When A Mage Revolts

Benjamin rushed back to Amber City that very night.

After communicating via the magic tool, he and the rest of the mages exited the city and met in the wastelands outside the city to exchange information.

Of course, we say "exchange information", but in reality, this event was mainly for Benjamin to share the information that he had gathered with everybody. The mages had mad great efforts to gather information in Amber City, but the Church had mostly kept to themselves throughout the period, resulting in them making little to no progress.

It was fortunate that Benjamin had met the King, or they would just be walking around in circles.

"… so that is the present situation in Carretas. But, don’t worry too much. We have obtained the support of a highly-influential person. As long as we’re cautious, the Church won’t have anything on us."

Benjamin did not mention about the King because he knew in his heart that the King’s help was only in the form of external support and could not directly help them much. He didn’t want to get everybody’s hopes up.

Thankfully, the reactions from the mages were positive. After all, they had not obtained any information themselves and were getting nervous. Now that Benjamin had given them a lead, at least they could be sure they were not at a dead end.

As for the Church’s influence in Carretas… Looking at their faces, they had to be under some pressure. Benjamin just hoped that the pressure was enough to keep them on their toes during any missions to avoid having the Church meddle in their affairs.

Benjamin then started to plan the next step.

"We’re going to repeat what we did last time out. We meet to set up a base of operations to spread the Declaration of the Freedom of Magic around this country. Therefore, we will start moving separately. You will be split into groups of five, with each group in charge of a different region. Take this half a month to familiarize yourself with the surroundings. Remember to be careful as the Church has informants in every city."

The mages all nodded and took turns to step forward to take a note from Benjamin. On the note was written the region that Benjamin had allocated to them.

Since they were to continue with their underground movements, it would better if they didn’t know about each other’s situations. Benjamin decided to do this as a safety precaution.

Benjamin also chose Amber City as the location for their central base. Since the situation all over the country was identical, why not go for a location that was convenient for them?

Benjamin would bring along some of the mages to settle in Amber City and start working on the Declaration of the Freedom of Magic version 2.0.

After this, Benjamin dismissed them. The mages that came to the meeting had brought along their suitcases. Once the meeting ended, they parted ways and travelled to their respective regions.

"Sir Benjamin, I’m heading off now. I’ll let you know once I arrive."

"No problem, Sir Benjamin. How dare the Church rampage about this place. We will get them back."

"Teacher Benjamin, I’ll be on my way now, I hope everything will go smoothly…"

Watching the strong-willed figures leave under the cover of darkness, Benjamin couldn't help but feel proud. These mages had nothing to do with Carretas and he could offer them no reward, and yet, they still followed Benjamin without hesitation.

What could they be doing this for? For a dream, that’s what.

A dream of a world without the Church.

"It could also be because they have nothing better to do than to create havoc." The System popped out all of a sudden and ruined the dramatic atmosphere.

"… It’s better if you shut up."

Benjamin shook his head and answered in his heart.

After everyone had left, he turned and led his team of mages back to Amber City. They were ready to start working on the Declaration of the Freedom of Magic 2.0.

This was by no means an easy task. The first publication was targeted at mages who for the most part, already had some foundation in magic. The second publication however, was targeted towards commoners. The entire book would have to be a written in basic terminology and describe even the most fundamental aspects of magic.

Not to mention, not everybody in the country was literate. And even for those who were literate, if a phrase was written using too much jargon, it might not be digestible for the reader.

Hence, they needed to do a head to toe makeover from versions 1.0 to 2.0.

"If they’re illiterate… Then would we need to use drawings?"

Back in a room in an inn, Benjamin gathered with the mages to discuss how they could edit the new version of the declaration. Frank had his face buried in his hands – he was clearly stressed out.

"Drawings could be one way but… how do we describe how to recite incantations with drawings?" Benjamin heard the suggestion but noticed a flaw.

"Mmm…" The few mages fell back into silence.

Benjamin couldn't help but scratch his head.

The way he saw it, version 2.0 deflation did not need to be some high and mighty scientific research thesis but could instead be like those buddha’s palm comics sold at ten bucks apiece on the streets. Therefore, his thoughts shifted towards drawings. But for because incantations had a role part in magic, there would be major problems right from the offset.

He could not figure out a solution and, so asked the others to keep brainstorming. Judging by their faces, nothing came to mind.

"Actually… There wouldn’t be a lot of them that are completely illiterate, right?" Varys knocked the surface of the table with his finger and pondered out loud, "We could just forego this particular demographic, use alphabets to mark the syllables, and hope that the majority of people will understand it."

Benjamin shook his head, "It’s best not to do that. The Church has already infiltrated quite a number of communities. If we surrender this group of people, it would basically be sending them straight into the arms of the Church."

Varys sighed, "I really can’t think of anything else..."

Benjamin was not ready to give in and looked at Frank once more, "What about you? Weren't you researching forbidden spells back then and managed to conquer the ancient issue to learn over thirty magics? Have you thought about anything?"

Frank massaged his forehead and spoke slowly, "We… could try to use drawings to mark sounds?"

"How do we do that?"

Frank seemed to have an idea but was still unsure of it, "Take, for example, there are people who don’t know how to spell the word ‘apple’ but still know how to pronounce the word and know what it means. If this was the case, we could draw an apple in the book and then use its drawings to represent its sounds. Although it won’t be completely accurate, it could at least help them recite incantations."

Everyone else stared at him with mouths wide open.

"Is it really that bad?" Frank asked helplessly.

"… Can the incantations be recited accurately this way? Will we have problems with nobody being able to recite accurately and calling us liars in the end?" Varys was silent for a while before posing a question.

"No, there’s actually a deviation range for the accuracy of the incantation." Frank explained, "Take myself, for example, although I still can’t pronounce the incantations accurately, I have found the keynotes in every incantation. My magic will not be affected as long as I recite them correctly."

Benjamin expressed his joy.

"Try it out. Go and sort out a table of phonetics for the fundamentals of magic." He patted Frank on the shoulder in anticipation, "Alphabets were originally developed through drawings. Maybe you can take this chance to invent a new pictograph!"