After realizing what the actual problem was, Shang told Lucin about the changes to his warrior's body that the Custodian had performed.
When Shang was done speaking, Lucin looked at him with a worried expression. "How do you feel?" he asked.
"Like someone is planning on killing me," Shang said.
"I can assure you that nobody within the Lightning Manor is planning on killing you yet," Lucin said.
"Yet?" Shang repeated.
"Well, you are essentially a competitor to the other Clouds since we can only send one King Contender into the Grand Tournament. It is obviously forbidden to kill your colleagues in the Lightning Manor, but that doesn't stop some of them. From time to time, I still have to execute one of the Clouds for failing or succeeding in a plot to assassinate another Cloud," Lucin explained.
"Right now, they barely know anything about you, but when they learn more about your true powers, some of them might plot to kill you."
Shang didn't like hearing that for multiple reasons.
'Great! I will also become the victim of actual assassinations, and with my newfound paranoia, it will become very difficult to discern who is actually out to get me. The friendliest and most normal people might appear like scheming enemies in my mind, and I might think that the actual scheming enemies are just nice people since I would think that I was just being paranoid.'
'I guess the best way is to treat everyone like they plan on killing me. Like that, I can't be unprepared.'
This was one reason why Shang didn't like what Lucin had said, but there was another.
"And I am not allowed to stop these assassination attempts from occurring?" Shang asked.
"What do you mean with stop?" Lucin asked with a raised brow.
"Kill the person that wants to kill me before they actually go through with the attempt," Shang said.
Lucin sighed. "Shang, you can't do that. In the Lightning Manor, we say that people are innocent until proven guilty. Even if one of the Clouds meets you alone, far away from anyone, while being followed by a masked individual more powerful than them, you can't just assume that they are there to assassinate you."
"Sure, it might look like they are planning on doing it, but they could also just be there for a different reason. What if the masked individual was just one of the Bolts that's following the Cloud that doesn't like to be seen by others? We have people like that."
"You can't just kill people because they look suspicious. Sure, if people actually say that they will kill you, that's something different. At that point, you would have cause and an obvious show of malicious intent towards you, but even then, you can't just kill them."
"Clouds are very valuable to the Lightning Manor, and we can't just let you guys kill each other wrongfully since every Cloud's expenses can only be counted in Grade Seven Mana Crystals. Ignoring the fact that you would have killed someone of your own organization, you would still have cost the Lightning Manor several Grade Seven Mana Crystals."
Obviously, Shang wasn't the biggest fan of what he had just heard. "You do realize that if someone is willing to go through with an actual attempt, they would have realized the actual danger of failing, which means they would only go through with it if they were 100% certain of success."
"This means that an actual attempt will never just be an attempt but a success," Shang explained.
"That's not true," Lucin said with quite some confidence. "You can ask a Bolt to act as your bodyguard, but they would request a part of the resources you want. Killing a Cloud is already difficult, but killing a Bolt is even more difficult since nearly all of them are Peak Mage Lords."
"A battle between Peak Mage Lords would immediately attract the attention of some Thunders and maybe even a Mage King, and there is nearly no way to kill a Peak Mage Lord in an instant. You would need a Thunder for that, and nothing a Cloud can offer a Thunder would be worth the risk."
Shang still wasn't a fan of this policy. "So, to summarize, I am not allowed to kill anyone from the Lightning Manor, but if I want to be safe from the people of the Lightning Manor, I need to spend a ridiculous number of resources for a bodyguard."
"Is that right?"
Lucin sighed. "I know that the system isn't perfect since it favors a malicious actor in a certain sense, but we can't have it any other way if we actually want to believe in the good of people."
"Sure, we could send a Bolt to supervise all of you all the time, but that would also make a lot of you uncomfortable since you have secret methods of training that you don't like to be exposed."
"Additionally, every Bolt is very talented, and they have become the strongest Mages out of billions of other Mages. We can't just force someone like that to work as a bodyguard for thousands of years. Imagine, after everything you have achieved, you have to work for some High Mage and watch them train. That would be horrible."
"We also can't just look into everyone's mind to see if they want to kill someone else. Ignoring the ethical problems with that, if we were to put this into action, you would have to be part of that. Would you want your mind read?"
Shang didn't answer.
"I thought so," Lucin said. "This is why you have to accept the current rules, Shang."
Shang still wasn't a fan. "Okay, then, why not allow us to kill each other?"
"Oh, no, no, no, no! You misunderstood," Lucin said quickly. "Although, I didn't explain anything about your new position yet, which makes it understandable that you would misunderstand."
"Shang, it's not that you are not allowed to kill each other. It's that you are not allowed to do it sneakily and with the help of others."
"You are allowed to kill each other, but that must be done openly and with my permission."
"The Lightning Manor allows you to kill each other, but it must know why you are killing each other, and you must ask for its permission."
