Quis' POV:
The rest of the day passed by normally. I would sprinkle in some minor manipulation tactics to unknowingly make the five of them rely on me more and more throughout the day. And if I'm able to follow the pace I've been going at, along with the little disturbances I planned working out in my favor, then by midterms, they should be in my pocket.
Midterms were a whole other mess as well. At first, it may seem like I had no reason to participate in midterms now because I already had everything I needed on the side of cultivation for a bit, but that would be incorrect. Midterms were actually the perfect time for Quis' reappearance.
There was an old story in my past world about a time when the land was smaller, magic was a mystery, and monsters an impossibility. There was a country that had recently fought and won its independence from a higher power. This country was determined to be unlike the one that ruled it previously, refusing to accept any sort of despotism. But without a form of government, this country fell apart into many separate villages and tribes. With this, bloodshed descended, coating the country in a layer of ash.
That was until one man stood above the rest. He solved the political disputes of the villages with diplomacy instead of war. With this, he grew in power and respect as his influence grew. He solved the problems of the people and the country slowly began to function once again. But then he declared, "I've been too focused on solving disputes that I have neglected my own life." and his help was discontinued.
The country once again fell into anarchy. After a while, the people realized that they needed the help of the man and begged for him to become king of the land. He gave absorbent demands, wanting a large palace and a capital city built around that castle. After he was given all he wanted, he was crowned king. But it didn't stop there. He would almost never meet with a soul, only contacting people through messengers. This created an air of ambiguity. This made him seem like more than just a man, he was a man of a different order. Soon enough, he wasn't just the king of their land, but the son of god.
This was a real example of the power of absence and presence. The man recognized his deeds were being taken for granted and took a step back to make the people realize how important he truly was, to have him be crowned king. But he wasn't done there. To avoid the dangers that came with being king, he used the law of absence and presence to make him seem more than human. It was a masterful climb of power.
That was something I wished to recreate with midterms. With my few walks around the populated section of the sect, over the stares of unacceptance, I was able to hear people discussing Quis. How it was such a shame such great talent went untapped. How he was such an amazing person. How he was a legend of the sect.
Killing two Stone Class Cultivators as a Dirt Class was an incredible feat for a sect of this size, so it made sense that word of my exploits traveled quickly throughout the sect. And, because of my "death", I was able to use the law of absence to stabilize my legend. If I were to be gone for a year, then I would be forgotten. If I were to be gone for only a couple of months, I would only return to the level I was at before the disappearance. If I'm gone for half a year though, and also make a triumphant return by destroying the midterms, my presence within the sect would skyrocket beyond belief. Of course, if I wanted to exploit that burst of popularity to its maximum, I needed more than just myself. I needed pawns of a higher power, and the five Elders would help a lot.
Today, I was able to observe the way the Elders thought of me changing. Onvima started by being afraid of me, obviously because of how I was an enemy just a bit ago, but as the day went on he got more comfortable around me; Paxium as well. Although she went along with everything, she's probably still very scared of me, but that was fine, I could work with fear. Iraspisit was still an egotistical anger-issues clump of hatred, but at least I was able to make him back down by recalling the past. He would take more work than the others, but I still had lots of time. Culdia's case was a bit different than the others. She seemed to be infatuated by my words and actions, almost treating them as ultimate wisdom. It was probably because of how cruelly I treated her during the battle, maybe my actions made her believe I was like her.
Those were all fine, they were all changes I understood and could work with. But the one person that really confused me was Vernam. During the entirety of today, it felt like she was testing the waters. Her declaration of having no purpose felt forceful. It felt fake. It felt like she said it only to see what I would do in response to it. And in which case, why? Was she testing me to see if I was truly worth her time? I would understand that normally, but if that were the case she wouldn't be doing the other stuff I asked her to do so easily...
I had a suspicion, but I had to wait until tomorrow to confirm it. Right now they were all sleeping in the classroom as it was around midnight. I was waiting for a certain package that failed to reach me last night.
Knock.
I heard a knock on the door and, putting the pencil I was writing with down, opened the door. Once I opened the door, an unfamiliar man blocked the greenery I would normally see, along with the limp human in his hand. I already had an idea of what was going on, so there was no need to make pleasantries, "I'll get my side of the deal."
With these words spilling out of my mouth, I turned around as the sound of the body of the unconscious person falling to the ground reached my ears. I picked up the eight pieces of paper I had just finished writing a moment ago and gave them to the man. He turned around and just before he bolted away, said, "Leave the man outside the classroom by sunrise."
After confirming he was gone, I closed the door and activated my Talent Plunder Fruit. The process went as normal and the man's Cultivation Talent was sucked into my body. But something interesting happened as soon as I absorbed it. I could feel a substantial change in my Cultivation Talent. I had just gone from F Grade to F+ Grade. This confirmed a theory I had growing in me for a while. It seemed like, similar to Classes, it also became more difficult for your Talent to get higher, the higher it already was. That was why it took a while for me to go from D- to D, but only one session to go from F to F+.
It didn't seem very substantial, but I haven't ever seen it written in any books that I've read, nor heard from one of Hasrem's lectures, so it had to have some secrecy to it. And the more secrets one knew, the better.
Since I had already finished writing down some of the holes in the L'Amour Family's strategies and upgraded my Talent, it was time for me to meet a certain man at the bar.
He had some information that I needed.
___________________________________________________________________________
I hopped into the bar and the ding of a bell chimed, announcing my arrival. It was night, so the place had a good amount of people. People, who without a doubt, saw my one-on-five fight with five powerful Elders of the sect. Most of the people there looked at me in confusion, wondering why I would be at the bar, the others looked at me in disgust, still wondering why I was in the bar.
I hopped on over to the corner of the bar and sat down at a table that harbored one other man, Beulus. I could tell that Beulus was a bit anxious because of the amount of eyes on us, so I broke the tension with a mood setter, and in a different voice than my own, yelled out, "Could I get a beer over here?!"
That seemed to remind people that this place was a bar and that the only real reason a person would enter was to have a drink and commune with others. The people were obviously still wondering why I was meeting with Beulus, but the mixture of the booze in front of them and the booze inside of them brought back the jovial atmosphere.
With that now out of the way, I grabbed the beer from the waitress's hand and took a drink before placing it down on the table and getting down to business, "So, do you have to information I asked for?"
Beulus reached into his robe and pulled out a binder filled with somewhere from 50 to 70 pieces of paper. He placed it down on the table and complained to me, "You don't know the trouble I had to get these. I made sure to get it straight from the source, Convir's office. That way this information should be the most accurate available."
I nodded and grabbed the binder before shifting through the pages, "You made copies right?"
Beulus nodded pridefully, "Yup. Wouldn't want Convir to grow suspicious right?"
What? What does he mean by that? And now that I think about it... he actually went against Convir for my best interest. I guess that I would be able to speed along the process of his complete and utter allegiance.
I put the binder back on the table and said to Beulus, "Alright then, I suppose this is it. You have proven to me that you really are sorry. I accept your apology. Now, I'd better be on my way now-"
"Wait." As I was about to get out of my seat, Beulus reached across the table and grabbed onto my arm. I took his advice, and took my seat again, "What is it? Haven't you already proven you're sorry? This little thing of ours is over now, so you can continue to live the life you were before."
Beulus only shook his head at my words, "No... I know that I've already proven my conviction... but... Qui- I mean, Igmor... Would it be alright if let me take more orders from you? I've known you longer than any person in this entire sect, and I know who you are. You may have had some changes along the way, but I don't believe your inner person has ever changed. I know you still have this sect's best interests at heart, and the power to have those interests realized. Normally it would only take that to rise as leader of a sect, but not here. This sect is broken, with powers at each other's necks unable to put their selfish interests at bay for the sake of the sect. So, even with your amazing capabilities, you will need others to help you overcome these obstacles. So Igmor... No... Quis, let me be that person to help you with your journey to the top of this sect."
He was unable to yell out his convictions because of the public place we found ourselves in, instead keeping himself quiet. But I didn't need changes in volume to understand the complete conviction within his heart at this moment. He was officially signing himself as my pawn to order, and he understood this. He was happy to be my pawn, to push me into the position of Sect Leader. Maybe it was his age or his realizing his limited potential, or maybe it was him wanting to be on the right side of this sect's inner turmoil, but either way, what he said was the complete truth.
I grabbed his hand and detached it from my arm before matching his eyes with mine. We stared at each other for longer than normal, but after some time passed I nodded and said to him, "Beulus, I won't say more because I already know that you know how I work. Let me just ask one question: Are you willing to follow me into the pits of hell?"
He only said one word, but it was the feelings behind the word that expressed his determination, his complete allegiance, and his never-ending want to help me: "Yes."
I smirked a bit and said to him, "Alright then, I'll give you more orders tomorrow. For now drink up, because once this begins, it will be hard for you to find the time to drink."
I downed the rest of my beer, put a Dschungel on the table, and sat up, prepared to leave. But before I was able to take a step, once again I was stopped, "Oh come on. That's no fair."
I turned around and found myself facing someone I hadn't seen in a while. Her black hair was still long. Her body was still curvaceous. Her face was still perfectly placed together. Her skin was still with no imperfections. And, judging by her words, her personality was no different.
It was Hasrem.