I ended up sitting on the slightly heightened floor belonging to the podium for most of the night, plotting my next moves. The whole teaching thing was important, yes, but it wasn't a very difficult task. I simply had to employ basic manipulation tactics. I was more worried about how to go about completely securing the keys I needed to upsurge Convir's position. I had Beulus under my belt which gave me more options. He was a man with something to prove, so I'm sure he'll do almost anything I ask him. It wasn't easy to make a plan around so many variables, but a night of brainstorming got the job done.
The sunrise was visible through the windows of the rundown classroom, putting me back on the task at hand. The first thing I needed to take care of was making these Elders not only let me teach them but eventually become my pawns as well. Why would I waste the opportunity of having constant contact with high figures in the sect? The only thing I had to be careful of was the possibility of Medisma putting a spy within the group to keep watch on me. I just had to stick to my roots and conceal my intentions, and to do that I needed these future pawns to fall under my allegiance without even realizing they were walking in my palm the entire time. That would start with a basic idea, one that could be shortened to a single phrase.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
At first glance, this phrase may seem like a way of saying to get closer to your enemies to destroy them later. And while that is still a good strategy some of the time, I derive different meanings from those words. To me, it means this: "Make sure to keep your friends close and exploit them as much as possible, but never let them close enough to exploit you. Enemies, on the other hand, are to be kept closer than your friends, because an enemy turned into an ally is more useful than any friend."
It was a simple tactic, but one that could create an indispensable ally, one that would follow you into the valley of death. No matter what world I was on, that idea would stay the same. And it was this idea that I would employ on the five sitting before me. When I think back to our fight with them, I was very rough. I pierced Culdia's stomach, mentally broke Iraspisit, shattered Vernam's pride, Broke Onvima's shoulder, left him to the bull's digression, and I don't even know what happened to him in that explosion.
Then, of course, there was Paxium. She was someone I absolutely wanted on my side. It wasn't completely because of her strength, but because she was in all sense of the word, a maniac. She was someone who let bombs fly onto me while wickedly smiling and let her back be blown to pieces while feigning ignorance just so she could get a hit in on me. She ended up breaking character when I gave her that hellish lesson, but what she showed me before still stuck with me. I'm not sure if she would reproach me, fear me, or something else because of the false information Medisma gave me, but no matter what, I would make sure she gravitated to my words.
With all of this in mind, I decided to take action. I already tried moving their bodies around, and they sagged like a bag of potatoes proving the paralysis was still active. They would wake up easily, the only reason I slept before was because I was in a state of near death. So to wake them up, I simply yelled a line that was used by generals in my past world, "ATTENTION!!!"
My loud bellow reverberated through the building and a few seconds passed while it echoed in the classroom with no reaction from the Elders. That made sense though, they were paralyzed after all. So to see if they were awake, I went over one by one and opened their eyelids, looking into their eyes. First was Onvima, eyes filled with terror and confusion. Next was Iraspisit; his gaze held only the purest of anger, but at the same time held a hint of inquiry. Then I opened Vernam's eyelid, her eye showed calculation and observation, with a hint of shame. Following her was Culdia, her eyes were filled with wonder and respect with a twinge of bloodlust. Finally was Paxium, her eyes showed complete and utter horror like she was chained up in a basement and I, the torturer, was staring at her with a whip in hand. They were eyes of dread.
It was confusing to me. I mean, I did do something similar to torture, and it was pretty painful, but her character seemed to be one that wouldn't be heavily affected by sudden intense pain. I would look into it more later. Now that I had confirmed they were all awake, I walked up to the podium and stood behind it.
With a calm attitude, I announced, "Alright, you all are awake then. Well, first let me confirm any doubts. You aren't going to be killed by me, or tortured, or anything of the sort. I'm here to teach you all. I'm sure you all already went through the education process, and I already know your strengths personally, so I won't be trying to teach you all the stuff you already know. Instead, I'll be cracking down on your... unique personality traits that invite weakness into you all. I am a Dirt Class Cultivator. I am weaker than all of you. Yet I bested every. Single. One of you."
I saw Iraspisit tremble a little bit, a sign that the paralysis was wearing off. I had to make sure this speech attacked each of them enough for them to be willing to learn before it was gone completely.
"If this doesn't tell you something, I don't know what would. Iraspisit, you have unnatural anger tendencies, which is alright to have, you just must learn to control it, redirect it if you must." Instead of telling him that he had to stop getting angry, I told him to control it. I'm sure that it is something he hasn't heard a million times like the former. I hope that's enough to get him thinking at least.
"Onvima, you are an incredible tactician, but you have too much confidence when you shouldn't and too little when you should. If you want to truly shine you must learn to hide your cowardice and arrogance from yourself." Give him a compliment, but then tell him he's still wrong. That way he wouldn't write me off immediately and actually consider my words.
"Vernam, you have good reactions and a strong offensive, but what else do you have besides that? What can you do when your only means of attack is bested?" Vernam was the one with the most reason out of the bunch, so a quick question paired with her defeat should keep her at bay.
"Culdia, your personality is too unreasonable. I understand doing inhumane acts, but you must reserve those acts for when they are truly necessary." Culdia was a person who only wanted one thing: to make others feel pain. Whether it was a pleasure thing or just an interest of hers, I couldn't care less. But what did matter was while in combat she focused too much on slowly killing me that once she lost the pace she could never get it back.
"And Paxium... In combat at least, you are the best here. You are able to make sacrifices for the bigger picture and can think under pressure. But you can get too aggressive. Instead of managing your Genesis Liquid closely and only attacking when needed, you just threw bombs at me randomly. And that was what made it end up with me on top of you and your back to the ground." I would bring up something traumatic to her and make her connect that event with her weakness. That way she would look for an answer to the weakness, and even though I'm the one who did it, I'm also the one who she knows that knows how to fix it.
"Overall, you are all strong, but that's what makes you weak. You have lived comfortable lives. Not having to suck in the smoke of burning buildings as everyone you love is chopped to pieces in front of you. Having the luxury of not fearing that every fight could be your last. Being allowed to make mistakes, and have it so those mistakes don't land you in a torture chamber. It is those luxuries that make your strength a weakness. You allow yourselves to be cocky because you haven't experienced someone pretending to be weak. You let yourselves be consumed by emotions, not knowing the turmoil those emotions bring. Strength without struggle behind it is nothing but a hollow shell of true strength. I can show you the path to true strength. With true strength, you will never suffer a loss again. With true strength, you will be reborn!"
A speech filled with aggression, with dragging their heads through the mud of humiliation, but one that ends with hope. Hope to become strong. Hope that only comes from following me. And I finished that just in time too; I could now see a head raising.
Iraspisit raised his head and looked at me with eyes filled to the brim with anger and he was barely able to mumble, "Why... the hell... should I care... about your... opinion?"
I suspected he would be the one to outburst like this, but the question itself shows his willingness to listen to me, a huge step. I turned to him and, now that he could see me, with a gentle smile on my face, said, "You should know that one yourself. Remember what happened last time you didn't listen to someone else's opinion?" With my mention of something semi-traumatic in his past, he ground his teeth even further, seething with rage. But I know how his type works. He would be forced to confront my words, as there is nothing else to distract him with. He will then see a reason for what I said. Just give him a couple minutes.
I turned to the others who joined Iraspisit in looking at me, besides Paxium, and said with an empowered voice, "Anyone else have a question?"
Culdia looked at me in amazement, Onvima looked at me in curiosity, Vernam looked at me with questions and thoughts stuck in her head, and Iraspisit looked at me in disintegrated anger. But surprisingly it wasn't any of them that spoke up, but instead Paxium with her head still resting on her desk, "Igmor, I think I understand what happened now. I guess I can't be too angry or fearful at you. At least you have a reason behind what you do, unlike Culdia. And I am willing to learn a thing or two from you. But... would this... tactic of yours help me?"
What did she mean by help? I thought I already explained it to her, maybe she wasn't listening when I singled her out? I suppose I can reiterate the statement, "With the knowledge I hope to pass on to you, yes, you will become a lot more mindful of patience in combat."
She hesitated for a moment, before admitting, "That's not what I mean. I've never said this to anyone, but the reason I avoid combat all the time is because... well... I have a split personality that only activates when I'm fighting..."
The rest of the Elders turned to look at Paxium with confusion in their eyes, so it was made apparent to me that this was the truth. Dissociative Identity Disorder. It was a mental disorder that was a rarity in this world along with my past one. I read a book on the subject while at Medisma's house and was very interested in it. It wasn't a sickness per se, but something more of a personality trope. It was because of its illusiveness that it couldn't be healed by Fruits. But that didn't matter much, all I needed to do was satisfy Paxium the best I could to make sure she wanted to learn from me.
"I'm sure you know already that I can't heal it, but I can help train both sides of you so that you are at your best at all times. Who knows, it might end up with both of your personalities merging."
With a bit of hope given by me, she seemed satisfied and continued to listen to what was going on quietly, "Are there any more questions? Anyone?"
Iraspisit folded his entire upper body into his chair to face me upright and said with bravado, "Yeah I've got one. When are we going to start?"