CH263 Fury Mage Reform II

***

"Yes," Alex confirmed with a nod. "I called in some contacts I made during my time at the Enclave and managed to secure investments for the school. One of my biggest backers is the Golden Palace Merchant Company. I'm sure you've heard of them."

"Of course. They're the distributors of the Rune Phone," Earl Drake said, narrowing his eyes. "We'll discuss how and why you convinced such a company to invest in your school later. For now, what does this have to do with us?"

"There's no need to push that aside—it's directly tied to this discussion," Alex replied smoothly.

"I've never hidden the reason I'm founding the school. Simply put, it's to gather talents. But the truth is, both I and my school are still unknown, minor players. If I want real access to the largest talent pool, I need a powerful name behind us—one that can open doors without carrying political baggage that would make nobles hostile to our recruitment. That's why I chose a merchant company over a noble house—even over the Fury family."

He leaned forward, eyes alight. "Now, I'll extend the same deal to the Fury family that I gave the Golden Palace. Graduates who decide to part ways with the school will be encouraged to join the Fury Army.

"Don't underestimate this. The school will have the best recruits from across the Empire and beyond, trained in elite facilities by top faculty. You can imagine the quality of the graduates."

Then Alex smiled slyly. "And for the Fury family, I'll also throw in our… rejection list."

"Rejection list?" Drake arched a brow.

Alex nodded. "Through the Golden Palace's continent-wide network, we'll be flooded with applicants—mages, warriors, warlocks, and more. Naturally, not everyone will be accepted. We'll conduct rigorous talent and personality tests to select only the best. But here's the key: those tests will give us data on every candidate. Data that I can pass to the Fury Army."

He tapped the stack of papers in emphasis. "That means the family can selectively recruit promising rejects into its own training programs. For example, mage hopefuls who fall just short of the school's standards could still be excellent prospects for bolstering the Fury Mage Corps. In short—my school will do the filtering, and the family will reaps from the overflow."

Alex smiled inwardly, 'Thankfully, personal information and privacy laws aren't yet a thing in this world. Well, even if they were, it's not like there aren't workarounds.'

[A.N: In the immortal words I once saw on the Internet, "Corruption (crime) is only bad if I am not participating. If I am, then I can defend it!"]

"While the Family will be getting the school's rejects, it will also be receiving talents from across the continent—prospects far better than anything it could acquire by its own means."

Earl Drake looked at Alex with a flicker of shock, momentarily at a loss for words.

Alex, unfazed, continued.

"Gathering these recruits is one thing, we will also need to completely overhaul the Family's military mage training program. Standards must be introduced. There should be a body of basic knowledge, foundational spells, and battlefield know-how that every Fury Army mage is required to master.

"These standards can then serve as the framework for coded manoeuvres and stylised formations. That way, unit commanders can issue commands on the fly and rely on every mage under them to execute without hesitation."

Earl Drake glanced through the list in the stack of documents Alex had opened before him.

"Knowledge of a host of basic spells—including Mana Bolt, Magic Ball, and Magic Shield—will be compulsory. Spellcasting principles, such as Spell Penetration enhancement methods, will be mandatory. Furthermore, know-how regarding the activation and use of Runic Constructs—particularly Array Formation and Inscriptions—will be obligatory," Drake read aloud from the document.

"I can understand the first two requirements. But why place such heavy emphasis on Runic Constructs?" he asked, raising a brow.

"As I highlighted in my report on the fortress defence battle, the Grand Array Formation was one of the key game-changers we employed. Had I not been present to deploy it, none of the mages there would have been able to activate such a crucial trump card. The battle might very well have ended differently. We cannot miss the use of such an important game-changer nor allow such an occurrence to happen again." Alex's reply was passionate, almost fierce.

Then his voice dipped lower.

"Besides, my entire mage class and path is built upon runic constructs. How could I possibly allow my own Family to remain incapable of wielding my creations?"

Though Alex's 'ulterior' motives were plain to see—and Drake couldn't help but feel a touch of amusement—the Earl was far from blind to the clear and undeniable benefits of the proposal.

Alex rounded off his argument.

"Talent, facilities, and a standardised repertoire… each of these will have a synergistic effect on the others, feeding and growing one another.

"The more facilities we have, the more we can standardise our mages' repertoire. The more our mages can perform together, the stronger each unit becomes. The stronger the units, the more talents we will attract. The more talents we attract, the more resources and funding we can secure. With greater resources, we gain more facilities… and the cycle continues.

"Eventually, our mage corps shouldn't just rival our warrior corps—it may even surpass them."

Drake remained silent for a moment, weighing the financial strain and practical feasibility of such a project. At last, he nodded.

"I can see the value of the program. That said, I'll reserve final judgment until the financial strength of our fief has been confirmed. We must begin within our own fief before expanding to the entire Fury Army—for obvious reasons."

Alex inclined his head in understanding.

The Drake line would need to act as the proof of concept before pushing such sweeping reforms onto the Fury Army, which technically belonged to the entire Fury Family.

On the other hand, if it succeeded—as both Drake and Alex expected—it would safeguard the Drake branch's dominance over the other branches within the Family… and perhaps even over the Fury Army itself.

A prime example already existed in the form of the Dark Hound Magic Armour Brigade, renowned as the single strongest Magic Armour unit within the Fury forces—even eclipsing the Fury Army's official Magic Armour Corps.

Though Drake did not give outright confirmation, his words were as good as a guarantee that the program would be adopted.

Setting the first stack of documents aside, Drake picked up the next one.

"Proposal for the creation of the Special Operations Division (SODIV)..."

***

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