But that didn’t mean that the other two categories of dreams weren’t worth having. It just meant that the dreams involving self-improvement were the most fulfilling for the individual and the most awe-inspiring for the people in the audience.

The people in the audience were all looking at each other with excited expressions as Zach had triggered their innermost desires.

Zach analyzed their goals and realized something.

No matter what category their dream belonged to, it was impossible to achieve without perseverance, hard work and a strong will.

Even those who wanted to marry a good partner needed to persevere to obtain the love of the person they adored. Nothing in the world came easily.

There were those who achieved their dreams and made it big and there were those who were slapped back to reality by the cruel world, unable to dream again.

But that didn’t stop people from having a goal that they cherished with all their heart.

Once the voices died down, Zach addressed the crowd once again and asked, “How many of you believe that you will be able to achieve your dream? Tell me by raising your hand.”

Several hands shot up instantly as if they were waiting for him to ask that question.

Some were hesitant at first but followed suit as soon as the first group raised their hands.

The rest appeared to be hesitant about whether or not to raise their hand. These people were those who didn’t have much belief in themselves.

“What about the rest?”

There was another flurry of movement and several more hands shot up as if they had decided to be more optimistic regarding their dreams.

“Almost all of you then…but…not everything in this world can be handed to you on a silver platter. You will need to work hard. You will need to persevere. You will need to have a strong resolve. No matter how simple your dream may be, don’t think that something you desire with all your heart will come to you easily. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be your deepest desire. It would just be another wish, not your dream.”

Zach let his words sink into their minds for a few moments as he took a breather before continuing his speech.

“Some of you were slaves in the past while some of you are still working as servants for the family because you weren’t considered to be worthy of anything else. But who decided your worth? Was it the family or was it you? You tell me that you have dreams, but you were too weak to pursue them. There are those who strive hard and achieve their dreams and there are some who fail to do so because they haven’t put in enough work for it. Those of you who are still here are either part of the second group or you were too timid to pursue your dreams, believing yourselves to be too weak. It was YOU who decided that you were unworthy of having a dream…IT WAS YOU.”

Zach took a pause as his chest was heaving. His voice had risen due to the heightened emotions he was experiencing, and it left him gasping for air.

“To get something you want in this world, you need to be strong and brave enough. Only your strength will determine whether you will achieve your heartfelt desires in the future or not. So, the only thing you all should be thinking about is to increase your strength by any means possible.”

One of the servants standing at the back raised his hand so he would be visible to Zach amongst the audience as he raised his question without any hesitation.

“Master, we know that even without you telling us that. Do you think that I haven’t tried to be something else? I wanted to be a mage, but I was tested to have no magical affinity at all and was thrown in to become trained in the art of serving the nobility. Who wouldn’t want to improve their strength? I just don’t have access to any means through which I can do that. Otherwise, there would have been one less servant in Smith household. But no one wanted to teach someone like me with no potential or background. Sir, sometimes just hard work and perseverance are not enough. You need an opportunity as well. But we were too busy trying to survive the troubles that life has thrown our way to even dare to look for an opportunity.”

The servant finished saying his piece which led to a cacophony of voices that rang out as if in agreement with him. His words, though not very awe inducing, were very heartfelt for those who felt that they had for some time in the past been in a similar situation.

Zach smiled and looked at the servant who had dared to speak his mind in such a situation. This only spoke of how strong his will and his courage were to be able to speak without fear in a situation where those far better than him didn’t dare to let out a peep.

“Well done. At least you dared to say what was on your mind even though you have already stopped believing in yourself. If you really wanted to be a mage, then you should have tried harder for it instead of coming up with excuses. Those with determination don’t falter behind the times. But since you seem to believe that this was all because you didn’t get any opportunity, let me even the playing field for all of you who are here to listen to me today.” .𝒄𝒐𝒎

Hearts stopped beating for a second as they staggered in anticipation of Zach’s next words. Coming from Zach, it was obvious that this opportunity wasn’t going to be mediocre at all. Zach didn’t do things in moderation after all.

And everyone in the Smith family was quite aware of it.

“Since you lack someone who would be willing to teach you, then how about if I teach you personally? Will you still say that you didn’t get an opportunity to be stronger, to fulfil your dream that you hold deep inside your hearts?”

Zach’s question this time wasn’t targeted towards the servant who had dared to speak. Instead, he was questioning everyone in attendance. He wanted to know if these people had the guts to pursue their dream when even fortune was shining brightly on them from above.

“Is that true? You aren’t joking, right master?” asked another servant with stars sparkling in his eyes. Even though he was usually quite timid and shy, his words were loud and hurried as if excited beyond what he was capable of handling.

“Why would I want to do that?” Zach smiled and answered his question with a question of his own.

The audience began to contemplate the meaning behind his words and came to the conclusion that he truly had no need to try to beguile them with lies when they were already under his command. They were already destined to labor away for him for the rest of their lives. Why would Zach try to deceive them in that case?

Understanding dawned on them slowly and they began to believe Zach’s words, no matter how otherworldly they sounded to them

The excitement bubbled up in the crowd like an active volcano had erupted under the surface of the sea.

The crowd went out of control and the commotion they caused would have already attracted an even larger crowd had the location of the meeting been some populated area.

Unlike the rest of the Smith family, Bruce had gotten used to Zach’s peculiar ideas. Therefore, he didn’t take as long to believe Zach and came forward to support and help him in his endeavor even though he didn’t know why Zach wanted to do such a thing. There was absolutely no need to train people from scratch when all he had to do was to raise his voice to summon any capable people under his flag.

His new status of a Viscount could help him considerably in recruiting several powerful mages who were dying to attract the attention of someone of Zach’s stature.

Before the crowd could launch a flurry of explosive questions on Zach, Bruce came forward and stood beside him with a fierce look on his face as if to deter the people from acting out. Unlike Zach, Bruce knew not to rile up any kind of crowd, even the kind you trusted with your eyes closed because a crowd was a kind of bipolar living organism that could change the way it behaved based on the smallest of changes in the atmosphere and there was no way to determine how it would react to a sudden change.

As such, he had experience in controlling crowds as well.

“Let me elaborate what your leader just announced. Since you can’t believe his words maybe you would believe mine. Zach wants to take a few more disciples and as it happens, you are the closest people he has. He has decided to give you that chance before outsiders so that it will help strengthen the family. So, from this moment onwards, all of you will be his disciples and will be able to learn under him as much as you want.”

Bruce had done his best to state the truth more realistically, but the crowd had already assumed that it was a lie. They were of the opinion that no master ever took on so many disciples at once unless they were the useless kind who charged money for their lectures.