Madman’s Retirement

Reading it through, Grant couldn't help but tut and hum his way through it.

"Has honey bear monster, that's fine, but aren't you going to go into a more descriptive report? I mean, clearly its evolution route is heading one way or the other, and as a variant monster, that seems quite important to write down. Or for that matter, surely you could've written more about my mask? Speculate as to how I achieve this function.

Hmm. Similar to the behavior of heroes.. Hum, I wouldn't say it's incorrect. I do get a bit unstable when someone challenges my worldview. I'm curious what do you know of the summoning ritual.?"

Seeing the man's tightened lips and determined face he chuckled. "Oh relax, I know more about that ritual than you do, trust me. I was more curious as to how much you guys know.

Should be treated with caution. Good, good, I appreciate that kind of approach, though not sure about how I feel about being treated like those random god like beings spread throughout this empire of yours." He chuckled mirthfully. "You know what they say, you often end up at the place you want to avid most, am right?" His words only further confused the man, as the interaction was already causing him to spin, figuring out how to react.

"Leave bear and ogre companion alone. Yes, I would say that's the right choice. I mean, if they were hurt in any sort of way... Who Knows what I would do." He hinted ominously, causing the agent to swallow nervously, as he felt the heavy killing intent pressing him down, He stopped as he closed the report and pondered thoughtfully.

"B-. It's not a bad report, and it does succeed in doing what it sets out to do, but fails to go above and beyond the required criteria, and lacks emphasis as to what to do from beyond the suggestion, besides leave it to the temple of Jorvus. Tch, tch.

Come back to me next week with a revised report and I might revise it to a B+ or even an A-"

Grant said as he casually tossed the report back at the man.

The woodpecker looked over cautiously.

"Is that permission... to keep going?" He asked.

Grant did not even bother looking back.

"Of course. Any good emperor would seek to watch out for such uncertain variables. The fact that a student makes such efforts is commendable.

I should reward that rather than punish him for his hard work.

In fact." He paused in his steps, as he fished out a golden star.

"A good student should receive a reward for hard work."

He casually tossed a golden star at the woodpecker who caught it carefully.

"Tell him he gets a gold star. Get 3 more and he can pick a goody from the gift box for good students. "

And with that, Grant walked away without looking back once more.

"This is... I don't even know what to say!" The tower master exclaimed as she glared at the star in frustration.

She wasn't the only one. Within the imperial palace a small group of masters had been gathered to analyze the "gold star"

Amongst them was an eastern dragon who resided in the palace, a shaman from the spirit federation, a gluttony practitioner, amongst other experts.

Initially dismissed as a joke, it quickly became a serious issue as they realized the "trinket" was far more than it had let on to be.

A joke of the god level kind was to be studied, for even pranks of such a level could lead to great insight, so an initial, quick glance quickly grew into something more.

The magic circles alone were beyond their own understanding, as the magic circles overlapped one another in confusing and complex ways, as they interwove with one another, combining to create greater structures, and yet were merely smaller fractions of the diagrams the gold star contained. They almost seemed to pop out of the star when stared at too hard.

And it was not merely magic circles. There was also traces of diagrams and formations from the east, rituals invoking spirits, runic work, incomprehensible scribble that caused pain by merely reading.

So they brought in as many experts they could, from the eastern dragon who slept in the pond to the inuit shaman who had been residing in the palace.

And they all agreed:

"It's utter nonsense." Whatever it was, they ultimately came to the decision that it was too complex to be an actual, functioning item. After all, complexity was impressive, but when things become too impressive, they become less functional, and more decorative.

How could a spell incorporate so much!

And yet that felt wrong as well, with it all clearly having some order, with something intentional within it all, just that they could not piece it together.

All this did was confirm to the emperor that this mysterious man was far more dangerous than he had thought.

However, he was seemingly also docile at the moment. The sleeping beast.

He could be seen as the hidden danger, but as emperor, their empire had a long history of similar, "volatile people". People who had wanted to be left alone and when not left alone, tended to backfire.

The thunder monarch, a god level wyrm who had caused the overthrow of a previous emperor was one such example. Or perhaps the time a previous hero who had been summoned was wronged greatly after fulfilling his task.

Such stories resulted in tragedy, and a backlash that would take decades, if not centuries to recover from.

The agriculture was still recovering from the thunder monarch's wrath.

It was this reason that so many gods who were not part of the pantheon whom resided within the empire were left alone, and even catered to and in return, caused no trouble for the empire for the most part.

Some still did, of course, but an exception is always expected. The fact of the matter was that the empire had managed to survive this long by being smart about this.

It was clear that the man was aware of, and willing to ignore if not encourage the surveillance upon himself, if his wacky behavior were to be interpreted.

So in a sense, it could be seen that they came to an agreement of sorts, which meant in the long run, they may be able to ask him about the inscriptions on the gold star.

This was perhaps the best outcome that could be salvaged of the day.

And for the emperor, that was enough. SUch things were not necessarily commonplace, but not rare enough to occupy him, not with all the other matters at hand.

For Grant, it was an oopsie.

As in,

"Damn, I gave him the wrong star." Grant complained suddenly, as he realized he had handed the emperor the gold star he reserved for his own personal students, rather than for acquaintances he rewarded offhandedly.

After all, the difference in quality between rewards was a major difference in levels.

Grant had planned to hand out the lower rank stars, and yet had forgotten that he didn't have those. Like most of his lower rank stuff, it was likely left behind back in the old world with his divine realm.

Chances are its corresponding vault was too, unless that was ripped apart by the transference here.

As a result, when he handed out a star instinctively, he pulled one he still had left, which was of the highest rank.

As in, contains multiple forms of magical systems, from diagrams, arrays and magic circles, to runic language, dragon tongue, and the first language.

Frankly, he was more worried that someone's head would blow up.

The chances were low, but not zero.

The vault itself? Meh, nothing really important was stored in there, only the really rare resources. Rare enough to only be obtained by a kingdom once a century? Sure, but that's it. The really rare stuff was kept out of there, within his own divine realm, as the vault was really only meant to be a gold star gift basket.

You get four gold stars, you put them together, go pick out your own gift.

And if they managed to decipher it and break open the vault? Then they were free to take it. They earned it.

Of course, the boldness thought of by grant was something really, only his students would be so bold as to pull off. The emperor would never even dare to do such a thing.

Whatever, he had other priorities.

From educating his current student, to preparing for the upcoming envoy of Isis, there was plenty to prepare for already.

He was planning to use a selection ritual for the ogre child, to test which profession he would be best trained in.

There were many to choose from, and divining was useful in cutting the options down.

For those who knew how to use it, it was an easy, quick efficient way to find such answers.

He intended to just put the general fields out for him.

Cultivator, beast tamer, guide, sentinel/psyker, plant master,, alchemist, weapon refiner/ black smith, etc, etc.

Alright, not quite basics, but still.

As his student, it was Grant's job to ensure that the child had a clear path in the future.

The boy was young from what he could tell, and had a long road ahead of him, one that had not yet been paved, which allowed him all these options.

Had the boy already began to train in something, he likely would have had to work around it.

A clean slate was appreciated.

Alright, breaking it down into four may be better.

Fighter, beast tamer, production, refinement.

Four basic fields that could be expanded into multiple specializations. Beast tamer could easily divide into spirit summoner, golem master, beast tamer, insect master, and more. Fighter would include the main divisions of mana, qi, and psychic energy, where they would divide into further professions, unique to each division though many professions overlapped. Production would be similar, before breaking up into spiritual planter, beast husbandry, resource gathering, and other professions. Refinement would divide into weapons, potions, diagrams/arrays/formations, and more.

Beast masters cared a little less about qi and mana, as their growth was best benefitted from feedbacks from their familiars when they advanced, and as such, qi and mana were determined by their professions

So, choosing a symbol for each of the four was necessary.

It was at least. They had already been made long ago, in order to best choose professions for his previous students.

They were all crafted out of the wood of yggdrasil, a tree connected to destiny in some ways, and thus one of the better choices to create conduits for fate. Were there better options? Sure, but this was one that he had readily available thanks to his connection to the world tree.

Once they were paced in the array, it came to life with a soft hum indicating its completion.

With that, it was time to test the child's aptitude.