When Hal left the Hotel, almost imdiately after his conversation with Tanya, he made his way to the Royal Academy.
He was allowed in fairly easily after presenting the seal that marked him as a student of the Academy.
The day was heading to a close but the Academy was still bustling with activity.
Over the last week, the academy had been changing on account of those who had been able to gain insight into Ordinances. They were quite eager to show off their power and change the status quo.
The wise ones, which was a good portion of the various guild leaders, felt the actual details of the Ordinances they had to themselves and the most they actually said was that they had Ordinances.
From the rumors, no one had been successful in gaining insight into any of the Abstract Ordinances...
That said, considering they were all still basically youngsters who had their whole lives ahead of them, they were not disheartened.
They had about five thousand years until the scheduled rearrival of the monunt of Ordinances and they would are trying their luck at that point.
There was a change in the air, egos were high and there were calls for the restructuring of power levels.
Thanks to the Guild war, the Sapphirine Guild was at the top of the Guild hierarchy but other Guilds were considering changing the narrative.
All this was chatter that Hal picked up as he made his way to the Sapphirine Guild headquarters.
He knew for a fact that the Sapphirine Guild was totally unbothered by all this, which was to be expected as they were being led by linda... He also knew by the many Royal Academy Street chatter that the entire Guild had been combatively silent.
After the Guild war, they had been relatively active and rode the waves of their victory but after the experiences within the monunt of Ordinances, they had been quite recluse.
The only major piece of news from the Guild was about one of their mbers who returned from the Monunt with early-stage Cosmic Semi-Saint realm cultivation, graduated, and was quickly offered a spot as honorary Elder in the Acadeny...
The position practically guaranteed that mber to one day beco an Academy Elder and even in that current position, while she was supposed to be impartial, there was no way she would not show favoritism to her forr Guild.
This was not exactly an issue as every single one of the Guilds in the Royal Academy had forr mbers who had been granted the sa position... The issue was that the Sapphirine Guild was barely a year old and already had a forr mber who was an honorary Elder.
Plus, that student had only just beco a student and she had already graduated... That was unreal.
The student was, of course, Valerie Cruz.
Anyway, this matter caused a small surge of excitent as there was a rumor about an open spot in the Sapphirine Guild and they were likely to begin recruitnt soon.
Ever since their creation, the Sapphirine Guild had vehently claid to be satisfied with their small numbers but that didn't an that once they lost a mber, they would not want to fill that empty spot.
Anyway, despite all the rumors, there was no actual word from the Guild due to them going silent in regards to interactions with outsiders.
Hal arrived at the Guild headquarters and the entire area was bursting with activity.
Sparring, conversing, and few notes of leisure.
The Headquarters had even gone through a small renovation following the destruction during the Guild war and they had added a battling stage.
Suri Hander with her gift of sensitive ears was atop the stage and was doing battle with Nicole Antonov with the two making minimal uses of Ordinances they had gained insight into within the Monunt of Ordinances.
Hal barely got to watch a minute of the spar before his presence in the courtyard was noticed and the eyes of the many mbers of the Guild turned to him.
"Well, well, well... Look who's back," said Suri as she and Nicole took a break from their spar and Hal gave a small wave.
The mbers of the Sapphirine Guild were happy to see Hal after having warr up to him throughout the Guild war and many of them ushered him into one of the headquarter's halls where they comnced a party they said was in honor of his return.
Hal noted that it was all likely a front and could have sworn that the occasional party was leisure they had been enjoying for a good while and would have enjoyed that night whether he ca to the Guild or not.
He was right.
That said, he did not hate the attention... He had co to et the mbers of the Guild after all.
If he wanted a eting with any of his won, the Harem space was always open and available for their unabashed face-to-face eting.
The major topic was where exactly he had been all this while considering the monunt of Ordinances had been gone for about two weeks now.
To the mbers of the Sapphirine Guild, he was still a student of the Academy and considered not returning early to have been a misdeanor.
Hal very easily brushed all such topics off and had himself relax amid the ladies of the Sapphirine Guild... Considering this to be his ti off before he got chewed out by the Empress the next day.
Speaking of the Empress, she was the reason linda was not at the Guild headquarters at the mont.
Anyway, the mbers of the Guild, especially Nicole who made it a point to have her body pressed to Hal's, expressed much more clearly the chatter Hal had heard as he made his way to the Guild headquarters.
Apparently, the Sapphirine Guild was taking a well-rited rest from the hassle that was the many Conflicts in the Royal Academy while also using it as an opportunity to bait the other Guilds.
Every single one of them testified to the fact that linda was much more powerful than any one of the other Guild leaders could ever expect and the fact they had been able to gain insights into Ordinances was not going to make much of a difference.
The result, should there be another Guild war, would be the sa or even more destructive for the enemies.
That said, all through their silence, the Guild was still making moves to form alliances with Guilds that had the good sense to side with the obvious winning side.
Hal had to comnd linda's multitasking...
Being with him, linda was almost constantly getting inford of his plans and she knew about the coming invasion. Now that they could communicate telepathically, there was very little of his plans that she did not know.
She was preparing to do however much she could do as a mber of his force and was also serious about planning for this schoolyard rivalries.
Yes, that was what the Guild war was and she and everyone involved knew that.
Once the Continent was in danger, Guild wars and other such practices would be put on the back burner and there will be a coming together of rivals for the good of the Empire.
At that point, linda as well as the rest of Hal's won who were expected to fight would be expected to pick up arms for the Empire.
As for the ladies of the Sapphirine Guild, a vast majority of whom were connected to powerful families on the Continent, Hal saw them as having the potential of being useful mbers of his force.
linda had gotten their loyalty in a very short ti and he (Hal) had gained their admiration and respect whole arousing their lust and fantasizing mind.
There was potential in the thought of them becoming his and while Hal had made no such notion known, it was bound to happen sooner or later.
The Guild had practically been created by linda to serve the purpose of securing his hegemony.
When the party finally neared its conclusion and Hal could truly say he had caught up with every mber of the Guild and every detail of future plans (he was still a mber of the Guild after all), he retired into a room with Nicole while many of the won of the Guild watched on and kept their fantasies to themselves.
The mont they entered the room, Nicole Antonov wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his in an ardent kiss.
Hal grabbed her and pulled her closer to himself while stretching his hand down to her pliant buttocks but while he did so, he reached out to linda telepathically which let him know that she was still with the Empress and deep in diative focus.
'Until later then' Hal thought as he opened a portal to the Harem space which he went through with Nicole.
Nicole reached her one hand between them and ripped open his upper garnt to reveal his chest which she attacked with kisses.
As she got more aggressive, the door of the room they were in opened up and Valerie stood in the doorway naked except for the loose robe she had on.
Hal owed her an initiation into his way of cultivation and now was as good a ti as any.
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