Ethan was practically jumping for joy, imagining who he could summon.

Military geniuses?

No, he already had Doran.

People to manage the mines? Great research mages?

All of that seemed less important to him compared to what came to mind right after.

Goldenveil would need an educational system, wouldn’t it?

There were already hundreds of children in the territory, and most of the population were illiterate.

Next month, he could build a school with his instant construction ability, and with these professionals, he could begin teaching the children of Goldenveil to read and write as soon as possible.

Even if he couldn’t provide a more advanced education, just the basics would be more than enough to put him ahead of many of his peers for now.

Without hesitation, Ethan made his choice.

Well, first he got dressed and made his way to a more suitable place: his office.

Once there, he summoned professionals specializing in elementary and secondary education.

Immediately, seven people appeared before him: three women and four men, all of ordinary appearance.

Reading and Writing.

Mathematics.

History.

Natural Sciences.

Agriculture and Practical Life.

Physical Education.

Philosophy, Ethics, and Law.

These were the areas of expertise of the professionals Ethan had summoned.

Each of them possessed an S-Rank professional talent, making them unparalleled geniuses in their respective fields.

At first, the seven newcomers seemed confused, glancing around with slightly lost expressions.

However, the instant their eyes fell upon Ethan, they promptly dropped to their knees.

"Greetings, my lord," they spoke in unison, drawing a soft smile from Ethan’s lips.

"Very well," he replied, motioning for them to follow him to the mansion’s library.

They seemed different from Doran and the other girls, as if the system had created them specifically, rather than summoning ordinary souls who had died.

That made Ethan happy, since integrating them would prove far simpler this way.

"Over the next two months, I want you, as talented teachers, to begin preparing to take over the school yourselves," Ethan declared, sitting down at a table in the library.

"Organize everything for the first academic year, and create a school system of our own."

That night, he didn’t sleep.

After the seven teachers overcame their initial confusion and gained a better understanding of Goldenveil and Ethan’s wishes, they began a long discussion about what to do next.

Fortunately, Goldenveil still had large reserves of paper.

Most of it had come from Ron, but a considerable portion originated from Ethan’s own mansion and the barracks, which held countless stacks of blank forms.

Combined with the libraries of the mansion and barracks, filled with books on a wide variety of subjects, and with Doran himself teaching the children aura manipulation once a week, they had everything needed to create a minimally functional educational system.

Ethan didn’t expect anything complex or capable of making great civilizations tremble with envy.

It would suffice to ensure that all the children of Goldenveil mastered the basics of aura manipulation, knew how to read and write, and possessed knowledge of fundamental mathematics and science.

In the future, education would need to be far more specialized, but for now, at least as far as basic education was concerned, that would do.

Around three in the morning, Ethan wrapped up his first meeting with Goldenveil’s many future teachers and sent them off to the barracks.

The barracks had classrooms built for theoretical instruction, and those could serve temporarily for meetings and for organizing the first school year, which he planned to begin with the first snowfall.

In the end, with everything properly settled, Ethan finally went to sleep.

***

The next day, while Ethan still rested in his quarters, Aerick woke in the house assigned to him upon his arrival.

It was far less luxurious than his previous mansion, but it was pleasant and warm.

The night before, he had drunk a little too much with Ethan: several bottles of various wines and five bottles of green fairy wine.

Had he known that those five bottles, in the Kingdom of Burning Ice, would easily fetch between one thousand and two thousand gold coins, he probably would have suffered a heart attack on the spot.

Well, that mattered little now.

As a third-stage warrior, a simple thought was enough to dispel the hangover still throbbing in his temples.

After planting a gentle kiss on his wife’s cheek and another on his sleeping son’s forehead, he set off toward the Goldenveil barracks, no more than a hundred paces from his home.

His heart fluttered slightly as he passed through those imposing arches.

His boots echoed down the long corridors until he finally reached the first of the Goldenveil Guard’s five training grounds.

There, just over half the guard—two hundred men—already stood before Doran.

The soldiers repeated sword and shield movements in perfect synchrony, the metallic clang of steel ringing across the field in rhythmic waves as they absorbed their instructor’s teachings on a technique Aerick had never heard of, yet one that was clearly very powerful.

"It’s an exceptional technique for formation combat," Aerick remarked, approaching Doran, who nodded in response.

"It’s called Imperial Fencing, from the Fallen Sun Empire," Doran replied, his eyes fixed on the guards’ movements.

Almost all of those two hundred men were novices, yet after just thirty minutes of instruction, they already managed to reproduce parts of the Imperial Fencing forms, even if with some difficulty.

Aerick remained silent, taking a brief moment to search his mind for that name.

When he found it, his eyes widened in recognition.

He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it, the words dying before they could emerge.

That was likely secret knowledge of Doran’s, and yet he had passed it on in its entirety to the Goldenveil guard, including even the one who had previously served him.

Why teach such a powerful technique instead of keeping it to himself?

Aerick sighed, organizing in his mind all the knowledge he had received from his master. Setting aside the secret techniques, there was still much he could teach as well.

Turning to Doran, he asked, "May I teach the guard a little as well?"

And so, within a few years, a legend was destined to spread throughout the Eternal Forest: the legend of an army that fought with an unbreakable formation and that, with every swing of their swords, unleashed golden dragons.