Monarch High Heaven shrugged and replied, "They are tools. They may be proud tools and they may create a fuss but they are still tools for us to be victorious in the era of conquest."
They call him the mad elf because of his disregard for consequences but he is not stupid. He disregarded consequences because they don't matter in the long run. Those consequences won't affect his main aim so didn't care about them. But antagonizing the Supreme Alliance is not that.
It would be foolish to antagonize the Supreme Alliance when all they want is a way to serve him better. It is a foolish move that even his damaged psyche wouldn't allow him to do. It is as they say, one shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
"That's true." Mother High Heaven conceded. "So have you made a decision concerning the realm tree we will target?"
That question brightened him up. He said excitedly, "Yes, I have. It is the Realm of Tyrants."
Mother High Heaven wasn't so glad. "Are you sure? We won't be able to leverage the advantage of our realm configuration against them. They have just one plane of existence so it would cost a lot to reconfigure our realm for the spatial alignment."
He replied confidently. "I am certain. They don't have a realm lord so it is good."
But his confidence isn't infectious so Mother High Heaven was still concerned. "But they have Tyrants."
"I know that. I am not ignorant of the races that the realm I want to engage in a battle to the death with has."
"That's not what I am saying. I am saying Tyrants are very strong. They are called Tyrants for a reason. Their whole realm was named after them for a reason."
Monarch High Heaven still wasn't concerned. He said with disdain, "Tyrants are not realm lords and even if they were, there is no realm lord like me."
Mother High Heaven insisted, "But it will be so much easier if we chose a weak realm without a problematic race."
He waved away her concerns. "The Tyrant Realm won't be a problem either. Trust me. Have I ever failed to deliver?"
"Yes." Came the quick reply.
He didn't feel awkward about being called out on his failures. He said with a straight face, "Those were unexpected circumstances. They were flukes that no one could account for. Don't forget that this is very important to me too. I will die if we fail so you can be certain that I won't botch things. You know how much I have planned for this."
"That's true. I can give you that. You have made a lot of preparations."
"Yes, I have. Trust me. We will win." He said confidently.
"If you say so." She said before leaving.
He said to himself after she left. "I have to win. There is no other option."
He has burned a lot of bridges to get to where he is today. He has made a lot of enemies that will surely end him even if he somehow survives the destruction of the realm tree and its realm heart. So he must be victorious in the era of conquest or all the consequences that he disregarded in the past will come around and show themselves as relevant.
He has to win for reasons other than survival. Becoming a world god with a very strong world is the minimum requirement for the first one to fully awaken. That awakening must be realized at all costs which means he must succeed in the era of conquest.
Any delay in the awakening of the first one is just more time for him to suffer due to the injury on his psychic engram. So he must succeed as soon as possible.
Besides, he doesn't want to start again from scratch this close to the end of the universe. He doesn't want to miss the opportunity that will arrive when the void universe ends so he has made a lot of preparations for success.
He has gotten world gods on his side who are also anxious for his success. He has also gotten the only ones who could betray the realm on his side.
"Victory comes to those that are prepared for the possibility of failure." He said to himself with a chuckle. "I learned that from the first sage."
He is prepared for every possible problem that he might face during the era of conquest. Not only did he shackle the demons and the abyss to his boat metaphorically, to prevent betrayal, he even allowed an opportunity for betrayal to exist so that he could snoop on the realm he wants to target.
It is smart to anticipate betrayal and seal every avenue for it, but it is smarter to allow a betrayer to exist so that he can gain more. At the very least he is aware of the only avenue of betrayal. If the enemy takes the bait and contacts the demon god of GREED, then they will be falling into his trap.
He turned a problem into an opportunity. It made him laugh sinisterly to himself.
He said, "Schemes and more schemes."
Every single action of his is carried out with multiple goals in mind. He did not stop the exploitation of Life Trees because of the goodness of his heart. That action made him a lot of enemies and yet he managed to gain the support of many world gods for the era of conquest.
He did not use the Shadow Lurker to terrorize the Supreme Alliance for fun. He did not make the deal to help the great mother just because he was interested in the law of the soul. He did not choose the Realm of Tyrants instead of a weaker realm at a whim. Everything has a purpose that will benefit him.
He said proudly to himself, "I may not compare to the first sage but I try my best."
He is a man of schemes. He has schemes against everything and everyone. He has many plans that will go unused and many that might be critical to his success. All will be made known in the era of conquest.
He muttered in anticipation. "The Era of conquest is coming."
THE END.
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