Chapter 1319: Individual Martial Power is Not Supreme, The Protector Army

In a normal civilization, individual martial power must never become the primary source of an individual's status or standing, because that is of no benefit to civilization or order.

This is just like on Earth, where some people are born with astonishing strength, while others are born frail; should the strong therefore possess superior privileges?

The strong naturally have avenues within the order to realize the value of their power, rather than seizing it solely by virtue of that power itself.

In other words, Xia Duo does not oppose the strong receiving better treatment, but the premise is that they must be able to contribute to civilization, and among these, the most basic point is not to oppose order.

If the strong drift outside of order, then no matter how strong they are, Xia Duo views them as enemies.

Of course, the order here does not specifically refer to the order led by Xia Duo himself, but rather to order in a broad sense.

In layman's terms, it means being able to communicate, accept compromise, and understand trade-offs; it is a relatively rational person whose behavior can be predicted, regardless of whether they are good or evil.

It is not a madman who acts unscrupulously and does whatever they please.

……

After finishing discussions with He Sai regarding the new textbooks and some issues with the promotion assessment mechanism, the time had almost reached noon, and Xia Duo gave a final instruction:

"I leave the matter of the new textbooks to you. Additionally, please spread the word about the promotion assessment as soon as possible; it will be officially implemented after the Midsummer Festival."

"Yes, my lord." He Sai gathered the reference materials on the table and agreed immediately.

But at the same time, he also raised his own concerns, "If the word about the promotion assessment is spread now, I worry that some Apprentices will disregard their current learning progress and deliberately rush to upgrade early, which might trigger no small amount of chaos."

Xia Duo had long anticipated the situation He Sai mentioned, but "punishing without teaching" was not his style; any policy must have a certain buffer before implementation.

Otherwise, if orders are changed every morning and evening, order would completely degenerate into a farce.

"Mage He Sai, do not worry about these things. The Tower of Time is not so poor that it cannot afford this little expense. It is just that some people are now obtaining Permission Levels and treatment that do not belong to them yet, and in the future, they will inevitably pay a certain price for this."

"My lord, the price you speak of is—" He Sai was startled and hurriedly asked.

"Don't worry about how I might target them; the price I speak of comes entirely from themselves. You say some people are now rushing to become Official Mages and enjoying the Permission Levels and treatment of an Official Mage; will they still be able to calm their hearts to complete the coursework of the Apprentice stage? In the future, Official Mages will also have to participate in promotion assessments. If their foundations are lacking, they will inevitably have to spend more time than others to make up for it. Isn't that the price of taking a shortcut?"

"So that's how it is."

Realizing that Xia Duo would not deliberately target those people, He Sai also set aside his worries. Sometimes, when one takes a shortcut, one should indeed pay the corresponding price.

However, he still decided that while spreading the word, he would also emphasize the importance of basic coursework more; even if not for promotion, these could become precious wealth that would benefit them for their entire lives.

……

After leaving the Academic Affairs Office, Xia Duo called for Niya to go to Linshui Village for lunch together. While eating, he spoke to Niya about the reform of the promotion mechanism.

Niya was not the least bit surprised by this, "The Tower of Time in the past did exactly this, it's just that there wasn't a clear promotion standard, and it was decided entirely by my father. However, the promotion assessment you mentioned also seems to have some problems!"

"What problems?"

"If one could be promoted solely based on assessment, and the content of the assessment is all related to Magic that everyone can learn, wouldn't it mean that as long as someone is smart enough, they could quickly rise to the very top?"

Xia Duo was surprised that Niya discovered the problem within it so quickly. In reality, the promotion mechanism he is setting up now is essentially an improvement in academic qualifications and corresponding treatment for the 【Projection Plane: Empire Remnants】.

Accompanying this is the promotion of specific positions and ranks.

It is just that the current Tower of Time does not need to do so many complicated things all at once, nor are there many positions for the relevant personnel to be promoted to, so he didn't do it, but he will definitely do it in the future.

……

Xia Duo briefly explained the difference between academic qualifications and positions, and Niya immediately realized that this was an academic system's promotion mechanism, which happened to be suitable for the current academy-style transformation of the Tower of Time.

In fact, in the Magic world, because Knowledge can be very conveniently converted into martial power, academic qualification—martial power—position—treatment can basically be equated.

And what Xia Duo wants is to sever the direct relationship between "martial power" and "position," and transform it into a healthy development model from "academic qualification" to "position," or from "ability" to "position."

This seems to take an extra turn, but in reality, it lays the foundation for civilization, making everything develop in an orderly manner, rather than falling into a distorted state where individual martial power is supreme.

In the future, there might be an Administrator who specializes in governance but lacks deep attainments in the field of Magic, who is able to directly command a Great Arcanist to initiate a battle or focus on a certain research project.

Although this possibility is very small, such a possibility does indeed exist.

Like Laidun, although he has mastered Holy Power and his combat power is clearly higher than that of ordinary people, compared to a true Spellcaster, he still has great limitations.

Currently, Daxia Territory has more than 250 sponsored Apprentices studying at the Tower of Time. Besides the portion who have hope of continuing their studies in the field of Magic and will remain at the Tower of Time, won't the rest of them return to be managed by Laidun once they finish their studies?

In Xia Duo's planning, Magic is science, and everyone has the opportunity to receive Magic Education, but in reality, not everyone will be suitable to go deep down this path.

Just like Xia Duo's hometown, everyone can go to school and study, but not everyone will become a scientific researcher; most will enter other professions.

The Magic world is the same; in the future, only a minority will specialize in researching Magic. Although most people will be engaged in professions related to Magic, they will have long since left the front lines of research.

Breaking the direct connection between "martial power" and "position," "treatment," or "status" and "standing" is, in fact, also what allows Spellcasters in non-Magic research professions to exist stably and continue to develop.

Of course, because the instability of individual martial power is truly too high, Xia Duo still needs a "gun" that can effectively maintain this order.

However, at the current stage, he can lead this entire order with just his personal martial power and prestige.

In the future, as the Tower of Time develops and as Daxia Territory and Savile Territory merge, with order becoming one, it will not be a difficult task to select a qualified "Protector Army" from the new system.

Xia Duo has full confidence in this.

……

After lunch, Xia Duo was just about to go and look around the Territory, but he suddenly received an unexpected piece of news, which caused him to change his afternoon itinerary and instead return to the Tower of Time with Niya.