1352 Luck
Up ahead, to the left of where they had exited, there was a huge, gaping opening. This opening led to what could only be described as the thickest jungle Ryu had ever seen. Even the grasses that wrapped around the roots of the tall rainforest tree canopies wrapped up to their waists. The sheer humidity alone made even the Sky Gods feel some difficulty breathing.
Even without stepping into it, Ryu knew that this place was extremely dangerous. The first test was just making it to this point. There hadn't been any dangers outside of their own fellow man, or demons in this case. However, things would likely change from now on.
Ryu, once again, didn't bother to take out his Matrix. Trying to analyze such a large world was only a waste of their time. Once again, it was best to dip their toes in and see what variables were best to focus on. So, he took a step forward, urging Little Silk ahead as he prepared to lead everyone again. However, at that moment, something that made his lip curl happened.
"A moment," Empana said lightly.
Ryu wasn't surprised by this. If Empana continued to let him do as he pleased, he would be too incompetent. Others probably didn't notice it yet because they weren't as sharp as Empana or lanjor, but how could Empana not realize how people who had been under his command suddenly listened to Ryu unconditionally?
In fact, when Ryu had just urged Little Silk forward, those around had been ready to move forward with him. They only seemed to snap out of it after Empana said something, but even then some had given Empana looks of confusion as though he didn't have the right to say anything in this situation.
They had completely forgotten about Ryu's cultivation realm. This was the power of competence. At this point, even Leah was silent let alone, let alone everyone else. The greatest weight of Ryu's achievements weren't only the entrapment of the other Races, but also the rainforest before them. Clearly, he had led them down the right path.
Even so, Empana couldn't allow this to continue unchecked.
Ryu stopped Little Silk's forward path and looked back, his expression unreadable. This was the first time that Empana had seen Ryu's face in the last several hours. For some reason, evne he seemed to have expected some sort of huge change. But in the end, Ryu was still the very same Ryu, unmoved, unhurried, and cold as ice.
"Explain what your plan from here is," Empana said calmly. He didn't seem to be enraged at all.
Ryu smiled, but it seemed to be quite a dangerous smile. What he hated the most was having to explain himself and people testing him, and it seemed that Empana had rolled both into a single question. Obviously, he was trying to establish dominance.
If Ryu responded too sharply, then all the work he had put into converting Empana's people would go down the drain. At the end of the day, the difference of cultivation Realms was still heavily ingrained into the bones of people, and Empana was already a great talent acknowledged by them all. If he wanted to claw back control, it wouldn't be difficult at all.
"Nothing," Ryu uttered unhurriedly.
Empana frowned. "What do you mean by this?"
He seemed to be ready to reprimand Ryu, but Ryu only shook his head.
"You don't understand how Ruin Masters work. And apparently the Ruin Masters of those few don't understand anything either. The Matrix is a collector of data, if the data sample is too large, it's worse than knowing anything. Standing here when there's a world to explore and expecting to pluck out a golden egg from a vast ocean is impossible. It's better to act first, find the crucial elements, and then calculate."
Empana's eyes narrowed. "So you mean to say that you got here by luck."
Ryu's smile became deeper. Indeed, from his words, that sort of conclusion could be extracted. After all, aside from a very few number of times, Ryu hadn't even brought out his Matrix. And even when he did, it was for a very short period of time. Empana clearly thought that he could use this to his advantage.
"Getting here by luck is possible, sure. If you pick tunnels at random, you'll eventually get here. Even if you just took a straight shot down the catacombs you'd eventually make it here as well..."
Empana seemed to relax when he heard this. This Ryu was too arrogant and he didn't realize the kind of weight his words held.
"...But getting here in less than a day? Well, you have as much chance of doing that by luck as you would in finding the exact same grain of sand on a beach twice in a row."
Empana's gaze sharpened. "Is that so?"
Ryu sighed as though he was lamenting something.
"You just don't quite understand, Empana," Ryu casually clarified how the tunnels worked as though he was lecturing a child. Empana understood immediately that things were going left. If Ryu explained things like this, it would have the opposite effect, because even though he was self-admittedly not a Ruin Master, lack of proficiency was incompetence. This was why leaders consulted their experts behind closed doors and not in front of the masses.
Realling that be bad almost lost control of the situation, Empana was quick on his feet and immediately changed tactics. He hadn't wanted to use this because it might strain their relationship earlier than he wanted, but he fet that this would happen eventually and it was more important that he regain the hearts of the people right now.
"I see, thank you for the explanation, Ruin Master. Then I would like to ask you another question. Why is it that you waited until the end of these last few hours to deal with our enemies? If you had dealt with them much earlier, wouldn't they be stuck much further behind us?"
A realization suddenly came over everyone and they looked toward Ryu with unfriendly gazes.
It was true, if Ryu had done that after the first or second tunnel, wouldn't they have shaken them off long ago? But now they were only an hour or two away from breaking free of those lines of silk at worst, and then they would be right after them again.
On top of that, they would gain the advantage of them clearing the forest of peril first.
The hostile gains seemed to have returned a hundredfold stronger, and this time it seemed that it might even be hazardous for Ryu.
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