Rui departed from the Mantian Royal Manor shortly after as Prince Raijun ended their session, promising a response at a later date. He had, once again, declined the offer to be transported home. He heaved a sigh as a rush of thoughts flew through his head. He had many considerations in mind.
A complex analysis of factors had gone into his decision to offer help to Prince Raijun at the cost of not countering or sabotaging Prince Ranea and Prince Raul. It wasn't just because he did not dislike their political inclinations. He also had self-preserving reasons to do so.
For one, he knew the Beggar's Sect was in favor of Prince Raul. He was essentially taking some measures to appease them by making a deal that was more favorable to Prince Raul than the rest of them.
He was keenly aware of the fact that Alice and Farion were a part of the Beggar's Sect. He also knew what this meant. While Alice and Farion shared a heartwarming story of how the Beggar's Sect had helped them in a time of need. They didn't possess the political acumen to understand that they themselves were a subtle and implicit message from the Beggar's Sect to Rui.
They were informing Rui to not mess with them, for they had his family. There was no reason for them to reveal the fact that Alice and Farion had joined the Beggar's Sect. The Beggar's Sect's greatest strength was that nobody knew who was a Beggar and who wasn't. Yet despite their anonymity and invisibility being their strength, they had still chosen to divulge the fact that.
It was quite unpleasant, but he didn't have the power to fight off the Beggar's Sect. On top of that, he didn't have the right to tell Alice and Farion to leave the sect. And finally, he had to admit that the fact that the sect had indeed done a lot of good. This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.
To a certain extent, he was repaying the debt that he had to them by carving out a deal that was more favorable to Prince Raijun. "Huff…" Rui heaved a sigh. "Whatever, I've done what I can. It's time I focus on my own matters."
He put away the thoughts surrounding the Kandrian Throne War and thought about the path forward for him. It had been two weeks since he returned and he was ready to actively begin taking the next few steps forward.
He had several priorities over the next few days.
Rui curled his mouth in disgust as he read through the description. The potion was made from the extracted semen of a male adamantiger, a species of monster big cats that was known for being extremely hard to kill. It granted the subject immense physical durability, making their flesh extremely tough and impervious.
Even if he put aside his feeling about the ingredients of the potion, he wasn't too interested in potions that empowered a single parameter alone. While that worked for specialized Martial Artists, it did not work for him, a dynamic all-rounder. He preferred something that would relatively benefit his entire Martial Art.
Unfortunately for Rui, that disqualified most body-augmentation options that were available for him to him as a reward.
[Goliathan Flame Pill]
A pill that imbued the power of 'fire' within the muscles of the subject, making them stronger. It was such an unscientific explanation that he didn't even know what to make of it.
[Skyfall Crystal Treatment]
An exposure treatment to a substance found in a particularly dangerous zone in the Beast Domain known as the Raging Rain Zone, a zone that was endlessly bombarded with meteorites from outer space continuously forever for reasons that were unknown. It empowered speed and agility.
Unfortunately, the more well-balanced ones were much rarer compared to the specialized ones, and they weren't nearly as alluring. It made sense that a perfectly balanced treatment was much more unlikely than a treatment that had some imbalance.
It was merely a balance of probability, there were more possible outcomes that were imbalanced than balanced. Rui was faced with difficult choices.