Jaina left. Ninety thousand gold coins was no small sum, and she had no authority to make that decision. Only a member of the Council of Six could approve it.
Rex was not at all worried about her departure. Dalaran would certainly agree. The initial request for ninety thousand gold coins might have divided opinion in Dalaran, leaving the outcome uncertain, but the later proposal to send a mage was an easy matter for them. As a magical kingdom, Dalaran had no shortage of mages, including quite a few at Hero Rank. Rhonin, for instance, was also a member of the Kirin Tor.
Finding a Ninth Rank mage and sending them to Gilneas to teach at a magic academy was something Dalaran would welcome in its own right. Dalaran's development was lopsided. It cared little about anything else and focused almost exclusively on magic.
Expanding its influence in the field of magic was a goal Dalaran pursued tirelessly, much as Lordaeron sought to expand the Alliance's influence.
Everyone had their own ambitions. The final request for a mage had also occurred to Rex on the spur of the moment. Gilneas lacked spellcasters, and it would have to train them. Such a vast country did not have even one Ninth Rank mage. Gilneas had not done a particularly good job of cultivating talent, relying instead on the power of its nobles. Noble families had deep traditions of learning and their own legacies. Provided they were not wastrels devoted to pleasure, their members could attain respectable strength. Rex's formation of the Knights of the Round Table was one example.
Back then, he had had no one available and could only select recruits from among the nobles. Countless transmigrators who had come before him had already taught their successor Rex that schools were essential. In World of Warcraft, humans could choose from nine classes: Monk, Death Knight, Warrior, Hunter, Paladin, Rogue, Mage, Priest, and Warlock.
Death Knights had not yet appeared, and even when they did, they would be universally reviled, rather than enjoying the glory they had in the game. Monks would have to wait until Pandaria emerged more than a decade later. Thus, humans currently had only seven classes.
Gilneas, however, had only six. Outside its borders, people had already begun researching the Warlock class. Following the Orcs' defeat, some humans who revered power had started studying demonic power. But Gilneas had closed itself off at the time, so Warlocks had never made their way into the kingdom. Naturally, Rex was not considering only a magic academy. He intended to establish five academies, for Mages, Priests, Warriors, Hunters, and Paladins. As for Warlocks, their study of demonic power doomed them to discrimination, and appearing openly would create a poor impression. The same was true of Rogues.
The idea of five academies had come to Rex in a sudden flash of inspiration while he was riding to the barracks with Jaina.
Rex found himself extraordinarily busy. After Jaina departed, he too hurried out of the barracks and headed toward Gilneas City. He needed to discuss exchanging the gold coins for a mage with the father he had inherited in this world, especially when it came to the five academies. Rex's own finances could not cover that undertaking. Only financial support from the kingdom of Gilneas would allow him to establish them as he hoped. Upon returning to Gilneas City, however, he did not immediately visit the Royal Palace.
Instead, he returned to his residence, took a Tome of Strength from his Spatial Ring, and tore it apart without hesitation. Two years had passed, and with one opportunity each month at the Goblin Merchant, he had received more than twenty chances. Although the treasures that appeared were mostly consumables, stat-enhancing treasures occasionally appeared as well. Permanent treasures, however, had never appeared even once. This was no longer a matter of probability, but of the Goblin Merchant's level. Rex concluded that its current level was too low for permanent treasures to appear.
With his current strength, Rex was not up to withstanding ten moves from Rachel, a Mid-Hero expert. If he were Mid-Hero himself, he might have had a chance, but against a Mid-Hero expert, it was impossible. That small difference in stages could not be underestimated. After reaching Hero Rank, the gap between each minor stage was greater than the gap between entire ranks from the First through the Ninth.
Moreover, Rachel had fallen from peak Hero Rank to Mid-Hero because of declining physical stamina. Rachel still possessed the insight and combat experience of a peak Hero Rank expert. In the past, Rex would have dismissed combat experience as nothing special. Hadn't countless novels described protagonists who lacked combat experience, only for it to grow at a breathtaking, almost visible pace while they fought their enemies? They would start out inferior to their opponents, gain the upper hand shortly afterward, and finally turn the tables and kill them.
But his battle with the Orcs two years earlier had taught Rex the importance of combat experience. If he had not possessed a Tome of Strength and successfully turned the tables, he would have been killed.
This time, to prepare for his fight with Rachel, Rex began freely using the treasures he had collected.
Leaving consumable treasures aside, Rex had obtained only four stat-enhancing books. Two were Tomes of Strength, while the other two were a Tome of Wisdom and an Agility Index. Their purposes were obvious from their names.
Rex tore apart a Lesser Tome of Strength. His powerful muscles began to bulge, then slowly settled back to their original shape. Feeling his strength double once again, Rex hesitated as he looked at the Tome of Strength in his hand. There were limits to using these tomes. If they could be used endlessly without restriction, even a sheep could eventually defeat one of the Dragon Aspects.
The exact number of Tomes of Strength a person could use depended on their constitution and was not fixed. An ordinary person could use one, while someone with a better constitution could use two. Using three, however, required a monstrous constitution.
Rex had not been particularly confident when he tore apart the Tome of Strength just now. In his view, two uses were already his limit. He did not have a monstrous constitution. In the end, he put the remaining Tome of Strength away rather than waste it. Even after reaching their limit, a person could still use a Tome of Strength, but it would have no effect, wasting the tome for nothing.
Tomes of Strength were extremely precious. Leaving aside their price of a thousand gold coins, they appeared far too rarely. Rex could not bear to waste one.
(End of chapter)
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