On their return to the academy, Rickert took Jasmine straight to the second floor of the main building of the academy, the captain of the guard in tow. On their way there, he told her about the building's fist floor. "The first floor of the main building is nothing special as there are solely examination rooms. Besides taking an examination here every now and then, you will rarely spend time on this floor."

"As for the second floor, it holds the academy's library along with private rooms. The private rooms can be used to read in peace in quiet, to study together with other students or to get some advice from any of our advisers."

"There are no teachers?" Jasmine asked?

"Teachers? No. We do not work with teachers as we had way too many cases in the past were some talented students received a bad teacher. This resulted in those students not growing a lot during their time with that teacher. While every adviser here is a great strategist in their own right, they might not all be the best teachers. However, answering questions is not a problem to any of them."

By the time he was done explaining all of this, Rickert had taken Jasmine straight to the second floor. Half of the second floor contained the library of which a fifth was a quiet space. Jasmine was surprised to see that there were barely any free seats. Many students shot her glances of envy. Getting a tour from the headmaster itself was a rare honour.

Rows upon rows of bookcases filled the rest of the library. Even though a lot of books were lend out to the students, the bookcases still looked as if they were filled to the brim.

Rickert looked at Jasmine and quietly spoke. "So many books might seem daunting but with how many students we have, we have a couple of copies of every book. That's why many of the bookcases seem so full. However we placed the basic knowledge books at the front. So the further back into the library you go, the emptier the bookcases will be."

Slowly nodding, Jasmine accompanied Rickert as they took a small tour around the different sections. Whenever Jasmine saw a book she was interested in, she memorized the name of the book so she could pick it up later.

When they left the library, Rickert showed her one of the various private rooms. The private rooms were just a few square meters big and held a table with four chairs, a blackboard and a couch.

"Why is there a couch?" Jasmine could not help but ask.

"Well, because students can book a private room just for themselves and we used to get a lot of complaints from those who did so that the private rooms were not comfortable enough. Hence we installed couches for those who like to hang about when they are reading one of the books. Whenever you want one of the rooms, you just go to the reception at front and ask for a free room. If there would be no free rooms you're out of luck. Normally you would not be allowed to take books of this floor but if every private room is full, you are allowed to do so as long as you pay a small fee."

"In any case, for the next few years most of your time will be spent on this floor. Once we get back to the fourth floor, I will give you a list of books you will need to start comprehending from start to finish. Once you are done with those books I will give you a little reward. Just like every student here, you will borrow the books from the library and study in a private room. However, should you find that every private room is booked, you can always come to my study. I got a copy of every book and I'll let you borrow my copy for the day."

"Oh. One more thing about the second floor. As you may have noticed I just said that you can not take any of the books of this floor. So it is imperative that you take notes so you can go over them at night. This floor closes at eight in the evening every day and only opens at eight in the morning on the next day. I know I said I have the book as well but, I will have the same rules as the library. So if you want to study outside those hours you will either have to take notes or buy the book."

"But I don't have money to buy books!" She said as she pouted.

"Well, I will give you one gold coin each month as allowance. However, one gold coin will only buy you two or three books at most."

"One gold? I have no idea how much that is..." Jasmine responded with a blank expression on her face. She had always been doted on by her parents and had been allowed to buy pretty much whatever she wanted. Hence she never learned the value of currency.

Rickert chuckled. "Then I definitely can not give you any more until you figure out the worth of a single gold coin. Your clothes and food will all be paid by me. Everything else you will have to buy for yourself."

"O-okay..." Jasmine uttered, clearly unsure of what dealing with her future finances meant to her.

"Let us move on to the third floor." Rickert said as he guided Jasmine to the third floor.

The third floor held more corridors filled with rooms upon rooms, although there weren't as many doors as the second floor.

"The third floor has debate rooms, both with and without war tables. The rooms with the war tables are debate rooms that are used to simulate conflicts of any and all scales. Be it small territorial wars to enormous battle lines stretching between multiple kingdoms, these war tables have seen it all. "

"The debate rooms are split up according to the ranking system we use in the academy." Rickert paused for a second, then chuckled. "How foolish of me. I have yet to explain our ranking system to you! We have five different ranks in the academy. You can only debate or 'battle' against students of the same rank in the debate rooms. The topics for debates or mock battles that are available depend on your ranking. The lowest rank is a junior student, which is your current rank. The other ranks are senior student, junior apprecentice strategist, apprentice strategist and senior apprentice strategist."

"Once you attain the rank of junior apprentice strategist, you are allowed to accompany a strategist or master strategist to the battlefield. As for graduating.... To graduate, you will need to go through an extremely tough exam and mock battle. On top of that you will need the approval of three strategists or one master strategist. Trust me if I say that the approval of a strategist is NOT an easy thing to get."

"A person's rank is denoted by a badge which each student and advisor is recquired to wear at all times when they are in the main building. Without the badge you will not be granted entry. You can recognize someone's rank by counting the stars on a student's badge. Students who have a badge with one star are junior students, students with two stars are senior students and so on and so forth. As for our advisors, they have six to ten stars depending on their prowess and battle record as a strategist. However, it is best to not underestimate the rank of an advisor. There are a few six star advisors who would be able to easily beat ten stars advisors if they met on the battlefield!"

"This is solely due to the fact that winning a hundred small skirmishes can theoretically allow you to become a ten star advisor."

"Why are there so many advisors?" Jasmine slowly asked. Thus far she had seen plenty of advisors and this struck her as something that was odd. Leading an army to battle was the highest honour in the empire after all, so why would so many strategists become advisors? She just did not understand it.

"Ah. Well, since being a strategist is an easy way to gain a name for yourself and since it opens so many doors, many people will attempt to become one. While there's a fair of dropouts, there is still a sizeable amount of graduates each year. In truth while being a junior apprentice strategist allows you to accompany a strategist to the battlefield, it is not an easy thing to do so. There just too many apprentice strategists and too few battles to allow everyone to experience a battlefield."

"So this means that some graduates have yet to see a battlefield. It is not uncommon for a recently graduated strategist to be sent out to the battlefield and realize that they are too weakhearted to be on a battlefield. In the past, those strategists had two choices, either persevere or become a failure. In recent years we gave those strategists a third option and that is to become an advisor. Unlike many of my colleagues who look down on these advisors, I think it is rather admirable that they are able to decide that the battlefield really is not the right place for them. If you have the opportunity I suggest that you ask some six or seven stars advisors about their experience with the battlefield."

"uhn." Jasmine slowly nodded. Her head was starting to spin from all the information she had been given by Rickert. He had continued talking almost ceaselessly in the past hour and thus she had not been able to slowly process everything she had been told.

"There will be a few more things. Every day from seven to eight am you will practice martial arts, from eight to nine you will be taught etiquette and from nine to ten you will be taught one of the three languages, starting with Ashvahlen. If you dare slack on any of this, I will double the duration for a month."

Rickert moved on wards to the fourth floor with Jasmine quickly following him.

The fourth floor was rather small, about a fourth of the fourth floor's size. From the staircase, one could see that the there were four corridors. Each hallway was lined with doors and name plaques.

Jasmine stared at the nearest name plaque. She mumbled. "Master Rin's office..."

"Yes, the fourth floor is where the rank six to ten strategists have their offices. There is not really much to show you here, honestly. If you ever need to find someone, feel free to check their office. Each strategist has a secretary assigned to them, so if they are not present you can check with their strategist when they are expected to return."

"So that concludes my little tour for the main building. As for all the side buildings, they are merely boarding rooms, so there is no need to show them to you. Let us return to my place."

The trio quickly left the academy and arrived at the academy's plaza. The plaza connected the main building to the two boarding rooms at the side and the mansion opposite of it. The mansion sat opposite of the academy and was tightly guarded by a group of no less than twenty guards wearing a set of black armour.

As soon as the three of them got in the vicinity of the mansion, the guards stood at attention and saluted.

"At ease!" The captain of the guard that accompanied Jasmine and Rickert said.

"Yes sir!" The guards replied.

"Captain, feel free to take a rest. Jasmine, follow me." Rickert opened the door and headed straight to his study, took a list from his desk and gave it to Jasmine. "This is the list of books I want you to read. I also want you to study these subjects in detail."

Jasmine accepted the list Rickert gave her. It listed a total of thirty books.

- History of the Ambiox Empire, Volumes 1 to 10

- Compendium of the gods, Volumes 1 to 3

- Basic math

- History of the contintent Volume 1 to 3

- Crop management

- Dictionary

- A quartermaster's diary

- Brawl versus Brains! Volume 1 and 2

- Geology Volume 1

- A guide to carpentry Volume 1

- Basics of fortification

- Compendium of poisonous plants and creatures volumes 1

- Durnish for beginners

- Ashvahlen for beginners

- Ta'Si for beginners

- Law - commoner edition

"Wha!?" Jasmine exclaimed as she looked at the list. There was not a single book about strategy in the whole list! Everything was just general knowledge or books for other professions.

"Hahaha. You must be confused why I gave you this list of books?" Rickert said, suppressing his laughter.

"Yeah, I do not really get it? Aren't half these books useless to me?"

"Useless? What books do you think will be useless?"

"I just don't know the use of knowing about gods, geology, woodcutting, foraging, being a quartermaster, hunting, toxic plants and animals?"

Rickert looked around himself from the corner of his eyes and then whispered. "I should have figured as much. While strategy is important, it is not the only thing a strategist should know. The reason why I want you to read all of these books is not alone to broaden your knowledge but also because I believe these books to be the bare minimum of basic knowledge a junior student should have before being allowed to advance to a senior student."

"Why?"

"Because, if you would merely have to study about battle tactics... why would there be a use for strategists? Just your average general would suffice, no? Have you never wondered why there exists such a clear distinction between a general and a strategist?"

"I..." Jasmine started but she was immediately interrupted by Rickert.

"It is precisely because a strategist has to take more things into account. If a general can think three steps ahead, then a strategist has to be able to think thirty ahead! For example, take the compendium of the gods. It might not seem like it can help you much at first, until you realize that one of the kingdoms we conquered believed that the gods would smite them if they fought on the day of a solar eclipse. Due to a lucky coincidence a solar eclipse happened a few years ago and in one fell swoop our cavalry slaughtered half their army."

"Do you know why our cavalry was so swift to attack? Because I once read in an astrology book that every hundred years there would be a solar eclipse. When I read this, I instantly tried to find records of the last solar eclipse. The last one had been ninety seven years ago. For the next three years I steadily increased the amount of cavalry at that border and told them that the moment the eclipse happened, they would set out and sweep through our enemy's armies."

"Of course it was sheer luck that the eclipse happened early in the morning but it still goes to show that random pieces of knowledge can actually prove to be extremely important."

"As for every other book, they have uses in many similar ways. Look, we strategists do not have to worry about winning fights alone, we also have to be able to handle the aftermath of a victory. How to bring the civilians over to our side, how to keep the territory we gained and the list goes on and on. If the empire just wanted to win battles, they would only be training generals and they surely would not be spending as much resources as they are to train a legion of strategists."

"Moreover, the more knowledge you have, the less likely it is for other people to influence your decisions and it will be easier for you to notice those who are working against you. Now I know that I have been telling you a lot today and that you will have forgotten most of what I said by tomorrow, but I hope the most important bits stick."

"That is everything for today. Next week I will hold a banquet to celebrate that you became my foster daughter. I will invite some of the most influential nobles in the area, so try your best to befriend some of their kids. It will help you out in the long run. The more friends you can make now, the less enemies you will have further in life. Making friends should not be too hard for you though. Since you're now my foster daughter, there will be many nobles who will try to make their kids curry favour with you. After all, as long as they can befriend you, then they can possibly build a good rapport with me."

"O-okay." Jasmine said a little confused. "Do I really need to study all these things?"

"Yes Jasmine. From seven pm onward you can ask me all the questions you want. I know all of this is a lot to take in but do you have any questions about today at all?"

"I-I do not think so..." Jasmine uttered.

"All right, if you need anything then you can knock on my door anytime, okay?"

"Uhn!" Jasmine said.

Rickert ruffled her hair. "All right. I really have some stuff to do right now. You can ask one of the guards or housekeepers if you need anything." Having said that, Rickert waved Jasmine off.