young mage who sent the vegetables every one or two days had once said that the great god, the Void Mask had taught him that if he really cared about others, he should use actual actions to express it. Cheap words were the same as cheating. The young man was very convinced of the teachings of that great god, so he had planted two test fields of vegetables even though he only needed to plant one.

“Of course two fields have their own benefits.” Steve, who had just learned primary-level spells, had written these words in a report. “The two fields are in contrast to each other, which can improve the efficiency of the experiment.”

As for the hard work of planting two fields, the farmer-born youth did not take this hardship to heart.

Felix was also quite satisfied with this student. Although compared to other students, Steve was a bit stupid—he was a slow learner and didn’t understand spells quickly—he was still calm and diligent. He had a rigorous style and worked hard, and that was enough to make up for his lack of intelligence.

If he followed the path of the traditional mages, then Steve wasn’t destined to go too far. However, the “Magic Bomber” was a special mage who was extremely biased towards battles. What that mage paid more attention to were agile actions and careful thoughts, so the requirements for intelligence were not that high. Even if Steve couldn’t become a good Magic Bomber, he could at least become a good battle mage.

In fact, if Felix could break through the limits and step into the Legendary Realm, it would not be difficult to promote a student who was slightly less talented but diligent and attentive to a higher level. The “talent” thing was an insurmountable gap for mortals. However, for the extraordinary, the gap between “mediocrity” and “genius” could be completely eliminated. Only the gap between “talent” and “genius” was impossible to pass across.

For the vast majority of professions, “talent” was completely sufficient.

For example, among excavators, Reif was the most talented in his batch. Even wearing a thick protective suit, he was able to adjust his body well; his body was burdened less under the same work, and he was able to finish more work in the same amount of time.

The pickaxes they were using were enchanted. They were stronger than normal pickaxes and could record the number and power of their swings—this was the key to calculating rewards.

It had been more than a month since the start of the construction. When the wages were settled, Reif received nearly 20% more than an average excavator. This meant that although he also worked eight hours a day, the same as other excavators, his workload was equivalent to more than 9.5 hours.

It was a pity that he only worked hard and was not good at interpersonal communication and management. Otherwise, Felix would promote him to the leader of the excavation team!

“What a pity!” At a meeting, she had specifically mentioned that excellent excavator. “He is obviously very talented, but it is a shame that he is not good at talking or management.”

“There are always some people who are not good at other things except working hard and finishing their own work,” Sui Xiong said with a smile. “At the end of the year, you can give him a ‘model worker’ medal.”

“Model Worker?” Felix’s eyes lit up; then she nodded after carefully pondering for a while.

People were not pigs or dogs, so they were not satisfied just with fulfilling their stomachs. As a mayor, she not only needed to improve the income of residents and their living conditions, but she also needed to let the residents see hope and have the motivation to move forward. This could make their life more radiant.

It was a good idea to give medals to outstanding workers like Reif!

This kind of thing also happened in the army sometimes. Some outstanding soldiers would still be awarded medals even though they had not been able to make enough merits for promotions. Of course, the gold content of those medals was much lower than the medals awarded for meritorious service. However, medals were medals. In any case, they were still a rare honor.

Moreover, the soldiers who could get such kinds of medals would be respected a lot after they retired. The medals meant that they might not have been good enough or lacked opportunities, but they were still very reliable.