Thinking like this, Darius turned to view his Apprentices. While they were in their individual rooms, as the master of the mage tower he could naturally see them as if the walls were invisible if he wanted to.

He used this chance to do something he had forgotten to do before the auction, which was to check their comprehensive progress. As usual, he started with young Ash.

[Detected target is of a Friendly affiliation. Displaying details accordingly.]

[Name: Ash Spencley

Race: Human

Class: Mage

Subclass: Multi-Elementalist

HP: 1,935/1,935 (63)

MP: 1,541/1,541 (15)

STA: 1,035/1,035 (7)

Level: 23 (1)

Strength: 43 (9)

Agility: 41 (9)

Endurance: 45 (7)

Intellect: 67 (20)

Charisma: 20 (13)

Luck: 30 (25) (Editor's Note; In case it wasn't obvious the (X) is the last shown stat in the story. Should make it nice and easy to see the progress of each character ;) )

P-Status: Healthy

M-Status: Thoughtful

Affection: Worship lvl 3 (1)]

Darius then moved his eyes to the principal's niece, Reina.

[Detected target is of a Friendly affiliation. Displaying details accordingly.]

[Name: Reina McNickles

Race: Human

Class: Mage

Subclass: Multi-Elementalist

HP: 1,152/1,152 (18)

MP: 1,100/1,100 (12)

STA: 720/720 (3)

Level: 20 (1)

Strength: 32 (6)

Agility: 33 (4)

Endurance: 36 (3)

Intellect: 55 (12)

Charisma: 32 (24)

Luck: 32 (30)

P-Status: Healthy

M-Status: Thoughtful

Affection: Worship lvl 3 (1)]

After Reina, he moved to his most aggressive and ambitious Apprentice, Jonathan.

[Detected target is of a Friendly affiliation. Displaying details accordingly.]

[Name: Jonathan Black

Race: Human

Class: Mage

Subclass: Multi-Elementalist

HP: 2,450/2,450 (100)

MP: 855/855 (10)

STA: 950/950 (10)

Level: 19 (1)

Strength: 49 (10)

Agility: 41 (9)

Endurance: 50 (10)

Intellect: 45 (10)

Charisma: 20 (12)

Luck: 25 (15)

P-Status: Healthy

M-Status: Thoughtful

Affection: Worship lvl 3 (1)]

Humming, Darius' eyes then roved over to his most inconspicuous and strange Apprentice.

[Detected target is of a Friendly affiliation. Displaying details accordingly.]

[Name: James Jones

Race: Human

Class: Mage

Subclass: Multi-Elementalist

HP: 1,800/1,800 (42)

MP: 1,200/1,200 (13)

STA: 800/800 (6)

Level: 20 (1)

Strength: 45 (7)

Agility: 39 (6)

Endurance: 40 (6)

Intellect: 60(13)

Charisma: 7 (8)

Luck: 35 (19)

P-Status: Healthy

M-Status: Thoughtful

Affection: Worship lvl 3 (1)]

Finally, Darius's gaze softened as he looked at his favorite and most talented Apprentice, Anthony.

[Detected target is of a Friendly affiliation. Displaying details accordingly.]

[Name: Anthony Sabins

Race: Half-Human, Half-Beastman (Sage Monkey Clan)

Class: Mage

Subclass: Multi-Elementalist

HP: 4,340/4,340 (72)

MP: 2,408/2,408 (30)

STA: 1,960/1,960 (9)

Level: 28 (1)

Strength: 62 (8)

Agility: 67 (8)

Endurance: 70 (9)

Intellect: 86 (30)

Charisma: 40 (20)

Luck: 70 (65)

P-Status: Healthy

M-Status: Thoughtful

Affection: Worship lvl 3 (1)]

All five of them had made great progress over the span of a single month. This was exactly what Deia meant when she had warned the various powers that failure to acquire Darius' goods early would leave any other in the dust.

This was also why Darius had peddled his goods at exorbitant prices yet many fellows had fought for them like beggars for scraps. With his Awakening Scrolls, his various transmuted potions, his various lectures, Gunner's optimal training, the Lunar Dew, and more had led to this outcome.

Granted, these five lads were the cream of the crop, but would other races lack such geniuses? In fact, Anthony was only half beastkin, so imagine what a full beastkin would be like? What about a genius from the Demon or Devil race or someone from Elysium with a Divine heritage?!

Such peoples and races would have higher starting points than mere humans, so their growth would be even more nonsensical.

However, these five lads were above level 20 or almost at it, with stats definitely in the Journeyman stage with some even in the Adept stage, yet they were still officially Amateurs!

That's right, they hadn't yet performed the necessary procedure according to the Faustian native power system. So they were still fundamentally Amateurs. Darius was also planning to keep them this way until the year-end when he would let them try for Journeyman.

After all, he had digested so much restricted knowledge that he had come to understand how flawed the Faustian system was especially with the help of the Supreme System.

Using the stats of 20-50 for Journeymen, 50-100 for Adept, 100-200 for Master, and 200+ for Grandmaster was not exactly wrong, but it was treading the path of normalcy and incompetency, not to mention it used humans as a baseline.

To simplify, becoming a Journeyman at 20 points or at 50 points was the difference between going to your local community college or getting accepted in one of the Ivy League universities.

Yeah, both would allow you to continue your education, but not only would it be hard to progress from there, but you would also be settling for the poorest quality education available.

Using this same example, other races would be qualified for higher-tier universities, that was why one could see fellows like Mikey and Joneson who had high-level Master stats at the early stages of Adept, or the monstrous Lord Darm who had Grandmaster and above stats at the mere Master stage.

This was the line that divided the populous humans from the special races in most cases and was why Fallon trailed after the rest. They had a poor legacy system and some good resources, but they lacked crucial knowledge of how the power system could best be exploited.

Or rather, this should be amended. It was that those at the top certainly knew about this, but refused to enlighten the public. After all, if the average level of power among the populace increased, who would be able to keep their positions of power safe from those who had funny ideas?

Rather, let the commoners remain ignorant. They are best manipulated that way!

The ranking of the continent? The betterment of society?

Merely a joke told in the ballroom by nobles who had delusions of grandeur!

Sensible nobles kept the mentality of 'My ancestors have enjoyed this kind of power for life! Why should I give up the opportunity to live like them? This 'problem' doesn't have to be solved in my era. One of my descendants is free to do so if they wish. It won't be my problem once I'm dead.'

This was true in Faust as well as on Earth. It was a universal principle any and every politically interested person abided by, 'benefits for me and detriments for thee'.