Chapter 263 : Chapter 263
Chapter 263. Power Struggle
“Just as you expected, Teacher, at a critical moment like this, they did not dare take sides recklessly. So when the judging committee voted, they almost unanimously voted in favor of postponing the date.”
“The next award voting date is one month from now.”
“And even now, the judging committee is still in complete chaos. I suspect they will continue choosing to postpone it.”
Vernon was not surprised to hear such news. Word of his request for aid from the Northern Society had already spread throughout the entire Alliance, and that news had indeed sent shockwaves through it.
If there had been enough time, then the news that he had provided the Modification School’s proprietary knowledge to the Northern Society would have spread as well. If that had happened, the entire Alliance would have been shaken even further.
By then, the judging committee would know that continuing to postpone the selection date would be impossible, because countless forces would be pressing them to make a choice.
“What did the other schools say?” Vernon asked Scott.
“Most of the schools have remained silent and have expressed no opinion at all on the matter. Their First, Second, and Third Seats have all kept quiet on this issue.”
“Only the Third Seat of the Law School made any comment on your request for aid from the Northern Society, Teacher...”
“He said...” Scott’s expression turned strange, as though he had heard something that had truly astonished him. “He said that this action had set a fine example of mutual assistance among all mages of the Alliance.”
Vernon was not surprised that the man had said something so baffling. He had simply wanted to lessen the impact of taking a side, so he had spoken a few vague, meaningless words.
The mere fact that the Third Seat of the Law School had expressed an opinion on this matter, and not an opposing one at that, already meant that he was leaning toward the Northern Society’s side.
The moment that man uttered even a neutral sentence, everyone would assume that he stood with the Northern Society.
In a matter like this, if you did not clearly oppose it, then you were already standing against the Alliance traditionalists.
“By the way, has no one stepped forward to oppose what I did?” Vernon suddenly asked.
“Reporting to you, Teacher, no one has,” Scott answered without hesitation.
The high-tier mages still cared too much about preserving their reputations. None of them were willing to be the one to stand out and draw the fire.
This had produced an extremely peculiar situation. Vernon knew that there were many mages within the Alliance who opposed him, and the Alliance’s mages all knew that there were many mages within the Alliance who would oppose Vernon.
And yet even now, the matter of his asking the Northern Society for help and retrieving an item from Snow Bear Territory still occupied the front pages of all the newspapers.
No one had stepped forward to oppose him. No one had made moves in the shadows either, spreading words unfavorable to him or the like. The entire Alliance had fallen into an eerie silence.
“What about Preston, that old friend of Elise’s? Did he not make any comment on this matter? For example, did he not attack me for failing to mobilize the Battle Mage Corps according to the Alliance’s established statutes, or say that the Northern Society’s Battle Mage Corps was irregular or against the rules?”
Preston had been the greatest driving force behind the establishment of the Northern Society. On the surface, it was he who had made the move that allowed Elise’s Northern Society to obtain its compound in the Northern Frontier.
Every document belonging to the Northern Society bore that man’s signature. Whether Preston and Elise had private conflicts or not, outwardly speaking, the two of them ought to have been bitter enemies who could not coexist.
Logically, at a time like this, Preston should have been pushed to the front as the clearest banner of opposition to Elise.
But nothing of the sort had happened.
“I was just about to tell you that. I only received the relevant report yesterday.”
Scott answered at once.
“According to the Necromancy School’s records, Preston went to the Mouth of the Third Abyss two months ago. As you know, magical communication there is impossible in any reliable sense. There has still been no news from him.”
Vernon covered his forehead, suddenly unsure what he ought to do next.
To be honest, he had already prepared himself to be besieged by most of the schools once his actions were reported in the newspapers.
But the current situation truly left him unable to make sense of anything.
Who could explain to him how this act of his—one that openly provoked all the Alliance traditionalists—had received not a single word of criticism after it was made public?
If he knew nothing of the situation, he might even have believed that all the mages of the Alliance deeply approved of what he had done, and that everyone was quietly supporting him behind the scenes.
But he understood better than anyone that there were absolutely more dissatisfied mages lurking behind the curtain than the total number of mages recorded by his entire Modification School, and that they were all thinking of making a move against him.
“What in the world is going on? I still remember that when Elise wanted to establish a society where all schools could discuss things freely, not only did the newspapers mock her, even the sky-screen above the Floating City laughed at her.”
Vernon was now full of pent-up frustration, with nowhere to vent it.
He tapped the table and could only say helplessly:
“Then set aside the matter of responding to attacks from the other schools for now. We will wait and watch. The moment anything happens, inform me.”
Vernon traced a circle on the table with his finger, then continued:
“Since they are not moving, then it is our turn to act. Scott, what is the situation with the Elemental Master Award over at the Elemental School?”
Habos had originally belonged to the Elemental School. That was an indisputable fact. Throughout the Alliance’s history, there had been many mages who left their original schools and then founded new ones of their own.
In cases like this, it was beyond dispute that the achievements of mages who had already left their former schools and founded schools of their own still fell within the scope of the awards.
Too many school leaders had protested over this issue in the past, so nearly every school had adopted that rule internally.
By all logic, Habos’s achievement absolutely should have won the Elemental Master Award, the highest honor the Elemental School could bestow upon a mage.
But Habos had become entangled in Alliance politics.
Vernon had already inquired into the list of nominees for this year’s Elemental Master Award. Some of the listed achievements were indeed quite interesting, but compared with researching a legendary spell—and the Elemental School’s most iconic one at that, Elemental Storm—they fell far short.
Whether in originality or in sheer weight, none of them could compare with Habos’s paper.
And now Vernon was waiting for the judges of the Elemental School to make their decision. Once he saw what they intended to do, he would strike back accordingly.
If they chose, like the judges of the Arcane Mage Award, to postpone the announcement, then he would attack them over their indefinite delays.
If they awarded the prize to some other mage, then he would attack them over the legitimacy of their evaluation of the achievements.
That was his strategy. At its core, this was a struggle over the right to define the narrative. As long as your voice was sharp enough and loud enough, you could achieve excellent results.
And when these schools could not openly break with one another and wage an actual war, the struggle for narrative power became especially important.
Vernon had already made up his mind. The moment he learned the relevant information about the Elemental Master Award, he would launch his offensive at once.
“Uh, Teacher, according to the information I received, the judges of the Elemental Master Award have already finished their selection...”
Before Vernon could even put on the expression of a man finally about to have something to do, Scott interrupted his rising excitement and said:
“But from what I have heard, it seems that this year’s Elemental Master Award has truly been awarded to Habos. It will be announced next week...”
Vernon stared at him in shock, momentarily unable to speak.
“Then let us wait until next week. If it truly is awarded to Habos, we can boast about it as well...”
Left with no better option, Vernon could only make that decision helplessly. If it really was awarded to Habos, then all of his preparations would come to nothing.
“What is wrong with these mages? Do they not usually keep preaching about protecting each school’s knowledge? Why has it become like this now...”
Vernon grumbled a few complaints, then said:
“In that case, we will set these matters aside as well...” He stroked his chin and continued, “What are Habos and Elise doing?”
He was the sort of man who only wanted to push forward the things that genuinely interested him, and merely happened to stand with the Northern Society along the way.
But Habos and Elise were the ones standing directly at the eye of the storm.
In a situation like this, Vernon was extremely curious what they were doing.
After all, everything he had done could be said to have been a tremendous contribution. So what exactly would those two do?
Scott’s expression turned strange once more as he slowly replied:
“Habos is still carrying out experiments in the City of Apprentices. He spends half his time in the laboratory, and the other half teaching apprentices and refining his Forge Furnace School...”
“That is all?”
“That is all.”
Vernon frowned. He shook his head, dissatisfied that Habos had made no moves in the City of Apprentices. At a time when his own award was being judged, how could he make no move at all?
Vernon had thought Habos would contact some of his friends in the Elemental School and put pressure on the entire school, or something of that sort.
But there was really nothing to criticize in Habos’s actions. After all, he had only just founded his school, so it was only proper that he focus first on its construction and development.
As for the experiments, perhaps he had gained some new inspiration and that was why he remained immersed in them.
That too was perfectly understandable. For high-tier mages, inspiration was extremely important, and when it came, conducting experiments in time was equally important.
“And Elise?”
Vernon asked curiously. He wanted to know what the woman who had ignored the opposition of the majority and insisted on founding the Northern Society was doing at a time like this.
“She seems to have made some moves externally...”
“Oh? What sort?”
“It seems to involve an internal award of the Alchemy School, the Silver Alchemy Award. She is pushing for that White Star Sand refining paper to become the award-winning work.”
What Elise wanted was to spread the entire system of the Northern Society. In her view, that achievement could prove how necessary communication among the various schools truly was, and so she was promoting that front.
But what Vernon wanted was to make an issue of the major award Habos might receive, and through that seize narrative power. That was the fundamental difference in their thinking.
So after hearing what the two of them were doing, Vernon rested both hands on the table, fell silent for a long while, and finally said:
“What exactly are they doing?!”