Chapter 96
Chapter 96 – Sin City Academy
The Sin City Academy was an educational institution under the authority of the Grey Temple . It split its students according to age and ability, and further separated the students into Young Sprouts Nursery and Grand Ocean Forest .
The Young Sprouts Nursery was meant for those aged 5 to 12 year old children . At this point, the purpose of education was to teach them some simple knowledge about religion as well as basic reading, writing, arithmetic and common sense .
This was also the time for them to search out students with special talents, such as magical ability, perception ability, computing ability… and other such hidden gifts or talents . When they have gained a certain level of mastery they would be able to go through an assessment exam for Grand Ocean Forest . Those who managed to pass the assessment would enter the Grand Ocean Forest immediately and be given dedicated tutelage by specialised teachers .
Those who reached the age of 12 without passing any of the assessment exams will have to drop out of school and lose the chance to properly graduate from the Sin City Academy . The drop out rate was one out of every five students .
Students who managed to graduate from Sin City Academy will often be absorbed into the Grey Temple and become fresh initiates of the church . These graduates will be groomed to be loyal and valuable members of the church .
Mike did not have any negative feelings against the church for making the Academy a feeder school for the Grey Temple . They did, after all, spent a lot of money and resources to properly educate the children for a nominal fee . After graduation, students still have a choice on whether to devote their lives to the church or not .
At any rate, not every graduate of the Academy would be automatically be accepted into the Temple . Graduates who wish to enter the church’s fold would still have to go through an examination before the Temple would even consider accepting them . This kind of system reminded him of the civil servant system in his previous world .
The best thing about the Grey Temple was the way they take the lead in mass dissemination of knowledge and education in the City of Sin .
They had more or less took over the entire Nolan Continent’s via their education system, thanks to the schools they set up, a special hybrid of human and elf language ended up being the lingua franca of this world .
However, it was not a simple matter for other races to learn this hybrid form of reading and writing . Even sons tribal chiefs like Harold only managed to reach conversational level in this language after much hardship .
The Young Sprouts Nursary school in Sin City Academy received over 1,000 students every year . Each student have to pay 5 gold coins only per year for their school fees . Much cheaper than the 50 gold coins charged by normal private schools . In a way, this was kind of similar to compulsory education .
Moreover, the Sin City Academy did not discriminate students based on their race . Students might find themselves seated next to a demon and an elf, with a dwarf in front of them and a troll behind them . This was also a unique feature of the Sin City reflected in the local education system .
This kind of harmonious atmosphere came only after a hundred years of development . The Grey Temple and its associated religious branches took a risk with Sin City Academy and reaped great success with their experiment . When all was said and done, no matter how different students from two races were, after having traversed the same road every day to school and sat in the same classroom and learn the same subjects everyday . Everyone soon became a familiar sight resulting in significant reduction of racial tension and hatred .
On top of that, the ratio of foreign races within Sin City had always been higher than the other cities, with a corresponding high level of civilization, which also contributed to the success of the experiment .
Mike stood at the vast gate of the Sin City Academy with Amy . It was now class time, therefore the old doorman and a tall orc guarding the gate absolutely refused to let them in no matter how they implore . They would have to wait until school was over before they could see Teacher Luna .
“Looks like we’re a little early . ” Mike looked at the large clock near the entrance, it was now 10:30 am . The third class haven’t ended yet, so the school would end about 11:30am .
Amy tugged at Mike’s clothes for his attention, after casting a look at the beastman, she said softly . “Daddy dearest, we can sneak in and have a look . ”
“Sneak in?” Mike looked at Amy with some astonishment .
“En, en, whenever they refuse to let me in, I will sneak in through a secret place . ” Amy nodded earnestly .
10 minutes later, Mike looked back at the gap covered by two particularly lush bushes, he could not resist smiling as he rubbed Amy on the head . This little brat certainly was not a simple one .
“I know which classroom Teacher Luna is in . Daddy dearest, let’s go and sneak a look . ” Amy grabbed Mike’s finger and stepped confidently down familiar paths .
Mike could tell that Amy really wanted to see that Miss Luna, so he merely let her lead the way . After all she had spent quite a lot of time just looking in from the outside .
The classrooms of the Sin City Academy were two storey buildings made with stone and wood . The walls of the lower floors were made of square black stones, while the roof and the second floor were made entirely of wood . There were large windows on the side, propped open to ensure that the classrooms were brightly illuminated .
The bright and crisp voices of students reading their work could be heard from various classes, most of the classes were painted in sky blue and grass green, giving a very refreshing and clean appearance . There were even interesting murals painted on the walls, possibly the work of students, depicting various races living in harmony .
“That person who founded this Grey Temple must be a man of great vision . ” Mike looked at the paintings, and saw what that founder person must have hoped to see .
If this ideology could be spread from Sin City towards the rest of the continent, there would be no need to fear the racial war that happened a hundred years ago .
“This kind off vision fits right into my plans for the future . If various races from the whole continent could come together and integrate with each other more, the number of half blood people would inevitably increase . In the future, if their numbers continue to increase, discrimination against them would naturally disappear . Mike grew thoughtful, a smile dawned on his face, “Perhaps, I would even be able to witness this change . It would be great if I can do anything to fan this particular fire . ”
“Daddy dearest, what are you smiling about?” Amy asked curiously as she looked up at Mike, after thinking about it, she said again, “I know, you really want to see Teacher Luna too, so you’re happy, right?”
“Perhaps, it’s possible,” the rhythmic sounds of children reading in their high voices must have improved his mood somehow . It was the sound of the future after all .
This kind of atmosphere was really not bad, come next year when Amy is of age, he will definitely let her enter to this school . It’s better than sticking around the house with him all day . Since she already knew how to use the fireball, he didn’t have to worry about her getting bullied in school .
“Me too, I’m super happy . ” Amy nodded back, but then she quickly placed a finger to her lips and quietly pointed at one of the classroom windows, “Teacher Luna is over there, let’s sneak over . Don’t make a sound . ”
Mike nodded without saying anything and lightly followed Amy towards the window .
Directly under the window were two pieces of black square stones stacked together, Amy only hesitated for a moment, before stepping on them, the added height made her tall enough to look in through the window .
“Looks like those stone blocks are prepared just for Amy,” thought Mike as he looked at those blocks a little warily, there were no such blocks under any of the other windows . Moreover, the blocks were at just the right height for Amy .
They could hear Miss Luna’s voice, even through the window, her voice felt gentle and warm . It was the kind of voice that would patiently guide students in their learning, it felt like a very reassuring and comfortable voice .
From what he could hear, the lesson was a simple arithmetic exercise involving single digit multiplication . However, because there was no time tables or decimal points, the math became very complicated . They seemed to be repeating three questions over and over again, until even Mike himself was confused, it must be really hard for those 6 or 7 year old kids .
Amy listened quietly, her eyes very bright as she stared at the classroom .
Mike also stood quietly by her side, it’s fine to just listen to the lessons . It wouldn’t do to actually disturb them .
“Miao~” at this point, a sudden cat noise disturbed the peace .