MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1830: Playing the Long Game (3)

Indeed.

Contrary to the difficulty she expressed during the meeting after being asked if it was possible to improve the Basic Ether Gathering Technique even further, Veradine had actually made a lot of progress in increasing the technique’s efficacy during the past couple of weeks.

Of course, after making so many changes to the technique, she first thought about sharing this massive breakthrough with her colleagues. After all, writing an article about achieving a 160% boost to the Basic Ether Gathering Technique’s efficacy would definitely set off great waves in the field of both Scholars and Sages.

Though, as she gave the idea a bit more thought, she eventually decided to withhold most of the changes, instead settling for an improvement that was still a sizable jump from before, but was at least in the realm of what she considered "believable".

Naturally, there were a number of reasons as to why she had done this.

The first reason was the fact that she wanted to avoid more attention being drawn towards her.

Although she was a well-renowned Scholar in her own right and was given the first ever Thymesion Grand Scholar Award by the Grand Sage, a 160% improvement over what was considered the bread and butter on a Sage’s path was just unbelievable even with her qualifications.

Aside from that, even if she did push through with publishing it, she would immediately be scrutinized not only by her fellow Scholars, but by Sages as well.

After all, even with the award ceremony taken into consideration, it had only been around a month or two since she published the article that truly brought her into the limelight.

With that in mind, it would be weirder if people were to immediately accept the fact that she had made a massive improvement to the Basic Ether Gathering Technique once more.

Then again, even though she would be scrutinized to hell and back by the masses by pulling such a move, what really made her think twice before proceeding with her current actions was the Grand Sage.

Which brought her to the second reason why she decided to withhold such information.

She wanted to avoid the attention of the Grand Sage specifically.

Sure, the first improvement she had made to the Basic Ether Gathering Technique had piqued the interest of the Grand Sage, allowing her to be recognized as a Scholar while also being given a series of rewards.

However, that was only possible because it had taken her years to get to that point.

On the other hand, it only took her the first two weeks after becoming a bona fide Sage to achieve monumental changes to the Basic Ether Gathering Technique.

If the Grand Sage were to find out that it only took her that much time to push the technique even further, Veradine knew that there were only two possible outcomes that awaited her.

And ironically enough, those two outcomes were more or less the same outcomes she came up with after she realized how monstrous her aptitude was.

Either a verdict that barred her from pursuing the path of a Sage any further...

Or death.

"...Haah."

Letting out a faint sigh as she shook these thoughts off her mind, Veradine eventually stood up as she made her way to one of the windows.

Then, looking out, she stared off into the distance, gazing at the hustle and bustle that happened throughout the city.

"I suppose it isn’t a bad thing to think about myself for once," she muttered, taking in a deep breath as she continued to look out the window.

Though avoiding attention from others was the main reason why she decided to keep most of the changes to herself, there was one other reason why she made this decision.

Selfishness.

Of course, it wasn’t like she planned on keeping the changes she made to the technique as a secret that she’d bring with her to the grave. Her nature as a Scholar wouldn’t allow that.

If anything, she just wanted to have a finer control over the changes that she made public.

In other words, she wanted to control the rate at how quickly the Basic Ether Gathering Technique improved in the public’s eyes.

Now, why would she do this?

One, it was an easy way for her to further establish her reputation as the Heaven and Earth Scholar.

If people were to read that the Heaven and Earth Scholar constantly found and made improvements to what many viewed as the first Ether Gathering Technique a Sage would ever learn, she had no doubt that everyone would look at her in a positive light.

Sure, they might eventually become tired of the improvements she made to the technique at some point, but overall, she knew that they would still see her contribution as something positive.

As for the second reason...

It was the Grand Sage yet again.

Though, unlike before, it was more so the fact that she wanted to accumulate more strength as a Sage without the Grand Sage knowing anything about it.

After all, to the Grand Sage, the Basic Ether Gathering Technique had only improved its efficacy by 40% thanks to Veradine’s prior article.

And with her next article, that number would become 80%.

Utilizing that difference in information between both sides, she planned to amass as much ether strands as possible in secret, breaking through realms with the Grand Sage being none the wiser in order to give herself more breathing room.

In short, she was planning to play the long game.

She believed that in the Grand Sage’s eyes, she was just a Four-star Scholar whose journey as a Sage would end at the pinnacle of Sage-to-be.

However, with her experience during the past couple of weeks, she knew that reaching the pinnacle of Sage-to-be was merely the first step on her long journey.

’Speaking of which, I should try applying the changes I made to the other Ether Gathering Techniques.’

After staring out the window for a bit longer, Veradine eventually returned to her seat as the gears in her mind began to turn.

Glancing at the documents laid out in front of her, she soon had a pensive look on her face.

’Considering that all Ether Gathering Techniques stem from the Basic Ether Gathering Technique, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to think that I’d be able to boost the efficacy of the other techniques by 160% as well.’

"However, doing so right now would probably be counterproductive," she muttered, faintly shaking her head.

’...But then, if I alternated the articles I publish between improvements to the Basic Ether Gathering Technique and improvements to other Ether Gathering Techniques, I would give me a lot more time to accumulate ether compared to just publishing articles with the first topic.’

Falling silent as the gears in her head continued to turn, Veradine eventually had a look of realization and understanding on her face as she began to make a few changes to her tentative plan.

’While working on my next article, I should try and find the time to optimize the Basic Ether Gathering Technique to the limits of my comprehension,’ she thought to herself as she made a to-do list in her head. ’Pushing it to its utmost limit could come in the future.’

’Then, while researching the various Ether Gathering Techniques I plan to use for my next article, I should remember what parts from those techniques acted as their foundation.’

’Then, once I have accumulated enough information from both sides, only one step would remain.’

’Which is to create an optimized Ether Gathering Technique that’s tailor-made for my circumstances.’