Chapter 1572: Adding Niya to the Society and Voting on Branch Construction

In the 834th year of the Netheril Calendar, the predecessor to the Progress Society—the study group organized by Xia Duo—began to take shape; subsequently, as Xia Duo grew rapidly, the Progress Society also gradually expanded.

To this day, May 14th, 838 of the Netheril Calendar, the Progress Society has already become the most numerous and influential ideological group within the Tower of Time.

Aside from the factor of Xia Duo, the thoughts and concepts of the Progress Society themselves are sufficiently attractive; once one has known a positive, advanced, and beautiful future, it is very difficult to return to a negative, backward, and ugly past.

Listening to Dien's impassioned progress summary report, under the gaze of pairs of shining eyes, Xia Duo could at this moment perceive the most Reality development of the Progress Society over the past few years better than by looking at those cold documents and volumes.

"In summary, under the leadership and Indication of President Xia Duo, the members of the Progress Society have achieved outstanding results in the past, and in the future, we will surely create even greater brilliance; the ideal kingdom shall surely descend."

"The ideal kingdom shall surely descend!"

……

Listening to the deafening shouts in the venue, Xia Duo could not help but feel somewhat ashamed; although he had often issued certain Indications to the Progress Society in the past, many of the results Dien just mentioned were due more to the efforts of the Progress Society members themselves.

For instance, the Research Lab composed entirely of Progress Society members, although it had only been established for a short time, had already achieved many results in clarifying old Spells and standardizing new Spells, providing more new cases for Apprentice textbooks.

For another instance, something Xia Duo had only learned two days ago—the new breakthroughs in typesetting and printing achieved by the Tilake Research Lab and the Magic Technician Department, in which Progress Society members played a key role.

Or again, the mutual help among Apprentices, the advanced leading the backward, and even taking the initiative to substitute teach due to the scarcity of Teachers in the Academic Affairs Office, all featured the presence of Progress Society members.

However, although Xia Duo felt somewhat ashamed, he was also very proud—proud not only for the changes he had brought about, but even more proud of this group of lovely Progress Society members.

……

The review of the past was finished, and now it was time to speak of the present; in Xia Duo's hand was a meeting agenda and a list of important topics that Dien had distributed to all members beforehand.

"Currently, the Progress Society is in a state of rapid development, but in a sense, it can also be said to be at a bottleneck; in order to advance work in all aspects faster and better in the future, I propose to add Niya Saville as a Formal Member of the Progress Society."

When Dien said this, especially when mentioning Niya's name, his voice trembled slightly; besides being somewhat afraid because the Lord's consistent image of authority was too deeply rooted in people's hearts, he felt even more proud of the growth of the Progress Society.

Even the Lord has joined, what reason do you have to oppose it?

"Raise your hands to vote!"

For all topics of the Progress Society, besides Formal Members, all Probationary Members also have the right to vote, though it counts as half a vote; however, because of the large number of people, the total number of votes is not much different from that of the Formal Members.

Probationary Members are only unable to become Formal Members because they have not yet passed the Level 1 Professional Title exam of the Tower of Time; in terms of related rights, they are basically no different from Formal Members.

As for the Development Targets and Active Members behind them, they are not considered Formal Members and only have the right to observe and offer suggestions, but no right to vote.

Regarding Niya joining the society, Xia Duo had mentioned it early on, but at that time Niya looked down on the Progress Society; now that Niya has realized the important significance of the Progress Society, she resubmitted her application under Xia Duo's suggestion.

Of course, given Niya's status, she does not need to upgrade step by step like ordinary members and can join directly.

This does not violate the principles of the Progress Society.

In fact, this is the all-member vote stipulated by the Progress Society's charter, it is just that ordinary people cannot get Formal Members to initiate a formal topic at a general meeting.

Even if initiated, it would likely not pass.

But for Niya, her membership vote was passed unanimously by everyone, without even a single abstention.

……

After the topic of Niya joining the society, Xia Duo could not help but be distracted while looking at the agenda in his hand; the scene of him meeting with Jibusen a few days ago was still vivid in his mind, and he did not expect him to make such a choice today.

Although all topics were announced by Dien, the initiator of the topic had long been marked on the agenda; not just Xia Duo, everyone could see it.

Consequently, as Dien was about to announce the next topic, the venue suddenly fell silent; the buzzing sound of small-scale exchanges that had existed before now became exceptionally quiet, as if even breathing and heartbeats could be heard clearly.

"Currently, more and more new Apprentices in the Tower of Time have obtained the Level 1 Professional Title, and as time passes, we predict that the Tower of Time will become a more professional academy or research institution; a large number of Official Mages will have to be diverted to the Territory, at which time the comprehensive popularization of Magic will also officially begin."

After the topic of the Lord joining the society, Dien's state had stabilized much more; even though the venue was silent at this moment, he could still calmly read the content of the topic:

"As an advanced organization representing the vast majority of ordinary people, the Progress Society will surely play an important role in this transformation; here, I propose to send personnel to the various Territories in advance to guide all the people in the Territory to accept new ideas and lay a good foundation for the upcoming transformation."

After Dien finished speaking, his gaze swept across the venue; under normal circumstances, there should have been people starting to discuss it, as the Progress Society, which can write seeking common ground while reserving differences into its charter, has a fairly relaxed internal atmosphere.

But this topic involved the private interests of two important members, especially since, setting aside their status as Progress Society members, everyone present could be said to be vassals of those two important members.

Now, to use the Progress Society as a cover to encroach upon the power of their masters—if Xia Duo had not given a heads-up beforehand, even though Dien and Xia Duo had known each other since they were humble, he would have been restless upon seeing such a topic, and it would have been impossible for him to read it out in public.

But now—

"If there are no objections, let us begin the vote by show of hands; those in favor, please raise your hands!"

Swish—

Including the initiator of the topic, Jibusen, a total of more than thirty people raised their hands, among whom 19 were Formal Members and 14 were Probationary Members.

"Please put them down."

Dien said with an expressionless face, "Those opposed, please raise your hands!"

Swish—

This time, more than thirty also raised their hands, but this time only five Formal Members were opposed, and the remaining twenty-plus were all Probationary Members.

"Please put them down."

"Those abstaining, please raise your hands."

Swish-la-la, a large group raised their hands; except for those who had just voted in favor or opposed, everyone else was here.

"26 votes in favor, 19 votes against, 46 abstentions; the topic does not pass!"

Whew—

It is unknown who started it first, but soon, sounds of relief echoed one after another in the venue.