Ascension of the elder

"Bob the beast?"

"Yeah I didn't like it when the bards first began calling me by that nickname but it grew on me over time."

Thank god Kyle thought at least his grandfather realised that rhyming his name like this sounded like his nickname had been granted to him by an elementary schooler.

"So what did you want to be called?"

Colour Kyle curious but he wondered if his grandfathers preferred name was better or worse than what he had been given.

"Well when I first took command of my unit in the capital, I wanted to be known for my fortification and defensive tactics so I wanted to be known as the builder."

Kyle looked at the wall next to him and was seriously wondering if he should just run head first into it and try another universe.

"So you wanted to be Bob the builder, okay granny please tell me you had a better naming scheme than grandpa Bob?"

Bob pouted at this, he thought his name and title were awesome and fear inspiring, but according to Kyle they were bad. The widow smiled at Kyle before she responded.

"My given name is Winona."

Well it's not as bad as Bob the beast but it still had this rhyming thing going on.

"Do you get these titles when you move to the capital?"

Kyle was wondering the reasoning behind giving titles to people and what the trigger is to give them a title. He knew that it wasn't related to the army as Ash and the others never received a title like that.

"Well simply put the number of people who can reach the third stage are so small in number that we are well known in the capital. To give us an air of mystery and gravitas we'll receive another name either by general consensus like with mine. Or you'll receive one from the empire itself, like with Winona."

The beast responded, it was much like what happens in our world when a newspaper gives someone a nickname, but in this world it is their bards or leaders who name them. Third stage cultivators are like celebrities due to their strength.

"Do either of you know who many third stage cultivators there are in the empire or if there is a fourth level to cultivation?"

His grandparents shared a look before responding.

"True cultivator's number over a hundred but the empire keeps our true numbers a secret with only some of us being on public display. Those of us that are trotted out for public consumption are usually of commoner descent or like your grandfather and I from the borders."

"What your grandmother means is we don't know how strong the imperial family or the noble houses truly are."

Kyle thought about this for a moment but he could see the logic behind this, those not connected to the great houses would be used to show that anyone can become powerful. They would hide their own strengths however in case they ever became weaker than those they ruled or each other.

This empire was standing on a tightrope in high wind with traitors and social climbers within and demonic beast on the outside. It is only a matter of time before the empire collapsed in on itself.

"So Kyle now we've answered your questions and you've answered ours I have just one more. What are you planning to do from now one?"

Winona wanted to know what Kyle was planning, as during their short time with Landon they found out Kyle was already in a position of leadership. The guilds within the city had already fallen in behind him.

Kyle paused and put his thoughts into order, he had several ideas to improve and strengthen their land. These ideas would take time and the hardest part of any of these plans would be the shortage of human resources.

"The first stage of my plan involves healing this city. This place will be our base and starting off point, we will not stay here however. I intend to stabilise and improve this city before handing it's lordship over to the black family."

Winona and Bob were surprised Kyle intended to leave this city, they didn't say anything for the minute however they did share a look of surprise before returning their attention to Kyle.

"Second stage involves capturing the other cities in the northern territories. I have people already looking into the other cities and reconstructing the bastions within them. These will be safe zones for our allies and our own forces. Each city needs to be looked at individually as I also intend to pass on these cities to others to manage."

Kyle paused here as he knew this would be hard for his grandparents to accept, they would fear betrayal because Kyle didn't have the military necessary to police all the cities. As if on cue Bob spoke up.

"Kyle I don't mean to look down on anyone but how can you ensure that you won't be stabbed in the back or god forbid in the butt *smack* OW."

Kyle knew that was coming perhaps without the slap around the head but the point still stands. So here Kyle explained about the 'secrecy' seals, the advantages and also the how it skews people's perception.

Most of his inner circle were aware of this now and none of them seem bothered. Kyle didn't know if this was due to the seal itself or if it was just the way the people in this world looked at things. Kyle decided to tell his grandparents as they hadn't been around but he knew familial ties here were considered sacred.

For this reason Kyle was still surprised by James's betrayal, but in the case of his grandparents he wanted to gauge their reactions to this information.

Winona was pondering but being the meat head he is Bob immediately began asking questions.

"So these seals are like slave seals? Also the benefits sound good but what is the down side beyond the mental shifting?"

"These seals are superficially like 'slave' seals but where a 'slave' seal can be used to command all actions the 'secrecy' seals specifically block giving secret information of the holder or their group. In this case it is anything related to our strength so cultivation, techniques, skills and numbers. There are no downsides if you can overlook the mental conditioning."

"Well I don't see a problem then; this is no different than a good politician manipulating information or people being given stories that paint you in a good light."

It looked like his grandfather was also accepting of this situation and when Kyle looked at his grandmother he also saw she wasn't really bothered by it. Like Bob said the mental direction was no different than what a good smear or propaganda campaign could do.

"Okay Kyle so with your next two phases planned out do you have any other plans after those?"

Winona asked this as she was curious as to what Kyle's end game was going to be. Even if they took command of the northern territories, they would still be cut off and outnumbered if they ever rejoined the empire.

It looked as though Winona was still looking down on Kyle's technique, this may be due to the fact that she hadn't tried it yet. Once she had experienced the power that came with this new technique Kyle was sure she would understand they weren't to be trifled with, they only needed time.

To alleviate her worries however Kyle had another card up his sleeve.

"Currently our largest problem is human resources, we don't have enough people. Even if we seize all the cities around us, we as humans will gradually decrease in number until we cease to be. I plan to expand once we capture or are able to control the other cities."

Winona was surprised by this, as she was part of a few councils she knew that the human race was losing territory and had been for the last few centuries. This wouldn't help with the personnel issue and she wondered what his plan was to deal with that.

"Yes we will expand, the human territories used to be much larger. We are going to send teams out to resurrect the bastions at those former locations, creating footholds into the beast territories. Oh yes just for you information we have solved the fertility problems with stronger cultivators as well."

"Humana ha wah?!"