A Talk Over Tea

Quis' POV

I sat down, cross-legged, and surrounded by silver gas. When I first entered this gas months ago, it felt uncomfortable, as if needles were poking every inch of my skin. But now, it was a soothing sensation. It wasn't as though the poking had gone away, it was still ever present, it was that I had found comfort within it. It was an acquired comfort.

I was currently cultivating inside of a Firearm Genesis Essence area. It was the same one I usually used, inside of the campus. However this time, I had to sneak in to use it. It's not that there wasn't a similar area within the main area of the sect, it's just that I'd rather not be near people while cultivating because I'm not sure if producing Genesis Orbs gives off the same energy as cultivating normally. I've never seen someone else create Genesis Orbs, so I didn't want to risk it.

Of course, creating Genesis Orbs wasn't the only thing I was doing. I was also reviewing the performance I gave just a couple of hours ago. It went just as I thought it would. The people left satisfied but still interested, and that was all I needed. Starting a cult took time, and it would take even more time due to the mistake I made before.

Originally, I planned to take on the role of a down-to-earth leader, but that was before I killed a 2nd half Coal Class Demon while still at the beginning of Stone Class. At first, I just planned to take down another 2nd half Coal Class Wild Beast, make a bit of a show out of it, do the whole patriotic thing, and then forge my faction like that. But the Demon, along with a sudden burst of inspiration, has allowed me to dream bigger than that.

Because I had completed such a divine accomplishment, and from a lower-end sect no less, I could give my character a cloak of mystery. And even though I already laid the groundwork for my former plan, being a cult leader gave me a lot more benefits than a down-to-earth one, and it made it worth the short-term loss. One allowed for more exploitation than the other, so the choice was obvious. It would just be a bit harder to pull off.

Luckily, I knew it was possible, as it had been done before. Back before, in my world, after a certain king had united a broken country that had just gained independence, he cut himself off from the outside world, only making contact through messengers and such. This created an air of mystery around him, and eventually, people even referred to him as the son of god. This was the effect I would try to duplicate. I would be the mysterious "Sun King" and the "Avatars" would be my messengers, both enacting and transcribing my words.

That was also another reason why I wanted to create an alliance with the Sect Leader. If I was able to move through him, making him a puppet of sorts, ruling over the L'Amour Family would be a lot easier. But that was farther down the line. Right now the alliance was for me to make use of his manpower to get some good, hearty, cash. And thankfully, I was able to easily get that alliance. The Sect Leader was smart enough to see through my poem, and, either through curiosity or impressment, accept my earlier proposal without any more questions.

And that was that. Soon enough I'd make more moves, but right now, I needed to wait. I needed to let the action I just made sink in before making another one. It was an effect similar to supply and demand. If you saturate the market with gold, then it's not worth anything anymore. Better to sell it over ten months than one.

And while I waited for the perfect timing, I would begin clearing my checklist. One was cultivating. I needed to get to Coal Class as fast as possible because of those foreboding words I got in the Firearm inheritance. Next, I needed to get things straight with Laozi. I had a mountain of questions to lay on him, and I hoped he could at least answer most of them. The final task I had was to fix my relationship with Onvima.

There were two people I didn't include in our debut: Beulus and Onvima. Beulus was just because I didn't want his character to get mixed up in the arguing as his character was meant to be viewed only as happy-go-lucky. Onvima, however, wasn't included due to my issue of trust in him. His allegiance to me was built on fear, and only fear. I had to either change that or cut him because I was not going to let a rat into my circle of powers. Paxium is also a little bit iffy, but I believe that she'll soon be completely reigned into the group due to Fragitus' involvement.

As of now, I'll wait on the Onvima problem and instead focus on myself for a second. I was barely able to get out of that scuffle with the Demon, and based on the other challenges I've encountered, I can only guess that it'll get harder from here. So I had to grow in tandem, both in technique and pure cultivation. Luckily, I had a good idea of how to do just that. It would be through the new Fruit that allowed me to kill the thick-skinned Demon.

The Tension Fruit.

The Tension Fruit went perfectly with the Bed Crossbow Fruit, creating my first true Combo Move, "Bolt and String". The Tension Fruit itself, however, was very intriguing. I did some research on it after acquiring it, but I was unable to find anything except for whispers of it in the pages I read. But, I was able to make my own analysis. I predict that the Tension Fruit isn't a Firearm Branch Fruit at all but belongs to the Physics Branch. It just so happens that when paired with the Bed Crossbow Fruit, it creates the effect of Firearm Branch Fruit, even though it wasn't.

This communicated to me that the Physics Branch and the Firearm Branch, were closely related, which made more sense the more I thought about it. It also gave me more ideas of how to utilize this Fruit. The only problem was that I was unable to practice due to my shortage of money. So for now, I'd have to stick with classic cultivation. But that wouldn't stop from me planning for the future. And that future I wanted to plan for, required the input of Laozi.

With this in mind, I opened my eyes, stopped the process of meditation, stretched a tad, and then moved into a lotus position. I closed my eyes again, focused on my Duranian, and soon enough, a scene unraveled within my head. My Duranian, left to right, was separated into three sections. The Illusion World Tree, the Town Square, and the Dune of Steel. Each had mysteries that, if solved, I'm sure would help me a lot, but as of now, I was focusing on the Town Square. Specifically, the house directly north of the well in the center.

I went in front of the house, and even though I was unable to knock on it, the door was still answered.

The door was slowly opened and behind it was a smiling old man with his loose earlobes swinging and a wooden cane in his hand, "I had a feeling you would show up. Come, join me for some tea." He gestured with his hands for me to follow him inside, so I did. As we were walking through the slightly bigger-than-normal house, he began to make conversation with me.

"You know, I saw you fighting that Demon up above. It was quite the performance. But I suppose you do have a God's blood running through you."

I raised my eyebrow at his comment, "What do you mean by a God's blood?"

Without looking back at me he said jovially, "Oh, no need to play pretend. I know you already know you're Hades' son. And trust me, the blood of a God runs deeper than just flesh and blood. I mean, without that, eating that strawberry would have turned you into sashimi."

This made me tense up. It makes sense that he would know my identity, as he claimed to be a God himself, but knowing about the golden strawberry as well was too much. In response to the spike in my tension, he simply chuckled slightly, "Don't fret. I know about this because when I was formed in your process of Class Ascension, I was imparted with all of your memories. It's not like I can poke and prod at your thoughts."

I felt my throat clench slightly as a thought came to mind and I stammered out, "If you know about that... then do you..."

"You needn't worry about that for now. The Gods you aren't fond of are simply minor deities. Only those that are greater like me and some others know of your history. Not all Gods are equal after all. Never mind that though. Go ahead and sit down. Tell me your reason for coming."

I sat down on the tidy mat with my calves tucked under my thighs, picked up the cup of tea, took a sip, and put it back down. When I did so, I could feel that what I did might have been wrong, but, throwing that feeling behind me, I moved on and got to the point of my visit, "First, let's do some catching up. Tell me, who are you?"

Laozi took a sip of his tea before answering me simply, "I am now referred to as the Laozi, but back when I was a mortal, I went by the name of Lao Tzu. You can call me either. If you're wondering, yes, I am a God of Mountain Mythology. And in case you're also wondering, no, I'm not my full body, only the visage of it that you saw in your past world. I follow the Great Tao, and even though I've yet to truly master it, I believe that I'm a good follower of it."

I nodded my head and was about to ask my next question when Tzu suddenly spoke up, "Now, it's only fair that you answer my questions too. This wouldn't be much of a conversation if I was only answering your questions. I may know about your past and have known you before, but I don't know about "you". So tell me, what is your view on humanity?"

I rubbed my chin with my hand and faced the ceiling with my head before bringing it back down and answering him, "Humans are humans. They're greedy, prideful, lustful creatures. However, that's not to say they can't be compassionate and caring... I don't feel overly positive or negative toward them, but hey, they're a lot easier to manipulate than an average beast, that's for sure."

I took a look around the traditional room I found myself in before inquiring him, "Why are you here? I don't believe that a simple Stone Class Ascension would be enough to enlist even a fragment of a God."

He poured tea into his empty glass before putting the teapot back on the wooden tray in the middle of the table and said to me, "Well, you'd be surprised how heavy of an influence that strawberry you ate has. I can't give specifics due to me not being whole enough, but let's just say you have enough compatibility with me to allow my stay. Though, if it were a higher level, God, I don't think you could bear the weight... Alright, how about this, would you ever consider giving up on your humanity and becoming a Demon, Valkyrie, or something similar? Explain why."

Without even thinking, my mouth moved, "Given the right circumstances, of course I would. I think being a human is great. We have a very high growth potential, but that's all the attachment I feel. I don't feel patriotic about my race. If I had to, or if it would further my narrative, I would make the change in a heartbeat."

The old man shook his head slightly before taking a sip of tea, perhaps to calm himself, and then gestured for me to ask my question. Now that I had gotten my immediate curiosity out of my system, I decided to get to the meat of my visit and begin talking about the present.

"Tzu, you're a God, right? You must've had your time of worship and such. I wanted to get your point of view on this..."

I placed down my tea and faced him right in the eyes.

"How does one create a cult?"