Chapter 234
Chapter 234. Project Myriad Stars; Beginning the Popularization of Academies
After handling the basic talent screening system, William turned his gaze toward the deeper forging of strength.
At the Royal Council meeting, he tapped the table, his voice carrying unquestionable decisiveness.
“From this day onward, Project Myriad Stars begins. No candidate will be accepted unless they possess Domain Aptitude.”
A low sound of sharply drawn breaths instantly rose throughout the council hall.
Domain Aptitude meant the potential to touch the edge of the Laws. It was the threshold to becoming a high-ranking powerhouse. Such a standard would undoubtedly shut the vast majority of people outside the door.
“Your Majesty.”
A white-haired elder minister could not help stepping forward to advise him.
“Would this not be too strict? After all, Domain Aptitude is one in ten thousand...”
“That is precisely why we must concentrate all our resources on nurturing them.”
William interrupted him, his fingertip circling a valley in the kingdom’s heartland on the map.
“I have already ordered the Tempering Secret Realm to be opened. The concentration of magic power inside is three times that of the outside world, and it also contains stone tablets of cultivation insights accumulated by the Royal Family over generations.”
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the crowd.
“Anyone selected may freely use the potions, ores, and treasures within the Secret Realm.”
“All potion masters in the palace have received the edict. From this day onward, they will enter the Secret Realm and specialize in refining advancement potions for them.”
“As for the materials, the Royal Guard will personally lead teams deep into the Black Forest and the Frozen Plateau to gather them. Even if they need Dragon Blood Grass from Dragon Island, we must find a way to obtain it.”
Everyone was stunned by these words.
Raising Domain powerhouses in batches? This was something no one would have dared imagine in the past. The resources consumed alone would be enough to drag down half the kingdom’s treasury.
“Your Majesty,” the Minister of Finance said with a troubled expression, “such an investment...”
“If you begrudge good fertilizer, you cannot grow trees that tower into the sky.”
William’s tone was calm.
“Calculate it yourself. How many ordinary legions can ten Domain powerhouses equal? Once they mature, they will guard the kingdom’s borders and open up new territories. The returns they bring will far surpass today’s investment.”
He looked toward the Minister of Military Affairs.
“Three days from now, let the first group of youths who passed the aptitude test enter the Secret Realm. Tell them that inside, there is no distinction of noble or lowly birth. There is only strength.”
“Whoever breaks through to the Domain Realm first will receive a title personally conferred by the Royal Family, even if he was born to a serf’s household.”
One week later, the news spread completely, and the entire kingdom boiled over.
The boys and girls who had been found by various families to possess Domain Aptitude, as well as the commoners discovered by William, were all escorted by guards to the entrance of the Secret Realm, regardless of whether their birth was noble or humble.
They carried simple bags on their backs. Their eyes held unease, but even more than that, they burned with blazing ambition.
Everyone knew that stepping into that valley meant completely cutting themselves away from their past lives. In the future, they would either become sharp blades of the kingdom or fall during the tempering.
William stood on the high platform at the entrance of the Secret Realm, watching the first group of youths walk into the light curtain and vanish into the misty magic power.
Zoe walked to his side and said softly, “All the pressure is on them now.”
“Pressure is also motivation.”
William gazed at the valley shrouded by the array.
“I have given them the finest soil. Whether they can grow into towering trees depends on whether their roots can sink deep enough.”
In the depths of the Secret Realm, the first ray of morning light pierced through the miasma and fell upon a stone tablet, illuminating the ancient inscriptions carved upon it.
A youth dressed in coarse cloth reached out and touched the stone tablet. Warmth spread from his fingertips, as though a force were drilling into his body through his arm.
At this moment, the Kroll Kingdom’s plan to forge powerhouses officially began.
After returning to the study in the royal palace, William had someone invite the Principal of the Royal Academy.
The old man had just entered when he saw William push a simple wooden box across the desk. Inside the box lay a yellowed beast-hide scroll. It was none other than the secret technique the Principal had been talking about for most of his life.
“This... This is...”
The old Principal’s hands trembled. He almost snatched up the secret manual and hugged it to his chest, his fingertips brushing over the gilded patterns on its surface. His eyes widened like bronze bells, and he kept muttering, “Heavens,” and “It was truly found.”
William looked at his dazed appearance and cleared his throat.
“All right, all right, old Principal. Wipe your drool first.”
Only then did the old Principal come back to his senses. He hurriedly wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, but he still hugged the secret manual tightly, as though he were holding a priceless treasure.
“Your Majesty, you called me here... not only for this, did you?”
“There is indeed something else.”
William leaned forward slightly.
“I intend for the Royal Academy to take the lead in popularizing a tiered education system throughout the kingdom.”
“Primary Academies will cover the villages and towns. Intermediate Academies will be established in the city-states. Advanced Academies will take root in the provinces. Finally, the Royal Academy will oversee everything, forming a complete four-tier system.”
The moment he finished speaking, the excitement on the old Principal’s face froze completely. His expression collapsed like an eggplant struck by frost.
He put down the secret manual with a bitter face, pounded his old waist, and sighed again and again.
“Your Majesty, you are asking for my life. The Academy already lacks teachers. Just maintaining the Royal Academy’s operations is enough to make my head ache. Now you want to spread this to the villages and towns as well... These old bones of mine cannot bear it.”
“You must bear it even if you cannot.”
William shook his head, though his tone softened somewhat.
“Old Principal, think about it. The kingdom is expanding the army, building cities, and opening mines everywhere. Which of these can do without people who can read and write, understand arithmetic, and know basic forging?”
“The Primary Academies will teach children to read, write, and keep accounts. The Intermediate Academies will teach farming techniques and engineering. The Advanced Academies will train mages and commanders. These are not matters the legions alone can solve.”
He pointed toward the new district under construction outside the window.
“Look over there. In three months, five thousand commoner households will move in. If their children cannot even write their own names, how will they understand instructions for using farm tools? How will they calculate the harvest from their fields?”
The old Principal opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but William interrupted him.
“I know it will be difficult. If there are not enough teachers, choose literate people from among the retired soldiers and invite willing teachers from the branch lines of noble families.”
“If there are not enough school buildings, then first borrow the public halls of villages and towns, as well as empty warehouses in the city-states. Build the framework first, then improve it slowly.”
He picked up the map on the desk and circled more than a dozen red points.
“These border city-states must open Intermediate Academies next month. I have already ordered the Ministry of Finance to allocate a portion of military funds specifically for building schoolhouses and buying textbooks.”
The old Principal looked at the red points on the map, then at the secret manual on the desk, the thing he had longed for day and night. At last, he sighed.
“Your Majesty is using this secret manual as bait to force me into accepting this task.”
“It is expectation, not coercion.”
William smiled.
“Once the four-tier academy system is built, you will be the kingdom’s ‘Star of Scholarship.’ Leaving your name in history is far more worthwhile than hugging a single secret manual.”
The old Principal was rendered speechless. Only after a long while did he slam the table fiercely.
“Fine, fine. Who told Your Majesty to bring out the thing I wanted most? But let us agree on this first. If there are not enough teachers, I will ask Your Majesty for people. If there is not enough funding, I will come knocking on your door every day.”
“Come as often as you need,” William said with a nod. “I will have the Ministry of Finance give you every convenience.”
Only then did the old Principal carefully put away the secret manual. Before leaving, he looked back at the map again. Although worry still lingered in his eyes, there was now a bit more rekindled drive.
William watched his figure disappear through the doorway, then picked up his pen and wrote four words on the paper:
Universal Education.
The legions were the kingdom’s bones and sinews.
But education was the bloodline that allowed those bones and sinews to thrive without end.
The sunlight outside the window was just right. It fell upon the paper, and those four words seemed to be touched with warmth as well.