CHAPTER 2322: PREFERRED DESTINATION
Soon enough, he departed from the manifold after having spent over two years in its depths. Yet, a mere two months had passed in the outside world.
The war had not progressed too much in that time span. At most nations that were far too close to one side had inevitably chosen to ally with said side. However, there were plenty of nations that were not geographically compromised and hadn't yet made the ultimate choice.
A choice that would undoubtedly shape all of human civilization forever.
They were distinctly aware that the wrong choice was beyond merely a blunder, considering the stakes at hand and the powers that were involved.
None of them wanted to end up being the person who historians of the future would look back at and blame everything upon.
"Poor leaders. I must help them make the right decision." Rui heaved a dramatic sigh. "It will be a shame to let them blunder by siding with the alliance when I can show them the light."
His gaze turned forward to the man sitting on the opposite side of the table in the Royal Office. "Wouldn't you agree, father?"
Emperor Rael gazed at Rui with mirth. "I suppose that's one way of putting it."
Upon exiting the manifold, he had immediately gone to visit his father, who had been relieved to finally have his presence.
"More importantly, how has your training experience been?" Emperor Rael asked with pointed interest.
Rui shrugged. "Pretty good, I have grown much stronger now and have even fewer weaknesses. I have particularly grown more able to fight in the war."
"That's good to hear." His father nodded lightly. "Because the very second you set foot outside the Kandrian Empire, you can expect to run into Martial Masters and perhaps even Sages, depending on how desperate and hateful our enemies are. However, I do not foresee them deploying Martial Sages very easily against you."
Rui gave him a knowing look. "Because my short-term strategic impact is not as significant as that of a Martial Sage."
"Precisely."
While the long-term strategic impact of Rui's mass-triggered breakthroughs was revolutionary, the same could not be said for the short term impact. Martial Masters accounted for about ten percent of the end outcome of the war, while the remaining ninety percent of the outcome was going to be decided by the Martial Sages.
In other words, Rui breaking Seniors to the Master Realm was not going to have devastating impacts on the war, especially when the enemies still had more Martial Masters.
"The only place where that might not be true will be the war for allies rather than the main war," Emperor Rael remarked. "If Prime Minister Edward feels that your breakthrough ability is bringing us too many allies, then he may try to kill you with Martial Sages."
It was too difficult to call the details. However, the gist was that Rui's life was going to be targeted heavily due to his impact on the long-term strategic outlook of the Kandrian Empire and the strategic outlook on the Kandrian Empire's prospects of winning allies.
"If I remember correctly, you told me that you had contingencies if they sent Sages, which could deter them," Rui remarked thoughtfully.
Emperor Rael nodded. "An artifact crafted from an extremely rare esoteric substance that can allow you to instantaneously be transported back to the Kandrian Empire in the blink of an eye. As long as we publicize your possession of such an artifact, Prime Minister Edward won't bother wasting time sending Sages to try to kill you."
"Because it would be futile to try and kill me while I possess the artifact, especially when we have my grandmother," Rui mused. "But, that won't stop them from sending Masters, especially when they have undoubtedly figured out that I am still willing to fight my peers. On top of that, there are enough Masters that it isn't a waste to send them to attack me."
A smile arose on his face. "Which means that I will mostly be fighting Masters thanks to this plan."Owned by .
"Correct again. As long as you are willing to take that risk, that is."
"Willing?" Rui scoffed. "I want nothing more."
He could barely contain his excitement at the prospect of using his Mind-Metabody against the Masters who sought to kill him.
Considering that he would surely be jumped by many powerful Masters, there was no doubt that it was exactly the kind of circumstance that he had had in mind when creating his Megamind technique.
It would also be good to test how the technique fared against genuinely hostile opponents that were doing their best to kill him. After all, that was the true standard to which all Martial Artists were held.
"...And where best are my services utilized?" Rui asked straightforwardly.
He didn't have the patience to read through progress reports of the war for allies to try and determine what the best place for him to go was.
"There are many places that you could go to that could use your help for convincing and protecting allies, but the one place where you will be most effective is this place..."
Emperor Rael placed a file before him with a title on the cover.
[Shionel Confederation]
Rui smiled, amused. "I suppose that makes sense. I do have a pretty good relationship with Guildmaster Bradt. Though, I don't know if that's changed ever since you returned to the throne. After all, he invested heavily in me as a candidate for the throne, and I didn't even give him any returns when you returned. I only gave returns to domestic investors and patrons of my faction in the Kandrian Empire. And, I didn't even give him a face-to-face apology, just issued a broad public announcement."
Emperor Rael shook his head. "Returning donations, patronage, and investment is an unreasonable standard that nobody would hold you to. This is the peril of political investment that someone as experienced as Bradt is hardly unaware of. He made a gamble, and he lost due to bad luck."