Chapter 015: Recruitment

“Master Barbari, have the funds and materials for our guild been prepared?” Du Fan asked Master Barbari.
Establishing a magic academy wasn’t just a matter of having money; many materials had to be purchased from specialized sources. For instance, building a magic academy required numerous laboratories, and most of the materials for these labs could only be obtained from the magic guild.
There were also many specialized materials for magic teaching, such as specimens of various alchemical materials, all of which needed to be sourced from dedicated places.
“Duke Du Fan, our magic guild has been fully prepared and is waiting for your instructions,” said Barbari, his face flushed.
In fact, not long after the guild’s members arrived in the Siluo Province, materials had been continuously delivered. But since Du Fan seemed extremely busy, they hadn’t bothered him. They didn’t realize that his busyness had caused him to completely overlook the matter of establishing the magic academy.
After waiting for many days, Barbari finally couldn’t bear it any longer and started pestering Chenchen daily. After Du Fan left, Chenchen took charge of most matters.
Fed up by Barbari’s persistent requests and overwhelmed by the affairs in the Siluo Province, Chenchen summoned Du Fan back from the north using a magic scroll.
“I’m truly sorry, Master Barbari. You see, I’ve been so busy that I forgot such an important matter,” Du Fan said with a smile.
“The Green Family is attacking the Frozen Alliance. It’s only right for Duke Du Fan to go and help,” Barbari quickly replied upon hearing this.
Barbari had managed to become a powerful figure in the magic guild despite only being at level 8. Judging from his tone and demeanor, he had the bearing of a diplomat. Du Fan smiled to himself—this Master Barbari, with his level 8 skills, had taken control of the guild’s affairs. His talent in certain areas was even greater than his magical talent.
“Master Barbari, now that I’m back, I’ll surely see to it that everything is taken care of,” Du Fan said with a smile. “Come with me; I’ve already prepared the location for the magic academy.”
When planning the construction of Doha City, Du Fan had designed a satellite city—a district specifically created for nurturing various talents in the future.
Standing up, Du Fan led Master Barbari outside the city lord’s residence.

Before even reaching the door, Du Fan saw a woman of natural charm and allure coming toward him. Her gaze, reminiscent that of a secluded woman filled with longing, sent Du Fan’s heart into turmoil. It was Princess Angel.
“Du Fan, do you really hate me that much?” she asked in a soft yet infinitely tempting tone.
“Princess, how could I dare treat you that way? I’m just a subject,” Du Fan replied quickly, regaining his composure with a smile.
Seeing Du Fan recover so swiftly, Princess Angel’s expression suddenly turned gloomy. In the capital, all the princes and nobles were always obedient to her, doing whatever she asked. Yet this Du Fan, whom her late father had personally chosen as her husband, kept ignoring her repeatedly. Princess Angel had always been confident in her charm, but twice now Du Fan had treated her as if she didn’t exist at all, which filled her with resentment!
As is common with everyone, the more something is unattainable, the more alluring it becomes. Princess Angel had heard about Du Fan’s return early in the morning and rushed over right away.
“Why do you always ignore me like this? Don’t you realize that coming here with you as a princess has already led to many rumors? Can’t you be a little kinder to me?” She stared at Du Fan with eyes like deep lakes, seemingly determined to drown him in their depths.
“Princess, if you really want to be my woman, come to me tonight,” Du Fan said with a laugh, seeing that she was determined not to let this chance slip away.
Princess Angel had been planning her next words to deal with Du Fan’s lazy, cold tone, but she never expected him to say such a thing.
“Remember, I’ll be waiting for you in my room after 10 p.m.” After touching Angel’s delicate face, Du Fan walked away with Barbari, leaving the shocked princess behind.
“Hmph, you think you can get away with this, Du Fan? Since I dared to come to Siluo Province, I certainly won’t avoid your room!” As Du Fan walked farther away, Princess Angel, regaining her senses, stomped her foot angrily and left.

As a princess, when had Angel ever been treated so disrespectfully? Stomping like this, coupled with her earlier act of a resentful lady in seclusion, it was hard to tell whether her stomping was out of eager anticipation or anger.
“You think you’re so great, huh?” Du Fan thought bitterly. “I’ll see if you dare come tonight! Haha, anyway, Nayixiu is still in the Frozen Alliance, so even if something happens, she won’t know about it for a while.”
Suddenly, Du Fan remembered that time when Angel’s alluring voice had made him stiff with desire.
“A natural beauty! Tsk tsk, I never thought that old emperor could produce such a mesmerizing beauty. Hmph, if you dare come, I’ll dare take you!” Du Fan thought fiercely.
“Master Barbari, what do you think of this place?” As he thought, Du Fan quickly took Barbari to the satellite city built specifically for nurturing talents.
This city already had a preliminary plan for the academy—teaching areas, dormitories, a cafeteria, and even a competition venue had all been designated.
“Not bad, not bad, Duke Du Fan. I didn’t expect you to have prepared everything already,” Master Barbari said repeatedly as he saw what looked like the outline of a huge academy.
“Not bad. When I arrived in the Siluo Province, I started thinking about creating a place dedicated to nurturing talents. But this place is essentially a small city. Our magic academy only needs one area within it. As for the location, Master Barbari, you can choose it yourself. Of course, I’ve only planned space for three academies here, so you can only pick one,” Du Fan said with a smile.
“How many people can the largest academy accommodate?” Barbari suddenly asked.
“When I designed it, the largest academy could hold 30,000 students,” Du Fan replied with a smile.
“30,000 students!” Hearing this, Barbari couldn’t help but gasp in shock! 30,000 students—even if all the magicians in the entire Roland Continent gathered together, it might not exceed that number!
“Exactly, 30,000 students. If Master Barbari thinks it’s too few, we can rebuild it! After all, what we lack the most in the south is land!” Du Fan said loudly with a laugh.

Hearing Du Fan smile like that, Barbari quickly said, “Enough, enough! We can’t use any more.” Upon hearing Du Fan’s words, Master Barbari hurriedly spoke up. Originally, the order from the Magic Guild was that Barbari’s enrollment target should not be less than three thousand people, but Du Fan immediately proposed thirty thousand. “Master Barbari, I’ll build the academy first, but we still need to account for the costs!” Du Fan said with a laugh. “Okay, okay, we must calculate this clearly!” Barbari repeated repeatedly. For the Magic Archer Guild, money was not an issue at all; the most important thing was to recruit students for the academy! If Du Fan dared to enroll so many students, it would be exactly what the Magic Guild desired! “Duke Du Fan, with such a large scale, can we really recruit that many students?” Master Barbari asked, looking at Du Fan. “Heh!” Hearing Barbari’s words, Du Fan smiled and said, “Master Barbari, you should know that the three provinces in the south occupied by the Lanni Empire have been reclaimed by me. In total, I now control four provinces, with a population of over ten million. I estimate that there are about two million youths of school-age. Master Barbari, shouldn’t that be enough?” Du Fan said with a smile. “Based on the ratio of those who can practice magic being 1% of the total population, two million people would only yield twenty thousand suitable candidates. It seems we still lack some numbers,” Master Barbari said after pondering. “I think we should enroll ten thousand per year for three years! Trying to enroll thirty thousand all at once would likely cause trouble in educating them,” Du Fan said after some thought. “Good!” Hearing Du Fan’s words, Master Barbari immediately agreed. If ten thousand were enrolled each year, according to the agreement with Du Fan, the number of students belonging to the Magic Guild would exceed six thousand! This would double the number assigned by the guild leader, he thought to himself. “Since Master Barbari agrees, let’s get started preparing for enrollment!” Thinking about the future when many magicians would be under his command, Du Fan felt excited. Of course, Du Fan knew that a large number of advanced magicians wouldn’t appear among the students in the short term, but even a second-level magician could be extremely useful on the battlefield!

Just think—what a spectacular sight it would be if thousands of level 1 fireballs and level 2 wind blades attacked the enemy at once! Moreover, the lower the level of the magic, the shorter the chanting time required! For level 1 and level 2 spells, the chanting time is almost the same as the time it takes an archer to nock an arrow and draw his bow!
“Master Barbari, I think we should separate our apprentices during recruitment, as our training approaches are different from those of your guild,” Du Fan said after some thought, smiling innocently. This seemingly casual suggestion of Du Fan would later bring great embarrassment to Master Barbari.
“Of course, that’s possible!” Hearing Du Fan’s words, Master Barbari agreed immediately. At that moment, he didn’t delve into the implications of Du Fan’s suggestion.
“Also, Master Barbari, look— I’ve already built all the structures. The rest can be left to your magic guild, as we certainly lack your guild’s knowledge in establishing a magic academy,” Du Fan said.
“Good! I’ll arrange for people to start work tomorrow,” Master Barbari replied right away.