Chapter 375

However, the benefits were amazing. Martin listed all of the benefits, curricula, and activities the academy had, the kind of materials it would use, and the restrictions put in place.

Upon learning this, many who had just come out of the auction cursed themselves for not purchasing those slots. One of the main benefits that made them regret was that successful graduates would instantly become Citizens of the city and could bring their family to live in the inner section.

Apart from that, they could also reject citizenship and do whatever they want. They had no obligations to the academy so they could take their superior skills and conquer the world as they pleased.

The only thing was that they could never share the things they had learned from the academy to the outside world, but that was a given anyway. Most academies had forced indenture upon graduation, something along the lines of working in the school or in the country's military a certain amount of years before they would be free.

As such, apart from the high fees, it was a great place for many noble families to send their wards to practice magic!

They also noticed that there was a third type of student, the 'external geniuses'. These were for impoverished and destitute wards who could not afford the fees but had talent in spades, they could be admitted and have all costs waived, and they would get Citizenship too, yet they would have to work it off after they had acquired the skills.

This too was fair. If one graduated and became an Adept, which was the criteria for basic graduation, they could very well pay back those costs in a few decades.

Moving on, above Citizens were Nobles. These were special citizens among the rest, those who were simultaneously Citizens and members of the faction Darius had laid out in the open.

If one became an inner member of the faction, they automatically gained Citizenship and would be also granted Nobility status. If you got Citizenship but didn't want to tie yourself to Darius's factions' leg, that was fine, but you would never be able to become a Noble no matter how great you were.

Nobles had all the rights of Citizens and even more, they had full legal immunity towards the castes below them and they could also own land in the inner city. Citizens could also own land, but not at the same time.

They were given land to live and build on, but that land belonged to the city and could be taken back at any time. Nobles actually had to spend their money for their land, but they also retained ownership of it.

Not to mention, the kind of discounts and access they had to Darius' goods was the highest. They could directly buy things to be sold in auctions beforehand, cucking the rest of the world who might have arrived exactly because of that one item.

What even left many speechless was the fact that they got discounts of up to 80%! This would allow the city to priorities its people and have them power themselves faster than any outside faction could, leaving many powers feeling threatened.

Above the Nobles were the Rulers, basically those in charge of the entire territory. This was an extremely small caste that was egregiously hard to break into.

Right now, all those who formed part of this were even listed, City Mayor Nicholas Spencely and Principal Elijah McNickles.

It was only the two of them, these two who held power over all 5 castes beneath theirs. Their power was absolute and incorrigible, making many mark them as targets to be buttered up for favors.

Above them were the Core. Nothing was said about this group, only that they were situated in the center of the city.

No one knew what benefits they exactly had or what things they could do, but many understood that this group had to be affiliated with the source of this city's mysterious goods.

However, everything was cut off here. There was no listed method to become a member of the Core, only that they would find you, never the other way around.

At this time, Darius spoke again.

"Thirdly, we are recruiting Affiliated Workers right now. If you are interested, apply with Martin and you will be vetted for your post accordingly. The first batch of goods will be shipped in 4 days' time and hit the stores in 7 days, so make sure to apply before then, as conditions for application will never be as lax in the future."

"Fourthly and finally, we will now announce the name of our grand city. We've put much thought into this, and decided that our great territory will henceforth be called and recognized as... Safemoon!" Darius declared with a smile.

Many cheers and applauds came from the core and inner cities, as they were finally glad they had a name and didn't have to call where they lived, 'the city' or 'the territory' anymore.

Darius then ended the broadcast and returned to the mage tower with his Branded Servants. With this, everything on his Phase 2 checklist had been completed, namely the auction, the announcement, and the declaration of the city name.

This not only gave it identity, but also gave it sovereignty. The latter was more important than the former.

Darius then focused on his abilities and realized that they had stagnated for a while. Not only that, Gunner and Xela were looking a bit bored from staying home babysitting kids.

Darius chuckled and suggested. "We'll head out to explore a bit in 5 months' time. There are many things in the city that we cannot afford to abandon at this time to frolic about, and once everything has stabilized, we can go."

Gunner and Xela's expression lit up at the promise, and they felt much more invigorated. Gunner especially missed the days where they had no particular home, and roamed around the entire Fallon continent wreaking havoc and setting up dastardly plans everywhere.

It seemed like those days were not yet gone for good!