Ning wondered for a few seconds if he heard it wrong. Then the next few seconds he looked at the old man's face, expecting him to burst out laughing, saying that it was a joke.
However, even as seconds passed, the old man's face showed no change.
Silence hung in the air for a moment and Ning finally spoke again. "You want to bring peace… through fear?" he asked.
"Yes, that is the only way Peace can be achieved," the old man stood finally for the first time since Ning had come to his room.
He walked towards the window and stared out of it. "Look at them, those insignificant specks. Every day, they live in fear that something bad will happen to them. They don't know it themselves, but they fear it."
"They fear that someone will steal from them. They fear that someone will hurt them. They fear that someone will kill them."
"They won't say it if you ask them. But deep down they know that they fear it."
"And as long as that fear remains, true Peace will never arrive in this world."
"That is what I want to change. When I use the Aether you make and take it, I can use it to make the Aether tower the greatest thing standing in the world."
"When the tower becomes the true law of the world, everyone will know peace."
Ning felt both horrible and horrified. This man wanted to create a totalitarian world where the Tower was the true power, and everything was beneath it.
"What about Kings? And nobles? Didn't the tower make an alliance with them previously?" Ning asked.
"You know that? I didn't know you came from a noble family," the old man said, not really giving a thought to the fact that Ning knew this.
"Yes, the Lord of the tower that was before the one who I replaced made a decision to bring peace in the world."
"Getting rid of the ability of the common folks to use Aether was what they believed what necessary to create a peaceful world, and they did, to a certain degree."
"But the world was never peaceful. The weak got oppressed every day while the strong kept getting stronger. Crimes were happening everywhere while the police could do nothing about it."
"They tried to bring peace, but as a result, they brought inequality. Look at the world and how much hatred they have over the people who can't use Aether."
"The divide between the Aether Users and the Duds. The divide between the rich and the poor. The divide between the nobles and the commoners."
"Is that what peace is? Those idiots!" the old man said.
"I heard you brought a nobleman in the tower today, for some crimes he committed. Did you see how differently the nobles think of themselves when compared to the common folks?"
"Where is the equality in that? How is there peace in that?"
Ning was having a hard time refuting the old man's words. It was true that what the tower did over a thousand years ago was a failed attempt at bringing somewhat of a peace to the world, but they instead create a massive inequality amongst the people.
He knew that if the old man turned the tower into an absolute force, there was no one that could fight against them.
After all, who in the world could ever fight against an Underlord.
But this method just didn't sit right with Ning. Suppressing people to bring fake peace was the same as drowning a man and calling him cleaned.
"Why do you need my help then?" Ning asked as that had confused him. "You should already be able to do that if you want to."
"The tower has enough of an influence over the world that the very day you tell them to go suppress everything everywhere, they will do it," Ning said.
"Yes they will, and while it may take some time, we would certainly achieve what I want to," the old man said.
"Then?" Ning asked.
"But that peace… wouldn't last long," the old man said with a troubled look on his face.
"Why not? Is there someone out there that can oppose the tower?" Ning asked knowing that there was not.
The old man shook his head in denial. Of course, there wasn't anything out there that could oppose the tower.
"There is none that can oppose the tower… but there is someone who can oppose me!" the old man said with a cold look on his face.
Ning's heart started racing. "Someone who can oppose you?" he asked with a surprised look on his face.
The old man gave a wry smile. "Do you know why they call me the Lord of the tower?" he asked.
"Yes," Ning said. "Because you are likely an Aether Underlord."
"So you do know," the old man said with surprise. "Not many know all the Aether ranks."
Ning wondered why he had asked that question, but then a thought occurred to him. "When you say that there is someone out there that can oppose you, you don't mean to say that…"
"Yes," the old man confirmed. "There is another Aether Underlord out there, and he has been my rival, my arch-nemesis for the longest time, and all he wants is to kill me."
"If I were to move the tower to take over the world, he would attack all the towers before I could get to him."
"I had a… scout look after his movements for a while, but after the stunt with the Apostle, the scout disappeared."
"Since then, I do not know where he is or what he's doing. And the thought that he is out there, planning something terrifies me."
"I need to stop him, once and for all."
The old man then directly turned toward Ning.
"For that, I need your help. I need you to make Aether for me so I can use it to get stronger, strong enough to beat an Underlord."
"I need to become an Overlord."
