<h4>Chapter 1284 Final Preparations</h4>


    Prior to the revtion of the world’s end, the Clock Tower would have various holidays that affected students. For those that were in their General and Individual Fundamentals, they would have a two-month break during summer and a three-week break that ran through the new year. This was to give them a chance to rest their mind and, as many young Magi attended the Clock Tower from abroad, it was a chance for them to return home and visit family.


    With the imminent advent of Angra Mainyu, such holidays had been canceled entirely and, in order to prepare students for theing battle, a quarterly system had reced the previous observance of semesters. Fortunately, while this was a drastic change for most of the younger students, this was the norm for students in theirter years. After all, lectures and special sses generally ran year-round and, in the event a student wanted to be sessful within a department, they often had to work part-time to help in their Professor’s research.


    To prevent students from burning out, the Clock Tower allocated them three days of vacation time per month, time which could be taken at any point that tests were not be conducted. This,bined with the fact that most students only had a few sses per week, meant there was a lot of time for self-study, extracurricr activities, and free time...


    While several changes had been made to prepare students for future events, the only thing worthy of note was that even first years could umte points to enter into the Spirit Tomb, something that had been reserved for third years and beyond in the past. This was to give them a chance to increase their overallbat capabilities, even if it meant the number of casualties and deaths had increased exponentially.


    With these changes, there were several new sses popping up all the time, many focused on the most pertinent topics of interest to students: survival andbat. Since the only requirement for a new ss, or lecture, was that there was a Professor willing to divest their time, it wasn’t umon for several new sses to appear for a few months before closing down. This was a way in which the Professors could build rapport and scout new students and, in many cases, their establishment ran parallel to an experiment being conducted by said Professor.


    Due to this rather loose and chaotic structure, it was actually a lot easier to enroll students at non-standard times. The only strict requirement for being a ’student’ of the Clock Tower was that you had two ongoing sses and that you paid the annual fees on time. Though this usually only pertained to students in theirter years, as most enrolling in the Clock Tower were required to attend the General and Individual Studies curriculums for upwards of four years, there were always exceptions.


    Generally speaking, the more prestigious Noble families educated their children internally, using a modified curriculum that only loosely followed the one established by the Clock Tower. This was due to the major families often having a variety of unique Magecraft that needed to be learned from an early age and, perhaps understanding the ws of the curriculum taught tomon students, they opted to distance their progeny from other students during their formative years. It wasn’t until their children were around fifteen or sixteen years old, making them third and fourth-year students, that they were allowed to officially enroll in the Clock Tower, often for the purpose ofworking alone.


    This kind of structure was problematic, for a variety of reasons, but it allowed Vahn to easily enroll Mordred, Sakura, Mash, Zo?, and Astrid into their newly founded department, the Faculty of Unified Thaumaturgical Theory. Since Da Vinci had been the one to develop the curriculum, and would be using one of her bodies to teach the students, it was the most suitable name outside the Faculty of Innovation.


    Like most departments, the Faculty of Unified Thuamturgical Theory had multiple sses that could be attended by prospective students. This was a split curriculum that focused on either bing a Magic Knight or, out of spite against the existing system, a True Mage. After all, while they would not be given ess to the most important secrets of the Empire, the fundamentals that would be taught in the new department would ultimately allow students to use Magecraft that rivaled True Magic.


    The only real requirement to be a student of the new department was that you were vetted by one of the Professors or Advisors. Without their consent, it was impossible to be a student, no matter how prodigious and influential your family was. This was to prevent the sons and daughters of major families from trying to seed themselves in the department with the sole purpose of spying on the Faculty’s activities...


    Once epted into one of the two sses, students would undergo a trial period. Those that proved they were willing to work hard would be given a slightly modified version of the Familia Crest. They would also be bound by a [Geass], a powerful contract that, when vited, would expunge the crest from their body and inhibit the flow of mana within their body. Though this could beter removed, it was intended to prevent people from just attending the ss with the intention of gaining enough power to lord themselves over others.


    Vahn had no intention of raising a bunch ofmon students to prominence only for them to turn around and act like very Nobles that looked down on them previously. Thus, in order to monitor the progress and mental development of these students, they would be introducing Companions into both curriculums.


    The current generation of Companions was extremely intelligent and, even disregarding their ability to evolve, they could act as a catalyst for Magecraft. Once this became known, Vahn expected they would be extremely popr. Though it may take a bit of time for the boys to open up to them, he imagined the girls would be fond of the tiny creatures as, with each sessive generation, they had be increasingly adorable.


    With Companionsing in a variety of shapes and sizes, there was a version suitable for practically everyone. The only downside was that you had to take your Companion with you almost everywhere and, if you ever mistreated them, they would be stripped from you. At the same time, your status as a student in the department would be revoked and, unless you did something drastic and endearing, the chances you would ever be epted again were close to null...


    ---


    If he were being honest, Vahn was still very nervous about having the children enter the Clock Tower. Mordred was a little easier to ept but Sakura was only ten years old at this point, making her a lot younger than the average student. In fact, one of the base requirements for entering the ss was to be fourteen years of age but, considering her monstrous potential and maturity, Vahn had made an exception. It also helped that, with the time she would be spending in the Projection, it wouldn’t take long for her to catch up with her peers.


    Still, in order to prevent a few problems, Vahn had given Sakura a ring that allowed her to appear a few years older. As for Mordred, she already had her seal removed and, as a result of her link with Artoria, had been maturing extremely quickly. She would eventually reach a point where her body was at the same stage of development as her mother and, no matter how much time passed, that is where her development would stop. This was troubling for a variety of reasons but, considering she was already a faux-immortal, it wasn’t that big of an issue...


    Once all the paperwork was sorted, Vahn spent a few days within the Projection helping all of the children, not just his own, prepare for their first day of school. They had all been given uniforms that denoted their both their status as students of the Faculty of Unified Thaumaturgical Theory and their respective affiliation.


    For those aiming to be Magic Knights, they had been given attire reminiscent of military dress, including a high-cored red blouse with two rows of golden buttons and epaulets. They were also given the option of wearing white trousers or, in the event the desired greater ease of movement, a white skirt with ck stockings. Those that elected to wear theter were required to wear a version of the [Aegis] that functioned simrly to spats while the skirts themselves had been enchanted to function in the same manner as Circe’s previous skirt. Vahn wasn’t going to allow people to stare at his children’s panties using low angled cameras and simplified versions of irvoyance magic...


    Toplement the military-style garb, which had been designed with heavy input from Nobunaga, they were also given a cape that could be worn during formal asions. It was solid white on the outside while the interior was covered in a scarlet red color that, if you looked closely, had a veryplex assortment of runes sewn into its structure. This was very simr to the mantle provided to the students aiming to be True Mages, albeit with thetter having a matte ck color on the outside.


    In order to create a contrast between the two sses, the uniform for those aspiring to be True Mages was made to appear more schrly. It consisted of a white undershirt, a red sleeveless vest, an ornate tie/ribbon, solid gold cufflinks, and a stylish pocket watch. They were also given the choice between trousers and a skirt but, in order to bnce out the mantle, their skirts were slightly longerpared to the ones worn by Magic Knights. This allowed them to wear socks instead of stockings and, instead of the riding boots worn by their counterparts, they had the option of wearing morefortable dress shoes.


    Overall, the uniforms, as could be expected, were designed to create a semnce of uniformity that allowed students within the department to clearly set themselves apart from the norm. After all, they were aspiring to be the elites of the next generation so, while the Clock Tower generally allowed its students some freedom to choose their attire, they ’needed’ to be the exception. They were the first-generation students reared by the Empire so, if they didn’t establish themselves early on, it would be an issue several years down the line...


    Fortunately for the children, Vahn didn’t want to remove their ability to express themselves. Since the students would be using the [REquip] system, they actually have a few variations of their uniforms to wear. The only truly uniform part of things were their capes as these were intended to disy their various rewards during formal asions. Even the Clock Tower had something simr so, to ensure there wasn’t aplete disconnect between his, and other, students, apromise had been made.


    All a student needed in order to customize their uniform was a few contribution points, making it a reward that needed to be earned. This was the mentality Vahn wanted to cultivate as the Empire was essentially going to function as a Meritocracy. They needed to nt the seeds early on, even if most of the important sses taught in Avalon would be by Heroic Spirits. Since they would need ’normal’ people to serve as an example for those to follow, it was better to start rearing them now, when the stakes felt the highest.


    There were arge number of moner’ Magi who wanted to change their destiny so, with the world of the verge of great change, they were ready to seize any opportunities thrown their way. In the past, this was heavily exploited by the Noble Faction, often with disastrous results for those that seek power at any cost. Now, Vahn would also be exploiting this desire but, rather than simply take advantage of them, he intended to help students build a foundation that would allow them to thrive in any field. It didn’t particrly matter to him whether or not they wanted to be teachers as, when the Empire began to expand, the number of people seeking such opportunities would increase exponentially...


    (A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Controlled Chaos’,’RIP perverts that try to upshoot girls’ skirts o3o...’,’The best kind of exploitation...?’)


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