A Battle of Words

His shoulder-length brown hair was swaying in the wind. His eyebrows were frowning, pushing his eyelids down. His eyes flashed bouts of anger and disappointment. And his teeth were clenched, scrunching his nose. It wasn't the first time I'd gotten that look, but this time it was in the packaging of Beulus.

As I walked towards him, his eyes darted to every part of my body, trying to figure something out. I eventually took a standstill, leaving about three meters between us, and then his sporadic eyes finally rested on mine. Eyes filled with disillusionment.

A couple of seconds of this passed before I spoke up and nonchalantly said, "Why are you making such a ruckus late at night Beulus? I'm trying to cultivate."

He gnarled his teeth at this, not shocked like Capcis or calm like Telferr, but stern, as though he were lecturing a little brother, "Why?! That's what I'm wondering Quis?! Why are you acting like this?! Pulchra would have never wanted to see you like this! Now, I'm going to personally drag you to each person you hurt this morning and have you apologize, so let's go!" He motioned for me to follow him, but I stood still, this battle of words was just beginning after all.

Beulus was an interesting character. He wasn't necessarily a key that Convir controlled for his position to keep meaning, mostly because he didn't need Beulus, but for me, Beulus was a key that I needed desperately. What I was doing wasn't a coup. It would end with Convir keeping his position because he was still a Grand Elder with deep ties to everyone here.

What I was doing was trying to make people's trust in me equal to or greater than his, and Beulus was the key to the first step. He didn't control great power or have tons of cash, but he did have an incredibly big social network, something that I considered much better than the former right now.

"Why would I say sorry? I don't think I did anything wrong."

So the question was how to put Beulus on my side? Well, my philosophy greatly differed from his, but there was an opening. Beulus was open-minded. Now granted, he wasn't as open-minded as Telferr, but he wasn't as closed off as Hasrem, which meant I had a chance to reel him in. I just needed to defeat his principles with reason. It wouldn't happen in one day, but tonight I would lay the foundation to exploit later.

Beulus dropped his arms and stared at me, frustration taking hold of his body, "You don't think you did anything wrong?! What you did, Quis, was hurt others for your own selfish gain! And I shouldn't have to tell you that's wrong. Now follow me." He turned his back and began to walk away, but stopped when he didn't hear my footsteps hurrying to follow him.

Before he turned around I said, "How was that selfish? It's not my fault they were weaker than me. If someone were stronger then I would have ended up with my nose broken in, so how is it fair to call what I did selfish? I took a risk, and it worked out. Nothing selfish about it."

Beulus turned around, aghast by my twisted logic, but... could he explain to me how I was wrong? No, he couldn't, because I wasn't. What I said was simply another way to look at it, a way that favored me, yes, but it was still reasonable. At best, he would go in circles about his whole morals thing, but I had a way to break that as well. I was able to break the morals of people in my past world, a world that spread and celebrated religion. This would prove to be much easier than practically converting a man's religion.

"It's selfish because... because... because it drags other people down for yourself! Do you believe yourself to be so much better than others, that you deserve the right to destroy their future, just for your own to be slightly better?"

He was breaking. Just a couple more pushes and I would have what I needed.

"Not at all. There is no human born with more rights to growth than others, in fact, there is no existence born without the right to growth, isn't that what cultivation stands for? It stands for the right of any being, no matter the circumstances, to be able to grow. And I'm not one to waste this opportunity to better myself. Whether that means my methods help or hurt others doesn't matter, because if the people I plan to hurt are able to use their ability to grow better than me, then I will be the one who fails. Just look at the students I beat this morning. I've known them for a while. They aren't the type to get depressed over this, or even super angry at me, in the long run at least. Instead, they will use me for their own growth as I did this morning. They will use me to better their close combat, just as I used them to better my finances. It's the cycle of this world Beulus. The cycle of using others in turn for your own growth. The deciding factor can be stated simply: "Is what you are using them for better than what they are using you for?" That is it."

What I said wasn't wrong in the least. In my past world, the nobles would use the commoners for money and the commoners would use the nobles for protection. I used magic for power, and magic used me to stay ever living. And in this world too. Spiravit used me to release steam, and I used him to search for the inheritance. I used Beulus for information and he used me for entertainment. Everything uses anything to better themselves. And if you didn't want to be the one left eating dirt, then you had to better yourself the best you could. Lie, cheat, and steal; that was the name of the game.

He was stunned at my wall of words, unable to make a quick comeback, and a couple of minutes passed filled with our silence and the sound of wind blowing through bushes and tree leaves. Beulus was thinking over what I said, and what to say to deny it.

He suddenly opened his eyes, staring deeply into me, his eyes filled with questions, but in the end, he just opened his mouth and calmly said, "I understand your outlook Quis, but I still want to ask you: do you think this is what Pulchra would have wanted from you? I knew her pretty well, and she loved you Quis, and I'm sure you know that. So tell me Quis, is your love for Pulchra so weak that you would give up on her only in death?"

I figured as such. He is using Pulchra as a last-ditch effort. But that would be even easier to get passed. In fact, I could use this to make my exploits seem noble to him.

"Pulchra and I did love each other Beulus. But I ask you this. How do you think that turned out? She is a corpse now, and it's my fault because I was weak. I will never be weak like that again, I swear that. So let me ask you a question Beulus. Should I stay the same and let people walk over me as they use me to become stronger or should I use them to make myself stronger?"

He stared at me, observing my every feature. His eyes looked at my bleach-white eyebrows. Then down to my bottomless ocean eyes. Then down to my slightly protruding nose. Then to my closed lips. And finally my slightly defined chin. Then he brought his eyes back up to meet mine. There were no words needed for what he wanted to say. He wasn't accepting of my new character, but he understood why I undertook it. Or a least why Quis undertook it.

He turned around and began to walk away, but as though he couldn't bring himself to walk another step, he stopped just before the greenery began and said, "Quis, you have the same air as my grandpa. He was a successful man, but he ended up killed by all of the people he stepped on and no matter how far you fall, I don't want the same to happen to you... You don't have to meet me in the bar anymore, but please, as a friend I ask you this. Don't do anything stupid."

He then continued his pained walk, until I could no longer see his figure.

___________________________________________________________________________

The next morning came quickly. It was a cloudy day, not a glimmer of the sun could be seen, resulting in a dark day. The weather in this Region was very sporadic, either being sunny as could be or filled with clouds and rain. I walked toward the gates of the Cultivation school, chills radiating off of my body as I walked closer. The guards at the school looked at me worriedly after what I did in front of them yesterday, but they still let me in. I was a student of the campus, not someone from another sect. At worst yesterday was just a scuffle because of Pulchra's death, so they had no reason to deny entry.

I walked into the school and since it was about ten minutes until class began, students were talking to each other at the front of the entrance. As I walked in though, the room went silent. They all looked at me, but their eyes weren't angry, nor were they fearful. They looked at me with contempt, yet at the same time hope.

'Capcis really did a good job, she could be an amazing public speaker if she lost the confidence problem.'

Yesterday, I asked Capcis to make me seem like less of a villain to the students of the school. Before I decided to influence Capcis, I didn't really care about their animosity, it was something that could be easily solved later when money troubled me less. But since I could have them not despise me and have me still be able to rob them, then I would take it.

As I was about to walk into the mess of hallways that encompassed the building, a girl interrupted my path. Sporting a ponytail and a cold glare that sent daggers into my face, it was Iusus, Pulchra's best friend. I honestly was surprised she didn't jump out at me first when I beat Capcis to the ground, so it made sense that she was finally confronting me. But because of what Capcis did, what she said next wasn't anger-filled like it would have been yesterday. Instead, it was said with confidence and readiness.

"Quis, I don't like what you did yesterday, not one bit. But... us as a collective have decided. Instead of just letting you walk over us and take our money next week. We'll fight back. We'll work hard so that we can beat you, and steal everything back that you took. So just wait!"

I looked at her and smiled smugly, "Then I'll be waiting in front of the school gates next week. I hope you live up to your words." I said this and, after moving out of her frame, continued walking forward. But she wasn't done. She put her hand on my shoulder and turned me around. What greeted me was a nice, fast fist. I wasn't expecting this, and since it was already so close, I couldn't dodge it.

Puh!

Spit was thrown out of my mouth as my head was turned 90 degrees. But even in the sudden movement, I was able to put my hands around her wrist, and using my center of mass, I threw her over my shoulder.

Boom!

Her back was thrown against the hard wooden floor, causing her to throw up all of the air in her lungs in a dramatic head throw. She didn't get up immediately though, only staying on the floor, looking at my hands. She sighed in satisfaction, "I just wanted to see if it was possible to hit you, and it looks like it is. Well, Quis, I can't say much for everyone else, but just so you know, I don't like you so I'll be doing this often. If you ever find yourself off guard in this building, I'll be there to beat my fists into you. And I'll do this until I can beat you. So get ready."

I looked at her confident smirk and spat the pool of blood in my mouth onto her face. She hurriedly wiped the blood off of her face and looked at me angrily, taking control of her body as she tried to stand up, but I just stepped on her, pinning her to the floor.

"Then I won't be pulling punches."

I kicked her in the side, sliding her back into the entrance room, and jumped on her. I punched both of her cheeks as I straddled her. Back and forth, back and forth. After she looked defeated enough, I stopped and got up. The people around us looked at me with pale faces.

To not destroy the good word Capcis put in for me I said, "You guys don't need to worry, this girl just doesn't seem to understand how to wait, so I tried beating it into her. As long as you all truly train yourselves and try to beat me on the specified day, then I'll be happy to make things quicker. I look forward to your futile attempts."

My condescending attitude burnt a fire under the students present and I was able to walk away with no interruptions. They might use me as a goal for now, but soon it'll turn into rivalry and rivalry breeds good views.

Soon they'll realize that I helped them to the point they made it to and look at me with admiration. And that'll help greatly. Though I'm pretty sure Iusus won't ever consider me like that. I beat her to submission, and it wouldn't be the last time either. But that was alright.

Not everyone needed to like me after all.