Chapter 343

: Trial Period for One Hundred and Fifty People
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
To the entire City of Rayleigh, it was not a surprising news for Benjamin to recruit new mages.
He just held an exhibition, he was still the trendiest news in town and everyone was looking forward to the magic robes. He could make use of this to further expand his influences, what he did was something that every ambitious mage will do. Therefore, most of the mages had already expected it.
However, when the first day of Benjamin’s
Recruitment Fair
ended, rumors started to spread; everyone in Rayleigh City was surprised with his unique way of recruitment.

Someone who’s competitive! Someone who has a professional and responsible attitude! An innovative talent! Opportunity for a welfare system and promotion! Having team spirit!

These were only part of the rumors and it almost made all the mages go dizzy.
They did not understand the meaning behind all of it. However, many of the
candidates
who returned looked like they were being possessed. They repeated these few phrases over and over again as if it was a legendary magic spell.
Everyone was weirded out by it.
This was just a recruitment and everyone had experienced it. So what was the big fuss? Why did Benjamin start all these gimmicks for the recruitment? In the end, everyone began discussing it like it was some big news.
Although the mages found it strange too, they could not help but to talk about it.
After discussing, they still could not understand these modern concepts. That was why most of them put their focus on the benefits.
If they become one of the mages in Benjamin’s team, will they have the opportunity to get a magic robe?
Most of them were concerned about this.

Yes! Not only magic robes, it seems that Benjamin has a lot of ancient books too. Spells, laws of meditation, theories… He said, as long as you have the initiative to contribute, you will have the opportunity to get all of those for free!

All the mages were once again stunned.
To be honest, after so many years of development, there were so many mage groups in Rayleigh City, but they have never heard of any leader that will teach his underlings unconditionally. This was not the same as a relationship between a teacher and a student. In the world of mages, associates were just people that worked together to complete their mission. However, a teacher was like blood relative – they represent the inheritance of magic and generally, each teacher will never receive more than three students.
Few of the mage forces in the city were based on a mercenary group. When there was a mission, everyone will participate together but other than that, everyone would just go back to their respective houses. Mages were used to being alone; they do not have close relationships and therefore, none of the leaders will provide knowledge to their underlings. How about if they wanted knowledge? They can, but they would need to exchange it with something else.
They couldn’t help but sigh. Benjamin was being overly generous.
Because of that, when the recruitment continued the second day, there were a lot of mages with bad intentions. But in the end, when they were asked questions like
why do you yearn for this position? What can you offer?
, they did not know how to answer and was left speechless, so they left unwillingly.
Finally, the entire process of the recruitment lasted for three days. Due to it being the hot topic of the town, many people came. The number of people who came almost outnumbered those who went to the exhibition as everyone was following the trend and the recruitment was livelier than ever.
During these three days, Benjamin was so busy that he couldn’t even catch his breath. He started interviewing since early morning up until eight or nine o’clock at night and he almost lost his voice. He did not have any free time – all he had for a meal was a few pieces of bread and a few mouthfuls of water.
On the third night, he was literally crawling to his room. Once he hit the pillow, he closed his eyes and fell asleep; he was extremely tired.
However, his hard work will be rewarded.
He used this to comfort himself.
Throughout these three days, Benjamin discovered a lot of talented mages. The mages in Ferelden were not keen on team spirit due to their environment. Though after his brainwashing, it led some of them to develop an interest in teamwork.
In his opinion, that was even more important than the strength of their magic.
He did not choose them based on their talent, neither did he consider the strength of their magic. To be honest, he did not intend to recruit any powerful or genius mages because these people tend to be very proud of themselves and it will not be easy for them to obey commands. What he needed was just an ordinary magic talent, a little motivation and someone who can cooperate with the team.
These were the fundamental elements to form a force.
From what he saw, the forces in Rayleigh City was being overly lenient, even the members of a guild of an online game had a better relationship than them. When they participate in a mission, the leader will earn a large amount of money, but… if something serious were to happen, not even one out of five of the members can actually fight.
The possibility of them doing something big was close to zero, no wonder the king never cared about the mage forces.
Benjamin did not want to be such influence.
Putting aside military-level influences, at least, he needed as much influence as the
crow
. In case one day they really needed to fight against the Mages Freemasonry, these people will not give up or betray them.
Therefore, he already thought of an idea to manage all the new members that he recruited.
He took some modern days concepts and some concepts from the ancient martial arts – a martial art gang was built around the fighting technique of their members. If that concept was being put into this world, their unique law of meditation will gradually replace their robes and become the core for them to condense their spiritual energy.
Therefore, for next few days, Benjamin and Varys arranged all the interview results. Two days later, they picked out 150 people among all those who participated.
Eventually, he bought another big house in the city and renovated it into a stronghold. Then, he sent someone to inform the 150 of them to meet there in the morning.
That morning was quiet.
This house had simple decorations, but the hall was very spacious. Benjamin smiled while he looked at the 150 mages in front of him.

I’m glad to see all of you here.
He took a deep breath and said slowly,
All of you have passed the test and each of you has your own specialty, and that’s why you’re here. All of you are talents with unlimited potentials, I hope that we can work together to achieve an incredible result in the magic world.

The previous Benjamin definitely would not have given a speech like this. But after going through so many things, at that moment, he could finally say it without feeling shy. This was also an improvement, right?
And that was the way to becoming the leader of a pyramid scheme.
The mages in the hall heard all the compliments and with Benjamin’s unusually certain tone, they naturally got very excited. Having the ability to beat so many competitors could be considered as one of their achievement.
Although Benjamin’s welcome ceremony was completely different compared to the usual. After the brainwashing from the interview, they had opened up their mind. Instead of feeling confused, they were looking forward to it.
Benjamin saw that. He smiled and continued,
But it should also be clear to all of you that this is just a trial, you will only be officially accepted one month later. Throughout this process, we will get to know each other and understand each other. With this, we will determine the path of our lives.

The mages nodded their head.

Of course, during the trial period, I have also prepared some mission for all of you. It will test your overall level, to see if it was as high as you said it is.
Benjamin continued,
First of all, all of you must cooperate with your team. I have divided all of you into ten groups and each group consists of fifteen people. The grouping list will be sent to you shortly. For the coming month, your team members will decide if you can stay or leave. Therefore, please trust them.

Hearing that, most of the mages were surprised and they started discussing among themselves.

Master Benjamin, can we choose our own teammates?
Some people asked.
Then the others followed and hopingly looked over.
Benjamin shook his head.

I know that all of you have your own ideas, but in most situation, we will not have the time to communicate and get a conclusion, all we can do is believe.
His expression suddenly became serious,
Believe in the companions that I choose for all of you, just like how you believe in God.