When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 899 - 850: Hilov Tends the Garden

Actually, the Demon-Loving Fungus inoculated into people wasn't extracted from Horn's backside.

To be precise, the inoculable Holy Favor Demon-Loving Fungus are the great-great-grandchildren of the Demon-Loving Fungus from Horn's backside.

They are all cultured in clean Slime Culture Medium, cleaner than Horn's face.

But thinking about the fact that the Extraordinary Fungus people will be inoculated with in the Holy Alliance could be extracted from his intestines, Horn felt a complex emotion that's hard to describe.

Perhaps it's a little mischief from Hilov.

Judging from her description, the Demon-Loving Fungus from the oral cavity wall was also viable, but she insisted on choosing the ones from the intestinal wall.

Horn's long seen through Hilov's personality.

She's not as capricious and troublesome as Jia Li, but she's not as genuinely graceful either.

Seemingly the most obedient one, yet secretly she'll trip Horn up to vent a bit.

This current version of Demon-Loving Fungus is already finalized and ready for mass production; modifying it would take another month or two.

Thinking it over, Horn just let her have her way.

However, he turned his head and whispered to Madlan beside him: "When publicizing, say it's extracted from my oral cavity."

Madlan looked surprised: "Wasn't it originally extracted from your oral cavity?"

"You brat."

After finishing up with Madlan, Horn held onto the armrest and pushed Hilov along in the garden.

Lately, Hilov, during her spare time, has made quite some modifications to the Mechanical Palace.

She used many Spring Mechanisms, renovated the water diversion channels, planted many flowers, and even expanded her puppet theater.

In the garden, most of the painted bronze statues can move like a human simply by pressing a switch.

Monk bronze statues are vigorously writing, painter bronze statues' brushes are sweeping across the canvas, yet not a bit of paint is visible.

There are also those weaving, playing the piano, sliding on tracks to perform ballet...

"I thought you'd no longer mess with these things..."

"I've always loved this, look at you, you never cared about what I like."

"Who says that?" Horn rubbed her head, "I came here primarily to see you, checking on the Demon-Loving Fungus comes second."

"Big liar." Hilov tried her best to suppress it, yet the tail behind her wagged uncontrollably.

"Alright, so I'm a big liar, you're a little liar, how about we roam around deceiving people together?"

Hilov's wagging tail paused, mumbling indistinctly: "Hmm..."

Horn thought it was because Hilov was shy, as her face really showed no expression.

Pushing Hilov's wheelchair, they wandered around Hilov's garden, sharing recent news from both sides.

Horn even picked up a tree branch, threw it out, and asked Hilov to fetch it back.

This naturally stirred Hilov's bristling tail, chasing Horn around, eventually spinning her wheelchair to knock Horn to the ground.

Until Hilov, exhausted from playing, rested, they sat by the fountain.

"How's the ether and lightning furnace coming along?"

"You said you came to see me!"

Horn held Hilov's hand, admiring her newly applied violet nail polish: "I just casually asked."

Hilov didn't look at Horn, as if her hand wasn't being held: "The original difference engine prototype is completed, though it's too large, I've stationed it outside with dedicated guards.

You're here just in time, at the current progress, we'll be able to find the next astral weak point in four to five days.

As for the lightning furnace, once Mithril is mass-produced, we can make durable electric furnace cases, but the internal discharge rods and other components are still uncertain." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"That's excellent." Horn bowed his head, kissed Hilov's palm.

With a swish, Hilov withdrew her hand, and she first brought up business matters: "Holy Machinery Court University's fall admission, summer recruitment should start soon, has there been any progress with student sources this year?"

Horn plucked a branch from his hair, tossed it into the pond: "We're at war, it's tough indeed.

To be precise, student sources in the next two or three years might only amount to twenty or thirty.

But once my Hilov Education Plan is implemented, each year can provide nearly a hundred qualified students for Holy Machinery Court University."

Whether from fatigue or something else, Hilov's face blushed slightly: "Why didn't you tell me it's named after me."

"After all, you're the dean of the Divinity School, you can have your name on it, let others handle the specifics."

The so-called Hilov Education Plan is actually Horn's public education plan.

He plans to establish nine public high schools and improve three public universities with funding from the Holy Machinery Court.

The nine public high schools are respectively located in Xia Lvcheng, Joan of Arc Castle, Rapids City, Xiaochi City, High Castle City, Holy Machinery Court, Cold Spring Castle, Hot Spring Castle, and Long Embankment City.

Pingyuan County has five high schools, Mountain County only has three, it's not discrimination from Horn, but based on population distribution.

Mountain County's registered population was already small, even Qianqian thought building three schools was wasteful.

Except for Hot Spring Castle High School, the rest will recruit students locally.

Hot Spring Castle High School will recruit students from South Mangde County, Mande County, and North County.

The previously built township primary schools, upon completion, will be maintained by local monasteries.

After the primary graduation exams, local high schools will allocate vacancies to primary schools, selecting top performers.

Entering high school, students will choose between humanities and martial studies, known academically as civic studies and military studies.

Civic studies generally emphasize history, rhetoric, logic, literature, theology of the Holy Path, law, etc.

Military studies must learn mathematics, natural theology, geography, alchemy, and military aspects, among others.

Of course, there are private ones, like the pure military private schools built by the Kush Foundation and the Battle Group.

But they don't have automatic advancement spots, they must apply for exams.

At twelve, enter high school, after four to six years of study, they can enter university based on average grades or by passing exams.

Currently, there are only three universities left: Holy Machinery Court Pope University, Dragon Language Alchemy University, and Saint Danji Military Academy.

Given the current financial situation, Horn estimates each high school will host about three to four hundred students, with yearly admissions below a hundred.

Estimate shows each primary school may only have three to four advancement spots.

Primary graduates can continue to agriculture or serve in township roles like Hundred Households Captain—they are literate and understand basic arithmetic.

High school graduates can enter the military or monastery, possessing foundational governance abilities.

University graduates, besides joining research institutions or becoming engineers, are in high demand for the military and monasteries.

The military always starts with officer ranks, the monastery appoints graduates as Wandering Cultivators, advancing upon term completion.

With luck, they might directly enter the Central Imperial Court Association.

If the Thousand River Valley Holy Alliance wins this battle, they can initiate formal land surveys.

This is tantamount to another war.

By then, Horn will need a team independent from noble and local forces with ample experience and skills.

He's set on overcoming the stubborn groups blocking the central and grassroots levels.

"This reminded me." Horn pulled out a small notebook, "This year, we need a census and organization of the household register, perfect for these university students to handle reviews."

A household register isn't complete just by organizing; if Hundred Households Captains or local nobles play tricks—some sort of flying smear was popping up last year.

Quick to pick up bad traits, discarding the good ones.

Horn won't address the evidence immediately, he'll jot it down in his little book, pulling out the list post-war.

The Thousand River Valley's fragmentation must be reconciled.

"Well, you've played enough." Staring at Horn's profile for a while, Hilov used a handkerchief to wipe her dew-dampened large tail, "What about those Red Knights? Bring them in for me to see."