Chapter 739 — The Imperial Academy

Over the following days, the Mind showed no further anomalous fluctuations. Daniel had already set about investigating the rumors of the strange portents, while Gao Yang continued to keep watch on affairs at home and abroad, and on the workings of the vast imperial machine he had built. And so time passed quietly in the midst of it all.

On the first rest day of Frostmonth, the weather was unusually clear.

Today, there was something in Xuanyao City worth celebrating.

The radiance of the Giant Sun scattered the thin clouds from the sky, and brilliant sunlight poured down on the winter streets of Cecil. Citizens bundled in thick winter clothes, cheerful and festive, gathered in crowds that flowed through the southern Mage District.

A vast complex of brand-new buildings stood at the end of the district, hard against the Mage District's own structures, beside the Runic Research Institute and the Magitech Research Institute, facing the district's grand boulevard and the semicircular Plaza of Learning — like a crown set upon the southern quarter, receiving the citizens' admiration and cheers.

The Imperial Academy would officially open its doors today.

The honor guard had drawn up in a dashing formation on the Plaza of Learning; a tall reviewing stand had been raised in the small hours, long banners of dark blue cloth bearing the golden emblem of sword and plough hanging down on either side, gleaming with solemn luster in the newly risen sun. Four white knights in heavy armor stood at the flanks of the platform, and when Gao Yang appeared in ceremonial dress, the white knights and the soldiers arrayed across the plaza turned as one, saluting the sovereign they served amid the clash of metal armor.

Before ascending the platform, Gao You turned to look at the buildings behind it, soon to be put into use.

The castle-like main hall of the Imperial Academy stood beneath the bright sky, its two annexes and the four spires at the corners of the grounds shining in the sunlight. Within the academy, new fountains, flowerbeds, and great magitech obelisks turning silently on the plazas were scattered in careful arrangement, blending a classical air of mystery with the singular beauty of modern magitech industry.

And yet Gao Yang could not help but think of the old Cecil General Academy — those low brick houses, the fence walls, the dusty square, the wooden sheds that swayed whenever the wind picked up.

How different it all was now.

With the development of the Southern Region, and above all the reorganization of the old Kingdom of Ansu, many of the foundations laid in Xuanyao City had grown inadequate, and those makeshift infrastructures especially faced hard requirements for upgrading and renovation.

The Cecil General Academy had once trained the Southern Region's first crucial body of educated people and completed the first four-year literacy campaign. Now, as Xuanyao City's population swelled, demand for higher education kept rising, and students from all over the north poured in, until that humble academy could no longer bear the burden.

For that reason Gao Yang had begun planning a larger academy in the capital a year earlier, intending it as the foremost "model educational institution" of the new order he was building. It had first been named the Cecil Higher Academy, but after the Empire was founded its name was finally fixed as the Imperial Academy, with a series of later adjustments made for the Empire's new circumstances — and today, at last, it met the public.

As the "advanced" institution above the Cecil General Academy, the Imperial Academy would accommodate more students and offer a higher level of education. In its early stage it was divided into four colleges, devoted respectively to magitech, culture and letters, the extraordinary, and modern military affairs, and these were further subdivided into such disciplines as runology, mechanics, grammar, history, law, magic, alchemy, sociology, natural science, military doctrine, and modern weaponry. It could even be said that the whole of the new order Gao Yang had built was gathered into this academy's vast, intricate system.

The academy would be open to all, just as the Cecil General Academy had been — an institution that gave no thought whatsoever to a student's origins and forbade any discriminatory education.

The old Cecil General Academy was of course not abandoned when the Imperial Academy was founded. It remained, refurbished and remodeled, only two streets from the new academy, and would continue to carry out literacy and elementary education, offering a chance at learning to those with no foundation at all or only a weak one.

In a sense, the General Academy was a path reserved specifically for common folk of the lower classes to enter the Imperial Academy. Commoners with no foundation could never keep pace with the academy's specialized instruction, nor compete in a higher institution with well-off youths who already had a grounding in learning — but they could make up that shortfall at the General Academy, whose letters of recommendation and scholarships would help commoners gain entry to study.

This was an imperfect but effective "patch" set into the social structure of Gao You's present order.

Gao Yang came to the platform prepared for him, a heartfelt smile on his face, and let his gaze drift slowly over the countless citizens gathered on the plaza.

Cheers rose from every direction. Everyone on the plaza shouted with joy, saluting the founder of the Empire.

"Citizens, welcome. It is my great pleasure to announce to you that a new institution, one that will bring prosperity to the people of Cecil, opens today — and it stands right behind me..."

In the crowd on the plaza, a young man with short brown hair stood in an inconspicuous corner, looking up like everyone else at the Emperor of Cecil speaking from the platform.

But unlike those around him, the young man, though his eyes held respect as well, seemed more composed, and there was a trace of curious appraisal in his gaze.

Enormous holographic images stood on either side of the plaza, and the amplified speech rang out across the whole square. Every time Gao Yang finished a few sentences, waves of cheering came from all around, and the young man could not help lifting his head to look about him. He studied those elated, joyful citizens with curiosity, felt the strange fervor each of them gave off, and at last could not resist tapping a passerby beside him.

"A grand gathering like this... do people all come of their own accord? How did you know there would be one today?"

The passerby turned to look at the young man and asked in a booming voice, "You're from out of town, aren't you?"

The loudness seemed to unsettle the young man a little; he drew back half a step without quite realizing it, but kept a mild, courteous smile on his face. "I... am indeed from out of town."

"Then it's no wonder you're not familiar with it," the loud-voiced passerby said with a cheerful laugh. "These gatherings are a big deal in Xuanyao City. They usually show off all sorts of novel things, or announce important new policies, so of course everyone's interested. Before a gathering the newspapers put out word, and then the magic web broadcast announces it too. Basically, anyone who doesn't stay cooped up indoors all day and doesn't read the papers knows about it..."

The young man looked as though a veil had been lifted. "I see..."

The passerby glanced at him again, suddenly curious. "Say, young man, what have you come here for?"

"I've come to study," the young man said with a smile, raising a hand toward the Imperial Academy. "I'm going in there."

"Ho, that's no small thing!" The passerby's eyes went wide. "Then you're bound to make something of yourself."

The young man blinked. "Why do you say so?"