"I have no idea why it would ever come to that but let''s say hypothetically it does." Ares was lenient and chose to play the what if game with this elder. Being honest and discussing his plans / mindset in such a scenario was the wise choice compared to trying to sweep it under the rug and pretend none of it existed. "I will not ever be conceding this sect. If I take it with me through countless domains, raise it up to be something it could never be without me, and then you all want me to leave I might even kill the person who started the suggestion out of spite. That would be a betrayal of the highest order and I would never tolerate being used one-sidedly in such a fashion. I have no reason to give up this place and nobody really has any reason to want me to either. I am objectively one of the best sect leaders you could possibly hope for so I see no reason why I should have to do everything only to get replaced. You cannot remove me by force and you cannot remove me via suggestion, both are pointless and have very obvious rebuttals. If you try to replace me by killing me I will simply kill you. If you try to vote me out I will not obey the results of the vote anyway, tyrannical though it is. You can leave the sect, and people can be added to it, but I am here to stay permanently from the moment I take over and I don''t think anyone here can muster any sort of reason as to why that''s a problem anymore? At the very least, whatever problem you have with me will almost definitely only be exacerbated under anyone who isn''t me.
Realistically, how on earth would you ever find anyone half as competent as I am when taking into consideration everything I am? Shock Beads alone outvalue at least 80% of everyone in this entire dimension as far as being a sect leader goes and that isn''t even touching on any of my other qualities. The number of people in this world that can bring as much to the table as me, be as strong as me, have the same status as me, and do as much as humanly possible for you, can be counted on two hands. A God would never take over some random sect like this so your only hope would be another fundamental champion and that''s on the off chance they even care enough to look for their own sect. Even if they did, why this one? I picked you out of convenience. You were nearby, I had no other reason. There are clans in better positions out there, especially in higher domains, so why would they come for you specifically? By all measures I am far and above what this sect should logically have had any chance of enjoying the perks of so after today I will not be entertaining any complaints about my capacity as sect leader.
You all may belong here but you don''t have the right to complain until you can, at the very least, find a suitable and willing replacement. In other words, you can''t complain. The only way to prevent this is if you all change your mind here and now and want me out of the sect for good. It''s fine if you do, I''ll just go pick up the next nearest sect, bring everyone from this sect who wants to follow me, and that will be the end of my relationship with Heaven''s Path. I have a feeling nobody in their right mind is going to be ok with that, however, because you''re all cultivators at the end of the day and not a single one of you should need me to explain to you why this is all a good thing for your respective cultivation journeys. Unless you are weak willed, have zero interest in furthering yourself, have no talent, or zero ambition, there is no acceptable explanation for why you wouldn''t want me in this position. Deep down all of you are aware of that and, let''s face it, the only reason this meeting is even being held is because it serves as confirmation it''s happening. Nothing that could have been discussed here today would have ever prevented me becoming the sect master and even those of you raising complaints are aware of this. I can appreciate you keeping me on my toes, and making me provide honest answers, but I shouldn''t have said anything here today that no one wasn''t already expecting."
What was there more to really say than this? Ares had been pretty reserved in terms of not throwing his weight around but now that this question had reared its head what was he supposed to say? ''I spent years raising this sect out the dirt but yeah, sure, I''ll pack my bags and leave while you all reap the benefits in my absence. I''ll never return and bother you ever again. You can even call me back to do manual labour for you for free if you ever want!''... Yeah, no, never. By the time Ares had brought this sect to Vraizon he already would have justified owning this place eternally just due to how big a deal that alone was. Throw in everything else that had been discussed today and these people should be thanking their lucky stars instead of whining. Although Ares hadn''t outright said it, he was the GOD OF DESTRUCTION. If he wanted this sect he could damn well take it! He was only going through this official red tape rigmarole to showcase his patience as a leader and that he was willing to be polite... Up until a point anyway, if anyone still had reservations he wouldn''t hesitate to... Well, in this mini form, nibble their ankles? Actually, in hindsight, he really didn''t have many options form this point onwards... Well Calla was almost definitely here, Ares could hear the sound of snaps from time to time and he didn''t need to be told what that noise was, so he could always rely on her if force was needed. Until the, she could just keep taking pictures with her camera.
Ares thought it was all over as everyone had quietened down. All the elders were internalising the last part of what Ares had said because yes, they knew it was true, but this was the first time it really hit home that Ares was going to be the next and LAST leader. There would never be another after him because there would never need to be. Temporary leaders in his absence, maybe, but that was it. He had no reason or obligation to stand down and no one could force him so if anyone was discontent with him they would be better off just leaving the sect after today. That being said, they were free to leave after seeing how he handled things in the near future; he wasn''t going to tie them up and lock them in a dungeon or anything so even those with reservations opted to wait for a bit longer and see how things went. This was exclusively the thoughts of those who didn''t know Ares though as everyone else was cool with it. He was annoying but talented and reliable. Working under him was fine as far as bosses went. He was liable to mess with you here and there, what with the whole revenant thing, but actually giving you a hard time over anything? He really wasn''t the kind. They knew he would just let the departments do as they pleased and only get involved when he was actively helping them develop that part of the sect or when giving them treasures he found outside on his travels. In that sense, he would do more than even Yulo, who was trapped in the sect 24/7, could do. Ares wasn''t going to change anything drastic, he didn''t seem like the type of leader who would be too hands on and micro-managing every individual person and rule, so most elders wouldn''t even notice the handover. If Yulo turned around now and said Ares had been in control for the last month then only Rud, who was deeply involved in all matters, would be able to identify that as a falsehood. In short, this all meant that Ares'' ascent to sect master was secured, in the bag, and never not happening.
"Pfft, you make us all sound irrelevant." Dascar was looking half-glum and spoke in a half-mocking manner off to the side as he talked to nobody in particular. most probably himself. "Do we even matter? You want to make this place like a home? So what are we then? Housekeepers? What role do we all serve?" Though he was just spitting vitriol in Ares'' general direction, he''d hit upon arguably the biggest unspoken issue as of yet. He was right, the people here didn''t mean diddlysquat. Ares said he wasn''t going to get rid of anyone but that didn''t mean he wasn''t thinking they served no purpose. Some of the elders here were weak and inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Even the ones that weren''t would be shown up by Ares if he tried. He was a better forger than Dabble, a better runemancer than Julio, a better weapon master than most of the department elders, and could even create technicals better than Lizzy. Sure they were all going to be focussing on their own cultivation journey but, in comparison to Ares, weren''t they going to be massively overshadowed whenever he was around?
Aside from a select few key workers, people like Rud and the farmers in the sect, who else here mattered? Ares'' only use for them was to teach the disciples who were also equally as useless to him. Ares had already said that he ''gained'' from them but only in the sense that they maintained his home while he wasn''t here, that was all he saw in them and it was kind of demeaning because they were cultivators in their own right. It wasn''t his fault nor was it really anyone else''s here. If a talentless person couldn''t improve compared to a prodigy then who could blame them? Ares didn''t, sure, but that didn''t mean they wouldn''t feel like garbage every time Ares strolled past them in the sect without batting them an eye because he was too busy doing something actually important. Yulo is strong but reaching his heights at least felt achievable with hard work. Plus the guy had issues with certain things that others needed to fill in the gaps for. Was everyone here just supposed to accept and be happy their presence meant nothing at all to Ares?
"I''m not gonna sugar-coat it, yes you are all somewhat pointless..." Although an expected response, some of the elders were taken aback by Ares'' sheer disrespect! He wasn''t supposed to say the quiet part out loud! "... Wait! Put the pitchforks down and let me finish!" Although Ares was being satirical here, a certain fuddy duddy Ruddy did in fact have to sneakily put away the pitchfork he brought for this very occasion. "But what makes you all think you''re so special that who you are in comparison to me matters?"
Was this guy just being an asshole for the fun of it?!
"No, seriously, think about it. Are any of you destined to be the Gods of your respective pillar? Are any of you fundamental champions? Are any of you, other than Yulo, once in a lifetime prodigies? Are any of you at the top of your respective fields? No, no, no, and no... So why on earth is comparing yourselves to me something you would even consider doing? It''s not your fault you don''t stack up to me, there are only five other people in the entirety of existence that do! Why would you do yourselves such a massive disservice and think that if you can''t beat me in some way you have no redeeming qualities? No matter who I shove into this sect going forward none of them are ever going to be competition to me or aid me in ways I probably couldn''t figure out on my own anyway. It doesn''t matter if you''re here or not but not because you''re weak or anything, it''s just because it doesn''t matter if anyone is here.
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You shouldn''t look at me like some kind of goal, I''m an unachievable height and so you''d best have more grounded objectives in your life. Focus on improving because I''m sure as hell going to give you a lot of opportunities to. Will you be the next Enyo? The next Aejaz? The next me? Not in your lifetime! But that doesn''t mean you can''t still train yourself until you wind up in the top ten thousand cultivators worldwide if not higher. Just reaching immortality will cement you in the history books so who cares if you aren''t capable of reaching my toes at the number one spot? Who on earth expects you to? I won''t help you become number one, because nobody can do that, but you can still be stronger than everyone else around! you''ll be ants to me but everybody else will be ants to you! So don''t get it twisted, there are goals you should set and work on but I''m not ever going to be one of them. Just pay attention to breaking your own limits and I''ll be sure to pop by and help you every now and then, that''s how you should see it.
Just because you can''t be the strongest, that doesn''t mean you can''t be strong at all, that''s a strange way of thinking and don''t let my status fool you into thinking it''s normal. I''m not normal, don''t use me as your benchmark. Yes I''m going to invite people to the sect going forward but my preferred method of raising this sect''s overall power is to make you better than you currently are. Is Dabble the best forger in the world? No, maybe not even in Sheryashka, but who''s to say he can''t be by the time I''m done with him? Ever since we discovered pressurising artifacts I''m sure his position has risen drastically and there''s zero reason he can''t make another discovery and improve himself further. The same applies to everybody in here so know that I will get around to whipping you all into shape one by one even if it kills me. Don''t think this ride is going to be easy and that you can just hide in the sect all day long doing nothing, I expect you to work, train, and improve yourselves by the time I''ve returned from my journeys. If you slack off then all that means is I''ll be personally overseeing your training and making it as miserable as I can to drill the necessary tools into you so that you can be relevant to this sect. This isn''t Ares'' day-care, it''s Ares'' cultivation sweatshop. I''ll make experts out of you all yet!"
A point worth expressing clearly and Ares had probably done a good enough job of it. Even if these elders were to compare themselves to the average cultivator, let alone the disciples in the sect, they would mostly come out overwhelmingly superior. Were they heaven defying? No. It''s just that the average cultivator was either weak or lying face down in the dirt and dead as door nails. It was a common subconscious bias to be overly negative about yourself when someone who was out of your league showed up even if you were way above average to begin with. If Ares was a 10/10 cultivator then the people in this room were, give or take, hovering around the 6/10 or 7/10 mark. Considering the fact there were only six 10/10s in existence it meant this benchmark could effectively be ignored, meaning the elders were more along the lines of 6.5/9. Even then, 9/9 were people like Davey, Enyo, Coronos, or Aejaz so that was basically an inaccessible rating for most people too. 6.5/8 was the more accurate and grounded in reality assessment and would anybody in their right mind say that''s not good enough?! It wasn''t perfect but it was solid considering Ares hadn''t had his way with them yet. He wanted to raise as many people to being 8/10 as possible and he would hunt down whatever treasures / resources he needed to in order to make it happen. Fortunately there were a lot of talented elders in this place and so, as long as they bucked up, buckled up, and buckled down Ares wouldn''t need to nanny them too excessively as they could improve on their own perfectly fine. Now, not everyone in this room could have this logic applied to them, as some were destined to be pretty weak in the grand scheme of things overall, but there was nothing to be done about that. They could ride on the shoulders of giants, though, which was something they should just accept and be happy to even have a chance to enjoy. Most people at their strength withered away and died in the middle of nowhere for one reason or another so this was an infinitely better outcome.
Clap
Ares took advantage of the momentum he created by shoving everyone into the mud, picking them back up out of it, and telling them they were cleaner now than when they were when they were face down in the stuff. It''s not like what he said was untrue, it was just an oddly specific way of looking at it to make people feel better about the fact they could never be as good as him! But what else was he supposed to do? Lie to their face and let them hope in vain for some kind of miracle? Make himself weaker? Nope! Truth hurts! Although, in a way, all this pandering and encouragement meant he actually did sugar-coat everything by trying to make them feel better... Ah well, a small white lie here and there never hurt anybody! And he was still more truthful than not overall. Regardless, after clapping, he spoke once more.
"So let''s not all drag each other down and look for reasons to have issues with one another. None of you have problems with me and I don''t have problems with you, same as before I entered the room. Not much will really change in the short term and, I know that sounds weird, but it''s true. The way the sect functions on a day to day basis and so on so forth? I''m not changing any of that so don''t lose sleep over how things are gonna change for you inside the sect. You should be the only person regularly changing up your own life, not me. At the end of the day I''m going to become the sect master no matter what. You may have problems with that now but how about this? Keep those problems tucked away in the back of your mind for now and come back to me with them later if they''re still an issue by then. If anything persists beyond demonstrations of what I can do for this sect, after I''ve actually had a chance to do it, then I will strive to solve your problem as soon as possible. I say this because I''m sure that most of the complaints you all want to raise will be nullified by my actions before they grow into anything serious.
Also, if you want to talk to me about anything, you don''t have to wait until I become sect leader, you can do it whenever and wherever and I''ll hear you out. So long as your request isn''t ridiculous I''ll indulge you as best I can. That being said, hopefully I can rely on you all every now and then as well. Rely on you to keep taking care of the new disciples, rely on you to keep the sect running in my absence, and rely on you to put up a fight on the extremely rare chance you''ll ever need to." Ares looked around and didn''t see anyone still openly opposing him so everything was seemingly settled. "With this out of the way, I''ll thank you for your time and take my leave unless there''s anything anyone else wants to ask me?... Not you Rud, I''m ignoring you." Ares flipped Rud the bird, smirked at him as the old git gnashed his teeth, and disappeared promptly whilst leaving behind a bewildered set of elders.... How the hell did min Ares vanish like that?! Unbeknownst to them, Calla had been here all along! Sneaky wolf! Now that she''d gotten her pictures, and Ares was done here, she had no reason not to take him back home and his goodbyes were a solid cue it was time to go. Nobody had any questions left right now anyway.
Ares was whisked away and wound up back home at lightning speed. He found himself lying in the bed but he wasn''t having it! He was basically back to full health and spirit! This much babying was going way too far and, after having been subjected to Calla''s clothing cruelty prior, Ares wasn''t having it! Ares got up and snuck out of the room while Calla was off doing... Whatever it was she was doing. Cultivating maybe? Not that it mattered, Ares was trying to avoid her so he was going to make a break for the outside and see if he could run off and go check up on some other stuff here and there. He wasn''t going to leave the sect, that was asking for trouble, but he could at least go check in with Dabble, Julio, and Lizzy to see what they were up to! Not that the had any real reason to meet up with them but he was bored staying at home all the time. Ares opened the door and, after a quick blink, realised he was back inside the bed and couldn''t move. A grinning fluffy matriarch was leaning over him and tucking her tail back behind her...
Ares had been poisoned! His muscles weren''t moving anymore and he could feel his regeneration trying to kick in and free him from the poison''s effects! Drat! He''d been this closing to running away from home... Looks like he was going to be hanging around in bed for a little while longer... Even though he was fine... Overprotective much? He was allowed to walk around relatively freely before! This was punishment for his disobedience and nothing more! He was probably going to be relegated to this bed until it was time for the wedding... Well, at least it was coming up soon! Ares was wondering what he should cook for them... Black pudding? Meat for Li Li and blood for Dirk? Maybe that was a bit too on the nose... Ah well, Ares had plenty of time to figure it out! Luckily he wouldn''t be the only chef cooking so whether he wanted to make a main or a side or an entrée, he was free to choose as it would be just an extra addition to an already stacked menu...
But Ares was also competitive and really wanted his food to stand out...
But he was in mini form and so mass producing anything would be considerably hard without someone supplying him mana constantly to cook in the Primordial Blade...
But...
Sadie! Glutton supreme! If she was made aware of Ares'' plight then she would be willing to supply him with mana for two days straight if it meant she got to eat whatever he made after without paying! Maybe he could even check in with her and see if there was anything she was in the mood for. She''d been giving him puppy dog eyes to cook more as of late and she seemed to be devastated whenever she popped round and Ares was stuck in bed, unable to cook. The next few days would be torture for her so he might as well see if she has any suggestions for him, especially if she''s going to help supply the mana he needed. Ares would mention this next time he saw her but, until then, Ares was going to be trapped in bed with his mother reading him all manner of deranged fairy tales that had been altered by revenants in ways that were not safe for children''s ears!