Alexander Smith
Staying in Tolena should have been just a detour for Alex and his family. If all goes according to plan, he should be on the next airship back to Oryn the moment everyone successfully obtains their beta plater slots and signing a few magic mineral supply contracts. If opportunity allow, they will also try to get their hands on mining right to a magic mineral deposit.
However, things never go according to plan. Just a few days after arriving in Tolena, Dan somehow got accepted as the mayor's direct disciple. His new master, Jean Aubert is the slickest salesman Alex has ever met. When Dan first introduced his master to him, he got hoodwinked into becoming Jean's named disciple in less than an hour time. A day after that, even Henry has become Jean's named disciple.
Even after an Earth months' time, he still can't decide if his decision has been too hasty. Being the mayor's disciple has its perks but also comes with a certain level of expectations and obligations. The expectations are what puts both Alex and Henry in a tight spot. As Jean's named disciple, there is no escaping supporting their master's endeavour of being the mayor of Tolena. Even if they can't fully commit right now, Alex and Henry will have to make Tolena their main base of operation in the foreseeable future.
In any case, they have already begun setting up a second base of operation for a few weeks now. It is difficult for Alex and Henry to leave the plot of land idle when it was Jean's welcoming gift to them. Their master definitely has perfected the art of inducement. In addition to a plot of land, their master has also given them all the needed materials to build their very own level one spirit gathering array on that plot of land. Not only is the gift generous, there is no way Alex and Henry can afford building a similar array back in Oryn. The development progress has been slow though. With the rush to accumulate sufficient contribution to obtain all the beta player slots, the only thing that got completed is a small workshop and a simple residence for them to bunk down for the night.
More importantly, all three of them have benefitted greatly from Jean's public and private tutelage. Jean's rich knowledge and experience made them suspect their master cultivation realm is higher than the fourth major realm and he has been sealing his true cultivation. The lower realm would have expelled their master back to the immortal realm the moment he unleashes even a fraction of his true power. Despite all the probing, the three of them was never given a straight answer saying the time isn't ripe yet. In any case, one of their lessons had all three of them convinced Jean cultivation should at least be in the fifth major realm or perhaps sixth major realm.
In that lesson, Jean has been talking about the fifth major realm and achieving it is a true dividing line since any cultivator that do so needs to overcome an immortal tribulation. There are two parts to the tribulation. For the first part, a cultivator will need to overcome the inner demon tribulation before being subjected to the lightning tribulation. Lightning tribulation is straightforward. A cultivator just needs to be powerful enough to survive it. The inner demon tribulation is trickier as it comes down to a cultivator willpower and conviction.
Delving deeper into the lesson, sword cultivators will have their Sword Dao while merchant walks the path of Merchant Dao. What is Dao? It is a cultivator's comprehension on a single universal truth or a few of them and forms the core of a cultivator's strength as they progressed further down the cultivation path. The Merchant Dao is one of the more abstruse Dao where those who practice it usually comprehends more than a single universal truth. At the same time, the application of those universal truths are usually more subtle and influence the world indirectly most of the time. In contrast to Sword Dao, its application directly affects the real world.
For starter, Jean has said that for us that follow the Merchant Dao, there is no avoiding comprehending the universal truth on wealth. There are many beliefs when it comes to wealth but Jean has warned us in no uncertain term that if we are to subscribe to Earth's belief in capitalism, we are only to embrace the underlying theory but not take any real-life example as what is right and meant to be. The majority of the largest corporations on Earth has been led astray blinded by their greed to maximize profit. Those corporations could boast about their corporate social responsibility on the surface but the action is what matters. If being a successful merchant is all about making as much profit as you can get away with, it can easily turn into an obsession and a fatal inner demon. It is not difficult lying to others but it's totally a different matter fully convincing your own inner-self. Only psychopaths can fully justify whatever action they took without even feeling even an ounce of guilt and self-doubt.
The only way to overcome an inner demon tribulation is forming a strong conviction on whatever beliefs they come to comprehend on a universal truth. The experience shared by others help but only personal experience truly affirms a cultivator's conviction. To that, Jean has made it clear the three of them needs to participate in the campaign when the gateway is completed. They need to see more of the world and put to the test whatever beliefs we ever come up with. Their conviction will get firmer with each passing experience that resonates with their belief.
Towards the end of that lesson, Jean shared a part of his Merchant Dao with the three of them. A food for thought as a reference for Alex, Henry and Dan to find their own beliefs and Merchant Dao. Merchants should be a positive presence to any society they come into contact with. They ensure a society will be able to become wealthier along with the merchant by addressing market surpluses and shortages. Not only that, profit should not be the only consideration. They should also be willing to serve places other merchants are unwilling to go sowing a seed of change. It was a major reason why Jean volunteered to be the mayor of Tolena. It was briefly mentioned Jean's Merchant Dao also involves another universal truth, karma. Anyway, their master's Merchant Dao warrants a more in-depth discussion for the future.
When it comes to private lesson, Henry's gain is the largest among the three of them. It is nice having a master to fallback to whenever Henry's research hit a wall. With Jean's pointers cutting down on research time, he has successfully created his first numerically controlled magic lathe machine prototype. It has also become a family milestone earning them their very first patent.
The apprenticeship also brought a few other unexpected bonuses to Alex's family. With their master as the bond, their family has entered into a cooperative agreement with Dan. For a cut of the magic machineries patent's royalties, Dan will give them access to his Artificial Intelligence simulation software and access to his family server farm. This cooperation will make it easier for them to stay ahead in the forefront of magic machineries research. On top of that, Dan has also become more proactive and generous with his advices. According to his advice, Alex family should register their own LLC to ease the legal ramification of the ever increasing business and financial transactions in the real world. At the same time, it is about keeping business and family separate to avoid future complication. Take Dan's own circumstances as an example. Everything is spelled out in the agreement between his family members when he gained their financial support and who gets what in Watson Digital Ventures LLC.
The second unexpected bonus is Jean's flexibility to allow Alex and his siblings to share their contribution to obtain beta player slots. Despite their best effort, they have only secured eight beta player slots to date. As the sect leader will be activating the twelve level two spirit gathering arrays across Eldorin tomorrow, Joshua has been sent back to Oryn in advance to chaperone the rest of their family members that will soon be joining the game and helps them settle down. Alex and Henry on the other hand will continue to stay in Tolena securing the last four remaining beta player slots. If all goes well, they will be done in two Earth weeks and then rush back to Oryn to start preparing for the campaign to the lower realm.