"…"
"…"
There was silence between the two men for a short while and Lucien was starting to feel a bit nervous. The power source down there is protected by something that even Emperor Fei could not destroy. This meant that whatever is down there must be extremely powerful! That meant that if instructor Han could get his hands on it, didn't it mean he may be able to surpass the emperor in an instant?
Lucien's gaze on Instructor Han turned murderous but thankfully he was standing behind so the two men didn't seem to notice. He considered killing Instructor Han now just to make sure it doesn't fall in the hands of a human!
"You want the power for yourself? If you do, you can have it" Emperor Fei said with a blank look on his face.
Hearing his words, Lucien felt speechless as his jaw dropped while gazing at the emperor.
"Why give it to me? Won't it be better if you have it and further improve your realm?" Instructor Han said with his normal indifferent look on his face. It looked like he was not surprised by the emperor's action.
"It will help me get past my bottleneck but sometimes it is better to have two powerful people rather than having one… Have you forgotten the match between to Human realm mage at the third sky against the single human realm mage at the fifth sky of the realm, it was an amazing fight and the two were able to win thanks to the numbers advantage… Sometimes two powerful men are greater than just a single more powerful person" Emperor Fei said thoughtfully.
"It's not about the power, it all centers around politics… we can't do things this way and think it won't attract attention… what will the people say? Both the humans and the beast-men are against you for trying to create a world where everyone is equal… a world where both the beast-men and the humans have equal rights… right now there is a chance that a coup can take place anytime soon… I believe it's more important if our relationship does not get out… It may attract unwanted attention" Instructor Han protested.
Hearing them speak, Lucien couldn't help but wonder what kind of relationship the emperor and Instructor Han had. He even began thinking of the possibility that instructor Han is one of the emperor's illegitimate children from a human mother who failed to get the blessing of the beast-men.
"Don't think about it… I am not his son… All you need to know is that he saved my life and made me who I am now… For that reason, I will forever remain by his side!" Instructor Han said the moment he noticed Lucien was entertaining some impure thoughts.
"HAHAHA! I have an idea… why don't we let this kid have it… A sudden increase in my strength by a large portion will breed fear in the hearts of humans and beast-men alike which can trigger an alliance to take me out, but if we give it to someone who isn't related to us in any way, we might have a capable third member in this squad!" The Emperor chuckled.
"G-give m-me w-what?" Lucien stuttered due to shock since he never expected the emperor to make such a generous offer.
For a short while, Instructor Han kept gazing at Lucien as if he were searching for something. He sighed a couple of times before finally speaking.
"First of all, we have to know what type of power this thing grants.. we also need to know if his body will be able to contain it without any adverse effects… Since you brought him up, I am sure you have faith in him, so I have no choice but to believe in him as well… apart from those few issues I think having him take whatever is down there is the best option… having a hidden trump card is never a bad thing" Instructor Han said casually before shooting into the black pool.
"Hehehe… He is a really cool guy, right? That's what I like most about him" The Emperor said before grabbing onto Lucien and diving into the black pool
______________________________________________________________________________
At first, it was darkness, but soon Lucien saw himself shooting out of the black pool, into something that looked more like a massive underground civilization.
The walls were filled with strange glowing markings which lit up the entire cave. Above them was the black watery substance, preventing sunlight from penetrating into this place. Lucien was curious about things here and wished he could look around more but the emperor and Instructor Han began walking forward so he had no choice but to chase after them.
While moving, they came across different fork roads but the emperor always followed certain parts with enough confidence to make them believe he has been down here a couple of times.
As they moved forward they came across many buildings and strange structures but they didn't bother to check any, they just kept moving. They also came across different bodies of strange beasts which have never been seen on the surface! Judging based on the freshness of their corpses, they could the invaders are not too far ahead.
"Considering how many routes and roads in this underground maze, I must say these invaders are either fast or they have someone capable of sensing the exact location of the power source, down here" Emperor Fei laughed.
"Ehmm" Instructor Han nodded in agreement.
"Or they have someone who has been here a couple of times too without you noticing" Lucien said without even thinking.
When he realized what he did, he quickly looked up only to see the emperor and the instructor gazing at him with weird expressions on their faces.
"What?" Lucien stopped moving and asked with a reddened face.
"You are smarter than I thought… that's a bonus point for you in my book" The emperor said.
"Ehmm" Instructor Han nodded in agreement.
They kept moving until they were forced to climb really long stone stairs, leading to a large stone platform.