Rules of Bench

Old Head continued, "Let me clarify, this bench will not only decide the future of the 4 candidates but the future of all of us in the room, as well as the future of the entire family, so be serious."

At this moment, Kane felt tremendous pressure coming from the old head. Not taking the risk, he stopped tickling his ears and sat straight. 

Old Head began, "Let's introduce our 4 candidates. First, we have Tim Duisberg, who recently completed his first year at the academy, representing the main household."

At this, the candidate on his right side got up and bowed down toward the old head.

Old head ignored him and said, "2nd is Jenny Duisberg. She is the firstborn of the family head and is about to join the academy."

His stepsister, sitting in front of him, got up and bowed to the old head.

"Next is Drake Duisberg …"

Kane did the same.

"And at last we have Blake Duisberg. He is the last born of the family head and will join the academy next year."

Blake bowed at the end.

The old head looked around and said, "I believe this was the first time for many of you."

All the kids and a few elders nodded.

"Well then, lest start with the basics of this bench. Each of us in the meeting hall has one vote that we can give to one of the 4 candidates. Each vote represents a certain amount of resources that every member needs to give to the candidate that you gave your vote to and the voting will happen at the end of each year from now on."

One general on the first ring asked, "Old head, what kind of resources are we talking about here?"

The old head said with a smile this time, "General, you can contribute any resources that enhance the candidate's strength, including mana arts, weapons, and even soldiers. Candidates will provide a list of their resource requirements, and the family will determine the minimum quantity or quality each member must provide."

One elder on the second ring asked this time, "What if the candidate asks something specific, like someone's personal guard or advisor or even the land?" Everyone in the room raised their eyebrow at his question. Everyone had someone they could not part with.

Old head eased everyone's concern. "No need to tense up. Candidates can only request in simple ways like land, man, mana art, or the kind of resources they want. The liberty of what to give is on members, but remember if the quality is bad, then quantity needs to be high."

All the old coots sighed in relived at this.

The old head continued, "To become the young Lord, a candidate needs to get 70% of votes."

Many nodded. They knew this absurd rule already.

One kid asked, "What if no candidate gets 70% of the votes?"

"If no one gets 70% vote, then the candidate with the highest vote count as well the members that voted for him will gain extra resources from the family."

Everyone smiled at this announcement.

"From now on, all the benefits and conditions are only for the new generation. First, as the part of bench, all the kids will receive a 2-star mana art and once they survived 3 years in the academy, the family will give them an exclusive 3-star mana art."

"Whoa"

Clap! Clap! All the kids started clapping.

Drake's inner voice came, [What is mana art?]

Kane gave a brief response. <I will tell you later.>

The old head said in a serious tone, "I believe everyone understands the benefit they are receiving just being part of the bench. Now it's time for some restrictions.

The candidates need to fulfill a few conditions to not lose their position. The first condition is each candidate needs to have a base strength. How much base strength is required will depend on what year of the academy you are in. "

Blake asked at this moment, "What about those who are not part of the academy?"

"No need to worry, they will be auto-qualified. Now the base strength for the first year is low-spirit level 1. For the second year, it is mid-spirit level 1. You will know about other years later."

Kane's comment to Drake, <Well, this condition is pretty easy. I believe no one will have any problem with passing condition.>

[Is it really that simple?]

"The second condition, each candidate must secure a minimum of 2 votes. If, in any two meetings, a candidate receives fewer than 2 votes, they will lose their position and be expelled from the family."

All the kids had their eyes wide at this.

Kane clicked his tongue, <damn it! This is bad.>

Drake asked, [What's bad here?]

<Getting kicked means you have a death bounty on your head. There is no way we could survive if the whole Duisberg family went after life. Dude, need to change plan. Getting big no-no.>

Drake did not respond to him.

The old head knocked on the chair. This made everyone focus back on him. "The last condition is for all new generations' bench members. It is survival."

Jenny asked, "Do we have to fight among ourselves?"

The old head shook his head, "No, you just have to survive 5 years of academy." 

A kid commented, "Oh that's easy." 

Old head glanced at the kid, "Don't think you can pass the academy just because you are from the Duisberg family. Let me remind you, that each year's passing rate in the academy is less than 80%. It might not seem too low, but by the end of the 5th year, you would find only a fourth of the students passed from the academy. So focused everything on surviving the academy."

Except for a few having a frown on their face, others did not react much to this. All of them seem to be pretty confident in their strength.

One elder shook his head and said, "I see you guys are confident, but don't let that corrode your mind. Let me tell you some hard reality, in the past 10 batches only around 50% of the inner family members survived the academy. If you add the outer family, then the survival rate drops to a measly 28%."

Every kid's jaw dropped at this moment. One kid said in disbelief, "That can't be true. Our family is the seat holder. How could the survival rate be so low?"

Old head in an uncaring tone. "The answer is simple: strength. There is no denying that you need to have support to become strong, but the other side of the truth is that you can't get high strength just by dumping resources on a bunch of trash."

One army general added, "You kid just stop thinking that you can do anything in the academy by using the family name. I am not saying that you don't get any advantage being part of Duisberg's family, but remember we are not the only seat holder out there. So be smart about your actions."

An elder added, "All of us will monitor your academic performance. Those who do well will get better rewards and we will openly back you. While those who lag will be left alone to survive. We don't want weakling on the bench, so all of you better become serious."