Juan Javier did not comment on the contents of the contract drawn up by Lin. In other words, without asking in private, one should not raise too many questions in public purely for the sake of opposition. This would hurt the authority of a certain mage in charge of management. In the world of mages, this was a rather taboo thing. Unless the person who raised it deliberately undermined it.
However, this did not mean that Juan did not have any doubts at all. From the moment he pinched this piece of paper, he had a question. "This is not a magic contract?"
"So-called agreements are meant to be broken. If one does not intend to keep the agreement, even if there are gods and demons at the same time as witnesses, the agreement will still be broken when it should be broken. If one intends to keep the agreement, even if it is a verbal agreement, it will be carried out without discount. Besides, the academy has only been established for less than a year, many things may have changed. If a magic contract is used, there is no room for change. "
Just like in ancient times on Earth, the fulfillment of a contract was guaranteed by the government. The most secure form of contract in the maze world was a magic contract, binding the souls of both parties to the agreement to promise to the other party that they would abide by the agreement. However, once a magic contract was made, there was no possibility of changing it.
Therefore, before signing a magic contract, one had to be very careful and cautious. At the same time, one had to carefully study the words used word by word. Any carelessness could lead to the loss of one's life, or the execution of the entire contract in a completely different direction.
However, the contract in front of them only used ordinary materials. A few of the older children thought that perhaps the other big reason for not using a magic contract was that the magic materials were too expensive.
In any case, after completing their studies, becoming an official mage and serving the academy for another two years was not unacceptable. Most of the children even believed that the academy was truly interested in nurturing them. It was too frightening to accept such a free service.
After giving everyone some time to read the contents of the contract, Lin asked, "Do you have any questions? Everyone can raise them. The academy has just been established, and everything is not finalized yet. Therefore, if anyone has any doubts or shortcomings, feel free to raise them for discussion. "
At this time, a child raised his hand timidly and asked, "Sir, what if we want to leave halfway due to other reasons?"
"This is a clause that terminates the contract. It's mentioned in the last paragraph. Maybe a mage is willing to accept you as his personal disciple, so you will leave the academy. Or maybe you have other places to go and want to end your studies in the academy. No matter what the reason was, the academy wouldn't refuse, but they had to pay the tuition fees for the duration of their stay. Originally, this fee was supposed to be replaced by two years of service after graduation. Since I want to leave the academy early, I naturally won't have the two years of service. Thus, I think it's reasonable for me to return the tuition fees during this period. What does everyone think? "
The child who asked the question nodded and didn't object. At this moment, another child raised his hand and asked, "Sir, how much is the tuition fee that you mentioned?"
He pulled out a magnified water mirror screen and displayed all the accounts related to the academy's income and expenditure. Due to the use of the new digital record, not only was it separated into categories, income and expenditure columns, but it was also clear to everyone who had already learned mathematics. Apart from the various decorations of the academy, the incense, ointment, candles, and other items used in the meditation ritual, there was also every apprentice's clothes, equipment, and daily food. Of course, there was also the fixed expenditure and the salary of every teacher.
As for the income, it was the number of apprentices who came out to help maintain order during the night of lectures, as well as various activities such as cleaning up and dealing with the aftermath. All in all, the academy's income and expenditure was a red deficit, which was very eye-catching. Of course, in the Lost Lands where loans and deferred payments were not prevalent, most of the money was paid by Lin with his personal property. The subsidies that should have come from the Charlie Richard Foundation were nowhere to be found.
After everyone had roughly browsed through it, Lin said, "This is your various expenses and income for the past four months. As long as you perform services outside of your studies and have nothing to do with yourself, you will receive the corresponding remuneration. Of course, this amount will be slightly lower than what you get from the missions you take on outside. In the future, if you are needed to help the academy concoct potions or forge items, it will also be handled accordingly. These expenses will be temporarily subsidized into your daily expenses. There is still room for discussion as to how to arrange them in the future. In short, after all your various expenses for the past four months, I have tentatively set the tuition fee at CCC (300 gold) every six months. "
Hearing such a figure, the people below had completely different reactions. Juan Javier's eyes lit up when he heard this, "So cheap!" However, the children below were so shocked that their faces turned green. "So expensive!"
Lin could only shrug his shoulders in the face of such polarized reactions. Every month, the Society of Sorcerers would subsidize an apprentice's expenses of about 20 to 70 gold, which varied depending on the apprentice's rank. The maximum subsidy for half a year was 420 gold. Of course, this fee would not be used entirely on the apprentice, but rather the apprentice's teachers. These official mages who taught the apprentices would arrange it.
That amount of money could actually be considered as the Association's remuneration for the various expenses of the apprentices and the mages' fees. It was also because of this that there was a limit to the number of years an apprentice could receive it. That was, three years for the first circle, three years for the second circle, and four years for the third circle.
Three hundred gold for half a year was an extremely cheap price to pay for a Magic Apprentice. Of course, if one were to calculate it carefully, the 300 gold would be completely used on the apprentices. Most of the subsidies from the Society of Sorcerers were taken by the mages themselves. Only some spare change could be spent on the apprentices. Therefore, the two should not be mentioned in the same breath. However, how would the people in the mysterious land understand this?
However, for the big children from the small villages, what did 300 gold mean? One gold could buy half a year's worth of coarse grain for a family of four. 300 gold meant that they would not have to work for the rest of their lives and would only eat coarse grain until they died of old age. Or they could buy some prodigal things, or get a wife as a decent dowry. In short, it was an unimaginable amount of money.
Lin did not discriminate against the different ideas of the two groups of people at all. This was a matter of vision and limited people's imagination. It had nothing to do with right or wrong.
However, for Lin, even if this group of children were not the kind of noble people who were spoiled and did not know the hardships of the world, judging from their age, they would not have much social experience. Before coming to Wulian City, they lived in some mountain valley and were expected to live there for the rest of their lives. Therefore, it was normal that they did not have much experience.
Lin made the terms and conditions according to the legal standards of Earth. Of course, he was not a law major, and there was no printer in the mysterious land, so the content of the contract could be compressed into a piece of paper. If he completely followed the standards of Earth, it would not be called a contract if he did not make a thick book with all kinds of overbearing clauses and traps.
But even so, the weight of the words written on that piece of paper was not small, especially for the people in the mysterious land. However, this group of children did not think twice about it. After looking through it once, a few of the older children took out pens and filled in their names. As for the younger children who did not have much of an opinion, when they saw that someone had signed, they also filled in their names.
The reason why they were not worried about signing their names on the contract was because this was not a very binding magic contract. Also, because they all passed the first circle apprentice exam today, it made everyone believe that in this academy, they could achieve their expectations of coming to Wulian City, and not be disappointed or desperate.
As for becoming a mage in four years, would it be difficult? An apprentice could be promoted to a mage as long as their talent was good enough. Unlike Lin and the other two who had the lowest level of magic talent, about five to six years was enough. Moreover, this time was based on the traditional teaching method.
Generally speaking, the way mages taught apprentices was to throw an introductory book for them to study on their own. Apprentices, on the other hand, had to spend a lot of time serving the mage, including washing, cooking, and cleaning. Apprentices with higher burning points also had to refine magic potions, casting, and smelting. They might just be assistants. Those who were more skilled could do it themselves and be sold as mages. Sometimes there was even night service.
After dealing with these chores, the rest of the time would be the time to learn magic by themselves. If they had questions about magic, of course, they could ask their teacher. But whether they would get an answer or not depended on the mage's mood. Of course, the identity and background of the person who asked still mattered. It was normal to not get a word of advice for three to five days.
Under this kind of traditional teaching method, it would take five to six years to become a magician. Under the intensive teaching of the academy, it would not be too difficult to become a mage in four years. As long as the talent was not too bad, it would not be a problem to shorten the time.
The reason for this confidence was because apprentice-level magic in the maze world was really simple. The main reason why the two girls, Hallumi and Kaya, could not progress quickly was because they were limited by their magic talent, which was the accumulation of power.
The children in the academy did not have this hurdle. For them, the difficulty lay in the construction of the understanding of magic, including various theories and methods. And these things were to be constantly listened to and practiced during the lessons every day.
If Lin were to use the situation on Earth as an analogy, then learning magic in the maze was like learning to ride a bike, drive, or even larger vehicles or construction machinery on Earth. It was actually very simple to make machinery and vehicles move. You just had to know how to step on the accelerator and turn the steering wheel.
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