Dragon's Origin

In reality, every power has internal elements eager to employ underhanded tactics, hoping for additional gains. Representatives from all sides are well aware of this. However, it's not detrimental to them; success brings benefits, and failure doesn't cost them personnel, so they generally adopt a tacit acceptance.

But the sudden action of Worry-Free City stunned everyone with ulterior motives.

Revenge? Who would dare to seek revenge against Worry-Free City? Explanation? To whom would they explain? The only option was to bring back the bodies of those people and remain silent.

The only consolation was that the personnel sent to recruit these musicians were not experts, but rather ordinary individuals, with the strongest only at the second or third level of cultivation. The losses weren't significant, and that was all.

Worry-Free City was clearly waiting for the opportune moment to strike, which happened to be the eve of the Royal Academy of Arts entrance exam. This move deterred many.

The local overlord of the capital, the Royal Family, remained silent, obviously acquiescing. The Changsheng Duke's mansion also remained silent, similarly acquiescing. With Worry-Free City's assassins taking action, those people could only die in vain, with no one to avenge them.

After the night, several people were missing from those preparing to take the exam the next day. In short, those who intended to study honestly stayed, while those with devious intentions quickly restrained themselves. Seeing Worry-Free City's actions, which seemed to proactively assume the role of ensuring fairness in this selection, who would be foolish enough to oppose Worry-Free City at this crucial moment? Even if they wanted to, how many lives would they have to oppose them?

The candidates eager to join the Royal Academy of Arts waited nervously for their turn to be assessed. To their surprise, the examiners did not make things difficult as they had expected, but instead, assessed their performance skills very seriously and fairly, without bias, which delighted everyone.

They originally thought they would need other means to enter the Royal Academy of Arts, but now they realized that it was unnecessary. They only needed to honestly improve their musical instrument playing skills. Had they known this earlier, why would they have engaged in those behind-the-scenes machinations?

Those who participated in the assessment didn't have to wait long for the results. After a few minutes of performance, the examiners discussed the candidates' skill levels and quickly informed them whether they were accepted or not, saving them from days of anxiety.

Even more gratifying was that among the first batch of candidates, besides the musical instrument experts selected by various parties, there were also some who came on their own, and their skill levels were generally good. Anyway, among those who participated in the exam on the first day, excluding those who withdrew themselves, the acceptance rate was quite high, almost reaching 90%. In other words, as long as one had a certain level of playing skill and could independently perform a few suitable pieces, they could basically be admitted.

Those who were really eliminated were a group of dabblers who, knowing that the status of musicians was high, temporarily entered the profession. They had only learned a little bit and wanted to enter the Royal Academy of Arts. Not only the examiners, but even the other candidates outside who heard their performances shook their heads. Therefore, no one felt it was unfair that these people were eliminated.

Those who were killed by Worry-Free City's assassins were truly wronged! Had they known this, why would they have done those thankless things?

The Royal Academy of Arts' basic class had enough space and enough teachers. Each musician in the Royal Symphony Orchestra could teach several or even dozens of students simultaneously. The basic class alone enrolled nearly two thousand students within ten days.

On the other hand, the advanced class assessment was like hell. The examiners were masters and dozens of grandmasters, and the requirements were frighteningly strict. Generally, those without sufficient skill would have their legs weakened just by facing this group of senior grandmasters, let alone perform.

To enter the advanced class, one needed the level of the principal, deputy, or third seat of various instruments in the Royal Symphony Orchestra, otherwise, they could just turn around and leave. Even if their level reached that point and the grandmasters nodded, there was still a huge hurdle waiting for them.

That's right, this huge hurdle was tuition. Now, everyone who had dealt with Wang Sheng knew one thing, and that was that doing business with Wang Sheng meant one thing: expensive! Wang Sheng was greedy for money. The goods he gave were absolutely genuine, but the money he asked for was definitely high.

The Royal Symphony Orchestra's advanced class, with all grandmasters providing one-on-one instruction, had a semester of six months, and the tuition was one million gold coins per person. The basic class also had a semester of six months, and the tuition was ten thousand gold coins per person. This was the price set by Wang Sheng. If you couldn't afford it, sorry, you weren't qualified to participate in this advanced class. Wait for later! Maybe when there are more grandmasters, the tuition will decrease and become cheaper.

However, was that possible? Given Wang Sheng's consistent business practices, had anyone ever seen Wang Sheng lower prices later? So, the latter statement was actually just a consolation.

Expensive? Yes! Very expensive! But was it worth it? Think about a performance by the all-grandmaster orchestra, with each audience member paying 100,000 gold coins, earning 100 million in one performance. After deducting the maintenance costs of the Grand Theater and Wang Sheng's share, each grandmaster would receive at least hundreds of thousands. A mere million gold coins was just the equivalent of two performances by a grandmaster.

Graduating from the advanced class wouldn't guarantee that all students would reach the grandmaster level, but it would at least guarantee that they would be on par with the current principal of the Royal Symphony Orchestra. You should know that even the current symphony orchestra can lead the audience to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of cultivation, and this is under the condition that the symphony orchestra's level is uneven.

If everyone reached the principal level, they might not be comparable to grandmasters, but the effect would definitely be several times better than the current symphony orchestra. Was this kind of effect worth investing in for various forces?

The answer was definitely yes. Therefore, almost every musician who could study in the advanced class had a force behind them supporting them. A mere million gold coins in tuition was not a problem at all.

The first basic class received nearly two thousand students, who were given large lectures by the symphony orchestra's musicians. The first advanced class, on the other hand, had more than ninety students, with more than twenty grandmasters, averaging less than four students per grandmaster, allowing for small-scale, hands-on teaching and guidance. Half a year was enough for these people to improve their skills.

"Only earning more than 100 million gold coins in half a year, and having to share it with those musicians and grandmasters?" Someone did a simple calculation and was greatly surprised: "Has Changsheng Duke changed his personality? He opened a Royal Academy of Arts with great fanfare, but only earned this little gold coins? No way?"

The various parties couldn't believe their eyes, but a tuition of one million was obviously not cheap. Could it be that Wang Sheng's business was so bad this time?

"You are too naive!" Meier scoffed at this statement.