Sovereign of the Ashes

There were indeed pleasant surprises, but some were also quite shocking.

After securing Keith’s full support, Sein delivered a speech during the Divine Tower of Dark Flame Academy’s second orientation of the year.

During the speech, he introduced a set of new academy rules he had been formulating for some time.

Sein had not discussed these reforms in detail with Keith or the other vice deans beforehand.

Many of the proposed changes were too unexpected—radical enough to cause an uproar.

Keith and the other vice deans were traditional mages, molded by the structured systems of the divine towers in the Magus World.

In certain areas, they simply could not keep up with Sein’s unconventional train of thought.

For instance, one of Sein’s most controversial reforms was the introduction of an “Initiate Elimination System”, or simply, the “Elimination System.”

Back in the black magic academy of Mystralora City, low-performing initiates were ruthlessly thrown onto the experimental table, serving their final purpose for the academy with their body parts.

The Divine Tower of Dark Flame Academy, of course, could not resort to such barbaric practices.

Even as dean, Sein could not simply disregard the sanctity of human lives.

Unable to rely on life-and-death crises to pressure the initiates, Sein devised an alternative approach, which came to be known as the “Elimination System.”

Under Sein’s new rules, all initiates who had been enrolled at the Divine Tower of Dark Flame Academy for over ten years would undergo an annual evaluation.

At the end of each year, the initiates ranked in the bottom 100 of their comprehensive assessments would be expelled from the academy.

The next two hundred initiates, ranked just above the bottom 100, would face varying forms of penalties, ranging from reductions in academy benefits to other disciplinary measures.

While it was not uncommon for Divine Tower Academies to expel initiates for various reasons, expulsion based solely on academic performance was unheard of in the Magus World.

Sein’s proposed system, however, went further. For initiates ranked in the bottom 100, expulsion did not mean freedom from obligation.

The contracts they signed with the Divine Tower of Dark Flame upon enrollment would remain in effect.

This meant these worst performing and unfortunate initiates would not just lose access to their education and resources—they would also be saddled with crushing academy debts that could haunt them for the rest of their lives.

When Sein introduced this new rule, the announcement caused an immediate uproar throughout the Divine Tower of Dark Flame.

Even the full-fledged mages were rendered speechless upon learning of it.

Since the reform did not directly affect the rights or interests of these mages, most refrained from taking a strong stance.

While they were undoubtedly shocked, they ultimately chose to remain neutral.

In truth, Sein’s approach was entirely reasonable.

What were the chances that an initiate consistently ranked at the bottom in overall assessments would ever advance to Rank One?

The elimination program implemented by Sein was designed not only to motivate but also to save the academy a fortune.

Expelling a hundred initiates a year would amount to a thousand initiates over a decade.

If the average enrollment over ten years was ten thousand initiates, this program would reduce the academy’s expenses by approximately one-tenth.

However, in reality, the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s enrollment numbers were far smaller.

In addition to this elimination system, Sein introduced a series of sweeping reforms across the academy.

For instance, some traditional classes were shortened in favor of hands-on quests.

From the moment fresh initiates were promoted to junior initiates, they were required to undertake annual mandatory combat missions.

These quests included tasks such as venturing into magic beast forests to gather rare materials or eliminating bandits and robbers who disrupted the region’s stability.

One hidden aspect of these missions, known only to Sein, Keith, and a few vice deans, was that the casualty rate for initiates was intentionally increased from three percent to ten percent.

Initially, Sein had proposed raising it to over twenty percent, but this idea faced strong opposition from Dean Keith.

It was important to note that the term “casualty” here did not refer to deaths but rather to injuries or setbacks.

Sein believed that there was no harm in letting these initiates endure such hardships during their training, as these experiences would help toughen them.

However, Keith preferred a more mellow approach over Sein’s aggressive methods.

This revealed the extent of control that divine tower academies wielded over every aspect of their initiates’ experiences.

In order to achieve these casualty targets, Sein had to visit the magic beast forests surrounding the Divine Tower of Dark Flame Academy and negotiate with the sovereigns who ruled over them.

This secret relationship between divine towers and the magic beast forests was known only to the tower masters, deans, and vice deans.

Ordinary Rank One and Rank Two mages had likely never even heard of such arrangements.

Sein only knew about this after becoming a dean himself.

It turned out that divine towers and the magic beast forests in their respective regions shared a covert “cooperative relationship”.

Beyond these measures, Sein’s reforms also included reducing the basic benefits provided to initiates while increasing the number of rewarding academy quests.

These quests ranged from combat-related missions, such as forays into the magic beast forests or skirmishes with bandits, to tasks of a more practical nature.

One of the most common quests involved assisting academy instructors or full-fledged mages with their experiments.

Among the new rules announced by Sein was an unexpected addition: initiates were now responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the academy grounds and classrooms.

Previously, such tasks had been handled by the academy’s alchemy puppets, and even the magic array in the academy hall came with a cleaning function.

However, Sein decommissioned the alchemy puppets and disabled the cleaning function of the hall’s magic array.

One of Sein’s reasons for this decision was to conserve the academy’s energy resources.

While many divine tower mages questioned the purpose of having initiates running around performing menial cleaning tasks, the majority supported Sein’s reforms.

This was because many mages directly benefited from these changes, particularly the introduction of academy tasks that turned initiates into free labor for their laboratories.

Of course, Sein’s ability to garner such widespread support was largely due to the reputation he had built during that battle in the Petrified Forest.

Dean Keith, who worked most closely with Sein, was among those who understood his approach best.

Keith recognized that Sein was pushing the initiates’ motivation and ambition to their limits.

Sein’s reforms did not simply increase pressure on the initiates; he also introduced incentives to inspire top performers.

The top 100 initiates in the academy’s overall performance rankings would now receive rewards ranging from magicoins to valuable magic items and materials.

While other divine tower academies also had reward systems, none were as extreme as the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s.

The Elimination System, in particular, acted like a propeller, forcing initiates to constantly push themselves forward.

Vice Dean Bob, who had grown closer to Sein over the past few years, was now considered one of his key aides.

Even Bob could not help but be impressed by Sein’s radical reforms at the Divine Tower of Dark Flame. He finally understood why the tower master had seen so much potential in Sein.

In many ways, Sein resembled the Tower Master of Dark Flame.

Exactly ten years had passed since Sein first assumed the role of dean.

Starting this year, the initiates he had personally recruited a decade ago were now the first to experience the academy’s new rules.

During the opening ceremony, as Sein delivered his speech, he failed to notice one particular initiate in the crowd who was watching him with admiration and respect.

That initiate was Vern, who had grown into an intermediate initiate over the past ten years.

His progress was exceptional, even by the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s high standards.

Vern aspired to one day reach the same heights as Sein.

His only regret during his decade at the Divine Tower was that he had never attended a public class taught by the dean himself.