Magic Academy Reform

"The revised Mage Shield and..."

Suoxiate carefully examined the design on the paper and read it aloud softly, then looked up at Li Lin.

"Is this what you mean by the clothing that students in the academy will wear?"

"Not just the academy."

Li Lin waved his hand.

"I wish all mages would wear uniforms like this, Suoxiate. I remember telling you before that, in its current state, Ringwraith City is less like the center of a nation and more like a large academy for cultivating talent. While we can handle political affairs here, without sufficient personnel to help us do so, it's all just talk."

"This is not a simple matter, Master."

After examining the clothing styles, Suoxiate spoke.

"You should know that the monks' robes haven't changed for many years."

"That's precisely why we need to change."

Li Lin waved his hand. Suoxiate's concerns had already been raised by Nia when she saw his design. Currently, most mages wear standard robes. As a standard, widely circulated item, these robes are bulky and cumbersome. They have enough space to store five scrolls and offer resistance to elemental energy damage. Aside from a few with considerable alchemical skills who would remake their own robes, almost no one wants to change them. After all, the robes not only represent their status as mages but also their social class.

"We mages aren't always clinging to the past and dwelling on the past. Besides, I once heard a saying on Earth: 'Destroy before you build,' which roughly means that only by breaking down the old framework can we establish new standards. Indeed, if it were the old Magic Empire, I wouldn't want to implement such a troublesome plan. But things are different now. The Magic Empire has perished, and its rebirth will inevitably be different from before. While we cannot abandon the traditions of the Magic Empire, we also cannot blindly follow the principles of that time."

Li Lin had clearly prepared to persuade Suoxiate long ago. This didn't mean the head maid would disobey his orders; on the contrary, Suoxiate's attitude would represent the attitude of the mages who had lived in the Magic Empire for many years. Nia's previous opposition and Suoxiate's hesitation indicated that this matter would definitely cause a sensation among the mages of the Magic Empire. Therefore, he had to be fully prepared to persuade them and release these explanations so that everyone would know and understand. If he simply let Suoxiate do it, then those imperial mages would definitely resist. However, if explanations and clarifications were provided, then they should be able to understand.

Of course, mere reasons and excuses would not convince the monks. They are monks, people who seek knowledge through their intellect and wisdom. To expect them to accept everything based solely on these reasons would be tantamount to treating them as idiots. Therefore, corresponding actions are also essential.

Under Li Lin's design, the new mage robes are beautiful, elegant, and full of characteristics of various professions. Now that Ringwraith City has been operating for some time, almost all mages have found suitable jobs. Mages specializing in internal affairs and intelligence are handled by Nia and Suoxiate, while those involved in weapon research and manufacturing follow Yi Aier. The elven slaves who originally roamed the continent, as well as some mages enthusiastic about agriculture, are under Kalin's jurisdiction. Even Anna, who didn't usually manage affairs much, has now gathered many Dark Elf and mages to form an assassination squad.

The structures for domestic affairs, intelligence, agriculture, education, covert operations, and weapons development are already fixed. The only remaining areas are defense and the military. Currently, Li Lin doesn't have a particularly good candidate for this. While Angela excels in combat, she's not suited to managing living people, so he reluctantly took on the responsibility himself. In any case, so far, the Magic Empire hasn't trained a single organized force besides the Undead Army, and city defenses aren't a major concern for the time being, so he has the fewest things to worry about.

Considering the habits of mages, Li Lin's design didn't change the mage robes too much. In this respect, Li Lin referenced trench coat designs on Earth and improved their overall aesthetics and compactness, making them look more energetic rather than hunched over in their oversized robes and appearing listless. Of course, the color of the mage robes would vary depending on their profession, making it easy to distinguish them at a glance.

The students' attire, however, was much more formal. Li Lin had completely abandoned the existence of mage robes in this regard. His original changes were intended to cater to the "nostalgia" of mages from the Magic Empire era, so aside from minor alterations, the overall style remained largely unchanged. But these students from the City of a Thousand Towers were different; they were fresh blood and therefore more receptive to new things. Considering this, Li Lin completely changed the students' clothing in the academy, replacing the robes with full-on suit-style uniforms. As for the female students, Li Lin also had his own opinions...

"Master, why are the skirts shorter the lower the rank?"

Looking through the sketches, Suoxiate calmly raised her questions.

"Such a short skirt... I think it would make the female trainees feel uncomfortable."

Although the world's social atmosphere isn't exactly conservative, it's not so open as to allow people to expose their thighs in public.

"This also motivates them to study."

Li Lin raised an eyebrow calmly.

"If you want to wear a long dress, study hard and improve your level."

"I see."

Suoxiate nodded slightly.

"Furthermore, I now understand your aesthetic preferences as a man, Master."

"... Sometimes you also say things as viciously as Angela."

I was simply stating the facts.

Of course, while these uniforms give a refreshing and aesthetically pleasing impression, this is, after all, Magic Empire and a magical academy, not a fashion show; it's not about who has the best-looking clothes. Moreover, most mages don't pay much attention to their appearance; being beautiful is of little significance to them. However, Li Lin didn't design the uniforms to make them look good; rather, he wanted to project a new image of the Magic Empire to the outside world. After all, in the current legends of the Magic Empire, evil mages in tattered robes are almost always the central characters in every story, and changing this perception won't be easy. It's more meaningful to change the outward appearance than the inner essence.

However, to lure the mages, you naturally need bait that they like.

As Arcane Mage once ruled an empire, Li Lin deeply understood the importance mages placed on ranks. After all, these ranks weren't the titles and honors of nobles; they were merely changes in status. Each rank a mage advanced was the culmination of their sweat, effort, and wisdom, naturally bringing them pride and satisfaction. And mages were, after all, human; having made efforts and achieved results, they naturally desired recognition and affirmation from others—this was not surprising.

With this in mind, Li Lin also made changes to the new mage robes. On the collar of these robes, there are golden horizontal bars; the number of bars corresponds to the mage's level of power. Upon becoming a mid-level mage, the bars transform into a lifelike, outstretched golden wing. Upon becoming a high-level mage, it reveals its true form—an eagle poised for flight. These changes are all triggered by magical sensing and cannot be faked or removed.

Beyond its aesthetic appeal, the new mage robes offer substantial benefits. In addition to the elemental resistance inherent in the old robes, the elaborate and beautiful runes on the new robes contain a low-level but widely used mage spell: Mage Shield. This spell automatically activates upon sensing an incoming attack, providing temporary protection. This is an excellent option for mages lacking close-combat capabilities. After all, mages have a limited number of spells they can prepare each day; wasting a spell on defense means losing an offensive option. The robes' ability to provide this protection significantly broadens their offensive options.

Of course, Li Lin provided this protection not out of kindness, but because this "improved" Mage Shield was the trump card to suppress the magical weapons that would be sold in the future. With the help of magical runes, he cleverly hid the activation information in the strengthening magic circle, so that people would only think that this Mage Shield was a new and improved version, and would not think there was anything wrong with it.

Besides these, Li Lin unexpectedly offered an even better "bonus": these mage robes, excluding the Mage Shield, could hold five more spells for triggering. Li Lin was quite confident he could entice these mages, for a simple reason—they could fill these five spell slots freely. However, there were limitations. Low-level mages could only add one spell, mid-level mages could add three, and only high-level mages were eligible to use all five spell slots, and the highest level spells they could add could not exceed six.

This was precisely Li Lin's trump card to "lure" those mages. After all, apart from enchanting mages, the other mages had not mastered such skills, not to mention the maximum of five spell slots, which was enough to make those mages drool. Presumably, as long as this was the case, no mage would care whether the uniform was beautiful or not, or whether it violated tradition.

The method for filling these runes and spell slots was the result of three days of discussion between Li Lin and Nia. After all, they had to consider not only aesthetics, elegance, and practicality, but also secrecy and ensure that no spell would affect the Mage Shield. This required a lot of theoretical and practical research, which is why Li Lin took three days to hand over the final draft to Suoxiate.

"I hope to produce the first batch of clothing in the shortest possible time, and I also hope to completely replace the original mage robes in the shortest possible time."

"It will be challenging, but I will do my best."

As Suoxiate spoke, he casually flipped through the pages, and then the final drafts vanished into thin air.

"And I believe you will succeed."

I hope so.

"Furthermore, I'd like to point out that your design really facilitates certain actions towards women..."

"... Can't you just not bring this up?"

I was simply stating the facts.

Regardless of Suoxiate's true attitude, her actions were remarkably swift. In just four days, the first batch of new mage robes was completely manufactured. Furthermore, in accordance with Li Lin's request for an "old for new" exchange, any mage could receive a brand-new robe for free by exchanging their old one.

Just as Li Lin had predicted, initially, the mages of the Magic Empire weren't very supportive of these changes. However, after Nia and Suoxiate explained and introduced the changes, almost everyone had no objections. Li Lin was also well aware that this was largely due to his status as Arcane Mage. After all, he had once ruled the Magic Empire, so changing these regulations wouldn't encounter much resistance. If a newly appointed Arcane Mage like Nisi had dared to do this, she would definitely have been labeled as "abusing her power" and "disrespecting tradition." Li Lin's actions were simply changing the rules he had established, thus the backlash was relatively weak.

Of course, it cannot be denied that the "additional" benefits on the mage's robes were also one of the important reasons why these mages nodded in agreement.

As for the student uniforms, they were quickly accepted by the students. Of course, as Nia and Suoxiate had expected, many female students expressed their dissatisfaction with such "bold" uniforms, but Li Lin "forcefully" suppressed them all. In any case, these students were just students and did not have the right or qualification to question the Arcane Mage's decision.

Surprisingly, the male students in the college praised the uniform highly, with some even writing to suggest that not only the bottom but also the top should become shorter in the future...

Perhaps this is not surprising.

While Li Lin was carrying out sweeping reforms in the Ringwraith City, Angela had already reached the border of the Sea-Encircled Country.

Although the little one could reach the Sea-Encircled Country in just two days at her speed, or even less—if Li Lin opened a portal, Angela would appear in the Sea-Encircled Country's hall the next instant— Li Lin didn't do so, and neither did Angela. From Li Lin's perspective, if he immediately sent an envoy upon receiving a request for help from the Sea-Encircled Country, it would easily be perceived as having ulterior motives. This could easily become a weakness in political negotiations. While it might not be considered prudent, the arrogance of a great power at certain times is necessary.

Angela, who understood this perfectly, naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to do the opposite; in fact, she was quite enjoying herself at the moment.

Although the little one was penniless, that never stopped her from indulging in luxurious pleasures. Like now, aboard a comfortable cruise ship, Angela lay languidly on a luxurious, soft bed, the fragrance of roses wafting from the scattered petals, filling the entire room. These were all fresh products purchased at great expense, not to mention the delicious wines, juices, and the fresh meats available on board.

As for the nobleman who paid the money, he only has himself to blame. After seeing Angela's beauty, he went up to chat her up, and was then enveloped by those blood-red demonic eyes, completely manipulated and turned into a slave. He willingly provided her with a large sum of money, and now that poor wretch is probably in his destitute room, helplessly waiting for bankruptcy to come.

"What a foolish male, daring to seduce me! This is a small punishment."

Angela stretched out her arms, and a cold smile involuntarily appeared on her lips as she thought of the bad luck that the man was about to face.

Just then, there was a soft knock at the door, followed by the captain's voice.

"Dear Miss."

"What's up?"

Angela over, still lying face down on the bed, and replied listlessly.

"This..."

Clearly, the captain was finding it difficult to speak.

"We've spotted Kudel's navy not far ahead."

"So what?"

"Well... we just received their flag signal. They claim the border is now completely sealed off and demand we turn back immediately."

"..."

"..."

After the captain carefully finished speaking, the room fell silent until Angela's voice rang out again after a moment.

"Captain..."

"Yes, beautiful lady, what are your instructions?"

"We clearly stated our mission when we signed the peace treaty, didn't we? What is your task?"

"This... I'll escort Miss to the Sea-Encircled Country."

"Did I say I wasn't going?"

"... No, we don't have that."

Sensing the icy, powerful aura emanating from within the door, the captain wiped away a cold sweat and answered tremblingly. Although he didn't know who this young lady was, his instincts told him that she was not someone he could deal with.

"Then, I don't need to say anything more, right?"

"Yes, I understand what you mean."

The captain then took his leave.

"Hmph, what a boring trick."

Angela snapped her folding fan shut, a look of disdain in her eyes.

"Then, let's make a scene as our master has instructed."