"Whether you believe it or not, after hearing about your situation from the Grand Elder even I would have chosen the path you have chosen for yourself. You can see those staring at us in awe and the reason is not just because of the shiny armor, although that obviously helps. It is also because they understand how strong of a unit we are and even this city's governor is weaker than I am."

"Do not let all of this go to your head though because I may be a rank six dual expert, but there are many monsters within our empire that even I would have no choice but to bow towards if it meant living another day. Where we are heading over to, is where baby sharks learn that they are in reality not even a fully grown fish. It will be difficult for you since the standards there are higher, but no matter how far you get at the Grey Imperial Academy, just know that your path is only as good as you make it and using another force instead of your own strength to solve issues you may have is not a good habit to get into."

"Two hundred and fifty years ago, I too was born into a commoner family and had to claw my way up bit by bit until I was recognized for my strength. There were countless cultivators who used their background to try to stomp on me but if you were to ask me, I most likely outlived almost all of them since the only way to increase one's life expectancy is to walk the path of immortality. Just remember child, you must be ready to push towards the stars if you want to get anything good out of this life!"

Hearing the expert speaking these wise words caused Timothy's heart to shake. It was not from the fact that he did not already go over such things with the artifact, but it was the look in the expert's eyes that stood out. It was not anger and it was not the ego of an accomplished cultivator, but rather it was sadness. He had no idea what exactly this expert had to go through to reach his own peak, but it seemed that it was full of dangers and maybe countless losses whether family or friends.

"Senior, I know how hard it is just to retain the title of student at the Grey Imperial Academy, but just so we are on the same page, my goal is to of course graduate."

Hearing Timothy's firm response caused the expert to suddenly change his facial expression completely as it was finally time for them to walk through the array. "Fantastic attitude, just always remember this Senior Uncle of yours is relying on you to graduate so that I can finally buy a higher tier training manual hoho!" The five guards all shook their heads because they could hear their conversation the entire time and they knew more than anyone else the type of person their superior was. This was the same reason why the Imperial Palace gave him this job assignment because his love for money was just too much and left many ways for him to be controlled by others!

Every individual that had the same rank as this expert in the Imperial Palace received the same salary amount regardless of the amount of years served or further accomplishments by said individual that brought honor and glory to the Imperial Family. However, what separated every one of these individuals was the way they would make up for receiving a reasonable salary, bonuses. This now Senior Uncle of Timothy's superiors understood how money hungry he was and so they placed him in a position where it was next to impossible for him to receive a bonus. In this way, they hoped over time his attitude would change because such attitudes would overshadow one's potential.

Unfortunately, they were wrong and were just praying to the heavens that not a single person from their region would graduate. The reason for this was because they actually added up to fifty times more for such a bonus to this expert so he would take the position without complaining. So in his eyes if Timothy were to graduate, the expert would be able to simply buy several second rate organizations within the region and in turn would be the head of a first rate organization once everything was combined!

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As the demon who caused all of this mess for Timothy thought, or even if it was just the heavens allowing the demon to have his own way, the empire Timothy was now in, was deemed the absolute weakest one in the world and it showed.  This was public knowledge because the Imperial Family had to continuously accept new sects and organizations from other empires just so they did not completely collapse! Even if a neighboring empire wanted to swallow them up, it was next to impossible to do since the Imperial Family chose to grow their influence in this way.

There were of course standards to who the Imperial Family would accept into the empire to give it a sharp enough edge for a neighbor to be unwilling to launch a war campaign in case another took the chance to begin their own in response. This was considered the greatest equalizer that the Imperial Family could come up with since if they continued to accept foreigners and made them part of the empire, it would add an additional layer of worry for others. Who would want to go on a war campaign that would not end without many losses while having to worry about a possible invasion on themselves?

Due to being in this position, many powers moved their sometimes a millennium old foundations since the Imperial Family for the most part, had to give them not only face but many additional benefits that a 1st rate sect or organization in another empire could not dream of having. This would include some political and military power, and would also allow these powers to grow at whatever pace they wished to while the Imperial Family would turn a blind eye.

Because of this massive move of many 3rd rate powers of other empires into their own, the emperor had no choice but to marry off his only daughter to the Blazing Phoenix Sect who had a Rank 9 ancestor trained by a member of the legendary Phoenix Clan and was always part of Twilight Empire since its inception. This would give them enough leverage to continue to accept these foreigners without seeing their overall reign to be questioned by the populace and others. And as time went on, although still considered to be the weakest among the human empires in the world, it was enough to give them a boost that would allow them to sleep soundly at night.

The Phoenix Clan was very powerful and due to this merger of sorts, the Imperial Family was able to keep charge of the empire even though they had to continue to make some concessions to the powers who relocated. The merger quelled any potential rebellion from occurring, but the Blazing Phoenix Sect still acted independently and stripped many of the treasures of the Imperial Family as a dowry. Still, not a single cultivator regardless of their background was willing to offend the Imperial Family or speak the word rebellion.