The Martial Unity

Rui sharpened his eyes. “…I’m guessing you want me to do something about it.”

“I hate to say, but there’s not much I can do about it,” Emperor Rael remarked. “Most of the marine therianthropes have joined Kiriket, so they are able to hamper our attempts to strike an outreach with the Harmonist Faction. My goal was to provide the Harmonist Faction with resources and support to help him push back, but it hasn’t worked out. Not to mention…”

He shook his head.

“It won’t work out as long as we don’t solve the issue of the Dragon Emperor and the Ryu Clan.”

Rui fell into thought. “…I guess Authority of Alpha is the biggest impediment.”

“Indeed,” Emperor Rael replied with a more grave tone. “Authority of Alpha is disastrously dangerous to us. If something happens to you, then the beasts and monsters of our continent may become a liability once more.”

Rui nodded. “Don’t worry, I don’t intend to die. I don’t know how my Authority of Alpha compares to his, but it should be effective to some extent. As long as we can construct a good strategy, then we should be able to tear apart the Unitist Faction from the war coalition of Kiriket.”

The war coalition was comprised of three factions, which allowed it to monopolize most of the power. If Rui could just bring about a crack in the coalition by offering a deal that the Unitist Faction couldn’t refuse, then he would have succeeded.

“Be careful around the Dragon Emperor, Shenlong,” his father warned. “I will send you all the data that I have gathered, and you can get it from the dark elves as well. Don’t be unprepared this time.”

Rui nodded. “I won’t be reckless, I promise. I have some ideas in mind how to go about it.”

“That is reassuring. I will leave the matter to your capable hands and focus on places where I am able to make a difference. Many other polities are more reasonable and open to trade and even an alliance; we have already begun negotiations. My time is better spent on these cases than trying to negotiate with these animals,” Emperor Rael’s displeased tone betrayed his dislike of the therianthropes.

The two of them discussed the matter of Kiriket more extensively as they pondered a few possible solutions and how Rui could go about tackling it, before moving to other topics.

“I heard you showed the dark elves the manifold plant,” Rui raised an eyebrow. “A bit soon, if you ask me.”

“It was worth it to get their hands on their flora network technology, even if old-gen,” Emperor Rael replied. “In turn, we gave them relatively mundane information about the chemical makeup of the plant, barring the Transcendent resource within it.”

“Mundane?” Rui repeated incredulously. “Biodata on an alien flora lifeform is mundane.”

“Politically mundane, yes,” Emperor Rael said with a certain tone. “Alien life is fascinating, but to me, as Emperor, it matters not. I don’t care how many millions or billions of kilometers it is away; it cannot affect us and is thus merely a fascination. The technical information is strategically irrelevant to me as Emperor, as far as I’m concerned. What we got for it in return is profoundly more strategically valuable.”

Rui shook his head wordlessly.

He didn’t agree with his father’s perspective. As far as he was concerned, understanding how the continent got into a manifold was of vital importance because it would help them shed light on the mysteries of history that may still be at play.

But he understood his father’s perspective, nonetheless.

“I won’t complain since I was out of commission this time, but next time, don’t trade the manifold for anything without my approval. I will remind you that I own a third of the plant and the manifold.”

Emperor Rael heaved a sigh. “If it means that much to you, then fine. I have no intention of revealing it willy-nilly either. The manifold is still a strategic resource even if the technical data on the alien biology is not. For now, wrap things up in Genora and make plans to get to Kiriket as soon as possible.”

“Will do.”

Their call eventually ended hastily.

They were both busy, especially his father, who was swamped with work in a crucial phase of the Panama Continent’s integration into the true world. Rui, on the other hand, departed from the Panamic Embassy before heading back to the Forest of War to meet up with Amare.

His eyes sharpened.

“I won’t be able to wing this like it did with the dark elves.”

The dark elves were friendly from the start and accepted an alliance ahead of time; all that was left was negotiations and then finalizing the agreement. His job with the dark elves was much, much easier than what he needed to accomplish with the therianthropes, who were largely hostile to the Panama Continent.

The stakes were also high. It was the difference between gaining a new friend or a new enemy. He would need to ensure that he executed his next mission in Kiriket extremely well.

“Doing this while also learning the Beast Path might be difficult.”

He might even have to save it for after he had resolved all the political issues in the continent and within therianthrope civilization. Then he could take his time and master what he could from the Beast Path along with Amare and take their time.

“Rui!”

He broke out of his reverie as his attention returned to his environment.

He found himself in the familiar Forest of War already, with explosions and impacts from the training elven warriors and the true body of Mother Alicia standing tall in the very epicenter of the forest.

More importantly, he saw Amare rushing towards him in delight, before diving at him.

THUD

Rui winced as she crashed into him with a heavy impact, before almost breaking his ribs with a bear hug.

“Now I’m not letting you get away this time!”