LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 607 Six months later
Sasa Allanor, Ixitus Empire;
After lunch at the royal palace, the three of them were ready to bid farewell. Mark handed over the deed to Ark Prime, who was left behind with a bunch of rank-5 and rank-6 robots for Mythril mining.
The last time he was here, Mark received the deed for eliminating the demon lord and saving the world. The deed says that he can mine rare materials anywhere he wants, as long as it is not inhabited by an Elf settlement for atleast two generations.
"See you later, Elowen."
"I await your next visit, Lord Lu, Allen, Sister Zan."
Mark opened the portal, taking the couple with him back to the City of Vienna. To not attract any unnecessary attracted, he opened right in a private chamber of the palace.
As they disappeared from her sight, Queen Elowen sighed, speaking to herself as she shook her head, "Forget it. Lu Zhen and my worlds are different. I have my own responsibilities to fill, and he has his own family. There's no point in trying to rekindle these unrequited feelings in my heart."
6 months later;
Vienna Royal City, Genesis Federation;
The past six months have been fruitful for Mark.
His business is booming, with over 21 branches all over the world.
A bunch of trade agreements have been signed with many Empires, except for the Dragon Empire, and also the Leon Empire.
Speaking of the Leon Empire, the civil war was absolutely killing the Shi Dynasty day after day. Some vassal states that announced their independence merged with fellow vassal states, fought wars, and made agreements, some eventually formed their respective kingdoms, and some once again swore loyalty back to the imperial family. More than half of the entire south of the Leon Empire was occupied by King Qi and his forces through his conquest.
The Kingdom of Golden Eagle was not only a part of the Federation, but it actually lies in the north of Bloodhill forest. As its area expanded further to the north, east, and west, Mark felt the royal city's protection only increased. Hence, to protect the region, he had a robotic division, an AI-controlled rank-10 robot, Ark Decimus, deployed along.
Meanwhile, Mark's titanium-steel-made robotic army numbers grew to more than a hundred thousand, although all of them were below rank 6 and none of them could use any skills.
Still, with his sophisticated gold-grade rocket launchers and all types of modern equipment aiding them, they have indeed become quite an invincible army.
He gained those two prototypes after finishing the last quest left by the system, which needed 10 million gold coins to earn from selling weapons. However, due to the absence of materials needed for nanotechnology built in the battle suits, he didn't produce them yet. Moreover, he also had other priorities.
His entire focus was still on building more and more nuclear reactors. 6 months outside time and roughly 90 years on the floating island, nine fully functioning nuclear reactors have been built so far, and he is currently working on enriching uranium reserves his robots mined from various regions all over the world. As people don't care about uranium deposits, Mark mined them for cheap.
The superior grade upgrade crystal, which he received as a reward from one of the quests left behind in the system that requires him to successfully sell 1000 weapons from ten branches of ten different cities, was used to upgrade Alina to become rank 9 Android.
Also, two more cities were built in Sector 3 to allow migration of the citizens who were interested in moving from the vassal states. Five hundred thousand per city were allowed to migrate.
Now to the present, Mark, his friends and relatives, important officials of Vienna City, and princes/envoys of the vassal states of the Federation were all gathered before the entrance gates of the University of Genesis, spanning over 150 acres in area and surrounded by huge walls and a dome-shaped barrier.
Little Lu Shan, who turned just '1' on this day, became the chief guest with a scissor in his hand and being carried by Song Yue. As he cut down the ribbon, fireworks were displayed in the sky, and Min Junjie, the crowd quieted down and turned their attention to the stage where the Head/Dean/Sage of the university stood. He announced loudly, "Esteemed Emperor Lu Zhen, honored guests, and beloved citizens of this great empire, today marks the beginning of a new era. With immense pride and profound gratitude, I now present you, the University of Genesis."
The thirty-foot big and fifty-foot wide gates were opened, revealing the state-of-the-art campus.
It was unlike any academy these guests have ever visited.
Tall, elegant buildings rise up with sleek glass facades and smooth stone structures, housing lecture halls, research centers, and administrative officers, spread all over the 150-acre campus. The buildings are designed to reflect the vision of progress—open, transparent spaces that foster knowledge-sharing.
Winding pathways lead guests past lush greenery, where manicured gardens and flower-filled courtyards offer a serene contrast to the academic rigor within the walls. Tall trees line the avenues, their leaves rustling gently o the breeze, providing a sense of tranquility to those strolling by.
Modern facilities are scattered throughout, with state-of-the-art laboratories for alchemists, libraries that house thousands of books gathered from all over the book, of which some are as ancient as nine hundred years, auditoriums designed for special lectures from visiting grand scholars and sages, scholar debates, and also performances.
The sports complex gleamed in sunlight, with several courts for tennis and badminton, which are unknown to this world.
A large arena with fifty thousand seating arrangements was also built for the battles and combat classes. This arena isn't like the Colosseum. It is much more than that. The spells installed in the arena would change the habitat within the area, like bringing a mini forest, a rocky area, grass plains, or even a mini lake with floating islands.
The three-story training facility contained gravity rooms to train oneself, a Combat robotics lab to spar with the robots of recommended strength, a Time chamber (just only one) where time slowly down by 100 times, and many more for the students to enjoy.
Of course, there are also weapons centers for special weapons training, the giant clubhouse where students could create clubs and have their own spaces, etc…
The dorms were also built in a modern apartment style, divided by gender obviously. However, the buildings in the male dormitory compound were larger in number due to the fact that male numbers are always greater in any academy. Instead of education, most parents would let their females learn the housework. Those who were physically strong and had talent became adventurers who didn't go to the academy anyways.
The seventh of the AI-controlled robot series, Ark Septimus, gave the tour to the important guests while the rest were given permission for free roaming.
Naturally, it enthralled them to the point of causing envy from even the foreign state envoy, i.e., the Dragon Empire's representative.
Best campus, the best instructors hired from all over the world, and most importantly, free education and accommodation for those below the poverty line, and stipends for those who pass the Federal state examination, which happened three months ago widely over the Federation; the higher the score, the greater their stipend amount.
Usually, each kingdom or empire has its own imperial state examinations for their state-owned academies. But, Mark made one common exam for all over the Federation, and for that, a committee was established, gathering grand scholars from the five vassal states to conduct a joint exam.
To encourage girls to attend the university, Mark also lowered their requirements on purpose. Out of 1000 marks, 500 is usually required to score in the state examination. For girls, however, it is only 350, although it is only for this university.
As for those who were too poor and hence wouldn't naturally have enough scores, they still could apply for the university and get direct admission without paying a fee as long as they are locals (citizens of Genesis, not the vassal states). However, only basic education and accommodation would be provided for them. Things like Special training facilities were restricted. Moreover, they only get 1 year of free education. After that, either they have to pay or pass the Federal State examinations.
Obviously, like anywhere else, the rich could just directly enter the university while paying hefty fees. They would also have unlimited access to all the places in the university.
This might seem very biased on someone's wealth status, but Mark couldn't do anything about this. This university will take too much funds to operate and he cannot just run it on charity, using his personal earnings from weapon sales.
Moreover, there was also the academic expulsion system, which happens every year based on the scores of the annual examination conducted each year. A student who is expelled based on the annual scores will not be admitted again, regardless of their status. That's the iron rule kept in this university.
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Just like his country of Genesis, Mark also opened the university based on phases.
On Phase 1, aka for this year, the university was ready to take 1000 students at most. Out of which, only 300 are reserved for the ones that passed the Federate state examination. The remaining 700 are reserved for students from poor backgrounds but have the citizenship of Genesis.
For this all to happen, the university should first start the classes, and when the academic year will start, the date hasn't been announced yet. For now, only admissions are open. Mark plans on opening them on his daughter's day of birth, which could take six to seven more weeks of waiting.