Sovereign of the Ashes-Chapter 928: Lowering The Initiate Recruitment Criteria

After finalizing Bousse’s induction into the Divine Tower of Dark Flame, Sein introduced him to Keith and the other vice deans of the divine tower academy.

To maintain discretion, the Divine Tower of Dark Flame mages steered clear of direct involvement in the recruitment of initiates from the Alveroth Empire.

Only when the initiates reached the border of the Ylli Knight Alliance would representatives from the Divine Tower of Dark Flame step in to receive them.

With Bousse now officially part of the Divine Tower, Sein no longer had any reason to travel to the Alveroth Empire.

What Sein valued most about Bousse was his extensive network of contacts within the empire and the “downline” he had built over the past decade.

As long as there were enough magicoins to serve as motivation, Sein believed that those academy mages who had previously cooperated with Bousse would continue to provide their “assistance.”

After all, the majority of academy mages in the Alveroth Empire were dirt poor, and Sein had merely offered them a chance to earn a lucrative side income.

Since Bousse had been blacklisted by the major academies of the Alveroth Empire, his personal earnings had taken a significant hit.

Adding to that the nearly one thousand magicoins he had paid in compensation to the second-best public magic academy of Francina, Bousse’s hunger to rebuild his fortune was stronger than ever.

Despite his drive, Bousse could not make bricks without straws.

After making extensive efforts to reconnect with the academy mages he knew in the north, Bousse regretfully reported to Sein and Keith that those mages were too cautious to get involved for the time being.

“I have only the same advice for you—do the best you can. In addition to the academy mages in the southern regions of the empire, I suggest you expand your reach. Try exploring the western provinces as well,” Sein said.

“I’ll try my best, but I don’t really know anyone there,” Bousse admitted, wiping sweat from his forehead.

Perhaps due to the weight he had gained in recent years, Bousse seemed to sweat more easily these days.

“If you make the effort to establish contact, you’ll get to know them soon enough. I believe in your ability.” Sein said, offering encouragement.

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After dismissing Bousse, Sein turned his attention to a discussion with Keith regarding the recruitment of initiates.

The recruitment of commoner initiates within the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s sphere of influence had begun a few years ago, but progress was slow.

The reason was simple: there were far too few qualified commoner initiates.

There was a reason why the knights of the Magus Civilization placed such emphasis on bloodlines and why mages had developed specialized fields like “Bloodline Study” and “Genealogy”.

In the Magus World, mages usually had a significantly higher probability of producing offspring with the potential for magic learning.

Conversely, commoner families who had not produced a single mage for dozens of generations relied entirely on rare genetic mutations to produce a child with minimal initial focus score.

This was why noble families often married within their class.

The romantic tales of noble scions falling in love with commoner girls were pure fantasy.

In reality, most noble youths would not even glance at a commoner’s daughter, especially one hardened by a lifetime of labor.

On the rare occasion that a commoner girl was chosen by a noble, it was a boon for her entire family.

The rigid class structures in the Magus World created distinct and nearly insurmountable divides.

Discovering high-quality initiate candidates from the barren lands of the commoner class was an exceedingly difficult task.

Geniuses like Grimm appeared only once in multiple generations, or even across vast populations.

Sein knew better than to rely on blind luck.

During his conversation with Keith on the subject, Sein proposed a significant change: lowering the admission standards.

“With an initial focus score of 10 points or higher, we’re already filtering out 99.99% of the eligible commoner children. I think it’s time to lower the threshold. You and I both know that the so-called initial focus value isn’t the sole determining factor in whether a child is fit to learn magic,” Sein began.

“Yes, children with higher initial focus scores tend to be smarter, which makes their magic journey easier. Elemental affinities and physical compatibility with mana are also part of the admission criteria for the major divine tower academies, but still, none are considered as important as the initial focus score,” he said.

“While I agree that initial focus value is crucial, I also believe that, through proper training and hard work, even those with lower initial focus can succeed. If these children are willing to put in the effort, they deserve a chance.”

Sein met Keith’s gaze as he finished speaking.

As a mage who originally came from the black magic academy, Sein had always held views that diverged from those of traditional mages.

For instance, Sein knew that less than one-tenth of the initiates enrolled annually at the Black Magic Academy in Mystralora City possessed an initial focus score of 10 points or higher.

The remaining were commoner initiates with focus scores below 10 points.

As black mages, it was impossible for them to recruit children from noble families on a large scale.

Sein’s presence in the underground world had been a complete accident.

To black mages, initiates with an initial focus score of at least 8 points was considered acceptable.

In particularly challenging years, when finding enough suitable candidates proved difficult, these black mages would even lower the standard to 6 points!

A focus score of 6 to 8 points represented the average for most human children in the Magus World.

For the Divine Tower of Dark Flame, there was no need to recruit initiates with initial focus scores as low as 6 points.

Simply lowering the standard to 8 points would be sufficient to sustain the academy for some time.

Moreover, Sein had personally witnessed the combat capabilities of initiates from the black magic academy in Mystralora City.

They often far surpassed those “flowers” grown by greenhouses known as divine tower academies.

Under the harsh and unforgiving environment of the black magic academy, even those with initial focus scores of just a few points were capable of holding their own against, or even outperforming, so-called “geniuses” with scores above 10 points.

Some had even exceeded expectations entirely!

After all, adversity often forced people to surpass their limits.

There was no way Sein could implement the brutal initiate screening strategy once employed by the black magic academy in Mystralora City.

However, he could adapt the approach moderately, borrowing its principles of evaluating superiority and inferiority to refine his own methods.

Sein had been contemplating such reforms for a long time. Now, having been promoted to Rank Three and with a little more flexibility in his schedule, he was ready to begin his drastic overhaul of the Divine Tower of Dark Flame Academy.

Before moving forward, however, Sein needed to win the support of Keith.

Keith, unaware of the full extent of Sein’s intentions, carefully considered the proposal to lower the initiate admission criteria.

After a long time, he finally nodded in agreement.

“I once read in an ancient text that, before our Magus Civilization ascended to a top-tier civilization, the initial focus standard for enrolling magic initiates wasn’t as high as 10 points. But with the advancement of our civilization and the evolution of all lifeforms in our homeplane, these standards naturally increased over time,” Keith remarked.

“In ancient and even primordial eras, our Magus World had countless full-fledged mages, and even Rank Four or higher powerhouses. I don’t believe all of them had an initial focus of 10 points or above during their initiate stage. So, I agree with your suggestion,” he said with an approving smile.

The longer Keith worked with Sein, the more he realized how many surprises this young mage could bring.