Gravis and Azure talked some more, and after a while of talking, they decided to return to the Icy Pride Empire. While they had been talking, Gravis had also told her about his decision to leave the camp of the land beasts.
Azure thought it was a good idea since he was powerful enough to protect himself and wouldn't be bound by any obligations. Additionally, being a neutral party also gave him more freedom to choose his way of tempering.
Of course, the bad aspect of that decision was that one needed to be powerful enough. If one were too weak, any beast could just kill them without any repercussions. There were a ton of beasts just waiting for a tempering opportunity. If a solitary King went into an Empire, they would be attacked by several other Kings that would all want to fight them.
Even if one was powerful for their Realm, choosing neutrality would still be dangerous. If one of the most powerful Kings decided to go solo, they might not be attacked by Kings but by an Emperor first. Of course, these Emperors wouldn't be interested in the corpse of the King, but they would be interested in using this King to temper their soldiers.
Maybe the Emperor would send five other Kings at him. Maybe the Emperor would halt the fight if one of their beasts would die. In the end, it didn't matter what this King would do. Eventually, they would be ground into nothingness.
Because of these reasons, one first needed to be a powerful Emperor to consider going solo. Yet, one also had to remember that it wasn't mandatory to attack a neutral beast. They could also just trade or talk. The only difference was that one party wouldn't have any backing. They could only rely on their own power.
Of course, Gravis was already powerful enough to go solo. If he had still been a level four King, it would have been risky since he would have had the power of a level one Emperor, which wasn't that safe. After all, there were plenty of level two Emperors.
Yet, with the power to immediately decimate a level two Emperor and with a slight chance of winning against a level three Emperor, Gravis should be safe. Therefore, with all things considered, it was a good idea for him to leave the camp of the land beasts.
After some time, the two of them returned to the Mountain of Pride in the Icy Pride Empire. Right now, instead of Azure, the Grand Elder was sitting on the throne. However, he couldn't be called the Grand Elder anymore since he had taken up the position of the actual Emperor.
Styr, the Emperor, saw Azure and Gravis return and greeted them with a polite smile. "Welcome back. How were your gains?" he asked.
Gravis noticed that Styr acted differently than usual. It wasn't that he had changed but that he was exhibiting an aura of royalty. The way he sat and talked gave others the feeling of justice, friendliness, and fairness.
The contrast between when Azure had been the Empress and the current Styr was stark. Azure had always appeared taciturn, cold, prideful, and reserved. It was like she had been an ice queen.
Yet, in human terms, Styr appeared like a king that would often visit the farmers to check if they had any issues. He appeared like someone that valued the prosperity of his kingdom above his own.
Of course, that was only a feeling and didn't reflect the truth. Styr simply acted like a proper ruler should act, but as soon as he would see his chance to become more powerful, he would return to his old self.
Obviously, Styr was more suited to be a ruler than Azure.
Additionally, Gravis noticed something else that made him feel exhilarated. Sure enough, Styr had become a level three Emperor. This meant that Gravis could push his Will-Aura to the maximum once again. With that, he would be able to suppress a level three Emperor by 30% instead of 10%. That was a huge difference!
"A lot has changed," Azure said to Styr.
"Oh?" Styr uttered with a smile as he put his fingers together and leaned back on the throne. "Tell me about it."
Thus, Azure started telling Styr about everything that had happened. Styr couldn't have been prepared for the violent changes the world would soon feel, and the more Styr heard, the more solemn he grew.
After Azure was finished telling Styr everything, Styr stood up and paced around the top of the Mountain of Pride as he stroked his long beard.
"This is troublesome indeed," Styr said. "Our first four defensive lines are very valuable territory, and our soldiers might need to be redistributed. Yet, these four defensive lines are under the leadership of the level four Empires, which disallows me to make any changes to them."
Styr paced around some more. "We might actually need to station level four Emperors there, but the level four Emperors are all leaders of their own Empire. I'm uncertain if they would be willing to stay at the front lines with their status."
Styr continued pacing. "But if they aren't ready to station themselves at the frontlines, a random level four Emperor could take out all four of the core defensive lines. If that happens, we will lose half of our Elders, which would result in the weakening of our Empire."
"What's the problem?" Gravis asked with a raised eyebrow. "As long as you and Azure are still here, the Empire won't fall. Do the lives of the Elders even matter?"
Styr smiled bitterly. "Gravis, managing an Empire is different from managing a Tribe," he said with a teaching tone. "An Empire is not only there to serve as a springboard for the Emperor. We are all in this together, and if the Empire grows more powerful, the Emperor will grow more powerful with it."
"Putting my own goals above the good of the Empire would result in a short-term power gain, but it would cut off the long-term power gain. We require powerful beasts to keep the Kingdoms in check and to resolve problems that they can't resolve themselves."
"In exchange, we receive the rights for their Law Comprehension Areas. With fewer Elders, the Empire would be less powerful, and for safety reasons, some Kingdoms might defect to another Empire. As soon as the Kingdoms see that the Empire has taken a large hit, they might suspect that the Empire would soon fall."
"The Empire, obviously, won't fall since Azure and I are still here, but that doesn't matter. The Kingdoms believe what they want to believe and will act upon that belief."
"If the Kingdoms defect to other Empires, we will lose access to valuable Law Comprehension Areas. Among these Law Comprehension Areas will be areas that several Elders are very interested in. When they see that they no longer have access to such a fitting area, they might also defect to other Empires. In the end, we will only have a handful of Elders left with nearly no Law Comprehension Areas."
"Remember, Gravis," Styr said. "When you cultivate, the image others have towards you is unimportant, but if you want to create and maintain a large force, your image becomes very important."
"Cultivation relies on yourself, while an Empire relies on others. If you build a force with the philosophy of cultivation, it will break apart very quickly," Styr explained.
Gravis listened intently. Most of the time, he knew a lot of the concepts that others talked about, but this time, he had learned something new. Styr's teachings resonated with him as he thought back to the River Tribe.
Styr was right.
If a Cultivator had a lower Realm than an opponent, the opponent often wouldn't be interested in them. Yet, land and resources would always be valuable, even for more powerful forces. If Gravis had been alone and had killed so many Tribes back then by himself, no level four Lord would have ever paid him a visit. After all, Gravis had nothing of value.
Yet, since his Tribe had been the aggressor, multiple level four Lords had arrived back then, dooming the entire Tribe.
'I have led my Tribe incorrectly,' Gravis thought. 'I have done exactly what Styr had said I shouldn't do. I have pushed the Tribe to its absolute limit until it broke apart. In just a short while, the whole Tribe became incredibly powerful for our area, but it also broke apart very quickly.
Gravis bowed politely. "Thank you, Styr," Gravis said.
Styr only chuckled slightly. "Your exotic conduct is truly refreshing, Gravis. I presume that you intend to leave the camp of the land beasts since you referred to me with my name?" he asked.
Gravis nodded. "Yes, but before I leave, I would like to request something from you. Of course, if it's too much to ask, I will repay you."
Styr only smiled as he looked at the horizon. "I presume you want to go through another session of will-tempering, right?" he asked.
Gravis nodded.
Styr turned back as he smiled at Gravis. "Your wisdom has allowed me to become more powerful. Making you more powerful in return comes naturally. You don't need to worry about repaying the Empire. After all, it is us that should repay you."
"Remember this, Gravis," Styr said as he walked closer. "If Azure or I had killed you back then to get your secrets of how you were able to understand a level three Law as a Lord, both of us wouldn't be as powerful as we are today."
"We might have been able to find something valuable in your head with some Laws regarding the mind, but that would have only given us the knowledge that you have had back then. Ever since then, you have learned a lot more and have grown wiser. The things you have told us voluntarily are already worth more than what we could have found back then in your head by force."
"This is what I mean. Don't chase short-term gain by sacrificing long-term gain. If you ever decide to create another power, remember my words," Styr said as he put his hands on Gravis' shoulder.
Gravis nodded. "I will remember your words."
Styr smiled. "Alright, then let's start with your will-tempering. I will immediately start with 30%. Is that alright with you?"
"Go," Gravis said with icy eyes.
Then, Gravis fell into an abyss of pain again as his body started to get torn apart again.
Azure continued talking to Styr as they planned the future actions of the Empire while Morus simply continued standing behind Gravis in respect.
He had always been behind Gravis in silence. It was not the place of a servant to speak when their master was speaking.
