When A Mage Revolts

Before the midterm examinations ended, Benjamin kept working hard at searching for the Church’s spies hidden around town.

He felt that the people sent by the Church could not be limited to just these three. Not only this, but they seemed to have mastered some sort of technique that hid the priests so that they seemed no different from a commoner.

In addition to this, having fought against Benjamin for so long, their spies had become more careful now; they no longer kept crosses on their bodies or any writings that could potentially expose their identities. Benjamin had used the water elemental sensing technique to sweep over them a hundred times, and he still could not obtain any results.

He did not know how to read minds, and also did not have any clues, so there was no way for him to confirm the suspects identities.

"What are you in a hurry for? Who knows, there might really only be three of the Church’s spies. The town is really clean now, maybe that’s why you haven’t discovered anything." The System said casually.

Benjamin sighed.

He could only hope that was the case…

However, to be honest, he had prepared himself for this. Before this, the Church had repeatedly sent martyrs to cause trouble for them, which showed that they looked upon the Academy of Magic very highly; Benjamin felt that this proved that they would definitely send more than three spies to gather intel. Although Benjamin had not caught anyone else, he had increased his guard and got ready to defend against any sudden attack by the Church.

He also had to make sure that the "Descending of Water" was kept, and would not be used up carelessly like what had happened during the contest.

Meanwhile, in the academy, the midterm examinations ended smoothly. Benjamin returned to the academy and Varys handed over a huge stack of result slips to him; he nodded and let the System organize the nearly two thousand pieces of paper.

Basically, everyone’s results were decent; the average mark was above his expectations, and there were no students who had failed terribly. Based on the results, Benjamin estimated that this batch of students would all graduate successfully, and there would not be any awkward situations where one would have to repeat the course.

Seeing this, Benjamin was very satisfied.

The education curriculum of the Academy of Magic was unexpectedly effective; at the very least, the students of the Academy had the talent and were willing to work hard. If nurtured in the right environment, they could definitely grow to a marvelous level.

When that happens, he would have two thousand mages of commendable ability...

Benjamin had confidence that when that happens, he could overthrow the Church.

However, coming back to the present, the midterm examinations had ended but school had not let out yet. The System speedily completed the ranking of the examination results and the new timetables for the students, after which Benjamin passed to Varys. After this, they were still due to have a round of public lessons.

In line with Benjamin’s initial idea, the academy was supposed to be completely open for a day, so that outsiders could visit as they pleased and experience the atmosphere of the academy in its most authentic form. However, this idea of his had received vehement protest from the mages under him. Because of this, he changed the initial idea to now only opening certain classes to the public, allowing outsiders to attend them.

Benjamin arranged for a lot of public lessons. From the study of potions to element theory and combat classes to magical tool making, these were all taught by the more notable teachers; as long as the students there had a desire to listen, there was nothing they could not find.

Without question, this move was considered very generous. Many of the mages from the public were not interested in things such as the midterm examinations - they were only rushing over for the public lessons.

Because of this, the moment the gates of the academy were opened today, countless mages surged through eagerly.

"Mage Benjamin’s style never changes. From the beginning of "The Declaration of Free Magic", to the public lessons organized nowadays, he is really working tirelessly to publicize the beauty of magic. Completely different from those other famous mages."

"Yes... The method of making magical tools had been lost for so long, but he was still willing to share it. Unfortunately, I am too old now, if not I would definitely have tried my best to enroll at this academy."

Other than Benjamin’s magical prowess, his actions had also unexpectedly caused him to have a lot of prestige amongst the lower level mages. The "Declaration of Free Magic" had become an important book that was to be passed down the generations, and should even be recorded in the history books; it is also the most influential publication amongst the mage community now.

Although it had been less than a year since it was issued, there had already been countless people who took their first steps into mage-hood because of it.

The public magic lessons today were a furtherance of Benjamin’s initial idea— universal magic education. No matter if rich or poor, anyone could come and experience the world of magic, anyone from any background had the potential to be a great mage.

Of course, the mages who had come forward to listen had not yet realized this point. They had only walked in, full of hope and expectations; from the dark circles under some of their eyes, some people had been so excited that they had not slept well the previous night.

"Which class are you planning to attend?’

"The evolution of the laws of fire elemental energy, I guess. I’ve learned some intermediate fire-based spells recently, but I just can’t control the movement of the fire elemental energy during the cast time. Who knows, this class might inspire me in some way."

"Just one class? I’ve planned out a schedule. In the morning, the first class I’m going to sit in for is the summary of the physical properties of magic potion ingredients. For the second class, I’m going to listen in on the actual combat techniques class, and the first class in the evening, I’m going for..."

"W-wow... That schedule of yours, can you let me see it?"

With varying levels of expectations, the mages swarmed into the academic building. There were even commoners amongst them, full of curiosity about this strange world. Benjamin did not reject the commoners from coming to listen to the lessons, he didn’t really mind the publicity. Besides, having the common folk deepen their understanding of the principles of magic was also taking a step forward in clearing up the stigma of the Church towards mages.

Only, these people could practically understand nothing.

Halfway through a lesson, almost all the commoners left, leaving behind excited-looking mages. At some especially popular public lessons, there were so many listeners that people were forced to stand on the corridors outside to listen in on the class.

With such a huge audience, it naturally caused the teacher giving the lesson to feel enormous pressure, but after teaching for a while, they realized that the mages who were listening were very easily satisfied - they were only teaching the most basic content, and yet, the eyes of the people around them were already shining.

"Teacher, may I ask a question? Is the force of repulsion between the elemental energies real?"

Before the teacher could answer, a student from the seats replied, "Of course it’s real, don’t you know this?"

It was only at this point that the teacher realized how weak the foundation of the mages outside was. They might have already learned a lot of magic, but they did not know how the laws of how magic worked, nor did they know how to control it better.

Because of this, the group of visiting mages was more teachable than the students.

Slowly, the teacher began to teach more freely, answering whatever questions came his way. A course that was supposed to be rather difficult ended up becoming a question and answer session about the basics of magic, and the ones who answered their questions literally every single time were the original students of the class.

This caused the visiting mages to be amazed and surprised.

"To already know so much at such a young age… after a few years, this group of people will turn out to be very impressive." A middle-aged mage could not help but sigh out loud.

"Is the Academy of Magic interested in building a separate branch of the academy for mature students? It’s really just such a pity for people who are over age, like us." Someone suggested.

Another branch of the academy...

While making his rounds in the academy, Benjamin heard such words by chance and could not help but fall into deep thought.

Regardless of whether from the perspective of universalizing magic or from the perspective of gaining extra-income, this suggestion was pretty good. Of course, if it really was to be done, it would be something for the future. Right now, they did not have enough manpower, so they had better just focus on current student body for now.

Even though it was only halfway through the public lessons, Benjamin came to the conclusion that they were a huge success.

He knew, just from looking at the expressions of the visiting mages, that there was no one who was unsatisfied with the public lessons. The environment in the academy was one where any question could be freely asked and where unbiased discussions to help facilitate each other often took place, had infected them.

After the public lessons ended, they would return to their respective countries and help spread stories about the academy to every corner of the mage world.

When that time comes, the influence of the academy would gain a huge boost; even if there were objectors on the outside attempting to maliciously slander them, it would probably be very difficult for them to cause any real disturbances to the atmosphere.

More importantly, Benjamin was suddenly l once again looking forward to the next recruitment drive.