Under the crowd’s surprise and scrutiny, Dyon showed no fluctuations in his emotions.

The reason he was confident enough to do this was simple, really. The garbage he spewed about checking whether or not the guilds ran on traditions or rules was nonsense. Whether or not they did was irrelevant. If the major families wanted to find issue with him taking over their guilds as a human, they would find issue.

Even if they hadn’t set a rule, they would. Even if they normally wouldn’t care, they would. A major family Dyon despised had just annihilated an orphanage just because of him. And although Dyon couldn’t be sure of exactly which family it was as of now, he had some pretty foolproof guesses.

In other words, if they were willing to do what they did to kids and a sweet old lady, simply to try and hurt Dyon… what do you think they would do if he took over 2, or even all 3, of their most important businesses?

So, Dyon wasn’t using something as flimsy as Elvin rules and regulations to decide his moves. What he was using, was the guild headquarters Grand Elder Kroak just mentioned.

Before coming to the Elvin Kingdom, Dyon had no real impression of such headquarters. He only vaguely knew that if there was a set system of rankings for something, and there were multiple installations of it across a continent and even across a universe, then someone must be heading it. And, if someone was heading it, then it had rules and regulations of its own that people who used their services were forced to follow. It was a simple deduction. One he didn’t have to spend much time at all thinking of.

Simply put, if Dyon used a rule set in place by the guild headquarters to take over the guilds of the Elvin Kingdom… their feelings about it were irrelevant. Unless they somehow felt that they could do without the guild headquarters… which, from Dyon’s master’s memories, would be foolish to say the least.

The headquarters was an alliance between all God Clans of a given universe. After the destruction of the Celestial Deer Sect, there was no longer a leading expert in all things aurora related. As such, the responsibility was shared amongst interested experts of various God Clans. Interestingly enough, this was usually how it worked in other universes as well. Because of how times had changed, array alchemy could no longer be the sole expertise of a clan. Or, more accurately, be the sole expertise of a powerful clan.

This was because, for a still inexplicable reason, array alchemy was looked down upon and suppressed. Dyon intuitively knew that there was a large conspiracy behind this. Array Alchemy was too important for it to just be separated on a whim. But, there was little Dyon could do. He could only thank luck for him arriving at a Focus Academy, meeting with the fanatic Uncle Ail and happening upon the wreckage of a clan who specialized in it. Otherwise, maybe he’d prescribe to the way these so-called experts thought too.

But, Dyon knew this was a fight for another day. For a broken philosophy to permeate so many universes like this, there must be a large power behind it. And since he needed the help of each guild headquarters for now, he would temporarily give into their wishes. Although they may find it odd that a 18-year-old would suddenly take over so many of their branches, Dyon bet that much like the Grand Elders did now, they would rather fight for him, rather than against him. After all… he was this universe’s sole holder of an innate aurora. And if they wanted his help for upcoming competitions, Dyon knew they wouldn’t harm him.

What else could experts of secondary occupations reliant on auroras want more than to increase their awakened percentages? And how else could they do that other than to earn resources? And how else could they earn resources if not by gaining larger quotas by winning these kinds of competitions? The larger the competition, the better the placement, the better the rewards. To the headquarters of this universe, Dyon was their hope for greater heights… and he would take full advantage.

Grand Elder Kroak was silent for a long while before he finally spoke.

“It seems like you know your worth,” he said knowingly, “but… you’re still centuries too early to play with us.”

Grand Elder Kroak began radiating a blinding white aura, his forehead shining with a distinct white flame.

The crowd was in shock, “41%?!?”

Grand Elder Cormyth froze, “it seems you’ve been hiding quite a bit from me, hm?”

BOOM!

Grand Elder Cormyth’s aura lost out in no way.

The surroundings felt a collective breath escape. It seemed like the two heads had no intention of allowing a little boy to trample over them. They had even climbed the 40% watershed!

To a layman, this may seem trivial. Why would you be boasting a mere 41% awakened state when there was someone in front of you who had long since reached 100%. But, these guild experts were different. They knew very well how important the 40% watershed was when an expert had souls as powerful as Cormyth and Kroak. Dyon may have access to 100% of his soul, but, was it really better than 41% of a saint’s soul?

Dyon though, didn’t seem too bothered by any of this. Whether their souls were more powerful than his was one thing. But, whether or not the could use that power as easily as Dyon was another.

Dyon had never once dealt with a bottle neck while practicing Array Alchemy. It had always been that if his soul was powerful enough to create an array, and he spent some time studying it, he would transcend to that level.

However, the same was no true of others. 41% access to a saint level soul was definitely more powerful than Dyon’s Lower Essence stage soul… but did that mean they could use their aurora effectively at the master level? In fact, just because their energy cultivation reached the saint level, that didn’t necessarily mean that their souls had surpassed the Essence stage to become a true saint soul..𝘤𝘰𝑚

.𝒎