Chapter 193 - 193: Faction Talk
Faction Talk
Different factions have different ideologies and goals, but they all have one thing in common. To achieve those goals, they need power. It doesn't matter how lofty of rational your goal is. If you don't have the strength to back it up, then you will be crushed. No questions asked." Ahmed continued to explain.
"The ways factions get power differ. It could be by gathering funds to buy a large amount of rare resources to help develop one and their beast or procure powerful weapons. It could be investing in certain individuals who show great promise. In this situation, it could be by sending their members into the forest to train." He gestured to his companions to drive home his point.
"Usually, factions bring their members to this forest to train them, especially the newer members. However, certain spots have specific things, like beasts that are strong enough to pose a challenge but aren't overwhelming, spots with high-mana density, areas containing natural treasures that work on a multitude of beasts, and so on. This forest isn't just filled with beasts, it also has opportunities. Opportunities the factions want.
As such, it's not uncommon for factions to claim parts of the forest as their territory for them to use. It's also not uncommon for other factions to try and scout out claimed territories so they can claim it for themselves.
Hence, when I saw you guys passing through, I thought that's why you were here. To scout out this place." Hearing this, Osho frowned slightly.
"And it didn't occur to you that new students perhaps didn't know about this deep and complicated structure before you jumped them?" Osho asked, some of his old annoyance resurfacing. However, Ahmed just shrugged.
"I've been deceived by a similar trick before. I apologize for attacking you, but I won't apologize for being wary. When it happens to you enough times, you'll be wary, too." Ahmed said calmly, but his tone made it clear that while he was a bit regretful about his actions, he'd do them again in a heartbeat.
'Well, he does have a point.' Osho sighed inwardly. If someone kept using the same trick to screw him over, then it was likely that he'd be pretty wary of anything resembling that trick, even if it was truly innocent.
It didn't mean he was happy about it, though.
"So, what factions are there? I'm assuming there are the 'top dog' factions and such." Ellie was the one to follow up.
Ahmed fell silent for a few seconds before nodding to himself.
"Indeed, there are quite a lot of factions, big and small, but among them, 5 stand at the top." Ahmed took a breath.
"These five consist of the Supremacists, whose main ideology stems from their belief that there must be a clear line between those born into high-class families and those who aren't. Libra, who believes that everything must be balanced, whether it be class or how one interacts with beasts. The Lumineers who believe that light is the only way to find the truth and only accept members with light Affinity beasts." Ahmed glanced and Sam and Lux when he said that before continuing.
"Valhalla, which believes strongly in the strength of an individual. It's probably the most neutral group out of all of them and is the faction I'm from. And finally, Constella. Those guys are a bit weird, though. They say they believe in astrology and studying the stars, but their actions tend to be strange sometimes, so we mostly leave them alone." When he finished, Osho felt the others faintly stare at him, and he did everything in his power to keep his expression neutral despite wanting to curse.
'Of course, they have a faction in Stellaris. Why am I not surprised?' He sighed inwardly. His cult was certainly far-reaching. That's for sure.
Not that he intended to inspect them.
"If I'm being honest, I'm surprised none of the factions have tried to approach you guys yet. You certainly seem better than most despite being freshers. You should be hotcakes, so I'm truly curious about why you haven't been approached by anyone yet." Ahmed said honestly, and the group fell silent as they considered the question.
If the factions were as proactive as Ahmed said they were when it came to recruiting new members, especially those who were particularly talented, why hadn't they been approached yet?
'Either they are somehow aware of our unique positions and don't want to mess with people being trained by Legends, they are waiting for something... or they don't know about our existence.'
Needless to say, the third option was immediately out the window. If Ahmed knew about them, then there was no way the other factions didn't know.
'Constella won't do anything. So that leaves the other four. The Supremacists might leave us alone since none of us are from particularly powerful or prominent families except Ellie, and it's more due to her dad than some old and prominent lineage. The Lumineers won't really come to most of us as most of us don't have the light Affinity besides Sam, but due to her having Blackie who is the opposite of Lux. They might have decided to consider it for longer, so that leaves Libra and Valhalla along with the various smaller yet prominent factions.' He tilted his head.
'For all intents and purposes, there should still be a large number of factions trying to recruit us, even if the top ones don't try. So am I in over my head, thinking that multiple factions should be pining after me? Or is there something else? And if it's the latter, what is it?' A small frown creased his brow as be tried to figure out what the problem was.
Ordinarily, he wouldn't have cared that much and possibly even welcomed the fact that none of the factions seemed to be interested in him, as it would save him the stress of having to turn down constant recruitment offers and dealing with the fallout as–quite frankly–Osho had no desire to join any faction and deal with their conflicts. He just wanted to improve himself in this college in all areas.
However, after learning just how deep the influence of the different factions were and the lengths they could go to just to recruit someone they deemed as suitably talented, he couldn't help but feel like something was off.
'I'll ask Mateo and Veronica after we get back.' Osho decided. He had no way of figuring out the issue in a place like this.
"Well, no point in dwelling on it now." He sighed and checked at the time. It was still about 3 in the afternoon, so they still had plenty of time to do their hunts. However...
"I hope you don't plan on saying that we still can't use this place." Osho said coldly, and Ahmed sighed.
"Even if that were the case, I have nothing more energy to resist you, and these guys aren't your match," He gestured to his companions. "Do as you like. I will inform the other members of the vicinity about your presence, so if they spot you, they will leave you alone. But, just a word of warning." Ahmed's face turned serious.
"If the factions are scheming for whatever reason to recruit you, you have to be extremely careful. Their influence isn't as simple as having strong members and radical beliefs. They also control many things inside the college, like distribution of resources, training equipment, beast gear and medicine, as well as a swatted of other important things beast tamers need to function. While they can't completely suppress students as that would be crossing the line, they can still make things immensely difficult for them if they don't bend to their will." Jearing this, Irene frowned.
"Hold on, if the different factions are created based on different and borderline radical ideologies, wouldn't pressuring people into joining a faction have the opposite effect of what they want? After all, if say Libra forced someone to join, they wouldn't have join because they want balance, but because they have no choice, and that might lead them to not fulfill whatever role they've been assigned properly or simply be traitorous." She raised a good point, and Ahmed nodded.
"Indeed, there's no point in recruiting people that don't like you. It's no different from slowly poisoning yourself, and suppressing those you recruit isn't a good idea either, as that means they can't grow, and the whole point of recruiting talented people is so they can reach their potential and aid the faction." He acknowledged.
"However, the factions know this, which is why they employ something we call 'gentle coercion.'" He sighed. "Simply put, make the lives of the members hell, and when they join, pamper the hell out of them while showing them all the good parts of the faction and the ideology they represent. You'd be surprised by just how emotionally immature a lot of the new recruits are, so things like this are enough to make them see their faction in a new light and join them wholeheartedly, making them believe that the suffering they endured before joining was worth it." Hewring this, the group fell silent, and Kurt was the first one to speak with a dark expression.
"That is vile."
Ahmed just sighed tiredly.
"It works."