Chapter 6429 Eliza Mo Ragadan When Ves entered the office where his chief of staff apparently worked from, he immediately froze when he caught sight of the large painting mounted on the wall behind the desk. There was something mesmerizing out of this artwork that immediately penetrated his mental defenses as if they were made out of air! The painting was a 'landscape' image in that it depicted a magical wonderland that was floating in the middle of a psychedelic astral storm. The size of the painting offered plenty of room for detail, and the most prominent features on it were the 5 large structures that were placed at equal distances from each other. One structure was covered with vines and surrounded by trees. Another temple-like structure was floating in the middle of an extraordinarily cool and pristine lake. A third temple appeared to be located in the middle of a lava lake while the fourth was made completely out of metal. The final temple looked like it was carved out of a million layers of rock. It did not take much guessing for Ves to conclude this amazing painting depicted the Great Temple of the Immortal Gods when it was at his height. Perhaps it had even been painted during the time where his mother used to be a high-ranking member of the Wood Shrine. The painting depicted far more than just the Great Temple. It possessed a strange power that enabled Ves to feel a glimpse of the huge amount of power that resided in this blessed location. A quirk of galactic geography caused the Milky Way to create rare pockets of space where E energy, or qi to the cultivators of the Five Scrolls Compact, still flowed at a small but sustainable rate. This proved that the Milky Way was not completely 'dead', just in an extremely terrible condition that caused it to possess only a fraction of the splendor that it used to possess. In any case, the Great Temple as depicted by the mysterious painting not only presented a glimpse of a blessed land, but also conveyed a small but disturbing sense of piety in the Sacred Scrolls. Anyone with a sufficiently weak mind would probably get brainwashed into a cultist of the Five Scrolls Compact without being able to resist the effect! While Ves was not able to block the impact of seeing such a mesmerizing image, he was still able to block the brainwashing effect, which caused him to feel relieved. There was something really strange and suspicious about this painting. Why was it in his chief of staff's office? Did she share a connection to the cult that still served as the archenemy of the MTA and CFA? Ves took a closer look at his chief of staff. He remembered that Gavin had hired her after considering the applications of a huge number of talented and highly accomplished applicants. For her to get selected out of many other possible candidates, she should have definitely passed the necessary background checks and loyalty tests. Although she had not joined the Larkinson Clan, he could easily solve this problem in a minute. As the woman that he would be relying upon to manage his internal affairs inside the Red Collective, Eliza Mo Ragadan was not an ordinary woman. He could already tell that she had become a qi cultivator, though her spirituality only reached the first major cultivator rank. This indicated that she had likely begun to cultivate shortly after the Great Severing took place. What was interesting was that she already gained a companion spirit. She was one of the few people who earned the merits or the qualifications to earn a companion spirit fruit. Right now, her companion spirit did not appear to be anything special. It came in a boring and unimaginative form of a wisp, and did not appear to possess any offensive power. The same applied to the principal. However, nobody asked for a chief of staff like Eliza to possess any combat capabilities. She could do her job a lot better if she possessed stronger calculation, predication and sensory capabilities. Though Eliza had already begun to cultivate, she did not appear to practice any methods that reminded Ves of the Five Scrolls Compact. Neither did her appearance or behavior suggest that she had anything to do with the forbidden cult that was rooted in the Milky Way. He needed to be sure, though. "Before we talk any further, I need you to prove your sincerity and loyalty to me by joining the Larkinson Clan." Ves cautiously declared. "Gavin, bring out the tome." Gavin stepped forward and retrieved the Larkinson Mandate that he carried in a protected case on his person. He reverently retrieved the first and most important relic of the Larkinson Clan and presented it to Ves with both of his hands. Ves nonchalantly raised his arm and activated the retrieval program that caused the Larkinson Mandate to fly forward until it smacked into his palm. "Do you know what you are getting into, Ragadan?" The black-haired woman nodded with utmost solemnity. "Your assistant has briefed me beforehand. I will attempt to connect to your clan's exclusive kinship network and bare my soul to the Golden Cat. I am willing to undergo this trial and become a part of your trusted circle." "Then press your palm on the Larkinson Mandate and pledge your oath." Everyone's oath was different. The words didn't matter so long as the person was sincere enough. Ves only paid attention to when the Golden Cat reached out and connected to Eliza Mo Ragadan's spirituality and expertly analyzed her entire being. "Nyaaaaaa." Goldie clearly voiced her approval. Once she confirmed that Eliza truly wasn't an agent of another power, the ancestral spirit completed the ritual and forged a permanent spiritual connection with the latest member of the Larkinson Clan! Ves gave the woman a few minutes to catch her breath and get used to all of the new sensations and experiences of becoming a Larkinson. "Let's talk now that I can be certain that you can be trusted." Ves spoke as he held Lucky in his arm and began to stroke the gem cat's head. "First, why is this painting here, and where did you obtain this artwork?" "I have been told that the painting is a donation from an anonymous source. The Astral Octagon where we are in right now could never have been built by the Red Collective alone. Many different parties have contributed to its construction and furnishing. I do not have access to the records that reveal who has donated this particular artwork, but there is a different department that is responsible for allocating them to different rooms and halls. As the presumptive chief council of the Upper Council, you have been deemed worthy to receive one of the most prestigious and impressive pieces in the collection." As Ves looked up at the painting of the Great Temple, he felt sick to his stomach. He had a strong suspicion that it sent the entirely wrong message to any visitors looking to talk to his chief representative in the main headquarters of the Red Collective! "Get rid of it." Ves straightforwardly commanded. "I fear that it does not send the right message. It also does freaky mental manipulation stuff that is highly detrimental to people. This should be locked up in a deep dark vault or incinerated outright." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚 "I can understand your fears, sir, but it is not as dangerous as you think. Every worker and most visitors of the Astral Octagon already practices one cultivation method or another. We may not have made too much progress yet, but we should already have sufficient strength to resist fairly weak effects. Besides… the painting has been helpful in reinforcing your heritage and right to command so much power. Despite your many accomplishments, we cannot ignore that you are primarily a mech designer and far too young to hold such an exceedingly high station. My conversations with others may have proceeded much worse if I did not borrow the power of this heritage artwork." It appeared that Eliza was not ignorant of the implications of the painting. She accepted the baggage that came with this old piece and took advantage of it to advance her own goals. Ves looked impressed. This was quite shrewd and spoke much about her competence! "That sounds great, but I haven't changed my mind. I do not want to associate myself too closely to the cult that likely commissioned this painting. I do not need this to reinforce my power and authority. Once I gain an official appointment, I will already gain enough status to dispense with this trick. My recent release of the Yellow Jacket models has also enhanced my reputation and prestige." "Hm, that is true, sir. I will request the relevant department to retrieve it and dispatch a more innocuous painting when we move into your main offices after today. Speaking about your Yellow Jackets, we must urgently address the turmoil it has caused for the Red Collective. Not everyone with a stake in it is pleased with your latest product release." "What is the problem, Ragadan?" "Have you not foreseen this problem? The release of Carmine mechs has captured the imagination of nearly every norm that yearns to wield great power. Previously, their only direct means to empower themselves was to practice a cultivation method, which would cause them to fall under the jurisdiction of the Red Collective. Now that they have an entirely new option available, these norms will instead devote themselves to becoming Carmine mech pilots. Only a day has passed and already many people have chosen to commit their precious time on studying piloting skills and practicing with their future Carmine mechs, which causes them to answer to the Red Association. Few of them have retained the time or interest to commit to more classical forms of cultivation." That put Ves into thought. His chief of staff was completely right about this. He had inadvertently inflicted a huge amount of damage to the Red Collective's core interests, which was to raise a huge number of cultivators that could do all kinds of amazing stuff by harnessing the power of E energy alone! Even though Ves had not put a lot of thought to this far-reaching consequence, he did not feel too worried. "Good." He smirked. "That means that there will be a lot less dummies that will recklessly play around with the power of cultivation and abuse their powers. While you are probably correct about a lot of norms turning away from cultivation, it is impossible for everyone to become a Carmine mech pilot. There will still be a lot of people who are unable to afford Carmine mechs or who do not possess the guts to get drafted to fight in the Red War. I think that the sects will still be able to offer enough incentives to persuade people to practice their cultivation methods." "That is true, but what the officials of the Red Collective are concerned about is that your Carmine mechs will steal away most promising norms with a talent in combat or cultivation. Both mech piloting and classical cultivation require a certain degree of talent to make it far, but the importance of this factor is far greater to the latter. A significant reduction in the availability of high-quality talents will severely affect the development speed of sects and the Red Collective as a whole." "Is it that bad?" Ves frowned. "As far as I am aware, there are cultivation methods that do not rely as much on talent in order for a practitioner to make quick progress." Eliza answered. "However, they do this by promising limited power or demanding far greater resources in order to advance. The latter is becoming less of a problem now that many major organizations have learned how to grow special plants and brew special medicinal products out of them, but the supply is always woefully inadequate." "Wait, has the RC already begun to produce elixirs on an industrial scale?"