Chapter 306 - Unexpected Aid

"Are you here to help?" 

"Oh, you're more trusting now. That's a good sign."

"I don't have a choice, so I may as well trust you…" Oli chuckled sarcastically.

Shrugging, the man responded, "I suppose you're right. But you're still trusting me, and that's what matters."

"So are you going to help or just waste my energy with a drawn-out discussion?" asked Oli.

"Oh… Am I not worth your time and effort? You know, even kings would beg me for a moment alone, for a chance to discuss cultivation."

"Then maybe come back after I'm a king."

"You'll never make it that far without me, that's why I need to spend time with you now," teased the man. "And if I wasn't here now, who would mention how much time you're wasting?"

"If I was wasting time, wouldn't Zelsh step in?"

"Not if Zelsh didn't have a better solution than this… Still, it's an admirable effort. But you don't believe it will work, do you?"

Blinking slowly, Oli raised a single eyebrow and tilted his head in question. "Shouldn't I keep a realistic view of things? I'm still optimistic, but I can't completely ignore what most would consider is realistic, including myself."

"Will you explain your thoughts, or should I?" the man asked. "And don't worry, your invisible babysitter won't be coming today. It's just us."

"Great…"

"It's good to see you understanding survival. Conserving energy, searching for a long term solution in place of something short term, accepting survival as a challenge to improve yourself… If you had an additional two years, then you might be able to become a peak-elder before the championship."

"... You think so too?" Oli asked with a sigh.

"Did you know that Netra recently ascended?" mentioned the man, startling Oli without skipping a beat. "She's on track to be a high-elder before her regional qualifier and a peak-elder before the prefectural qualifier. Can you say the same thing?"

Mulling over the question in his mind, Oli half-heartedly joked, "If my gravity affinity wasn't so low, I could probably do it with help from formations."

"True, that might've been possible…" Sighing as if he was disappointed, the man shook his head. "You're too slow, Oli."

"Then go ahead and tell how to cultivate faster. Are you going to offer some magical pill that will suddenly enlighten me?"

"No. Sadly, I don't have anything like that." The man shrugged again, taking the remark in stride. "But there is a way to make up for your lack of affinity."

The man paused for a moment but Oli didn't reply verbally. Oli instead rotated his open hand in a circle, trying to hurry up the conversation. But Oli didn't expect the man's back to straighten and for the man's small, teasing grin to disappear.

"I'm being serious, Oli. There's a way to overcome your affinity problem but you're not going to like it. Comparatively, merging your core with the soul jade while mutating your bloodline would be the equivalent of strolling through a meadow…

"Now that I have your true attention, listen carefully. You have no time to waste. You're being left further and further behind with each passing day. You've begun to gain more intricate control of dark and earth essences, which is a great thing, but you haven't even become a high-adept. And you can't ignore your pitiful gravity affinity, which you barely managed to upgrade to low-affinity upon ascension to the novice realm. You have no chance of catching up in time for this year's mortal championship, and by the next time it comes around, you'll have become a perennial."

"Wow… Laying it on thick…" Oli sighed, swallowing the other words he wanted to say instead.

"You're mad at the fact that your weak gravity affinity may be a burden and not a blessing. You can't help but think about how Brak, Drogat, and beasts with perfect essence will ignore their early-affinities and still get to use them in battle, even if only to a certain degree," mentioned the man, getting a gradual nod from the young cultivator. "And you wish that you had inherited your father's perfect affinity…

"But you already know that such thoughts will only get in the way, I didn't come here to teach you that," claimed the man, still keeping his unusual seriousness that Oli had never seen or heard before. "And what you're wondering right now is whether I have another ancient manuscript or formation that can boost your affinity unnaturally… Right?"

"That's right…"

"I'm sorry but I have no such thing."

"Then what--"

"What I have is far worse than that." Shutting Oli up, the man explained himself further, "There is a way to help your affinity grow and increase unnaturally, but you may not want it. This is the one thing I won't force upon you, Oli…"

That pause allowed the last statement to sink into Oli's mind. It lingered and struck a chord in Oli's heart, catching him off guard.

"I thought you didn't care what happened as long as your plan works out?"

Half of the man's mouth tilted into a minuscule smile. "That's exactly how I feel. But I honestly don't know if you'll survive this..."

Again, the pausing statement made Oli feel like his brain was swelling, causing him a headache.

"This is the one decision I refuse to force upon you. If you die, then everything I've done, everything I've planned and prepared, will be lost…" continued the man. "If you decide to not take this path, then I'll find another way to accomplish my goals with your still at the center. However, many new factors could then upset my plans and could throw everything into chaos…"

"... Then… for your plans to work, the best option would be that I survive… whatever it is you have for me. And the worst option is my death, which might make a third option with new risks worth considering?"

"Good. You're still thinking for yourself despite the circ.u.mstances… But I'm serious. You might die. And if you want to go as far as I believe you will, the odds aren't good…"