Chapter 3161: Hiding Past and Seeking Future
Rui’s eyes widened.
He knew that his father, at some point, had essentially managed to gain control over all Martial Sages.
He wasn’t particularly fond of the fact that virtually all Martial Sages were being manipulated, knowingly or unknowingly, but he had no intention of intervening. However, it appeared that such an astronomical concentration of power was too much for the immortal sages, who sought to empower human civilization against Martial Art and against elites.
With that consideration in mind, he wasn’t surprised that the Esoterist had decided to shatter Emperor Rael’s monopoly on World Bridge technology and weaken his control over Martial Sages enough to allow half of them to return home.
This allowed the rest of human civilization at least some way of resisting the Emperor of Harmony if he ever became a full-on authoritarian nationalist who tried to impose the Kandrian Empire upon the world, even if that was highly unlikely given his track record.
They said power corrupted, and nobody wanted to find out if the Emperor of Harmony was immune to this with the absolute power he had briefly gotten his hands on.
"I don’t think it’s that bad," Rui remarked with a calm tone. "It’s probably better for the people of this continent if there are checks and balances, even on you. Besides, you still have half of them left with you; that’s more than plenty."
The Emperor of Harmony heaved a sigh. "I am aware of that. It was just a good reminder that nobody can be trusted. We all have diverging interests and priorities, even if we share some mutual interests, like surviving against the true world."
"Fair enough," Rui replied. "So that brings us to the current situation. Your highest priorities must be allies, the economic corridor initiative, true world technology, and the space race, correct?"
The Emperor of Harmony nodded. "How well I fulfill these four conditions will decide the outcome of this war. If I fail to fulfill any of them, human civilization will be destroyed. If I fulfill all of them, we will emerge as the ultimate victor. We may even become the most powerful entity in the true world. After all..."
His golden eyes sharpened with power.
"We had only 1300 years because of the manifold. They had 187,000 years. Despite having 144 times the amount of time that we had, they are still not astronomically superior to us. It shows that in the long run, we are growing faster than they could even dream of. As long as we emerge victorious and thrive for another hundred years, we will be the undisputed victors and the powerhouse of this new war."