The Good Teacher

Teachers, with a capitalised 'T', have become ubiquitous with the dissemination of magic and cultivation arts. Historically, Teachers are relatively new entrants into the wild world of cultivation, breaching into prominence within the last ten thousand years give or take five thousand.

The standard logic for a very long time was to hoard knowledge. To grow stronger in isolation, achieve advancements in cultivation, and go against the Heavens and all that. However, one fine day, a certain mage had a bright idea. She figured, 'Why should we hoard all of this knowledge when we could use it to help everyone?'

No one really remembers the identity of such a revolutionary thinker, because the moment she voiced her proposition out loud, she was summarily annihilated.

'Who would utter such blasphemous ideas? Does she have no common sense? *Tsk* Women... typical!' The mages of that generation disdained her at that time. Yet that pervasive idea had taken root. More and more mages, mostly those at the bottom rungs of the ladder, started to congregate and share their knowledge in hopes of growing stronger. After all, nothing brings people closer than a shared enemy. And to these unfortunate bottom feeders, the powerful Clans, Sects and Organisations were the monoliths they could never supersede.

If those monoliths had been more proactive, and less arrogant, they could have nipped this growing threat in the bud, however, their unwavering belief in their superiority cost them that advantage. The appeal of being able to learn magic without having to sacrifice one's freedom was an attractive selling point. As more mages came under this unnamed co-operative's umbrella, they started to appreciate its superiority over the existing power structures.

Lombard Gronnlander was the first to achieve successive breakthroughs and breached the Tesseract Transformation realm in record time. His success was partly due to his strong first-generation Phoenician Bloodline, and partly due to the excessive amount of resources injected into him by the co-operative. The mages recognised the urgent requirement of a spearhead and face for their cause. They alone wouldn't have been enough to stand against the existing monoliths, so they immediately unearthed Lombard given his talent for cultivation.

Lombard was made the de-facto leader of the co-operative and went on to assert the co-operative's claim in the world of cultivation. There were many challenges and conflicts along the way, but the rag-tag groups of upstart mages held firm, and through smart and strategic manoeuvring, embedded themselves deeply into the world.

Marketing played a huge part in this. The old monolithic organisations had reached a point where they had become unreachable to the common classes. Entry required some connection to existing parties or absolutely unshakeable innate advantages like physiques or bloodlines. The common class COULD enter monoliths through alternate routes, but these were often marginalised to indentured servitude for life sometimes extending to future generations as well. The co-operative, however, did not have such restrictions. Anyone could participate as long as they could offer a manageable sum of money as fees.

After all, people hated to sell their souls for another cause but could tolerate selling their souls for money.

The co-operative decided to branch their image favourably by calling themselves Academies, and the instructors as Teachers with a capitalised 'T'.

"Are you a teacher?"

"No, I'm a Teacher. With a capitalised 'T'."

"Ah! I'm sorry teacher."

"Capitalise the 'T', damn it!"

"Right, right! Teacher."

"That's more like it."

Such conversations would spark within taverns, inns and restaurants. Needless to say, the newly formed Academies' marketing team was extremely effective in solidifying the public perception. Following a series of carefully calculated hits, coups and advertisement campaigns, the Academies and the Teachers started to overtake the monolithic organisations both in fame and power. In fact, they even started to gain support from the suppressed minor Clans, Sects and Organisations that had to submit to the might of the powerhouses. With a constant influx of untapped talents, and a steady generation of new mages and cultivators, the Academies had all the required ingredients to succeed through sheer numbers alone.

On that note, the reason why Academies succeeded where Clans and Sects failed was due to their independent nature. An Academy treated the Students and the Teacher not as entities tethered to the organisation, but rather as free agents employed through a thorough contract. This sat well with a lot of mages as no one of that stature preferred to be tied down by some flimsy reasoning of loyalty, servitude or obligation. Cultivation revolved around benefits, after all.

As more people started taking a liking to the format of Academies, and as more and more Academies started to sprout all over the world, the co-operative enacted their second step. They incrementally started to ingratiate themselves with the various guilds that existed around the world and brought them into the fold by inventing Teaching Licences. Now, Teachers not only had to have a thorough understanding of cultivation and magic but they must also be learned in other professions to a verifiable degree. With this new addition, Academies now catered to a wider variety of Students. This added stringency in the rating of Teachers set Academies apart from Sects and Clans who, oftentimes, specialised in only one licenced profession like Alchemy, Smithing, Enchanting, and so on.

Over time, Academies entered the forefront of the mage circle and the arrogant Sects and Clans could do nothing to counteract this new phenomenon, as they were already too late.

With their new power, the co-operative of Academies enacted new laws and regulations that placed checks on Clans and Sects. They made it so that only licenced Teachers could lecture about magic in a public setting. Teaching Apprentices could do so as well, but only under the purview of an Academy or another licenced Teacher. However, the only exception to the rule was if the lecturing individual is a member of a Clan or Sect, and the listeners are also members of the same Clan or Sect.

"Why is the exception so specific?" Guy asked.

"You can muzzle a manticore, but that doesn't make the manticore any less of a threat. Everyone and everything has a bottom line," Al commented. "The monolithic organisations allowed the Academies to persist because making any move against the Academies would have put them in an unfavourable light. However, if the opposition from Academies exceeded the organisations' bottom lines, then they would have taken action regardless of how they would be perceived by the public."

"This leaves us with no choice, then?" Guy inquired.

"I believe so," Al affirmed. "I've looked into it, and there is very little that I can do to overturn the ban that Radiant Academy has placed on your employment to any Academy of magic. Maybe if it had been earlier, it would have been possible - I could pull some strings and make it go away. But now, too much time has passed, and your name has probably been etched into stone. There is no escape."

"I guess there's no helping it," Guy shrugged. He then clapped his hands together and blurted out, "So how do you make a Sect anyway?"

"It's actually quite easy," Al said while waving his hand. "After the revolution brought on by Academies, Sects took a page from their strategy and began lowering the barrier of entry as well. Nowadays, just about anyone can make a sect. You need a unique name for the Sect, a unique location as the base, a unique assortment of cultivation methods to act as anchors for the sect and finally, you need support structures to hold up your Sect."

"I get the necessity of a unique name and location, but what do the rest mean?" Guy responded.

"If the assortment of cultivation methods taught within a Sect can be taught by a Teacher, what use is a Sect?" Al proposed. "Basically, a Sect is only functional if it can offer something inaccessible outside of it."

"So if it is a cultivation method available in an Academy's library or by a Teacher, it is invalidated?" Guy rephrased his question.

"That is correct," Al nodded. "As for a support structure... How do I put it?"

Al scratched his chin in contemplation before explaining, "Why do people have to think twice before entering a bloody conflict with the Rasmus Clan? Ignoring the plethora of experts on the forefront of the clan, of course."

"I don't get what you mean," Guy muttered with a frown.

"It's our Ancestor," Jean answered in his stead. "The Ancestor's presence is the deterrent."

Al snapped his finger and added, "That's what I mean! Any successful Sect that intends to last the test of time NEEDS a support structure of some kind that can deter miscreants from making disadvantageous moves. It could be anything, ranging from a veritable mage powerhouse to an artefact or weapon of some kind capable of enacting superior damage."

"That is concerning," Guy chimed in. "Is it necessary?"

"It isn't necessary but highly recommended. Although just about anyone can create a clan, most small fries without a support structure never make it in the long run. They either get decimated by their competition to bankruptcy or absorbed by a larger sect, or in some cases, they just die."

While Guy furled his brows in deep thought, Al clicked his tongue and commented, "Regretfully, neither I nor Goran can act as support structures since I am affiliated with the co-operative of Academies while his allegiance is to the Rasmus Clan."

The group entered a depressed state after hearing that. Their momentum was quenched, and Guy was immeasurably disappointed.

"I guess my plan crashed before it could even take off, huh?" Guy commented with wry mirth.

At that moment, a familiar voice echoed within the minds of everyone present in the room. It was through a Mana Transmission!

'I believe I can assist in this matter.'