Eugene walked through the central hub of the Dawn and Dusk Sect, drawing stares from the crowds. He was a renowned cultivator, now said to be among the greatest Hibiscan prodigies of all time. Eugene was very satisfied with his recent accomplishments, but most of all he was pleased with the fat stack of purple stones he was owed after he bet on himself.
Eugene lifted up and flew towards the dorms for junior cultivators. The hierarchy of the Dawn and Dusk Sect and of nearly all sects was split into the tiers of Initiate, Junior, Senior, Elder, Council Member, and Leader. Those of Amaka rank were automatically Initiates. Upon rising to a higher rank, one automatically became a Junior. Rising to Senior status required reaching the Red Realm, and one had to be in the Purple Realm to become an Elder. Sects typically had a governing Council which elected the Sect Leader. The Dawn and Dusk Sect was unusual in having three leadership positions, each of which corresponded to one of the three subsects.
Eugene sighted Wang and Mieszko walking together, and landed next to them.
“Elder Grzegorz!” exclaimed both of them.
“Oh, please don’t call me that,” said Eugene. “I’m still your old classmate.”
“Oh, I have the stones for you,” said Mieszko.
“Speaking of those, I’ve decided that we should each split the reward evenly. I wouldn’t be where I am without you too.”
Even though the fight ended in a draw, Eugene still made a profit because of all the people betting on Kash to win. Thus, the payout ended up being positive.
“You are too generous!” Wang exclaimed.
“I have more news to share. I’ve been charged with leading the imminent diplomatic mission to the LitRPG sect. You’ll both be part of the official retinue.”
They both spontaneously kowtowed.
“Grzegorz, you are far too kind! We refuse.” they said simultaneously.
“Please, get up.”
They both did so reluctantly.
“I trust both of you, and want you to accompany me.”
Eugene meant this sincerely. Wang and Miezsko were developing a fanatical loyalty towards him. By bringing them along, he could further cultivate their loyalty. The rest of the diplomatic party he would pick from experienced Sect Elders and Seniors.
The most troubling part was the mandatory member. Sect Elder Wronskolenskivichopovichenski Sobiepanskivicholenskovichenskiavich of the Moon subsect would be accompanying him. The Moon subsect’s role within the Dawn and Dusk Sect was manifold. They acted as a secret police of the sect, as an intelligence agency, and as a bureau of secret Hibiscan research. They were few in number, only being about 10% of the total membership of the sect, though they held an outsized influence.
Wronskolenskivichopovichenski Sobiepanskivicholenskovichenskiavich’s purpose was to observe Eugene’s handling of the diplomatic mission. Wronskolenskivichopovichenski was likely directly working for the Moon Leader, who it seemed had taken an interest in Eugene.
Considering that his retinue would consist of only 25-30 people, Eugene had to think carefully about who he would include. He wanted to pick around a half dozen Elders, with most of the rest being Seniors, and then a couple Juniors. That would be a good ratio. As for which sects he would choose them from, he would take 2-3 from the Moon subsect. Any more might raise suspicions that it was some kind of spying operation, but any less might make it seem like he was going out of his way to make it seem like it wasn’t that, which might end up arousing an even greater quantity of suspicion. As for the rest, he would evenly split them between the Dawn and Dusk subsects.
Eugene would mostly choose from people who already had been on at least one diplomatic mission before. Roughly half of his picks would be people who had already been to the LitRPG sect specifically, while the rest would be people who hadn’t. That was enough people that were familiar with it to ensure things ran smoothly, while still giving fresh diplomats a chance to gain new experience.
“I must depart,” said Eugene.
Mieszko rushed over with a bag of purple stones. Eugene took them.
“We leave in a week. I’ll be honored to travel with you. Oh, and one more thing. Meet me at the central orb in, say an hour.”
Eugene left the ground and flew away. The purple stones were nice, but the Bielszowicki clan was very wealthy already, and so Eugene’s profit was nothing more than a mild convenience.
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Eugene needed to assemble the list of cultivators that would accompany him. He would read through accounts of every recent diplomatic trip to the LitRPG sect. Once that was complete, he would read the dossiers of hundreds of Dawn and Dusk Sect members to decide who he would pick.
He would get the necessary records and then enter the timeless realm. Once finished, he would leave the timeless realm and have a week of free time to scheme until he had to depart.
Eugene had some cooking to get to.
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Eugene being able to enter the timeless realm by moving through the second dimension of time was something that all Purple Realm cultivators could do if they practiced the skill. By continuously moving through the second dimension, cultivators stopped all motion in the first dimension, meaning that when they left the timeless realm, they were back at exactly the same moment in the timeline.
However, the second dimension of time was elastic, and the further you moved in it, the more it resisted. Weaker cultivators would be “snapped back” and forcibly thrust out of the timeless realm nearly instantly. Stronger cultivators could last for days or even weeks, but eventually would be forced to leave.
Eugene’s personal record before he got Kevin’s License Plate was three weeks. Being able to indefinitely remain in the timeless realm was an ambient property of Kevin’s License Plate, and extremely important. At the present moment, that ability of Kevin’s License Plate was equally as valuable as the combat potential in the remaining 3% of its energy. Expending 1% of its power was enough to kill those of Ade Coker rank and permanently cripple the cultivation of those in Jaja rank.
Killing a Jaja would take 2%, which would also cripple a Kambili’s cultivation and prevent them from ascending any higher. However, killing a Kambili would take 4%, which he didn’t quite have. Thus, Kevin’s License Plate would likely only severely injure a Kambili.
It was a trump card, but one less powerful that Eugene would have hoped for. And of course, using it in a fight would out him as being Eugene. It was his last resort.
Eugene had finished picking his list of people to accompany him. He left the timeless realm and emerged into his study room in his private residences at the Dawn and Dusk Sect. He wrote the list onto a computer document and printed it. Technology was commonly used by Hibiscologists, but only inventions that existed before 1984. On December 31st, 1983, Nigeria’s government was overthrown and Muhammadu Buhari installed himself as dictator of the country. “Big Oga” from the Holy Book is based on him.
Using post-1983 inventions was frowned upon because it interfered with Hibiscan resonances. Of course, demon cultivators eagerly used this advanced technology. It had little military usage, being countered by Hibiscologist techniques, but it did give them an edge in coordination and logistics.
Eugene grabbed the paper, opened a portal, and stepped through. He emerged onto the floating orb that held the central administrative apparatus of the Dawn and Dusk Sect and spotted Wang and Mieszko. For him, it had been days, but they had only spent an hour since last seeing him. He landed.
“Grzegorz!” they both exclaimed.
“I have a piece of paper containing who is to be on the diplomatic mission,” said Eugene. “Deliver it to the diplomatic offices. Oh, and here’s something to verify that it's from me.”
He put his Hibiscan signature on it. Every soul was unique and resonated with Hibiscan energy differently, and so putting a sliver of your own onto something was a common way of authentication. It was not 100% reliable, of course, as one’s Hibiscan energy could be siphoned in secret. But for his purposes, it was good enough. He handed it to Wang.
“I need to leave again,” said Eugene.
“Ah, your life as a Sect Elder must be occupied with a great many tasks,” commented Mieszko.
Eugene so far had done essentially nothing besides fight with Kash and write down the list. His schedule was free for the next week until the diplomatic mission began. Well, the Sect Leaders might take issue with one or two of his choices and make him re-select a few members, but that was unlikely. Eugene had made very good choices.
However, Eugene did want to occupy his time with useful actions. He could meditate and read perfectly fine in the timeless realm, so he could spend the next week entirely occupied with arena fights and training. Eugene had been reinvigorated by his fight with Kash. He had grown complacent in the era he came from, being so overwhelmingly strong as the only Eugene-rank cultivator. Now, there were at a minimum tens of thousands on par with or stronger than him.
Eugene had already scheduled several arena fights with other Eugene-rank cultivators. Many people were eager to see if the “Hibiscan prodigy” was really as powerful as many claimed him to be. However, Eugene had only signed up for fights that prohibited Dimension Expulsions. Eugene wanted to practice purely his foundational martial arts skills for the time being.
There had been many advancements in every field of cultivation since he had time traveled. However the current Hibiscan era, known as the Simmering Age (reminiscent of Eugene Achike’s boiling water), was increasingly being viewed as a period of stagnation. The three major factions of the world existed in a tense cold war. The large-scale wars of the Era of Strife (which itself was divided into the Dark Age, Demon Age, and Tortoise Age) had caused great innovations in Purple Hibiscology. But after the world settled into the relative peace of the Simmering Age, few advancements occurred.
The relevance of this to Eugene was that his current fighting style was very antiquated. Kash had crushed him due to that. Hibiscologists were already commenting that “Grzegorz”, while a talented fighter, was very inexperienced, and fought oddly. This might raise further suspicions about himself, which Eugene wanted to avoid. Thus, modernizing his fighting style was paramount.
Eugene would spend a month or so in total in the timeless realm during his week before the mission. Any more would get tedious and have diminishing returns. He wanted to study everything he could about the LitRPG Sect and become familiar with the grand tournaments they held. As the leader of the diplomatic entourage, Eugene would be expected to participate. He didn’t want to embarrass himself and his sect.
Eugene had many tasks ahead of him, but was confident in his own ability to perform well. It was time to get started.