An Undercurrent of Moves

Convir's POV:

I sat behind my desk while going through papers. There has been so much work recently, with Pulchra dying and Quis going missing, I've had to do everything I could to not completely tarnish my school's reputation. That included spreading some propaganda about the L'Amour Family. For example, "It's suspicious that Quis went missing right after Pulchra L'Amour died..." or something more direct like, "The L'Amour Family not only let their star child die but, because they couldn't accept the blame, got rid of Quis." Stuff like that can spread like wildfire, and then suddenly it's not the Campus' fault, but the L'Amour's fault.

Of course, it didn't go that easily, they fought back viciously. They pushed back every claim and then tried to blame it all on me, causing a draw between the two of us. It was always a draw, they couldn't forward their plans of converting the sect into a clan, and I couldn't take the position of Sect Leader. If I were able to become Sect Leader, things would become much easier. The only reason the current Sect Leader is still the Sect Leader is because of his Class, nothing more. I'm sure he would be kicked out of position immediately if there was a choice. That was why I found hope within Quis.

He had the potential to ascend to Iron Class or even Gold Class. Talent wasn't an issue. With enough time and money, I could figure a way out of it, even if it stunted his growth. The only problem was how difficult he was to control. The one thing that tied the two of us together was the Campus itself, so he didn't have much attachment to me. He did join my faction, but now I've come to the realization that he's been playing around with the Neutral Faction. And judging by his... combat skills, that old hag did something to him that would deepen their bond considerably. She went to my hunting den and stole my prey... If only I was able to sweep that Stone Class Incident under the rug, then she would have been none the wiser. It was very sad how this all turned out.

I read the student progress report for the week that detailed their developments, and if there was something important to note, I would write it in that person's folder. It was a simple, yet tedious process, one I had to do myself lest I risk a data breach. The two-star students were now Iusus and Spiravit. Spiravit has changed tremendously since the beginning of the school year, going from a stupid, foolhardy, demented kid into someone actually disciplined and likable. He made friends and has come out as the official leader of the school year. I hope his change is enough to make him feel indebted to the Campus, allowing me to sway him to my side. But judging by his... family line, that wasn't likely.

Iusus on the other hand had a much higher chance of joining my faction. Her abilities have skyrocketed lately, and there were even a couple of times when she was able to best a Stone Class Cultivator, Beulus to be precise. It wasn't at the level of Quis, but it was still impressive. If I were able to use her relationship with Beulus who was already in my faction to coerce her into joining, that would be amazing.

It really made me think. This year is just chalked full of unexpected geniuses. Spiravit was one everyone thought would become strong, so he was an expected win. For a while there I really thought the only two good ones from this batch were going to join different factions, but then Quis came out of nowhere, taking the spotlight in my mind. He was a lost cause now, but then there was also Iusus who was prospecting to possibly become an Iron Class in the future, or at least a 2nd Half Coal Class. Then there was also Capcis, the old man has had his eye on her since the start of the school year, silently pushing her along the path of politics. It's unfortunate what happened to her, but that's just how life is. There are hundreds of thousands of geniuses in this world, yet only 1% of those geniuses can ever make good on their talents. It was sad but true.

That's why I would try to nurture the ones who help the most promise, namely Spiravit and Iusus. And speaking of Spiravit, he recently filed a class ascension. How long has it been since he started cultivating, about three months? That was the power of A+ Talent right there, and not to mention his proficiency in Martial and Magic Arts has been getting much better since Quis went missing. And, according to Telferr, he was getting steadily better at swordplay too. Iusus was also doing good, but she couldn't compare to Spiravit's growth rate. It was for that reason I was upset about him being a Nima.

Knock, knock, knock.

The door leading to my office was knocked three times, interrupting my flow of thoughts and pen on paper. I sighed, figuring that at this rate my work would never get done, but nonetheless said, "You may enter."

The door creaked open and I was half expecting it to be Hasrem with another stack of papers to give to me, but that thought was destroyed as I saw who entered the room. I straightened both my posture and my gaze as I coldly said to the old woman in front of me, "What are you doing here Medisma?"

She walked with the support of her cane to my desk and sat down in the chair placed in front of it before smiling slightly and responding in a sarcastic tone, "Oh, you know, I was just out on a walk and it led me here."

This woman and her jokes... There was no way she came here just to mess around with me, so I decided to be the one who started the conversation, "Oh yeah, just like how Quis randomly walked into your grasp?"

She just chucked in front of my aggressive stance and changed the subject as if everything her already in her grasp, "We needn't discuss that now. I've actually come here with something I know you would like to hear. What if I said I was willing to join hands with you to defeat the L'Amour Family?"

Now that was something that piqued my interest, but I know how things work well enough to know, there had to be a catch, "What's your angle? I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't do something out of the kindness in your heart. And wasn't it you who declined my requests for an alliance before saying that getting rid of an Iron Class Cultivator would drastically damper the power of our sect?"

Suddenly, a Fruit materialized in her hand and she played around with it for a bit before saying, "Well, let's just say I've had some insider information given to me and now am being forced to make these moves. Plus I also declined before knowing about Quis' existence. He has the ability to weigh down the scales."

I stared at the Fruit in her hand, and upon finding myself unable to identify it, asked her outright, "Alright, I'll bite. What's that Fruit do? Is it what gave you that pressing information?"

She seemed glad that I caught the context clues she was giving me and answered my question, "I'm happy you asked. While we are in different factions, we are still one sect, so I'm happy to tell you. This is a special Fruit that only works three times for each person. You can eat it whenever you want, but it will only activate when it chooses to. I call it the Foretold Future Fruit. I'm sure you get its effects from the name."

That was also interesting. I wanted to know how she got her hands on such a Fruit and its class, but I knew she wouldn't tell me so instead I tested my luck on another topic, "That's a pretty powerful name... I'm guessing it belongs to the Time Branch... but then again it might also be a part of the Astrology Branch... But that doesn't matter, does it? So tell me Medisma, what is it that you saw that has you running around like a madwoman?"

She returned the Fruit to her Duranian tapped her cane on the table, probably to create a dramatic effect, and simply said, "An unbelievable blood bath."

I raised my eyebrow in confusion, but seeing as she didn't say anything further, that must have been all she saw. A blood bath huh? That reeks of bad news. It could be another Wild Beast tide, a crazed Gold Class Devil, or maybe even a natural disaster, but either way, it would have to do with our sect's lack of power, which raised a question, "In that case shouldn't you be trying to get the sect as powerful as possible instead of trying to get rid of an entire section, and the most powerful one at that."

She tapped her cane a couple more times while shaking her head, "You seem to have to wrong idea. We aren't going to get rid of the L'Amour Family, we're going to finally reunite this sect. I know how much you love the idea of you being the head of the sect, but you must also know that will never happen until you can get to Iron Class. For now, you must focus on living, and this is the best way."

I cringed at her speech and replied with my own counterargument, "You must know how unrealistic that is. The L'Amour Family won't listen to reason. They'll be too scared of us just lying to them, even more than I am of you lying to me, so they will never accept it. And I'm not even sure that I will either."

Sure this whole thing sounded nice, but this was Medisma. She could easily be lying about everything just to unify the sect before taking it over completely. I had no reason to trust her.

Instead of grimacing at my logical retort, she smiled as if expecting me to say that and calmly spoke, "I understand your hesitance, but let me ask you a question that might change your point of view: Would you rather lock arms with my alliance now, or have me make the same offer to the L'Amour Family? While I would rather this sect stay a sect, if it means this sect's continued survival I'm willing to help transform this sect into a clan. And to answer your question about how I would do it, well that part is simple. We use Quis."

Yup, she hasn't changed a bit. But I guess this also proves she wasn't lying about this "bloodbath". I had no choice. I had to take a risk, "Alright, you win. So what's our first step?"

In response to her victory, she got back up on her feet and bluntly said, "You'll know when the time comes. Also, I'm going to be using your facilities for Quis to teach some of my disciples. Of course, if you ever need something just ask and I'll see what I can do. We are allies now, right?"

Before I was able to yell at her for leaving out important information, she slipped through the door leaving me alone in the room. Just me, and the ink spread across sheets of paper.

"Great, now I'm definitely not going to be done with paperwork by the end of today."

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Quis' POV:

I hopped along the wooden floor of the Medical Hall. As I walked forward with the immense amount of bandages on my body and my missing leg, I garnered all sorts of looks. Some looked at me with respect, a natural response when you see someone much stronger than you. Some looked at me with jealousy, another way to react to someone stronger than you. There were even some who looked at me grotesquely, as though I was more disgusting than their own piss and shit. That wasn't because of anything I did, it was because of where I looked like I was from. This sect was actually a lot more calm when it came to Region differences, but there were still always those who disliked it when someone of a different Region came to their own. And I just so happened to look strikingly similar to a Volcanian.

It was fine though; I didn't care much about it. This sect was much more friendly than most, so I wouldn't be treated much differently. Plus I had strength backing me up. Even if I was treated differently, a couple of broken bones would shut them all up. That was how this world worked. It didn't matter what your differences were as long as you had the strength to back it up.

As I finished hopping my way out of the Medical Hall and opened the door, a familiar face was standing there. It was Cortritio.

He smiled as he looked at me and excitedly said, "You did great out there Igmor. I'd say that you have a decent chance of actually beating me now, but that's not why I'm here. The master wants me to take you to where you need to be next to discipline those Elders. So go ahead and follow me."

He turned around and started walking forward, and I bounced behind him. As we were walking I ended up making some conversation, "So Medisma couldn't spare her precious time to get me personally?"

Without turning around to look at me, he replied, "Master had some pressing concerns to deal with, so she asked me to help you in her stead. If you have any questions, you can ask me."

I sighed, 'There's not much hope then. My most important questions were ones that only Medsima could answer. But I suppose he'll be able to answer a couple.'

"Well, I'm sure that you know this much. Is this really all Medisma has planned for me? Get a job teaching and then I'm done?"

Although I already seriously doubted this was the end, Cortritio confirmed my belief causing me to affirm this in my mind completely, "Master told me that after everything was done, you'd be very inclined to help her with something else."

"I'm pretty sure of this, but I'll still ask just in case. Medisma didn't happen to leave you with the way to ascend to Stone Class with you, did she?"

"Nope, she did not."

"And you can't just tell me how to do it with your own memories of it?"

"Well, if I remembered anything then maybe, but the process wipes your memories of how to do it for whatever reason. Only the Grand Elders and Sect Leader know how it works. And once they tell you, you must do it right away. That way, the information doesn't leak. I'm sure you already guessed it was something like that. Master always goes on and on about how you are an amazing problem solver."

He wasn't wrong, I already guessed it was something like that. But that didn't make much sense to me. How come it just coincidently made you lose your memory? I suspected foul play was involved, but then again, it didn't matter much. I had to get to Stone Class, and it didn't matter much if I forgot how since I wouldn't need to do it again. I had no choice but to follow to laid-out path of the sect.

"We're here."

I was suddenly snapped out of my thoughts and was welcomed back into the world of the living with a flash of green. Being defended by tall wooden walls lay an unmistakably lush garden. The garden was home to large piles of wood and some other materials forming into both well-maintained buildings and unkept buildings alike. The difference between me now and me when I left here sent shivers of excitement down my spine.

'I'm back on Campus."