1623: Hand Up

Hand Up

"Yes." Abraxus said with a sigh. "Your universe was supposed to be the center for the Mortal Plane's recovery, but that unfilial brat ruined the balance the Heavens were trying to return to."0

"Is that maybe related to Jasmine and her evil path…?"

"This Palace Master you're wondering about may be related in this way, yes. Nothing in existence exists without a reason. If Jasmine was born, it's because the Heavens felt a need to fill in the 'other side', the same way with Mia and Bella's births. You need to embrace them both – you need balance.

"I can tell you that being naturally born on the evil path and carving your way in by blood and death is very different, one is clearly worse than the other. However, this doesn't mean that Jasmine is pure. She is by definition "evil".

"She will kill and rampage, and even innocent people might feel her wrath. But, she is still a necessary part of existence."

Dyon found it hard to accept. Whether it was Abraxus affectionately calling his second disciple an 'unfilial brat' or that evil was 'necessary', neither sat right with him. Abraxus was too lax with human lives, but if you had lived for trillions of years, wouldn't you be too?...

For the first time, he felt that he didn't really understand this grand teacher of his as much as he thought he had, and maybe it was simply impossible to fully comprehend an existence that had experienced so much life.

Maybe some things simply weren't meant to be perfect…

Still, he had to think. Even if he used Jasmine's evil and turned her against his enemies and made use of her as he pleased now, what would happen once he unified the mortal plane? Would he be forced to allow Jasmine to rampage among the people he now called his subjects?... It was something he had to think about.

**

"Oh? You came to see me?" Dyon, who was within Clara's office thinking about whether he should deal with the remainder of the mortal world population first, or the Flaming Lily Disciples, suddenly gained an unexpected visitor: Researcher Lind.

He had allowed the researchers to walk around freely, but they were bound from leaving Soul Planet. With his divine sense, it was a simple task for him to find them no matter where they tried to hide on a single planet anyway. So, he decided to let them take in his Mortal Alliance with their own two eyes. It seemed that this had had a good effect on Lind.

"I'll accept the position as Academy Chancellor, but I have several conditions." The arrogance within Lind's brown eyes had seemingly come back. It was quite curious that a person who valued the untalented would have eyes like this. It seemed she had her own story, or maybe Dyon was too biased in his thoughts.

"The number of schools is pitifully small. A mere three a planet isn't enough. Secondly, the age range is too large and too small at the same time. It's too large in the sense that a 7-year-old shouldn't attend the same school as an 18-year-old. They need different environments and different teaching styles.

"However, it's too small in the sense that 7 years old is too late to begin an education and 18 years old isn't when individuals stop learning. We need several academies, each with small age ranges. We need to start teaching formally at the age of 2 and only stop teaching when they've absorbed all that they need.

"I want free reign to hire and fire teachers as I see fit, I want to rearrange the reward and punishment systems as I see fit, and I obviously want a much larger budget than you've allocated until now –"

Dyon put his hand up.

"You should have started with that. I'll give you as much of a budget as you want and you can do as you please, you are the Chancellor. Speak with Meiying about the kinds of academies and campuses you want as she'll be the one to handle their construction and the city planning that comes along with it. I can give you my instinct of trust for now, but… You have 10 years to show me some results."

***

"That's great news!" Clara showed a rare look of excitement when she heard of Mia and Bella's matters. She had only awoken from her coma just a few minutes ago, so her body was still incredibly weak, but it seemed Dyon didn't need to worry too much about her. Unfortunately, Madeleine didn't seem like she would awaken for a while longer.

"Ah…" Clara grabbed her forehead, laying back down slowly as though to apologize to her splitting headache for moving so abruptly.

"Are you okay?" Dyon shifted forward, placing his hand on her forehead, pouring his soul qi into her and soothing the pain.

"It's not too bad, I just overexerted myself during the last steps… Phase 3 was supposed to be implemented slowly over a few weeks to months, but I did it all in a few days."

Dyon smiled lightly, a bit of guilt hidden deep within his eyes.

"Don't be like that, pervert." Clara said with a teasing voice. "Because of this, I feel like I might sense moon qi very soon. The barrier is incredibly thin for me right now."

Dyon's eyebrows raised. That was great news. The only individuals capable of manipulating moon qi in their Mortal Alliance right now were himself, Granny Celest, and the former weapon's guild head that was still currently recovering from his injuries.

However, Granny Celest was too focused on quickly increasing her cultivation for Dyon to ask her to take part in mundane things, while he himself was incredibly busy all of the time. The addition of Clara would greatly reduce that stress.

In addition, for a talent like Granny Celest to still have only comprehended moon qi, it was obvious her passion didn't lie in array alchemy like Dyon's master's did. Maybe this was why the White Mother title skipped over her.

Of course, there were the rest of the celestial deer clan, many of whom had comprehended comet and moon qi. But, Dyon was still trying to find the appropriate way to integrate the celestial beasts into their Mortal Alliance. As of now… There was still a bit too much strain between the two sides.

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