Published at 12th of December 2024 12:02 pm

Chapter 2384 Preparing to leave

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2384 Preparing to leave

Sam didn't resist.

He just gave up the black smoke. He compressed it all into a small container and gave it to Trike that evening. Trike looked at the small transparent and crystalline container and chuckled.

"You have a solution for everything, don't you?"

Sam just shrugged. The container is attached with an energy resource that constantly provides death energy to it. It is a bit crude compared to Sam's other inventions, because he just filled up a space jade with the liquefied death energy and attached it to a mechanism that extracts the liquid and covert it into absorbable energy.

The only thing that Trike would get to see is that the energy is in liquid form.

He wouldn't know how to achieve it and certainly wouldn't be able to reverse engineer it. Sam's secrets are safe. He even felt a bit embarrassed getting praised for this. It is that crude in his opinion.

"Tomorrow is my last negotiation and I will be leaving."

"I really wish I could restrain you here. The Olympians really don't know what they are missing out."

"Really? Don't you think with all the hatred that I created and festered, their response is pretty justified?"

"Their anger might be, but response is certainly not. As the elders and instructors their job is the improvement of their academy and in turn the lives of the followers of the gods they worship. That responsibility comes first and foremost compared to any other personal grudge they have.

Even if that grudge is life and death and they couldn't find any reconciliation, they still have to put it aside if the benefits are worthy enough. And the only way they can dismiss the benefits as unworthy is by proving that they can bring the same benefits.

Those are the core principles upon which the academies are founded.

There was a time we operated that way. It changed when most of the academies used that rule as a loophole and pursued their personal benefits in the guise of academy's welfare.

They pushed too hard with no individual moral boundaries and crossed any line they could think of. This in turn created the field for the first academy war."

Sam is a bit surprised, but not too much.

He has been in several wars. Heck, he created a bunch. He knows how wars start and how they will intensify. But he never expected that the academy realm was founded on such ideals.

"So, the Olympians still haven't woken up and took the ideals back."

"True. Why do you think I simply negated the threat from the Duat region for you? Because you proved to be valuable. In front of the benefit that you provided, the chaos that you caused is not that much. In fact, we owe you too much still."

Sam pursed his lips for a second and asked.

"Elder Trike, why are you not the Dean of the Set academy?"

Trike's smile froze and he shook his head.

"I have my own moral and ethical guidelines. They restricted my hand in playing the political game to reach the Dean's position."

"So, it wasn't your strength that is the problem. Only your ideals?" Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Trike smirked once again and said.

"I singlehandedly stopped the Duat region from going after you can even made them pay up the debts as per the unreasonable contracts. I am sure, you are smart enough to estimate my strength based on that."

Sam just smiled and asked another question.

"So, what would you do, if you find out that the Set academy's representatives have crossed the moral lines that you believe in? The lines that an academic elder and instructor should not cross. What would your response be?"

"Do you really think I am not aware of the atrocities some of my people are committing? But as I said, I need to take some measures that would make me break some of my own rules."

"That means, you have a decision to make. If such a situation arises, what takes precedence? The welfare of the academy and its purity or the sanctity of your personal rules?"

Trike was stumped, but he didn't show it on his face. He looked at Sam's eyes. It seemed like there is hidden agenda behind Sam's question. To be completely frank, it is a question that he didn't have an answer to.

He thought about it before. It would be a life if he said he didn't. To what extent can he let these halfwits tarnish the sanctity of the academy before he bends his own beliefs a bit and take care of them?

Sam didn't push him for an answer and said.

"I will be leaving tomorrow. From then on, we will never speak of the project we worked on. And this will be my final advice regarding it.

Don't be shy in choosing more than one. I am sure a kingdom can accommodate multiple princes."

Sam left after leaving those words. Trike clearly understood what Sam meant. It couldn't be more obvious. But he didn't know how he can divide the black smoke. He just went back into the lab to prepare for the next steps.

While he was busying himself, and Sam is preparing to go back to the Olympian region, something else is happening deep inside the Set academy.

An old man, that almost looked like a corpse looked is confronting the Dean and a Grand elder of the Set academy with a fierce gaze.

"What the fuck are you guys doing? Do you really think I can't do anything to you, just because I retired to do my research?

How dare you guys let Trike mingle with the guy who put my grandson in such a state?

I demand that you immediately bring Sam to me and extract that black smoke from him."

The old man is the same guy that was in the video Sam showed to Trike. The old man who replaced the heart of his grandson to make him a fake prince of darkness.

"We cannot." The Dean replied firmly.

"Why is that?"

"Trike made an agreement on behalf of the Duat region that Sam shall remain unharmed by anyone related to Duat region in exchange for the Black smoke."

The old man is stunned before he spoke in excitement.

"That means, the black smoke is with us again?"

The Dean's expression became awkward.

"Well…"

"Well what? What happened to the black smoke? My grandson is dying every second. One second we wait is one second too late. We need to bring the black smoke to him immediately."

"That…"

The Dean still kept on chewing on his words.

"Just say it."

"Trike has taken over the Prince of darkness project. And he clearly stated that your grandson is no longer a suitable candidate to be the prince of darkness."

"What the fuck did you just say?"

The old man yelled out loud.

The Dean didn't repeat himself. He sure as hell the question was rhetorical. The old man collapsed to the ground and despaired.

"My grandson… he will die?"

The grand elder sighed in sadness.

"No, that cannot happen. You told me that the prince of darkness has been finalized. You gave me your word that my grandson will remain the prince of darkness. How can you change your words so easily? That cannot happen."

"But Trike insisted on it. He said that your grandson who lost the black smoke to an outsider out of a petty grudge doesn't have what it takes to be a vessel for the prince of darkness."

"Doesn't have what it takes?"

The old man didn't even know what to say other that repeat those words. However, the old man's son, and elder and also the father of the fake prince spoke from the side.

"Then, who is going to be the prince of darkness?"

"The decision is taken over by Trike. He will decide and we will merely be informed. However, recently he has been making some moves, looking into different students and candidates of Duat affiliation. He even went out of Set's faction to look for candidates." The Dean explained.

The old man had a bad feeling.

"Did he tell you any other reason? Apart from the loss of the black smoke."

"Not much. All he said is that only a fake would lose the smoke like your grandson did. But I feel like he said it out of spite."

The Dean said once again.

The old man's face despaired and paled. The same thing happened to his son.

Both of them exchanged a glance and walked out silently before the old man spoke.

"So, Trike knows."

"Are you sure, father? Maybe, he was really speaking out of spite?"

"Trike? Spite? I would kill someone to see if he can really feel that emotion. That bastard never acts out of spite. He must know, that means our days are numbered. We need to find a way out."

"Way out where? The academy realm is blocked. We cannot get out."

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