After Leilin advanced to third-rank warlock and crushed the Dark Elf army, any undercurrents of dissent in the Central Domain fell silent, as though they had never existed.
For a newly promoted third-rank warlock — one brimming with vitality rather than the previous Guardian who had been clinging to life by a thread — Leilin could easily spend some time wiping out every recalcitrant wizard school and even rule the entire Dark Polar Domain for centuries to come.
Faced with absolute superiority in power, even the most reluctant wizards in the Central Domain didn't dare provoke him at a time like this.
And just then, the appearance of survivors from other schools completely extinguished any remaining unfavorable rumors about Leilin.
These were elite wizards from various schools, including several second-rank judges from that time. They testified collectively that what Leilin had previously said was entirely true, immediately dispelling all doubts.
These were Leilin's prisoners from back then.
Those second-rank wizards had long since pledged allegiance to Leilin. After all, wizards weren't fools — when faced with Leilin's overwhelming power and the reality that the tide had already turned, there were plenty who could see the situation for what it was.
Of course, there were a few stubborn holdouts who all honorably "died in battle."
In the year 5783 of the Dark Polar Domain, carrying the formidable strength of a third-rank warlock and the great honor of repelling a powerful enemy, Leilin formally announced his coronation as Guardian of All Realms under the joint witness of numerous Central Domain wizards!
From that point on, the pinnacle of power in the Dark Polar Domain's wizarding world was seized by Leilin, while the shadows and sacrifices behind the glory and honor were seldom given any further attention.
People would only remember Leilin's great feat of crushing the Dark Elves — even composing songs and legends to praise him — forgetting the efforts of Vilen, Ailin, Venas, and even the previous Guardians, allowing their names to be buried among countless documents and histories.
And the eternally glorious and righteous new Guardian of All Realms, Leilin — his glory and legend continued on.
After assuming the position of Guardian, the first decree Leilin issued centered on the Nature Alliance. He gathered a large number of wizards to establish the Nature Alliance Academy, with its location set at the heart of the Central Domain.
Although Leilin hadn't originally planned to do this, circumstances had changed. Now he had the full capability to implement the academy system and reap tremendous benefits in the process.
After the founding of the Nature Alliance Academy, several large schools with good relations to the Nature Alliance — which were in reality puppet authorities controlled by Leilin — also prominently announced their merger into the Nature Alliance Academy, forming a colossal faction.
Subsequently, without Leilin needing to worry much, the emerging academy power began automatically crushing the surrounding schools, continuously expanding its strength and sphere of influence.
Leilin clearly understood that the South Coast's academy model was fairer and more transparent than the Dark Polar Domain's school model. It also did away with the master-disciple inheritance system — while mentors still existed, the practice of treating apprentices as slaves was greatly reduced.
Moreover, how many apprentices could a single mentor teach? How could that compare to lecturing in a large classroom?
When numerous large schools set aside their narrow meditation method restrictions, the combined strength gathered together was certainly far greater than any individual school.
This was the victory of institutional reform! And the progress of the era — once a trend was established, it became unstoppable!
And those backward schools, in order not to be crushed by the rising academy powers, had no choice but to establish their own academies and take in large numbers of apprentices to protect themselves.
Some talented commoners, because of this, gained excellent opportunities.
Furthermore, the more open and free academies could attract more wandering wizards to join. Without the meditation method restrictions, it was quite simple for these wandering wizards to enter an academy.
Leilin had long noticed that while schools formed around a single meditation method were very unified, they also developed very strong tendencies toward exclusion. Once a wizard joined a school, if they didn't switch to that school's meditation method, they would face all manner of overt and covert marginalization.
But academies didn't have this problem.
The revolutionary flames sparked by Lombarton were gradually extinguished by the academy system.
Leilin didn't particularly care about this. What he truly valued were the meditation methods and rare research materials of each school.
Yes! Under the academy system's advocacy of fairness, openness, and free exchange, the various schools that joined were compelled to contribute their unique meditation method materials and precious disciplinary research.
And with Leilin taking the lead by providing large amounts of valuable materials to the academy library for any wizard to access, this trend only grew more intense.
It had to be said that, setting aside narrow sectarian mentalities, this kind of open exchange and exploration truly brought great benefits to the wizards, raising the overall strength of the entire wizarding world.
All these meditation methods and research materials naturally ended up enriching Leilin's collection, greatly expanding the Chip's database.
It could be said that by this point, the vast majority of meditation methods and advanced scholarly materials in the Dark Polar Domain had fallen into Leilin's hands — to say nothing of the rare resources.
The Nature Alliance Academy was now the foremost power in the Central Domain. Whatever Leilin wanted — as long as it existed in the Dark Polar Domain — one command was all it took for countless mortals, apprentices, first-rank wizards, and even second-rank wizards to toil tirelessly, even at the cost of their lives, to bring it to him.
This was the benefit of wielding power and organization!
Time flew, and the year 5785 of the Dark Polar Domain arrived.