Divine Beast Ascension

“Exactly. Think from their perspective and try not to get on too many instructors’ nerves. The more people you anger, the more difficult it is to have a peaceful time in the institute,” added Keldon.

Curious, Oli asked, “Did you go to the institute or did you just hear about all this from everyone else?”

“Worse. I heard that from some of the instructors.”

“Oh... So I should just hide my potential and coast through classes or should I put on a show before turning down the warrior course? Which would you recommend?”

Lifting an eyebrow along with one corner of his lips, Keldon tried to read Oli’s facial expression. “I get the feeling that you could pull off either of them. That being the case, it would depend on whether you want to be noticed by the higher-ups or not. The best techniques and battle arts should only be available to those with great potential, so getting your hands on those while hiding your strength may prove difficult. On the other hand, if you get their attention but end up pissing off an entire department, I’m not sure how they’ll try to impede you or force you into the warrior course.”

“I’ll probably talk with Hurman about it later. Vloz too...” Shrugging, Oli chuckled again, “Either way, I’ll just have to make do with what I can.”

.....

“You don’t want to pledge loyalty to Trighton, do you?”

“No. I think that’s pretty obvious. Why ask me?”

Keldon sighed and clicked his tongue. “Because that’s the only way to get the best teachers and resources... Otherwise, you’ll be scrambling through an uphill battle the entire time.”

“Well...” Oli pondered the possible schemes that could help him achieve his goals. “Is there no other way to earn better resources?”

“Technically, the only other way would be to win the in-school tournaments. But that would only fan the flames of the warrior department’s anger toward you. You’d have to be extremely lucky and walk a tightrope of intricately difficult conversations to come out with no affiliations tying you down while still being in one piece.”

“Would the school ever consider not giving the winning student a reward?”

“What do you mean? As if the school would object to rewarding a winning student due to their lack of affiliation?” Thinking back through the recent history of the institute, Keldon answered with an emphatic shake of his head. “No. I can’t think of any instance of that happening. Normally, they celebrate a victory from an unaffiliated student but that’s likely to attract sponsors to that student... You could just be affiliated to the Practor Family, but I doubt that will do much to stop the more powerful families and organizations from reaching out to you.”

“In other words, Trighton Institute is all about growing the territory’s strength and assigning the up-coming generation of cultivators to an existing organization to tie them down?” Oli deduced.

Keldon nodded. “From a business standpoint, that’s likely the case.”

‘Ask about the existing organizations and local perennials.’

Hearing Vloz’s question, Oli repeated it to Keldon, “What organizations or families should I keep an eye out for? And how many perennials live here?”

“There are ten perennials currently allied with the territory, not including the territory leader. Three of those belong to the Libarn Guild, making them the second strongest organization outside of the institute, which also has three perennials serving under the territory leader.”

Keldon continued, “The other four perennials are spread out among noble families and other guilds. In your case... I’d guess the warriors guild will go after you, but they’re connected with the perennial in charge of the warrior department at the institute, so–”

“Ignoring the warrior department means upsetting the warrior guild too?”

“You got it. Then again, it’s impossible to keep everyone happy, especially the greedy fools in charge of the Libarn Guild,” mentioned Keldon. “They’re not all that shady but they’re not entirely clean either. It’s hard for anyone to know how far they’ve gone to get their way for so long.

“But I can’t say my opinion isn’t biased, so there’s a chance they’re cleaner than I suspect. Till I know better, however, I’d rather assume they’re worse and be corrected later than be naive now and burned later.”

“There should be guilds around magic and formations too, right?” asked Oli.

Nodding again, Keldon explained, “Yeah, those exist, but the formations guild doesn’t have a perennial in charge. It’s respected but only enough to keep them in business. I can’t imagine the magic guild getting in your way but they’ll keep an eye on you, especially in the beginning if you show your strength before turning down the warrior course.

“I’d watch out for the Libarn Guild especially, as well as the warrior guild, formally named the Champions Guild. Apart from the warriors and magic guilds, the Whizek and Forell Families have the last perennials, having a low-tier and mid-tier respectively,” Keldon added. “Technically, the Libarn Family has two perennials but they run the Libarn Guild and hooked a low-perennial by offering him a percentage of their business’s earnings.”

“Apart from the territory leader, who’s the strongest perennial?” questioned Oli.

“Easy, that would be the man in charge of the warriors guild.”

“Great.... That’s great...” Oli sighed, “What does the territory leader specialize in?”

Smiling slightly, Keldon answered, “A bit of everything.”

“And that’s why he has a versatile academy... to attract people of all cultivation styles for the chance of increasing his personal library of techniques and arts? Or am I getting ahead of myself?”

“No, you’re right. You managed to guess a Saber-toothed Baboon for his tusks without even seeing them,” Keldon laughed lightly. “Upon entry into the institute, every student needs to submit their current cultivation techniques and their strongest battle art.”

“WHAT?!”

“Why else would they willingly share their information?” joked Keldon. “Because all of their students are doing the same? Hurman never mentioned that?”