Everyone in line to learn the cultivation technique stared at Omar, who was still frozen with his fist six inches from the emperor's face.
It was a surreal sight and an offensive declaration of the athlete's powerlessness. He wasn't even considered a threat worth moving out of the way of.
Kaze clapped his hands to break people of their silence. "Taryn Shaffer, please tell everyone here the suggestion you kept whispering but were afraid to present."
Her eyes trembled in fear. The blonde was terrified that she was addressed by the Emperor when she strictly stayed out of it.
However, she gulped and followed the instructions.
"Um, I saw other people sitting in a circle with the scroll on the ground earlier." Taryn replied nervously.
"Excellent observation." Kaze replied, "That's what I tried to report before these clowns triggered this circus."
The seven called out and hung their heads, except for the frozen two. Omar was forced to stare at the emperor with his punching fist aimed at his face.
"However, there were countless other strategies. Steve Chung, can you please tell people your strategy?" The emperor requested.
An Asian man wearing classy clothing and a neat haircut swallowed nervously.
"I… thought that perhaps… we should let five people get it down." Steve said nervously.
"Then, once people read it and got the image in their mind, they'd move to the people who got it down to get help with it.
That way, people would be more confident spending less time looking at the technique."
"Very good." Kaze smiled, "Can you tell everyone why such a strange proposal is possible despite its clear flaws?"
"This was just what I was thinking…." Steve gulped, "Despite these scrolls being printed copies of an original, there's just enough for fifty-person groups, right?
So I thought this test was less about learning the technique and more about finding a solution to letting everyone learn it a little bit.
It's only possible because the learner would fail if they agreed to it but refused to help
You said there were times when helping others was the key to success. That's my take."
"What an astute observation!" Kaze grinned widely, "As you can see, everyone can't learn with this strategy, and thus it's barring everyone's development.
Everyone would realize that helping people was the only rational answer.
In life, you must use every method available to get powerful; sometimes, it's aiding your enemy. Other times it's by sacrificing short-term gain for long-term development.
In this situation, the only way to succeed was to help each other. If you didn't, it was fated to devolve into a riot at the witching hour.
Tell me, everyone. What happens if there's a riot because people aren't following the rules?"
"People get hurt?"
"Everyone loses?"
"Things become disorderly, and everything breaks down?"
"Exactly." The emperor smiled. "The barbarians pillage the areas, and the weak get slaughtered. Order breaks down, people suffer, and it all stems from a lack of resources.
Here's my question. If someone walks up, follows the rules, and deals with the trouble makers to prevent that, isn't that best for everyone?"
A wave of anxiety washed over everyone when Kaze looked Omar in the eyes with a malicious smile that sent shivers down his spine.
Kaze turned back to every with a smile. "The answer you're looking for is yes."
A few people were excited by his declaration, but everyone else nodded nervously.
"It seems I should clarify." He smiled, "Immortal Skye is considered a country now.
Vigilante justice is both legal and encouraged under specific guidelines.
You're free to act with impunity if your actions align with your backer's interests, are sane, and you're prepared to justify your actions.
However, if your actions defile the name of your backer, you'll face the consequences.
You must never abuse your backer's name or put them into a bad situation.
So long as you follow those two principles, you're free to do anything you want to such threatening and vulgar people."
Waves of tumultuous anxiety crashed into the faction members when he said [anything you want].
However, another group of people was fired up, inspired to take action. It was a polarized audience.
"While it's legal, you don't need to physically incapacitate someone to aid the faction." Kaze explained.
"You can use various means, including threatening to get someone with the power to force someone to concede.
I clearly stated I'd administer swift punishment to anyone I found to break my rules, did I not?"
Many people's eyes lit up in excitement; they understood that he was their resource.
Moreover, knowing there were non-violent ways to solve problems relieved many of their fears.
"When you have a powerful backer, their weight holds far more power than physical force." The emperor explained.
"For that reason, seeking effective, peaceful solutions is always what you should aim for.
If you sully your backer's reputation by breaking a troublemaker's legs when you could have threatened them, that's harmful to the backer, is it not?
That's why you must be prepared to justify your actions. If you take drastic action and your backer finds out that you could have resolved it with peaceful means, you will face consequences.
This is common sense, yes?"
Everyone nodded. Those fired up mellowed out, and those concerned were relieved.
"Good; now you understand that preventing riots is part of the learning embedded in this lesson?" He asked.
The faction members nodded and voiced their agreement.
"Good. Oh, yes—one more thing." Kaze smiled, "I'm your backer above all others, and there's not a single person in this world that can challenge me.
So as long as you act in my interests and follow my directives without abusing them, you are free to act freely without fear, lest someone is foolish enough to defy me!"
After a moment of stunned silence, the area exploded into cheers.
Most were from the pride of having the strongest man in the world as their teacher.
However, many people were enthralled, knowing that for the first time, they had power, and they could use their minds to obtain strength.
"Follow me, and you shall profit and grow.
Protect my interests, and you live with freedom.
Learn from me, and you'll become strong.
Use your strength for me, and you shall receive wealth and prosper.
Follow my directives, and you're free to remove anything that stands between you and power!" Kaze declared, triggering wild cheers other members could hear from hundreds of meters away.
Their enthusiasm sent pulsing dread rippling through the troublemakers.
"You all pass for today!" Kaze declared to his new subjects, triggering explosive cheers, "Well, there are a few exceptions."
When Kaze turned to the frozen athlete, everyone burst into unreserved giggles and laughter.
Omar gulped. His fist was still six inches from the emperor's face, and the sight became increasingly comical as time passed, as everyone kept forgetting about him.
Tanya and the other five rule breakers swallowed nervously, awaiting their fate for directly yelling at the emperor as well.
A new world order was being established in real-time, and they stood to be the first victims, demonstrating the consequences of defiance.
"The rabble-rousers don't pass. You're to find a woman named Lina Wainright, who leads cleaning." Kaze said coldly.
"You're barred from learning cultivation for the seven days, and you'll take care of bathroom cleaning duties."
The devastation written on everyone's faces was toxic.
"Be thankful I haven't expelled you for breaking simple rules on the first assignment." He continued, making them shiver in fear.
Everyone held their breath, awaiting the emperor's verdict.
"I believe in redemption, so you are not confined to such an unsultry fate forever." The emperor declared.
"However, for the next week, you'll be wearing jester outfits and be subjected to as much unbridled mockery as imaginable."
Their eyes trembled in humiliation and regret.
"After that, you have two weeks of action watch. You're prohibited from getting in so much as a minor argument during that period." Kaze smiled.
"If you cannot control yourself during these periods, you'll receive immediate expulsion."
The group swallowed nervously.
"I do not seek to neuter you for life." The emperor said coldly, "However, you've been given a warning; take it as a blessing and hold it close, as I do not give second warnings."
Everyone shivered after hearing his unwavering statement and the ruthless gaze he gave Omar.
Kaze waved his hand, Omar's body spun around, and his arms shifted into a [happily walking] position, stunning everyone.
Gravity hit the man a second later, realizing his body was free to move. He tried to turn back to the emperor, but he felt his body start walking when he tried.
"Good, get the message." The emperor scoffed, "You six, liberate me of your presence. See Lina with haste; I expect to see you in jester outfits within the hour."
Tanya and the others swallowed nervously, nodded remorsefully, and walked away.
"Enjoy the jester outfits. I ordered them by special request." Kaze smiled, turning back to his subjects, triggering a round of bewildered laughter.
Satisfied with the state of things, the emperor continued his tour.
"How fortuitous." Kaze grinned as he walked away under an invisibility technique, "I can't wait until the hysteria sets in. Paranoia of this magnitude is without equal."
While the faction members were elated and talking cheerily, working together to win a mortal technique, they were walking calamities with a seeded trauma timebomb within them.
Only fifty-three people bore witness to the incident. However, Immortal Skye had 2,134 regular faction members who would learn about it.
Every faction member would seek out the story behind the jester outfits and what happened.
After hearing the story, people would spread the story like a game of telephone until the stories got extreme.
The emperor made Omar dance like a monkey with telekinesis, Omar passed out while standing like a statue, the jesters were damned to bathroom duty for life, Kaze said murder is encouraged, etcetera.
Once people got his illusion's description, thousands of people would remember him showing up and helping everyone.
Then they'd realize that it could have been them who got destroyed by him.
It'd send an icy shiver running down everyone's spines because that slight amount of verification would reinforce even the most extreme stories.
It would quickly evolve into a paranoia pandemic, and those who weren't there would grow more paranoid than those who witnessed it.
That fear wouldn't go away until they got Minor Vision, and he had tactics to trick even that.
With the jesters being a conspicuous reminder of the consequences of breaking the rules with Kaze infiltrating them, they'd fear discounting anyone's opinion or being rude.
Soon, no one would dare to defy the rules out of fear that the emperor would walk amongst them.
The storytelling would also spread his message of vigilante justice and incapacitating dissidents.
It was a fortuitous development indeed.
After he finished with the other groups, he called everyone to the amphitheater.
"The assignment is now over." Kaze announced, leading to confusion.
"It was a multi-variable assessment that tested people's ability to adapt to resource scarcity, talent in fast learning under pressure, and following the rules.
If someone was held back from learning the cultivation technique, they were assessed on their adaptability, rule-following, leadership, resourcefulness, and other factors.
So rest easy knowing that you weren't judged based on things out of your control."
Waves of excitement and cheers exploded from the amphitheater. Everyone was relieved to know that they weren't judged by factors outside of their control.
"You may pick up a personal scroll with this technique when you leave. You have the rest of today and tomorrow to practice. Meet here at 3 pm tomorrow. That is all."
Everyone cheered and left the amphitheater with huge smiles on their faces.
—Present Time—
Once they were out of sight, Kaze's gentle expression turned into a deep frown, and he checked his phone again.
Ice Phoenix: You were right.
—
"That foolish woman." He scoffed in vexation, "At least this is a good opportunity to learn an important lesson."
Kaze closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then made a phone call.
"It's Kaze." He said to his phone, "I need you to arrange something for me. Meet me in the conference room to discuss it. Do not speak of this to anyone."
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