Eventually, Shang came up with an idea, but it wasn't a very good one.
"We could just make copies of the book and dump them all over the Kingdom," he said. "Nobody would be able to link it back to us."
"That's wrong," the Dean said. "The Spell to copy the books leaves traces of someone's aura behind. Whoever copies the book will be found by the Dukes, and they will undergo a Mind Read. In the end, it will be linked back to one of us."
"Even if we send a proxy and kill the proxy after making the request, the Mages aren't stupid. They know what will happen if they copy this book. As soon as they get their hands on the book, they will immediately report it to their superiors."
"Additionally, it requires a lot of resources to make copies of books. We would need a True Mage, and they would never accept the request."
"The Bloodline Infusion is one thing, but this technique is something else. This technique is so advanced and useful to warriors that it puts the Bloodline Infusion to shame. The Bloodline Infusion might increase the power of the warriors, but that doesn't become relevant as long as they don't reach the True Path Stage."
"This technique might create hundreds of True Path Stage warriors within the next century. That would be akin to 100 new Dukes. The warriors would literally advance faster than the Mages."
When Shang heard that, he furrowed his brows. "That doesn't seem right. Why would this technique make warriors advance faster than Mages? Don't the Mages still have all their inheritances?"
"They do," the Dean said. "However, I don't think they are present in this place."
Shang raised an eyebrow. "With place, you mean the five Kingdoms?"
The Dean nodded. "You're not stupid. You should have realized that there is a wider world. Just the fact that we got to ask nine questions tells us as much. The powerful Mage that threw the Storm Eagle away is additional proof."
"I think the Mages on the outside have something similar or even better in the outer world, but that thing is not present in this place."
"While the Bloodline Infusion looks like a problem to the Mages, this technique will look like a genuine threat. I fear that the Council will immediately get rid of it with whatever means necessary."
At that moment, Shang got another idea.
"What about King Skythunder?"
"What about him?" the Dean asked.
"Couldn't he stop them?" he asked.
"He could, but why would he? This is something that might involve the outer world, and I'm sure that King Skythunder knows that. He might entertain us by allowing us to have the Bloodline Infusion, but I doubt that he would want to risk his life for us."
"Also, we wouldn't even be able to get ahold of him. Getting an audience with King Skythunder is beyond difficult."
Everything the Dean said made sense to Shang.
Copying the things inside the book was impossible without King Skythunder's explicit permission. The Council would immediately kill them and everyone involved in the matter.
"What if we only taught this technique verbally and only to a select few warriors?" Shang asked.
"Too dangerous and too inefficient," the Dean answered. "If only a single warrior with that knowledge receives a Mind Read, everything will be over."
"What about the Mind Barriers? The traitors always have those," Shang said.
"That Spell is too advanced," the Dean said. "Soran is the best Mage among us warriors, but he doesn't even know nearly enough to perform that Spell. Additionally, the Spell is top secret and only gets taught to Inquisitors and High Mages."
Shang could only sigh.
No matter what he came up with, it wouldn't work.
There were problems upon problems.
Shang tried his best to split up the problems into individual chunks.
The end goal was to have King Skythunder approve of the Spell.
To get his approval, they needed a good argument and a clear origin for the technique.
But all of that didn't matter if they couldn't even meet him.
At that moment, Shang thought of an idea.
However, it was very risky.
"What about Duke Whirlwind?" Shang asked.
"Jerald?" the Dean asked with a bit of surprise. Then, he furrowed his brows and scratched his chin in thought.
"Jerald is someone that also values honesty. He knows that he is risking his life by getting involved, and the bare minimum he would ask for would be the origin of this technique, which we can't explain."
"If we showed the technique to him, he probably wouldn't betray us, but he also wouldn't help us. This matter would be too dangerous for him. He would simply ask us never to speak of this matter again."
Shang looked at the table with furrowed brows.
"And if we had a good explanation?" Shang asked.
The Dean thought about that for a bit. "Not sure. He would either decline or help us. This is a high-risk, high-reward situation for him. He would be risking his life, but the potential rewards are tremendous. He wants to become King, and he essentially counts as the ruler of us warriors. He would gain a group of loyal followers that might be able to fight High Mages."
"The reward is tremendous, but the burden of convincing King Skythunder would fall on his shoulders."
"It is possible, but the origin of the technique is the very problem that stops us from even asking him for help."
Shang didn't answer the Dean and only looked at the table in contemplation.
'Just like Teacher, Duke Whirlwind is someone that highly values honesty. There might be a way to get him to our side if we are honest.'
'Additionally, even if we can't come up with a good origin for the technique, he might be able to.'
'It seems like it is impossible to publicize this technique without Duke Whirlwind's help.'
Shang closed his eye and took a deep breath.
Then, he looked at the ceiling for a bit.
He was weighing his options.
After a couple of seconds, Shang took another deep breath.
"Okay," Shang said with conviction as he opened his eye.
The Dean looked with a raised eyebrow at Shang.
"I've decided."
"I'm going to ask Duke Whirlwind for help."
The Dean only looked at Shang with a skeptical expression. "And how do you plan to explain the origin of the technique to him?"
Shang looked at the Dean.
"With honesty."
Both of the Dean's eyebrows rose.
"I'm going to tell him," Shang said.
"About the trial, about Earth, and about the God."
