A Rat Trapped in a Cage (4)

"Therefore I should wish our courtier to bolster up his inherent worth with skill and cunning, and ensure that whenever he has to go where he is a stranger, he is preceded by a good reputation... For the fame which appears to rest on the opinions of many fosters a certain unshakable belief in a man's worth which is then easily strengthened in minds already thus disposed and prepared."

I used the nicely shaven stick in my hand and tapped the blackboard that held these words I just spoke, "This is a quote from a famous Islander back when the Island Region was in the midst of an incredible civil war. As I have been stating this entire lesson, this quote reinforces the power that reputation holds. With a strong reputation, you can avoid death like how the Sleeping Dragon avoided his head being chopped off because the enemy army was fearful of the deceptive tactics he was so well known for."

I rested my arm which held the stick and turned to face my students, "Reputation can be a weapon to wield. If you are reputable because of your cunningness, then others will always assume you have some sort of plan. If you have a reputation for honesty, then you can get away with lots of deception. But you must remember that reputation isn't set in stone. If you aren't careful it can disappear because of your own stupidity or someone else's scheme. Keep in mind that whether you have no reputation or lots of it, you can be that person to destroy someone else's reputation for your own gain."

I walked closer to the podium until I was stating right behind it, "You may have the false idea in your mind that enough power exempts you from the rule of guarding reputation with your life, but you're wrong. Even with incredible power above all else, there will still be things you can't do. Even the Gods themselves have weak points they can't defend. Unless you are an omnipotent being, don't consider throwing away your reputation. Because it is reputation that will let you fill these gaps of power that you have. You all have power, you are all strong members of the sect, but you all have terrible reputations."

I pointed my fingers at the Elders in question and began listing their faults, "Onvima has the reputation of a genius turned couch potato. Culdia has the negative reputation of a psychopath. Iraspisit has the reputation of a cocky bastard no one enjoys the company of. Paxium has the reputation of a stumbling bafoon, though that recent battle at the coliseum probably helped you a little in that aspect. And finally, Vernam doesn't have a reputation, at all. So, with all of that in mind, along with the long list of examples and applicability I gave you all, think about how you can change your reputation for the better depending on what you want or gaining a reputation in the first place."

I decided to give one final quote, a more memorable one that would probably stick better, "As you think about this tonight, keep this quote in mind, "It is easier to cope with a bad conscience than with a bad reputation"... That'll be all. You all have a good night."

As I was about to start sorting papers out and the Elders were beginning to get their sleeping arrangements ready, Paxium suddenly spoke up, "Hey Igmor, random question, but I am pretty curious... What are your plans for tonight? It doesn't seem like you've been getting much sleep lately, so I was just worried you were overworking yourself."

I turned and feigned a slight smile at Paxium's "worries" and answered her question, "Don't worry about me. I've just had a lot of matters to catch up on. Tonight I'm actually meeting up with a friend of mine. He has some tips for teaching to give me. In fact, it's just about that time that I should be leaving. I'll see you all in the morning for the next lesson." I said this with a rushed tone as if I would be late for something if I didn't hurry.

With that said, I finished straightening out the papers in my hand, placed them inside the podium, and opened the door to take my leave. I stepped outside of the old beaten-up building and smiled to myself.

'With that, the bait I have been carefully cultivating all day has finally been laid out. Now I only need to dangle the bait in front of my victim, and then I'll reel in the prize I earned.'

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I walked around a little inside of the dome of silver gas. It was the same Firearm Essence I had grown accustomed to my first month here. The ground still harbored no flora, only dirt left to be kicked up with each step and the gas still stung to the touch.

I walked until I found a good point in the middle of the gas bubble and sat down cross-legged. I looked around me before beginning to create Genesis Orbs inside of my Duranian. I needed a refill, and this was the best chance I had.

If all was going according to plan, right about now Vernam should be in the surrounding jungle surveying my actions. First I created a mysterious atmosphere around my life outside of teaching, inspiring curiosity. Then I said I would be meeting with a friend to discuss matters of teaching within a strange cadence. From this Vernam surmised that I was meeting up with a teacher of Convir's faction. That might seem normal at first, considering I was officially a teacher, but because of how I said it, she grew suspicious.

I'm guessing her main objective is to keep tabs on me and my movements before reporting those to Medisma. I'm taking advantage of her obligation and her inbred curiosity to have her following me. By now she must understand I'm not actually meeting up with anyone, exposing my earlier words as a lie. Instead, I went to seemingly cultivate inside of the Firearm Essense area. I also know that Vernam must know that I'm at the peak of Dirt Class, and because that means I have no need to cultivate right now, that begs the question: "Why am I here?"

Of course, I'm actually here to refill my stock of Genesis Orbs, but she doesn't need to know that. All she needs to be thinking is that I lied for some reason and also am doing something suspicious within the Firearm Essense area. This probably has her wonder running rampant, thinking things like, "Why did he try to deceive everyone into thinking he was meeting with a friend?" and "What need does he have for Genesis Essence if not for cultivating?" Interest takes over her brain and is soon met with excitement to learn my secrets. This way she won't grow bored and decide this is not worth her time.

Eventually, she will give it up because she'll realize there is no real way to discover what I am doing, but I'll still have enough time to get a foundation of Genesis Orbs. I should be able to keep her attention for around two to three hours. That'll give me at least 1,500 Genesis Orbs to work with. I could try for 2,000, but that would be risky...

No matter. For now, I'll just focus on getting the Genesis Orbs going, and complete that terraforming job on the island inside of my Duranian. Right now I am trying to create something similar to the World Tree so I can get bonuses when using Wood Branch Fruits. At first glance, it would seem better to create more Firearm Branch buildings, and that would probably be right. But I don't have any other blueprints for buildings besides the Archery Range I found inside a book. And building a copy of the same wouldn't do anything other than waste time because it doesn't give extra bonuses after the first one is made. So I decided to make a World Tree inside of my island. It would be a good countermeasure for tonight, and with how many Wood Fruits are used in this sect, I might just find myself in need of one eventually. Then the World Tree would be a good investment.

Terraforming was a lot different than architecture. With architecture, the building needed to be carefully and systematically built from materials found inside of your Duranian. You needed to dig out the ground and make the foundation, create the frame, place the logs, roof, floor, inner walls, and so forth. Terraforming on the other hand was something similar to pottery. It was like using your hands to mold clay into the shape you wanted. But on the clay you need to mold, there were traps in locations that you had to diffuse while it was spinning incredibly fast on a pottery table. It required dexterity, cleverness, endurance, and concentration.

Luckily I practically had Genesis Orb creation on auto-pilot, so my focus wouldn't be strained. It was still something I was new to, so it would take a while to get used to. But I had been practicing it whenever I could the last couple of days, so I was confident in finishing it tonight.

All it would take is some time.

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Around two and a half hours had passed.

In this time I was able to gain around 1,800 Genesis Orbs. The only reason I went for so long was because I wanted to finish the World Tree before continuing the plan. And I was just able to complete it in time without making any mistakes. The tree was a giant inside of the jungle, becoming a source of inspiration for all the admiring saplings. The grandness of the tree overshadowed the entire island, making it so no matter where you were inside the Duranian, you would always be able to see it. It looked similar to the real World Tree, as that was what I had to base it on; otherwise it would have taken me much longer to finish the tree. The only difference was that the type of tree actually matched the surrounding jungle, giving it grandiose vines that reached its roots and a darker tint to its brown and green textures.

With that now finished, I exited my Duranian and stood up. It was time to reel in that fishing line. I had to be careful though. A fish on a hook can still escape if the fisherman isn't competent enough to keep it on the line. The battle wasn't over until the fish had its head bashed in on the shore of the river. This was something I learned the hard way.

I walked out of the Firearm Essence area and began to move in a specific direction. I still had no actual evidence that Vernam was following me, but my instincts told me she was, and that was all I needed. After walking with a destination in mind for around 30 minutes, I reached the exterior of a specific tree. I looked around me, as if making sure no one was near, and then used my Crossbow Bolt on the magic circle inscribed on the tree. The magic circle glowed a bright silver as it sucked in the bolt and once the bolt disappeared from vision, the wood belonging to the magic circle rotated inward, exposing the stairs leading into the tree.

I took one last look around and began to go down these stairs. I purposely left the door open for Vernam to enter from, which might seem suspicious normally, but this wasn't a normal situation. I placed an entire curtain over my plans, manipulating Vernam into the facade that she was the one in control when in reality I had her right where I wanted. It was a classic strategy. When you have the enemy come to you, you are in full control. You have the upper hand. You manipulate the battlefield.

Right now Vernam was following me because she believed what I was doing to be the big secret she was looking for. It was in that giddiness she forgot her common sense. I have trapped her in a curtain of smoke that her own delusions are the source of. Now she would stumble into this trap I laid out, confident of her victory, causing the odds to be in my favor.

I finished walking down the spiral staircase and found myself inside the familiar rectangular room. This time the room wasn't completely cut off, but had the same doorway that led into the room where I fought the dummy when I first entered the inheritance. I calmly walked into the wooden, slightly curved, cube-shaped room and walked over to the desk that was still sticking out of the floor. Once I was right in front of the desk, I stood still, carefully observing the wood grain to find what I was looking for.

The last time I entered the inheritance, I was a mess emotionally, so it took me a while to remember, but once I was on my feet again inside Medisma's captivity I looked up the AI Tree inside of her library. I found a couple of books on the subject and found something interesting. Every AI tree had a console where you could input commands. These commands had an immediate effect and would do what you said. The language used in the console was a bit strange, and there wasn't much information on it, but I was able to figure out a few things from the books I read.

For example, there was a very annoying feature that interfered with my plans that caused the inheritance to collapse if anyone other than me was found inside the tree. But... with one line of "code", I would be able to disable this.

I pressed down in a certain grain of wood, and as it went inside the desk, a blue screen appeared along with a board of tiles signifying letters of the language used below it. I made sure to hurry to the admin console and input the string of code I memorized. I submitted the code, but then an error popped up. It wasn't that the code was wrong, but that, according to the error message, I didn't have the authority to activate that code.

Most would begin to panic at this moment, but I have already trained myself to be calm in high-pressure situations. Let's ask myself, "What is the problem?" Well, I don't have high enough access to turn off the condition for the entire tree. So... what if I tried only the areas I have seen?

I looked through the original code and searched through function after function, looking for the variable connected to the rooms I had access to. Once I finally found it, I memorized the two to heart and made sure to specify them inside the original code I wrote. But once I clicked submit, another error popped up. What was it? Did I not have high enough authority to even do this much? No, that couldn't be it because it didn't specifically say I didn't have enough authority.

I glazed my eyes over the lines of code I typed in, trying to look for any logic I might have gotten wrong, but even after going over it, I found nothing wrong with my logic. It was at this point I felt the tree shaking. I had to figure out what was wrong, or else I would lose this entire inheritance. I already accepted that risk when I thought up this plan, but it didn't mean I wanted it to come true.

'Come on, what is it?! Where did I mess up?!' I took a deep breath and looked over the code one last time, slowly and methodically. Then suddenly, I found it. I was missing an ending parenthesis! I quickly typed in the parenthesis and submitted the code one last time. It was then that the shaking suddenly came to a stop, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Now I could focus on things that mattered.

First I made it so that the entrance of the AI Tree was closed off. I then, starting from the closed entrance, began to fill in the rest of the tree with wood, slowly pushing the rat into the cage. Once the stairway and the entrance room were filled with wood, I turned around. In front of me was the person I was after the entire time. Looking at me with her eyes furrowed was the little rat that had been following me the entire time. The one who currently threatened my climb to power the most.

The rat who was sent to monitor my every move.

To confirm that I was doing my tasks.

To confirm that I wasn't betraying Medisma.

It was Vernam.