Early the next morning, over fifty students had arrived at the city gates, waiting in anticipation for the arrival of Damon.
After a while, a luxurious carriage bearing Damons banners made it's way towards the gate with other carriages behind it .
Within minutes, they had boarded the carriages and made their way out of the city.
These former students of the academy after leaving the toxic environment of the imperial academy were filled with anticipation of what was to come next in their lives.
Their journey was uneventful and proceeded smoothly. That was until they approached the colossal walls of Merula. They saw the guard houses built on top of the wall and even the giant gates.
Their surprise grew the more when they entered the city with its concrete roads , factories and even the new houses that were being constructed.
"Place them in the building close to the alchemists lofts and arrange for two ISB officers to show them around the city tomorrow." Damon instructed captain Jonas before departing on his carriage.
Jonas then led the dumbfounded students to their assigned building, it was a two story building built out of concrete and glass.
As usual, the apartment contained a bathroom with running water, a kitchen area and a bedroom. It also had two chairs , a table and a couch as furniture.
They then made their selves comfortable after selecting their respective rooms and fell to sleep .
The next day at about 9 am , the students were led by two ISB officers who showed them around the city of Merula. They were shown workshops, the furnaces where ore were processed, the steam pumps that pumped water into large overhead tanks and the distillery.
They were not led to the alchemists lab and the weapons manufacturing plant because of their low clearance.
By evening they were done with their tour. Back at their residence they were provided with different foods to satiate their hunger.
The next day, they found their selves before Damon, not at the castle but at the weapons testing area.
They were then given forms to fill, this form contained questions like their names ,powers, language and arithmetic skill, e.t.c.
Then they were to showcase thier powers before Damon, this was for him to decide what area they were well situated for .
Their roles were then divided into administrative, research and educational roles.
After testing they were mostly assigned to education and administrative roles. As of right now Damon needed help with administrative and the educational areas. The regions combat effectiveness was stable at the moment albeit growing so there was little need for combat mages as the military was not reliant on magic powers at the moment.
The admistrators were put under a new department of internal audits (DIA). They were responsible for recording everything that went in the region from recording department spending, production, import,export, population and taxes. And their first assignment was to begin registration of the regions citizens. They were to provide two forms stamped with the governmental seal of authority where the citizens name,age, occupation, marital status, and abilities were recorded. This served several purposes, it served as a census for proper allocation of funds , tax collection. One of the forms was to be kept with the auditors while the other would be kept by the individual as a form of identification. This was necessary in countering Espionage.
The personnel assigned assigned to the education department were to be assigned duties when a proper education department has been established. For now they were to study up on the teaching materials provided so as to be able to properly impart knowledge on the populace.
Regardless of their roles personal research was encouraged only that it doesn't interfere with their duties.
There were special case individuals who had been selected by Damon for their potential.
First were the twins Gog and Maggog who were excellenty skilled swordsmen for their age and also possessed telekinetic abilities.
Next were the artificer and rune mages Caroline, Dan and Kaima. According to them rune magic was the use of specialized writing to give instructions to different materials. For example one could inscribe a rune on a sword to make it sharper than usual or give it special abilities like a flaming sword or a lightning sword. They were like the programmers of the magic world and Damon planned to use them to push the boundaries of magic.
Their first assignment was to work together with the alchemists to produce special magic bullets like the freezing bullets and lightning bullets. Their research also applied to cannons. Damon planned to make warfare a nightmare for his enemies and in the process also keeping as many of his men alive to enjoy their victories.
Surprisingly within a week a set of functioning ice and lightning magic bullets had been created the cost however were magic stones. A magic stone the size of a football would be able to imbue between one thousand to three thousand bullets with magic depending on the caliber . For artillery shells it was one hundred percent magic stone.
During the weapons testing the military officials were in awe of the new weapons, at the beginning they thought that magic as a form of combat was being phased off but now , magic was being integrated into these wonder weapons. According to captain Meadger it seemed like Damon was looking for more cruel ways to kill people.
With the magic bullets out of the way Damon brought forward another project, something which was the backbone of any modern army, It was communication devices. If he ever wanted to perform according to his heart desires, he'd have to have quick communication between him and his army.