A Beginning's Continuation

by Tony Tran

  A few months after the empire was established, thanks to his knowledge of his past life, Zhang enacted a series of changes throughout the far reaches of the Aurora Empire.

  One by one, schools and various educational institutions popped up across the land under Zhang’s guidance. Since the children stood for Aurora’s future, Zhang decided to try to develop as many talents as possible and to use schools as a gathering place to do so.

  Normally in other places only the wealthy or middle class could afford to pay for private tutors or send their children to boarding schools while the only chance given to poor people at a proper education would go be lucky enough to be admitted into a sect.

  However, now that educational institutes were set up and funded by the government, everyone can get an equal chance at receiving an education. On a top of becoming educated for free, the students at all of these schools would also receive a chance to be selected to attend Aurora’s Imperial Institute.

  Much like the Heilong Kingdom’s Royal Academy, the Imperial Institute was established to help Aurora cultivate more high-level mages and warriors.

  Unlike the Royal Academy, however, the Imperial Institute accepted an unlimited number of talented students that all came from the various schools within the empire. Each and every student selected would be given an opportunity to board the empire’s greatest symbol of power, Zhang’s Sky Fortress, where they would stay for a number of years to further their understanding of cultivation, military strategy, and a number of other various arts.

  Among those admitted into the Imperial Institute, a few would be granted the opportunity to become direct disciples of Aurora’s princesses.

  Surprisingly enough half a few months after all of the schools were constructed and operational, tens of thousands of students were selected and sent to the Sky Fortress. Contrary to Zhang’s usual hoarding of gold and riches, he spent lavishly to accommodate the students of the Imperial Institute.

  Besides changes in the education system, Zhang also sent out thousands of teams to properly survey the land. For many years, the empire was divided and lots of lands that was once known to be filled with important resources were left shrouded in mystery and inaccessible.

  But now that survey teams were sent out, the empire would be properly mapped and explored, giving those governing over the land a better understanding of what resources they had to work with.

  As reports came back to the capital from the various teams spread out across the empire, dozens of veins of gold, silver, and various other minerals were found. A number of rare herbs were also being steadily sent back toward the capital as the various teams explored regions that have barely been laid eyes upon by humans.

  Of course, much to Lingqi’s delight, she would be the first to have a look at and pick what she wounded from these stashes of rare herbs.

  At Zhang’s orders, rare books were to be sent to the capital for safe keeping because of the knowledge that could be lost if these books were to be destroyed or lost. Little did anyone know, Zhang was actually gathering books so, that he can use his newly invented printing press to produce copies of them.

  Although he had thought about releasing the printing press to the public, he decided not to because of the economic impact it would have on a portion of the population who worked as scribes and made a living off copying books by hand.

  Perhaps over time he would introduce this wonderful invention to the world but for now too many changes at once only served to unhinge and cause the people to be uneasy.

  So, for now instead of supplying everyone with inexpensive massed produced copies of text, Zhang provided every school with an adequate library for its students to use. But of course, no library in the Aurora Empire could compare to the one that was amassed in the Imperial Institute.

  Much to Ling’s delight, the number of books that Zhang managed to collect quickly outnumbered the ones gathered within the Heilong Kingdom’s Royal Academy.

  Zhang also introduced various agricultural innovations that would help increase the yield of crops produced in the Southern Region that is now being governed by the Liu Clan from what was the Dark Sea Province, who was being over watched by Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi.

  “Have the teleportation platforms been set up yet?” Zhang asked from behind a desk covered in various documents.

  “My lord construction has begun roughly a month ago, and most of the platforms should have been finished by now.” A soldier replied to Zhang.

  Besides various reforms and establishing hundreds of schools, Zhang also ordered for the construction of teleportation arrays to be built across the empire. Based on designs used by the Dark Legion and with a bit of tweaking from Yuying, countless teleportation arrays were quickly built for the exclusive use of the government. Since traveling by foot or by horse would take many months, making the transportation of food from one end of the empire to the other impractically, Zhang needed a better way to supply reallocate resources.

  Thankfully after their master abandoned them, the former forces of the Dark Legion were easily persuaded to join under Zhang’s banner. After which they’ve help train Zhang’s soldiers on how to use spell formations and also have shared the blueprints on how to construct the teleportation arrays.

  “Good, have the excess crops sent to the Northern Region after encasing them in ice.” Zhang said as he tried to redistribute the abundant food supply of the Southern Region to the Northern Region that was lacking food but had plenty raw materials.

  “I'll send word to the Transport Core and General Hei Ang right away my lord.” A soldier said before exiting the Azure Tower where Zhang had been spending most of his time. Once outside the soldier mounted a massive Golden Winged Eagle that had its mind rewired by Yuying and flew into the sky before descending toward the capital below and fly out of the city toward a midsized fortress.

  “Ai, do you want to go for a walk?” Zhang asked after the soldier departed while looking toward a table not too far some his desk where Ai was sitting and enjoying a wide variety of snacks laid out in front of her.

  “Let’s go!” Ai said with an excited expression.

  Although Zhang did not act as the headmaster of the Imperial Institute nor did he take over managing the empire from Jian Wei he was still fairly busy while the other beauties were all caught up in doing their own thing, leaving Ai without anyone to spend time with for a large part of the day.

  “Once the empire’s borders are reinforced and the army is restructured, we can spend all the time we want together.” Zhang said with a laugh as he and his beautiful wife descended the steps of the Azure Tower arm in arm.

  After our lovely couple descended from the tower that pierced into the sky and began to walk about the newly constructed school campus, countless students could be seen roaming the grounds with arm fulls of scrolls and merry smiles on their faces.

  “Your highnesses.” A few students said as they spotted Zhang and Ai, bowing politely to show their respect.

  “You guys best be on your way or else you’ll be late to class.” Zhang said with a smile.

  “If you late sis you’ll get a mouthful from sis.” Ai said with a laugh as she looked at a young girl who was dressed in black robes, symbolizing that she was one of Yuying’s disciples.

  Once the school was started, three factions had emerged within it. Those who wore black robes with a red sash around their waists were Yuying’s students who studied the dark arts, those with white robes and green sashes were Lingqi’s students who studied medicine and poisons, those with white robes and blue sashes were Ling’s students who studied a large variety of things that included by were not limited to war strategy and literature.

  Of course, there were hundreds of other teachers and educators in the institute, since occasionally Zhang’s generals would try teaching the students a thing or two about this or that, even Sima Yi had given a lecture or two when he was in the capital. But for the most part, student would identify themselves with one of
the three beauties.

  “Let’s go see how the smiths are doing.” Zhang said to Ai as they headed toward a massive furnace that could be seen spewing black smoke into the air.

  After Zhang recruited the best blacksmiths within the empire to work in the Sky Fortress, creating various weapons and instruments that he drew up blueprints for, a few of the institute’s students took an interest to blacksmithing so, a thus it was also added to the curriculum.

  As Zhang and Ai entered the institute’s Inferno Smelting Hall they saw hundreds of students hard at work trying to craft swords and armor. Thanks to a bit of shared knowledge from Yuying and a few books that Zhang managed to gather, the students here were also being taught how to use inscriptions on their creations to create lesser magical items.

  “This is a going to be a good one.” Zhang said as he watched a student pound away at a rod of iron until it flattened into the shape of a sword.

  “Thank you for the praise your highness.” The student replied cheerfully with a smile despite the sweat that ran down his brow.

  For the most part, Zhang’s attempt as running the academy came with many rewards as he was able to see the cheerful smiles on the faces of those who would otherwise not have a chance of bettering themselves simply because they could not afford to.

  Although there were no graduates from the school yet, it was certain that whoever graduated from the Imperial Institute would not find themselves without countless job offers.

  Chapter 78: Field Trip

  After watching the students crafting weapons and armor in the smelting hall, Zhang and Ai made their way to a place called the Beast Kennel where hundreds of demonic beasts were being kept.

  Hoping to develop an army like the Golden Wing Army, Zhang began to gather as many demonic beasts as he could to research what kinds of demonic beasts would be best suited to be paired with a human partner on a large scale such as an army. However, due to the lack of demonic beasts in the Warring States Region, Zhang could not gather any demonic beasts that would be able to grow past the sixth level of cultivation.

  As Zhang and Ai walked through the Beast Kennel and they peered into the dozens of pens where hundreds of demonic beasts could be seen, many students could also be spotted. These students would one day become Aurora’s beast tamers and experts in regards to demonic beasts.

  “Your highnesses.” A student who appeared to be only twelve years old said as he bowed while hugging a small demonic beast that looked like a wolf with fiery red fur in his arms.

  “Little Pan, how many times must I remind you to call me big sis.” Ai said as she patted the boy on the head.

  While the other beauties were taking in disciples and teaching classes, Ai spent a lot of her free time within the Beast Kennel with many students taking care of demonic beasts. Of course, like in all previous cases the demonic beasts, big or small, were all incredibly wary of her presence.

  Contrary to her efforts, Ai failed to really get to any of the demonic beasts in the kennel, however, she did succeed in befriending many of the younger disciples of the Imperial Institute who interested in taking care of demonic beasts.

  “Then, big sis has you come today to watch the feeding of the Hellfire Wolves?” The boy Ai referred to as Little Pan said with a smile as he patted the

  “Maybe tomorrow.” Ai replied with a smile before bidding the boy goodbye and proceeding to accompany Zhang.

  After an hour or two of walking through the kennel and observing the students interact with various demonic beasts, Ai waved her hand and made a small puffy cloud form for her and Zhang to use to move to their next destination.

  “It should be sunset soon.” Zhang said as he sat on a puffy cloud with Ai sitting in his lap.

  “It should be.” Ai said with a grin as the puffy cloud they sat on flew toward the eastern side of the Sky Fortress.

  Before long the sun that loomed above within the sky could be seen making its way beneath the horizon as Zhang and Ai enjoyed a lovely moment together.

  While the sun was setting its last rays of light shone onto the imperial capital and casting a veil of beauty and a romantic air into the hearts of all those who were gifted with such a view.

  Like many say it's the little moments in life that fly by in a heartbeat that often bring about the greatest amount of pleasure and joy, as is proven by Zhang and Ai’s time gazing at the sunset. Only in such moments can we truly forget about the world around us and its worrisome struggles so, that we can focus the entirety on our living companions.

  Much to the envy of the other beauties every day while lessons were being taught, Zhang would make time to go watch the sunset with Ai. Of course, it wasn't as if the other beauties were being neglected because at night he would enjoy star gazing with Ling, in the morning watching the sun rise with Yuying, and at other times during the day compare medical notes with Lingqi.

  In actuality, the beauties had made a pact amongst themselves and divided up Zhang’s day without his knowledge.

  Overall despite not knowing about the pact between the beauties and being as busy as he was, Zhang tried to make time for the beauties because if anything he still considered them a blessing that the heavens had bestowed upon him. Where else would one find such beautiful yet powerful women in a world where most women are expected to only master the skills of sewing, raising children and depending on their husbands. But that is not to say that all women are like this because it's never accurate to group people together.

  “We can keep doing this every day, right?” Ai asked while in her husband’s embrace as the last rays of warmth from the sun enveloped her.

  “It's a promise.” Zhang replied with a smile as he stuck out his pinky finger to which Ai locked her pinky finger with. Before long their lips touched and time seemed to stand still.

  “Hey, you kid! What are you doing up there!” A voice belonging to a certain middle-aged man echoed into Zhang and Ai’s ears.

  Looking down a middle-aged man dressed in golden robes, that were fitting for an emperor, and was surrounded by sturdy looking guards came into view.

  “Uncle!” Ai yelled as she made the puffy cloud underneath her descend toward the ground toward the emperor of the Aurora Empire, Jian Wei.

  “The mighty emperor of the Aurora Empire is forgoing his duties to interrupt an intimate moment between a husband and his wife? What will people say when they hear of this.” Zhang said jokingly with a laugh as he clasped his hand and greeted Jian Wei.

  “What will people say when they hear of the prince and future emperor of the Aurora Empire, forgoing his duties to the people and spending intimate time with his beautiful wife?” Jian Wei replied with a laugh as he walked beside Zhang and patted his shoulder.

  “Between the two of us though if you need any more of those pills I'll have someone send you a few batches.” Jian Wei whispered into Zhang’s ear.

  “What was that?” Ai asked with a curious look on her face.

  “I was asking him if he was treating my favorite foster daughter with enough love or not.” Jian Wei said as he placed his hand on the top of her head and ruffled her hair as if he was looking at a child.

  “If you can another batch or two would come in handy. The girls need as much help as they can get.” Zhang whispered into Jian Wei’s ear with a laugh.

  “Don't work yourself too hard, although that fruit you gave me has added a few more years to my stay in the realm of the living, the people do need someone to take care of them once I'm gone.” Jian Wei laughed while referring to the Eternity Fruit that Zhang gave him.

  “Your highness! Your highness! I knew this would be where you ran off to!” A group of middle-aged men wearing the robes of government officials could be seen running toward Jian Wei.

  “Damn they found me already.” Jian Wei cursed as his advisers and ministers came into view.

  “Your majesty it seems you have duties to attend to.” Zhang said as he glanced at Ai who made a puffy cloud appear once more.
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  “Take me with you!” Jian Wei yelled as Zhang and Ai made their escape while the various ministers and advisers surrounded Jian Wei.

  As things are, Jian Wei as the founding emperor of the Aurora Empire was left with an overwhelming workload that would drive most people insane. New government divisions needed to be established to help with the reconstruction of the war-torn lands, a working tax system needed to be put in place, checks and balances needed to be placed upon the various provincial lord's that governed over the empire’s land, borders needed to be reinforced, and not counting his diplomatic responsibilities, there were countless other things that called for Jian Wei’s attention.

  Of course, once everything was put into place and the empire was efficiently operating, Jian Wei could live out the rest of his life in leisure while being one of the most powerful and influential people on the continent.