Before more capable sorcerers could rush in and make things even messier, Baiyi finished filling the two forms handed to him, which he immediately handed over to the dazed receptionist.
Baiyi proceeded to ask, this time, in a more relaxed, humble tone, “If I am not mistaken, proper procedure dictates that I be given a Power Level Examination, first, before suing, right?”
“Er… Yes, that’s the correct protocol,” the secretary replied hesitantly. The Soul Armature may be savage, but he appeared to know the many rules of the Association very well. She realized she did not even need to clarify things for him, and this puzzled her even more.
She held back her astonishment and eyed the answers written down in the form. Then, with surprise evident in her voice, the secretary mumbled, “Hope?”
It was a very familiar name; one that the receptionist turned over in her head again and again, then suddenly, she froze. The realization had hit her so hard, she asked with a raised voice, “Hope? You can’t be Master Hope, right?”
“It’s quite a non-mainstream name, so I guess no one else has it…” Baiyi replied, revealing his identity in a roundabout way.
“Oh my gosh, it is Master Hope! Like the same one that the Church had been talking about! But why would someone like you acted so…”
She trailed off, failing to understand the attitude unbefitting of Baiyi’s reputation, which he had just displayed. She hurriedly picked up the first paper that Baiyi had smacked onto the table, and broke it with; then, she saw the ban notice — the latest order coming from the headquarter’s conference.
With Baiyi’s identity being exposed, the bystanders began to murmur incessantly
“Master Hope… The same one the Church talked about? This can’t be a fake, can it?”
“Well, right here’s a Soul Armature who has a group of beautiful, adorable young girls; I’ll say it’s him alright. But he was quite… um, unruly? What could have made him so mad?”
“He mentioned a Power Level Examination, right? And ‘filing a suit, too, right’? Did he suffer any injustice?”
“Dude, that’s like, so possible! ‘Cause, you know, those sorcerers are wolves in sheep clothing, right? They gobble you up right to the bones. They can do anything just for themselves…”
As the crowd found their interests piqued, they discussed the events that had just occurred, and while they were doing so, the real deal finally arrived, albeit tardily.
A high-level, manager badge was pinned on the robes of the young man who had just arrived. He shoved the onlookers aside to inspect the scene. He eyed the frozen security guard, glared at the short-circuited marionettes, and finally, he set his eyes on the intruder.
The young man had to suppress his emotions just so that his face does not betray the rage that he was feeling. He said, trying to conceal his real emotion, “Master Hope! I believe you have a misunderstanding regarding our Association.”
“Oh, no, no misunderstanding, mister. I’m only here to play my role in the procedures,” Baiyi replied calmly, raising his helm slightly higher, making it seem as if the manager was nothing to him. The young sorcerer looked polite on the surface, but his sulkiness and contempt were evident from his manners; everyone on the scene could hear that icy tone underneath his feigned politeness.
“Be quick with your job!” The manager turned to the receptionist. She nodded, and seeing as her own desk had been destroyed, she had to move to the desk next to hers to process Baiyi’s forms.
“Master Hope, there are too many bystanders here. Shall we change venues for our discussion?” The manager turned to the Soul Armature.
Baiyi ignored him; instead, he looked at his students and said, “Here’s my fourth lesson: when there is an injustice, let as many people as you can know about it. Solve your matter in a transparent way so that you can avoid being exploited by unwritten rules and hidden players. Most powerful organizations are the same; they will exploit the people, and they will do so without caring a whit about your welfare. The only potent weapon you wield is the mass’s opinion. Always remember that.”
After his speech, Baiyi turned back to the manager’s increasingly darkening expression and calmly said, “I understand your sentiment, but I’ll stay right here.”
If it was not for the glaring unbridgeable gap between their power levels, the young and furious manager would have been compelled to hurl a punch at the soul armature. The Fifth Walker’s speech had already gotten the crowd of spectators discussing amongst themselves. However, the spectators echoed his sentiments.
A consensus was starting to form.
Baiyi appeared unaffected, however, as he beckoned his students over to sit on a bench and wait. He began to play with Little Mia, poking her cheeks with one hand and using the other to grip her braid hard, all the while watching Mia’s reaction gleefully 1 .
At that moment, the manager appeared even more furious. His tone suddenly turned really hostile, making his next words sound like a threat, “Fine, then. If Master Hope wouldn’t mind waiting for the procedures, then it suits me just right. However, lemme remind you that these procedures are usually very slow, so I hope you are famed for your patience.”
The Fifth Walker may enjoy a solid and widespread reputation, but it was ultimately spread by the Church; an organization which may not be able to easily control the opinions of some other organizations. For example, the Sorcerer Association was never convinced by the stories of Baiyi’s heroics which were spread by the Church. Their dismissal was mostly due to the self-important ego most sorcerers possessed, particularly because they had enjoyed high statuses in the society for so long, and partially because the man that the Church revered was nothing but a soul armature. They also had the implicit knowledge that the Church had a habit of exaggerating feats and stories.
Frankly, when Baiyi had achieved his heroic feats, the Association themselves conducted their own internal meetings, forming a unified opinion of their own; they concluded that Baiyi was most likely just a mediocre sorcerer. “I could do the same, or even better!” was the general consensus among them; furthermore, did he not say he was just lucky enough to be present when the Godsfall cultists fought among themselves?
Besides, jealousy and a resentment for their own lack of little girl companions had made their opinion of Baiyi even sourer, and thus, Baiyi’s best feats were regarded as unimpressive by the sorcerers here. In fact, because Baiyi always used formations for his magic, some of the sorcerers had secretly called him a stubborn, close-minded old fart who would soon be replaced by new zeitgeists.
If one got to know the Association’s opinions of Baiyi, they would not be surprised at the attitude that the young sorcerer was currently giving to him.
For his reply to the young manager’s threat, Baiyi turned to his students and said, “Important side-note: in the process of defending justice, we easily meet some people who serve as nothing but a hindrance due to their ignorance, stupidity, and pride in being imbeciles. The less they know, the haughtier they become; in the future, when you have to interact with them, remember to ignore them calmly. You may be proud and confident, but you shouldn’t forget basic humility. Don’t become one of them.”
The young sorcerer’s fury was kicked into overdrive; this man had just used him as a scapegoat to reprimand some other kind of people! The young sorcerer was so furious, he laughed bitterly.
He nodded at Baiyi silently, then turned his head away and left.
“He looked like he was about to explode,” Tisdale said, watching the man storm off. “Sir, are you sure they aren’t going to do whatever they can to delay your procedure? I know we have enough funds at home, but…”
“Well, this cuts right into my fifth point: a single man going against a gigantic organization is quite an unfair fight, right? They might even try to ignore your voice. At that moment, it’s pertinent that you use your influence and your relevance to your advantage. If you’re one of the quieter ones, find yourself some powerful friends; if you don’t have such friends, find people who are getting as equally maltreated as you are. Seeing as there is strength in unity, there is never an acceptable/reason to turn a blind eye,” Baiyi explained patiently.
“Fortunately, I’m not exactly some unknown schmuck that those arrogant bastards in the Association could wave away. However, there are many others who are smart and capable in an organization such as this, so we don’t have to worry so much.”
As if to prove his point, the young manager returned to them with an even more tempestuous mien — aided by the visible handprint on his face.
Nevertheless, the young manager had to force himself to sound hospitable, saying, “Master Hope, our division leader would like to see you in his office.”
Baiyi ignored him again and turned to the students. “Remember the sixth point: we are the victims, and truth and justice are on our side. We need to stay strong and indignant from the start to the end, even when they are trying to negotiate with us. We need to be proactive.”
After a while, a chubby sorcerer was standing before Master Hope.
He greeted the soul armature with genuine hospitality. “Master Hope! I am the branch leader of this building, Joe. My friends call me Fat Joe. Now, if you’d like, let us talk things out and smooth any misunderstanding, yea?”
Baiyi nodded and finally stood up from his bench. He turned to his students again and said, “And here it is. The last point: everything has gotta have a limit. Always know to walk the middle ground.”
“Yes!” The fat man clapped his hands in agreement. “‘Middle ground’… such an important life lesson that one can never truly master. Master Hope’s lectures truly trigger the cogs of mind. I’m gratified for being able to listen to one of them.”
“Please, follow me.” The fat man gestured.
Baiyi and his posse obliged, following the branch manager to the high-level, personnel-only area where the latter’s office was situated. As they walked onward, they passed by a few of those short-circuited marionettes. A few sorcerers, whose daily work responsibilities included smoothing out the processes within the Association, were already bending over to examine the unresponsive automatons.
Seeing how perplexed and powerless they looked, Baiyi snapped his finger blithely, and the marionettes immediately snapped back into action, standing up on their own with “Krupp! Krupp!” mechanical sounds.
“If I’m not mistaken, Sir Hope, you jammed the energy supply within the magical marionettes using your own mana, right?” Fat Joe whispered. “That’s very masterful. If the Blacksmiths knew about this, oh — who could imagine their expression!”
Baiyi did not refute nor affirm the man’s claim. In fact, he was not exactly surprised that the fat man could discern his method because despite being only Master-level, Fat Joe had managed to be a branch leader, implying that he may possess other valuable skills. Perhaps he was more knowledgeable than he looked.
After they entered Fat Joe’s humbly-decorated office, the branch leader ordered his subordinates to bring some food and drinks for the guests.
Then, he studied the big fox and the owl with interest and exclaimed, “As expected of the Doors of Conundrum! They honor the scholastic potential in anyone.”
‘Hmph, he’s pretty good.’ Baiyi had his own discovery. Out of everyone who had seen his flora-and-fauna-themed students, only this man and the butler from the Wright family were able to tell that these non-humans were students and not his pets. Everyone else, including the bystanders who had witnessed Baiyi’s exchange in the front desk, had thought that Baiyi was just bringing his pets along. Some even went so much as to comment on the “dog’s beautiful fur” and its “beautiful tail”.
“My ignorant nephew had caused a huge rift just now, so please accept my apology.” Fat Joe changed the topic as he sat on his chair.
He grabbed two pieces of papers and added, “Your applications have been received. The Power-level Examination is being arranged, but this suit against the ban — well, I have contacted the headquarters. There are still a few parts that we aren’t very sure about…”
Baiyi showed him a parchment with the glider’s guiding formation inscribed on it. “This is something I created a few months ago. I know it’s just a little trick, but it’s still my trick.”
He added, “Its effects are exactly the same as the effects of what was described in the copyright ban, and as for when it was made, I’m sure you can tell.”
The formation that Baiyi had presented was not one of his recently produced designs, but the old one that Undine had sent over to him. The mana that had been used to inscribe the text on the parchment had faded long ago — a solid evidence supporting Baiyi’s claim.
As the formation was already encrypted with his magical safeguard, Baiyi casually folded the parchment into a paper plane to showcase his formation’s function.
After hardening the paper plane with his magic, Baiyi drew an End Terminal Formation on the branch leader’s table, then he handed the paper plane to the branch leader.
Fat Joe doubtfully hurled the paper plane into the air without aiming at a particular direction. The paper plane soared around in the air for a while, then it slowly returned to the table, docking exactly on top of the End-Terminal Formation.
The fat man unfolded the plane back into a parchment and studied the formation. His brows furrowed, and he asked quizzically, “Its function is exactly as you said, and according to the age of the mana you used to inscribe this, it was clearly used before the ban was issued. However, we ourselves checked with our copyright repository before issuing our copyright, and we didn’t find any previous registry. In fact, from the looks of your confusing magical safeguard that blocks anyone from decrypting your work, this shows that you do not want others to claim it as theirs, either… So Master Hope, why didn’t you register the copyright yourself?”
‘Because dealing with you people is so annoying!’ Baiyi replied his real answer in his mind, but outwardly, he explained very seriously, “I don’t mind if others managed to achieve the same function using other methods or magic. So similarly, I don’t want others to prohibit me from using it, too!”
“This is unfairrrrr!” Baiyi knocked on the table hard, stressing the word “fair”. “That’s why I came back — to get justice.”