Chapter 677: Magic Academy Branch
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the end, after a three-hour stalemate, the mage gathering finally ended. Hansen and the rest of the "shadow" mages were filled with despair, and they had no choice but to obediently leave along with the people from the mage guild.
Not to mention, a terrifying judgment was awaiting them.
The laws of this world were not perfect, but in such situation where they had gotten the majority’s approval, even if definitive evidence could not be provided, they would still be subjected to a sentence. Besides, Benjamin had provided quite a lot of information in addition to the research, so it was obvious that he would be more convincing.
The verdict did not take that long. They knew that in three days, the general would replace the princess and announce the result. Then, the rune’s law of meditation would belong to the magic academy; in addition to this, the "shadow" mage organization will also need to pay one hundred thousand gold coins to the academy as compensation due to their shameful behavior.
Even in this situation, a hundred thousand gold coins was still a little too unbelievable.
Benjamin could accept how it turned out. Anyway, it was a debt that they would definitely not be able to afford, and Hansen will end up spending the rest of his life trying to repay it.
"You’d better not think about escaping. Even if you flee to the Kingdom of Helius, believe it or not, I will find you." The day the verdict was issued, Benjamin smiled and said to Hansen.
Hansen did not say anything, he merely stared at the ground grimly.
Early the next morning, someone found his body hanging from the ceiling in one of his organization’s strongholds.
With such a bleak and hopeless life, the leader of the mage organization chose to commit suicide. Soon, word spread to Benjamin, and he thus proclaimed the issue regarding plagiarism officially closed.
Everyone from the "Shadow" organization had fled in one night. The huge mage organization collapsed, and all the property belonging to the magic organization was awarded to the academy. Therefore, the phrase "not one to mess with" became the world’s impression of the magic academy.
"Mage Hansen is stupid, why would he want to provoke the magic academy, of all places?"
Some mages who knew him exclaimed.
However, most mages who did not know him did not care about what had happened.
"Why do you care? Quickly find out about the rune’s law of meditation! Did you get ahold of their recruitment brochures? They say that using that method of meditation will make you a few times stronger than before!"
"I did not get it, but I heard that the law is still in an experimental stage, and only mages who have formally entered the academy can practice it. The brochures are for advertisement, even if you get one, you will not be able to learn it."
"Is that so..."
With the series of campaigns organized by Hansen, coupled with the reputation and influence of the Magic Academy, now mages from all around the country were talking about the rune’s law of meditation. However, Benjamin had yet to completely disclose the law of meditation to the public; he remained as secretive as ever, making sure only a small group of people knew about it in detail.
It was indeed not a good idea to monopolize this law of meditation, but Benjamin wanted to use it as a gimmick to recruit students. Once the new batch of students enters the academy, the rune’s law of meditation would be sold openly and at a reasonable price. It could also be considered a means to give the academy a good reputation
But he also clearly knew that everyone had heard the news and that he could no longer hide it.
They were still busy with recruiting new students.
"The number of applicants is even greater than the last time, and the crowd is extremely enthusiastic. But we are still short of our original enrollment quota." Varys reported, "Also, many potential students have passed the test, so should we start planning the recruitment?"
"We can add a few more requirements for the recruitment and hire some mercenaries. Either way, it is just registration and collecting fees, so we can hire someone else to do it." Benjamin thought about it for a moment, "But... we cannot recruit any more students."
There weren’t many teachers in the academy, to begin with. During the previous year, things were already hectic with just the original batch of students that were enrolled, so could you imagine the situation if they recruited even more students?
Of course, the senior students who were in their second year could act as assistant teachers, but they certainly could not completely rely on them.
Apparently, Varys understood Benjamin’s concerns.
He nodded and suggested, "In that case, then why not we hire some new teachers? Even if we offer just a modest paycheck, I believe that there will be plenty of mages who will try to join our academy."
However, Benjamin shook his head.
"How can we just simply hire teachers?" He did not hesitate in his reply, "The mages in our academy and the mages outside have two completely different perceptions about magic; not to mention that after recruiting them, we will need to train them all over again. They might be strong, but mentally, these people might not even be as good as our students."
Benjamin had secretly hoped that some students would choose to stay after graduation and be trained to become teachers. This would definitely help solve the academy’s dilemma.
But ... Now that there is such a great response from the mages, if we do not do something about it, it will all go to waste." Varys shook his head and said from a business point of view.
Benjamin could not help but stroke his chin.
He did not want to lower the teaching quality of the academy, so he still wanted to maintain a more careful approach. However... the number of teachers that could be trained with his original plan was indeed too little, and this would eventually cause the other mages to become dissatisfied.
He did not want to see the Magic Academy in the future become something that was beyond the reach of the majority of mages.
After thinking about it, Benjamin suddenly said, "In that case, then we can simply make another branch."
"Another branch of the magic academy?"
"That’s right, since we have already started it, why not take the second place too?" Benjamin nodded and said. "Now that the people are very enthusiastic, we can make a magic school branch, so that the recruitment would not be limited, and the quality of teaching would not have to be maintained at such a high level. The main objective of it would be to spread the academy’s perception on the study of magic."
"But... if we were to build a new branch, we would be met with an array of new challenges, right?"
Benjamin slammed the table when he heard this, "Did we not just take over all the "Shadow" organization’s properties? They have done a lot of preparation for building an academy - we can take over it, since the academy branch will not have to be of such a high standard."
"In that case... there is still a few months until the new semester starts, this might actually work."
Finally, Varys gave some positive feedback.
Benjamin also had an excited look on his face.
It was time for them to take a new step forward!
Therefore, their new objective was set. Just their luck that the recruitment happened a little early due to all sorts of accidents, so they now had more time to prepare for their new target.
Benjamin had many discussions with the academy mages about how to build their new branch before they finally came up with a system.
The new campus’s enrollment would be five times the size of that of the main campus, and the school fees would also be significantly lower. The classes would be more loosely arranged, and due to these arrangements, the requirements for venues and teachers will not be that high. The new campus’ requirements were not as strict as the main campus’ – the students just needed to attend classes, and their exam would be much simpler as well, so it would be easier to pass ... and most importantly, they could hire teachers from the outside.
Anyway, most of the students who would enter the branch campus just wanted to learn the rune’s law of meditation. They just needed to teach the law of meditation along with some other lessons.
After much deliberation, Benjamin decided to set up a new campus in each country.