Chapter 7: Responding to the Wind
Modo City. Hammerstone Tavern.
As a newly established tavern, Hammerstone Tavern is not particularly lively, far less so than other high-end taverns in Modo Harbor. However, there is one advantage here—there are regular customers from the military camp and the armory, especially the Grey Dwarves of Modo City, who enjoy the high-proof spirits available. Compared to other taverns, Hammerstone Tavern offers good value for money, with cups roughly the size of a grinding bowl, so most of the patrons here belong to the lower-middle class of Modo City.
Today, there are quite a few customers at Hammerstone Tavern.
However, unlike the usual lively hustle and bustle, today’s Hammerstone Tavern is filled with whispers.
“Have you heard?”
“They’re planning to open an academy! I hear there are no admission requirements! As long as you have a residency permit for Modo City, you can get in!”
“And no tuition fees are needed.”
“I heard the great Lord Soren is preparing to have those noble wizards personally teach there.”
It seems that at some point, people have started to refer to Soren not just as “Lord,” but increasingly add “great” to describe his achievements. This change is closely related to their lives; the lower-class civilians are easily satisfied and will remember who has made their lives better.
“I know.”
“I just heard about it today.”
A man with a big beard took a swig of his drink, spitting as he spoke: “The City Hall leaked the news early this morning. But it’s not just about inviting the wizards to be teachers; the City Hall is also recruiting other scholars and craftsmen as instructors.”
“The Modo Academy is said to focus on teaching certain skills.”
“But it’s not completely free!”
“There are fees for the academy, but if there are financial difficulties, you can defer payment. After graduation, you can repay the tuition slowly through work.”
“As long as you can work in Modo City, you can pay off the tuition in at most six months.”
In this primitive era,
The Material Plane still operates under an apprenticeship system, much like ancient China, where even an ordinary craftsman apprentice would need three to five years to apprentice, during which they provide free labor. In such an era, having a good skill can support you for a lifetime. The apprenticeship gifts and various requirements are very complex, and apprentices being scolded is commonplace. Sometimes, with a bad master, it may take more than ten years to master a skill to support oneself.
Although Soren hasn’t established a professional academy, the system currently operating in Modo City is already changing the rules of reality.
It can be said that once this academy system is put in place, the crude and primitive apprenticeship systems found in other places of the Material Plane will basically disappear from Modo City, and the cultivation of talent will become more efficient and continuous.
“I know.”
Another man chimed in: “My nephew is about the right age. I was planning to have him become a sailor, but the kid doesn’t like being at sea.”
“I’m planning to have him learn something useful.”
“In the future, he’ll be able to have a formal job in Modo City! At his age, learning some real skills is a good thing.”
Not everyone is qualified to become a professionist.
Moreover, being a professionist is not as good as ordinary people might think because professionists face even more danger. Many parents hope their children can live ordinary lives without having to join the army or drift at sea. While Modo City currently offers many job opportunities, capable individuals are few; most are low-end laborers selling their labor. In the past, this was enough, but now the golem puppets in Modo City are increasing, and many of these simple labor tasks can be replaced by golems. What Modo City needs now are more skilled talents.
“Yeah.”
“I think the same. I’m planning to send my little one to learn shipbuilding.”
“Modo City is overseas; knowing how to build ships guarantees you won’t go hungry! I just wonder what the academy plans to teach.”
This time it was a tall, thin man who spoke.
However, a person looking like a patrol team officer sitting behind them spoke up quietly: “It’s not just that! I heard Modo City is preparing to select qualified candidates for wizards and other professionists citywide this time.”
“If your nephews can pass the test.”
“Tsk tsk.”
“Then that would be amazing! They would surely become the new elites of Modo City!”
Hearing this, the other men were momentarily stunned, then exclaimed in excitement, “Really?!”
Although the magic network has collapsed,
For ordinary people, the spellcasters still exist on a lofty pedestal. Just look at the wizard Soren faced initially in Amber City; in the eyes of ordinary people, wizards are almost like nobles. If any of the nephews can truly become wizards, then the status of the entire family could dramatically rise, and their future would surely be far more promising.
“I have a few nephews in Shipwreck Bay; should I bring them over to try?”
“Regardless of whether they have talent or not.”
“After all, it won’t take much time to make the round trip.”
Having a wizard emerge from within the family is no small matter; in the past, most wizards were inherited internally, and very few expended great effort to select from ordinary civilians. This is because advancing to become a wizard requires knowledge as a foundation, and someone who can’t even recognize a letter, no matter how brilliant, cannot learn spells. Thus, there has never been a lack of individuals with wizard potential being overlooked. Now that the magic network has collapsed, a clear criteria has emerged: if innate intelligence does not reach above 18 points, one cannot even cultivate a shred of magic.
This makes it much easier to select top talent.
The tavern buzzed with chatter.
However, the topic of most discussion was still the recently planned Modo Academy. No matter what it is like inside, every action of Soren has already captured the thoughts of everyone in Modo City, and everything Soren has done in the past has proven himself. The lower-class civilians exhibit almost blind following of Soren; upon hearing that he personally decided to establish the academy, they immediately regarded it as a highly promising matter. So now, many people in Modo City are eagerly preparing to send their younger generations into the academy.
Even those without sons wish to send clever and talented relatives.
Unbeknownst to them,
Within the sphere of influence in Modo City, the most promising batch of newcomers is gathering together due to a word from Soren.
The future talent that can emerge from this group will establish the very foundation of Modo City!
………………
(PS: Second update. There will be another update today.) (To be continued ~^~.)
