The Innkeeper
chapter-1306

"Oh, you have heard of my family?" Cassandra asked, quite curious. "I did not think they were of any relevance in this day and age."

"Perhaps not for other races, but for humans it is still quite relevant! The siege of Orion is one of the defining moments in the history of humanity, and in Ventura it is taught in a number of disciplines. I myself learned of the Vans Angew family while studying military tactics. The way that General Patrick Vans Agnew held the line with inferior forces, using utility formations to quickly move troops across large distances… it was truly inspiring. In fact, I mimicked many of his tactics when I united the humans across the Crystal realm to form one empire!"

Cassandra smiled, fondness appearing on her expression for a brief moment.

"Patrick was always a naughty kid who liked to cause problems. Who knew that would translate into becoming a good general and causing the enemy problems?"

Cornelius seemed even more surprised to hear that.

Did you… did you know General Patrick?" he asked.

"He was my son," Cassandra said. "You won't believe how he ended up in the army. It was a complete accident. He tried to run away from home when he was a kid, but had no idea how formations worked, so he ended up sneaking into the wrong one. He was teleported straight to boot camp. He came back home after eight years, and spent the whole night crying as he hugged my leg, asking me to somehow take him out of the army."

Lex observed silently as Cassandra reminisced. He'd never really asked her about her personal life before, nor had he considered it. He only knew her as an acolyte of Nuwa, and the person who controlled the Temple of Fasting. But she was a Celestial Immortal, so obviously she must have had a very full life. The circumstances that brought her to effectively being locked within the temple must have been insane.

Now she was on her way to becoming a Dao Lord. Who knows what would happen to her then?

Cornelius stood up straight when he learned Cassandra was the mother of someone he admired, and then gave her a salute, which was very unlike the impression Lex had of him.

"I'm sorry for your loss. At the same time, I am completely honored to be talking to you. Please, let me know what you wish to discuss, and I will cooperate completely."

"Be at ease, King Cornelius. You yourself have done well by your people. I just want to have a general conversation with you about humanity, and what you think about our future. My information might be slightly outdated, so forgive me if I make a mistake, however before I… went into seclusion… humanity had lost their hold over any major realm.

"We exist in countless realms, sure, but we hold none of them. We attach ourselves to larger powers and survive in the shade of their umbrella, and so we are merely existing. But on a universal scale, while the greater powers are moving forward, humanity is moving backwards.

"I think, for any chance at redemption, humanity needs to claim its own territory, however small. With its own realm, its own Dao Lord at the helm to clear obstacles, humanity can once again begin their climb on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. The higher they rise, the greater the benefit to the whole race, allowing for more geniuses and high leveled cultivators.

"Once humanity builds its momentum, they can proceed forward. But until that happens, we will forever stand beneath the angels and the devils, servants and slaves to the greater powers."

Cornelius nodded, but did not sit back down. He held his hands behind his back, and began to walk around his room as if in thought. The table in front of them moved aside, and in its place approached a diagram that looked like a map of the entire Crystal realm - at least before its recent expansion.

While Cornelius thought, Lex looked at the map and studied humanity's position. They were in direct confrontation with the Kraven, more so than their neighbors. The odd thing was, it seemed like that was by design. The territories that the humans claimed seemed like they were specifically putting them in the Kravens path. Why was that?

Or perhaps, things had only played out that way. After all, who could have predicted the Kraven war filled with immortals?

"In essence, I don't disagree with you, Lady Cassandra…"

"Please, just call me Cassandra. I am not overly fond of honorifics. Right now, we are just two humans, discussing the future of our race."

Cornelius merely nodded, and continued.

"I don't entirely disagree with you, Cassandra. For humanity to move forward, we do need a Dao Lord, and we do need our own realm. The whole universe races for resources, for realms, for power, all so that they can climb the spectrum, and gain even more power. But I personally think this obsession with the spectrum is fundamentally wrong."

"How so?" Cassandra asked.

"You see, I think our greatest flaw is not our lack of Dao Lords. Our greatest flaw, ironically, is one of our greatest strengths. The human race is obsessed with hero worship. Were we not born as equals to the other races? For a brief moment in history, were humans and celestials not shoulder to shoulder? Of the other humanoid races, we share the greatest similarity in appearance with Celestials, and yet we are so different. Where are they now, and where are we?

"We draw great strength from looking up at our heroes, and yet we are also content with simply having heroes. Instead of reaching out and supporting them, surpassing them, reaching for greater heights, we place our heroes on a pedestal, and separate them from us. We treat them as if we can never be equal, and that they can endure pain, they can endure hardship, they can endure struggle. Of course they can, they're heroes! The leaders of our nations! Our strongest warriors! The sharpest minds!

"Yet at the slightest personal inconvenience, we falter, not thinking that the pain we feel is the same pain as those heroes. When we suffer loss, we don't think that those valiant knights who face the darkness of night on our behalf suffer the same loss. Even if they do, they can deal with it, because they're heroes.

"As long as all the pain, all the burden, all the suffering, all the inconvenience is on 'them', whoever 'they' may be, it's acceptable to us, and if they falter, there will be no hesitation to lay blame either.

"I know not everyone is like this. My own empire is filled with those who, from birth, yearn to face and fight the Kraven. It's in their bones. It's in their blood. I've shaped their lives, their societies, their history, everything so that each of them will be ready and willing to step up to the mantle. I've done everything I can to help them grow, as a whole. But you know what I've discovered?

"All it takes is two generations separated from the struggle, the pain, the push for survival, for the new generation to completely lose that drive. No matter how many heroes we have Cassandra, no matter how many Dao Lords, as long as the race is like this, we will never go forward."

Cornelius paused for a moment before continuing.

"Of course, there is another way - the actual way that I am pursuing myself."

Cornelius turned around and looked at Cassandra in the eyes, his figure oozing ambition and drive.

"Even if humanity lacks the will, even if they lose it in two generations, all it takes is one generation of struggle to bring it back. So what we need is not to change the way humans think - I don't think that will ever be possible.

"No, what we need is a system to enable stable, yet rapid growth that can also be sustained. Right now, the True Path is out of reach for most humans, but if we can simplify the cultivation process - create a technique that's easy, or create a method that achieves great results, then the human race can rise up from the roots.

"Yes, we can raise our position on the Cosmic Spectrum with a Dao Lord, which can grant humanity more power. But isn't the Spectrum simply just a list of the power held by the entire race, anyway? Even without a Dao Lord, even without our own realm, if humanity grows stronger as a whole, won't our position on the spectrum change, anyway?"

Lex had never been a part of such conversations, or ever even thought about it. He was too busy surviving to worry about the whole race. Even so, he could see that each of their stances was nuanced, containing countless little considerations. Right now, they were just talking about broad ideas to communicate their standing with one another.