Though it might be nothing more than a rare coincidence, the more they think about it, the more concerning it felt.
Ace wanted to believe that the horrendous soul pressure released from Maeve had somehow triggered something which increased its strengthening speed, but the gut feeling you may call, there was something that told Ace that it wasn't entirely true.
The same goes for Maeve, after her breakthrough, some foreign feelings assaulted her mind. Foreign, ominous but comfortable feeling.
No, not comfortable, only ominous. Not comfortable! Not comfortable at all!
Deny as she may, but even Maeve knew that these feelings gave her some weird sort of comfort, but remembering how she wanted to exterminate Ace right after she broke through, she placed an 'Ominous' tag on it.
Since then, she has been more cautious about different things and changes, and the appearance of an Advance mage right after her breakthrough didn't help her at all.
"Haah… I guess my little Gracie was born with the fate of being a princess…" Ace sighed.
Though Ace knew that the incident after her breakthrough still bothers her, he failed to comprehend her current dilemma and was thinking about an entirely different problem.
Of course, as clever as she is, it didn't even take a second for Maeve to understand his thought process and nodded with a wry smile.
Right now, she had too little knowledge about her newly gained powers, rendering her helpless in doing something about it. Therefore, freeing her mind of these useless thoughts, she shifted her focus onto a more concerning problem.
The appearance of an advanced mage.
Though his strength might not be enough for them to take him seriously, who is to say that the world wouldn't grow more?
What if a 4th step mage appears? If that's not enough, then what about 5th step, the 6th step all the way to the 9th step mages appear in the world in due time?
What if, a Divinity appears a few hundred years later?
What if…
What if, someone stronger than a Divinity appears later?
Though as unreasonable as stupid as it sounds, Ace and Maeve have never heard about a world being able to increase its innate amount of Qi. Therefore, they prepared for the worse, thinking that if something as ridiculous as a world growing could happen, the appearance of someone stronger than a Divinity is possible as well.
And even if someone stronger than a Divinity didn't appear, there are high chances of a Divinity appearing, and if a Divinity really does appears, without any support, without an army of their own, how would they face him?
What if he threatens Gracie?
Also, though not sure, Ace feared that the knowledge of magic in this world is far more advanced than that of the Herferd's. This could be hypnotized by the so-called 'spells' these people use.
Though lacking in might, they don't waste any extra Qi unlike how in Herferd, mages waste 5% of Qi before they even attack. Also, this was nothing but a corner of this vast world, who can say that the empire won't have mightier spells?
What if a Divinity who mastered those mightier spells and has in-depth knowledge about magic appears? How will Ace ever face him? Can he even face him?
With those thoughts in mind, there were only 2 roads they could tread on.
First, leaving this world and find another, 'normal' one.
But the feeling of running away due to fear of the unknown left a sour taste in their mouth. Worse, now that Gracie has grown accustomed to this world, and they didn't know what type of world they would appear in, Ace could only scratch this idea away. He can't risk Gracie being too traumatized due to a bad experience neither does he want to run away again.
He may not admit it, but inwardly, running away from Herferd left a sour taste in his mouth. No matter how much he thought that it was good for Gracie's future, the thought of him running away from potential future dangers didn't sit well with him and he would rather not try that again.
With that said, there was only the second option left,
Build a new, strong base in this world.
A new Empire if you may call.
Living together for more than 100 years, all his inner thoughts were like an open book for Maeve to read, and knowing all this, Ace didn't bother explaining and directly questioned.
"So how should we go about it? Should we just eradicate the emperor and control the empire or should we take a more, reserved path?"
"Hmm, well, though killing the emperor might be faster and much more efficient way but to build a strong base, it's flawed. Without foundation, even the mightiest of the Empire's falls like a pile of cards.
Taking a tactical and slow approach would be much better for the world whose population is more than the whole Herferd.
Plus, there's also that inner world we know nothing about, that might pose some problems.
We also don't have much information about other Empires' strengths, heck we don't even know about our own Empire's. I think we should take it slow and steady. Plus, even if the Qi in this world equals that of the Herferd's tomorrow, there is no way a Divinity could be born in less than 100 years, so we can take it easy.
I say, our first step should be to get out of this secluded corner of the world and arrive at the center, or the Imperial Academy of Magic, to be more precise"
Maeve pondered and commented with a thin smile.
Ace smiled at his Maeve's analysis and commented.
"I guess, Gracie's wish of joining Imperial Academy of Magic will be fulfilled regardless of the result of the tournament…"
"And not just Gracie, even we would also step up from this boring life to start our new adventure" Maeve replied with a soft chuckle.
"To the Vorste Empire"
"To the Vorste Empire"
Maeve's smile broadened as she repeated and then sealed Ace's lips.