Primary Universe — Primordial World Zero, Planet Orion
AHIA Jun arrived at the royal garden and saw his wife and son sitting on a seat.
"I feel sad knowing that my own son doesn't value me as much as he values his mother," Jun said, with a face of sorrow but joy in his eyes.
"Is everything already settled?" Safira asked without looking at him.
Dry looked at his father and, with a smile, said:
"I know Father is busy, that's why I don't bother you often. But… if you give me some juices, I might make a few exceptions."
"What a cruel son! You visit your mother even when she gives you nothing, but I have to pay!?" Jun replied, looking as if he was being blackmailed.
—How about some books instead of juice?– Jun said seriously, as if he were negotiating.
— -_- What am I supposed to do with books!? You can't even eat them!– Dry said, glaring at Jun with a face that screamed: begone, demon.
Jun walked over to the seat and sat down. Then, he grabbed Dry and tried to put him on his lap.
"Hey, what are you doing!? Help, Mother, save me!" Dry shouted desperately, trying to cling to Safira.
"You know he doesn't like being put on your lap. Why insist?" Safira asked Jun, smiling.
"This brat loves making a fuss about these things, but I've never seen him complain when it's you putting him on your lap! Many times, I even see him going to you on his own!" Jun grumbled, letting Dry go back to the seat.
As soon as he was released, Dry immediately ran to Safira's lap and looked at Jun provocatively.
"Between sitting on a woman's lap and a man's, of course I choose the woman's," he thought to himself.
"Son, what did you think of the show I prepared for you in Yorde?" Jun asked, ignoring the provocation.
"It was amazing! Uncle Feng flew, and light came out of his hands… When am I going to learn how to cultivate!?" Dry asked with excitement.
"You want to learn cultivation?" Jun said, with a mischievous smile on his lips. Seeing that smile, Dry had a bad premonition.
"If you want to learn, come sit on Daddy's lap… or you can just stay on your mother's," Jun said, smiling like someone who had already won the contest.
"Don't fall for that, son. Although no one from the clan can begin cultivating without the patriarch's permission, you can only start at age ten," Safira said, seeing the indecision on Dry's face. She made a face at Jun, sticking her tongue out at him.
"-_- That was close… what a sly old man," Dry thought, sweat running down his forehead. He had seriously considered going to his father's lap.
"Why!?" Jun asked, looking at Safira as if betrayed.
"Why does it have to be at ten years old? Can't I start earlier? That way I'd be ahead of everyone!" Dry asked curiously.
"You're not the first to think of that, but unfortunately, it's impossible. Before the age of ten, the human body isn't ready for the baptism of the world's cosmic energy.
If someone is introduced to energy during this period, the body can't handle even the thinnest energy and collapses. In other words… you die.
But this is a good period to learn the theoretical teachings that involve cultivation.
That's why before age ten, people learn theory; from ten onward, they learn practice," Jun explained.
"My dear, look around and tell me what you see," Safira said, smiling at Dry.
Dry looked around and saw an expansive garden with a fountain in the center. In the middle of the fountain stood a small tree with many branches but no fruit. The garden was silent, cut off from the rest of the world.
The air smelled of flowers and fresh grass. Flowers of various colors were scattered throughout: red, yellow, blue… and some that seemed to glow even in daylight.
"I see flowers, grass, a fountain… and the AHIA Tree, at the center of the fountain," Dry said hesitantly. He knew his mother never asked questions without a reason.
"Well done, my dear," Safira said, clapping with a smile.
"The arrangement of this garden is the clan's core philosophy. The garden represents the world, and everything in it represents things of the world. The AHIA Tree represents the clan.
The fountain is the territory. The flowers, the grass, and even the seats represent everything outside the territory.
With these clues, can you tell what the clan's central philosophy is?" Jun added, seeing that Safira was giving him a look that meant: keep going.
Dry thought about what his father and mother had said so far and analyzed carefully.
"If the garden is the world, and the AHIA Tree represents the clan… I guess the philosophy is something like: 'AHIA is in the world!'" Dry said, uncertain.
"Almost," Safira said.
"The world embraces all things, including the AHIA. That much is correct.
The fountain with the tree in the center means AHIA doesn't go beyond its own territory.
And everything else means that each thing has its peculiarity, but AHIA doesn't covet them.
If you look closely, you'll see that the AHIA Tree has nothing special at first glance, while everything else does.
Look, for example, at those flowers that glow. Or that yellow flower which, when touched, turns translucent, as if it no longer belongs to this plane.
Despite all that, AHIA remains just… an ordinary tree.
From this comes the clan's central philosophy:
The path of supremacy is not about controlling the world, but about controlling what is yours. This is the Path of the AHIA," Jun explained to Dry.
"-_- How the heck was I supposed to guess all that?" Dry thought, looking at his father with a mix of frustration and admiration.