Shang didn't seem any different than usual, but deep inside, he felt like he had nearly died, which might actually have been true.
'I did it, somehow,' Shang thought without showing anything on the outside. 'Going on the offense had been the right call.'
Shang wanted to sigh so badly, but he couldn't show any uncertainty on the outside.
"So, what now?" Shang asked. "Do I just get resources now?"
"You're a special case," the Keeper said, still looking away from Shang.
"Usually, we would assign you to a very powerful Ancestral Mage to study under them, but you're not a Mage. Assigning you to any Mage might not only not help you but even restrict your growth."
"You're the highest authority when it comes to training as a warrior in the entire world. No one has the necessary knowledge to contradict what you think is best since your way has been proven to show the greatest results."
"Under normal circumstances, your teacher would evaluate your growth and request resources from us based on what they would think would be best for you."
"We can't do that with you."
"Of course, the Temple of Blood won't just give you free rein since you can't guarantee that you will reach a level of power that makes you valuable to us."
Shang didn't move.
"Because of that, we decided to make it a bit different for you."
"We're not going to blindly invest in you, but just pay you very, very well for your work. This will produce short-term results that will prove that you might become valuable in the future."
Usually, Shang would have already told the Keeper that she should get to the point. However, he decided against it.
Earlier, the Keeper had only been Shang's employer.
Now, they were deeply connected.
Because of that, Shang just listened.
"You don't only represent a potentially powerful Sixth Realm warrior but also a potentially new division for the Temple of Blood."
"Warriors," Shang said.
"Correct, warriors," the Keeper confirmed.
"The Temple of Blood will give you a great number of resources for every True Path Stage warrior you can produce. Additionally, the rewards exponentially increase the higher the warrior's Battle-Strength is."
All of this sounded very familiar to Shang.
"You want me to create an academy?" Shang asked.
"How you do it is up to you," the Keeper said. "We want True Path Stage warriors. You get money. We don't care how you do it."
"There are several problems," Shang directly answered.
"Name them," the Keeper said.
"I can't show my face in public," Shang said. "The Natural Selection Company will connect me to White Ghost."
The Keeper almost immediately answered. "We will make someone take the fall for you. We are going to send someone that fits the White Ghost persona and make them purposefully screw up a mission and get killed. A couple of years later, you can walk around outside."
Shang remained silent for a bit.
That easy?
Okay, that solved one of the problems.
"I have no background and no track record. People would expect to have heard of such a powerful warrior," Shang said.
"We already have a background story for you," the Keeper answered immediately. "Additionally, our Agents in several different cities will change the records of some families and organizations. If anyone investigates your background, they will find some small incriminating information. Just enough to make it seem like that's what you were trying to hide, but not enough to actually try something drastic."
Shang was quite surprised.
The Temple of Blood solved two huge problems that Shang had in nearly no time at all.
"What about the Lightning Manor?" Shang asked.
"For now, they won't be a problem," the Keeper said. "Yes, they are searching for you, but you are essentially one of many thieves in a big city. Some of their people know about your aura and your characteristics, but no one is really investigating. They're just waiting to find you somewhere by coincidence."
"Additionally, you are not even in the Lightning Manor's territory anymore, and the Lightning Manor's members only very rarely leave the Lightning Manor's territory," the Keeper said.
"But they will find me at some point, right?" Shang asked.
"If you perform well enough, yes," she said, "but at that point, they won't care about your crimes anymore."
"So what if you killed some random Peak High Mage temporary employee? They can just send or contract a new one. When they find you, they would be far more troubled and interested that someone in the Twilight Dusk Family's territory is using their hard work to produce their own warriors."
"Imagine them having hundreds or maybe thousands of True Path Stage warriors in a century or two. Then, they hear about a group of warriors in the Fifth Realm in a neighboring territory. They investigate, and they find out that one of their warriors is responsible."
"They wouldn't care even in the least about your previous crime. Yet, the only thing they can do is watch. They can't just send one of their people to kill someone in the Twilight Dusk Family's territory without informing them."
"What do you think will happen then?" the Keeper asked.
Shang could only think of two possibilities.
"Either they try to kill me in secret or they negotiate with the Twilight Dusk Family," Shang said. "And I think that the first possibility won't happen. Sure, they would be angry that other Emperors now also have warriors, but to them, warriors are basically only a farming tool or a special breed of dogs."
"Warriors are not that important to them, and I doubt that they would risk such a huge political fallout just for some warriors."
"That's right," the Keeper said. "At that point, you're not some random warrior anymore."
"At that point, you will be the focal point of a trade between two Empires."
Shang took a deep breath. "And, at that point, I would also pay back everything that the Temple of Blood has invested in me. Is that right?"
"Correct," the Keeper said. "The Twilight Dusk Family will receive a lot of money from the Lightning Manor, and they will pay us a tiny bit of that, but that tiny bit is already worth a Mage Lord or more."
"And, during all of this, you will be the one that reaps the most benefits. Just killing you after paying so much for you would be a waste of resources."
"Instead, they would be the ones investing in you instead of us."
"The Lightning Manor gets a Fifth Realm for their warriors."
"The Twilight Dusk Family gets a huge amount of money."
"The Temple of Blood gets all its investments repaid severalfold over."
"You get to join and work for an Empire."
"Everybody wins."
Silence.
"Are you allowed to tell me all of this?" Shang asked.
"It's up to my discretion," the Keeper said. "Usually, I wouldn't tell this to anyone, but you're a special case."
"You've gone through enough intrigue and tragedy to understand how the world actually works. I think you're smart enough to avoid doing anything stupid when your prospects look so good."
Shang didn't answer for several seconds.
"You're right," Shang said.
