Before truly coming into contact with the Windguides, Ivern had held a deep sense of reverence and anticipation for the organization.
Through Seraphine's abilities, he had seen their souls, brimming with light and warmth.
People with such beautiful souls couldn't possibly be ordinary.
But when Ivern followed his daughter to the factory and attended the Windguides' promotional meeting, he realized:
'They're just a bunch of kids.'
Young people always had boundless passion, always wanting to shine and make an impact on the front lines.
But they lacked experience and handled things immaturely; when it came down to actual fieldwork, it was hard for them to get things done.
'No wonder Nini likes hanging out with them so much,' Ivern thought, stealing a glance at his precious daughter beside him, who was intoxicated by the beautiful melody of their souls.
In his eyes, when it came to being "naive," these Windguides weren't much better than Seraphine.
He wasn't deliberately insulting them—
The Windguides' performance at this inaugural promotional meeting was truly hard to watch.
The meeting began with an introduction to the history of Zaun.
In Levi's words, this was to help the audience establish the concept of historical materialism.
To make it easier for the apprentices to adapt and understand, Viktor had specifically removed all the concrete theoretical parts from the article *Where Did Zaun Come From?*.
He didn't lecture on theory; he just popularized history.
But even so...
'This is boring enough as it is,' Ivern evaluated in his mind.
Compared to his good friend Jayce, Viktor might be introverted and poor at public speaking, but he wasn't some socially anxious person incapable of articulating himself.
It wasn't that his explanation was boring, nor was the history itself dull.
It was just that history, by its very nature, was boring to the vast majority of Zaunites.
Zaunites didn't even care who their own parents were, so why would they care about things that happened hundreds of years ago?
If the goal was merely to expose Piltover's dark history and let them know about Piltover's oppression of Zaun... then it was even more unnecessary.
Zaunites understood the sins of Piltover better than anyone.
Without anyone teaching them, they would naturally spew profanities the moment they saw a Piltovan.
Sure enough...
'People are already falling asleep,' Ivern noticed that among the apprentices in the audience, some were already yawning out of sheer boredom.
They were only trying their best to pretend to listen attentively because they were attracted by the promised wage increase and out of gratitude toward the Windguides.
Viktor seemed to have noticed this as well.
He hurried to finish the historical popularization and moved on to the next segment:
'Airing grievances?' Ivern pondered.
Was this tactic just gathering everyone together to drink, chat, and curse out Piltovans?
Zaunites had been doing that for over two hundred years.
It was indeed a good way to enhance cohesion. Simple, but practical.
However...
"Is anyone willing to come up and share their experiences?"
"Tell everyone what you've gone through along the way, previously in Zaun, and here in Piltover?"
Viktor asked from the stage, but there was almost no response from the audience.
The air was as dead as when a university professor called on students to answer a question.
"This..." Viktor trailed off as the awkward silence lingered for quite a while.
Viktor finally realized that the atmosphere of the meeting hadn't been built up at all.
The apprentices were currently fantasizing about their beautiful lives after the wage increase; who had the mind to stand up and talk about old, painful memories?
Moreover, publicly tearing open one's own scars was inherently something that required courage.
Some would be embarrassed, some would have reservations, and some simply didn't want to recall that painful past... all of this was perfectly normal.
'I have to build the atmosphere and stir up their emotions first before this airing of grievances can continue,' Viktor thought.
So how should he build the atmosphere and stir up their emotions?
It seemed the only way was to use bitterness to draw out bitterness—
That meant finding someone articulate to go first and set an example for everyone.
"Um, student Lina?" Viktor invited Lina onto the stage.
"Okay!" Lina mustered her courage and slowly stood before everyone.
She took a moment to gather her emotions and began recounting her experiences:
"Like all of you, I was born in Zaun..."
Her grandparents had passed away long ago. Her father accidentally fell into a furnace, his body burned to ash. Her mother, bedridden from a work injury, couldn't afford treatment and, unable to endure the agony, slit her own throat with a knife.
The siblings wanted to dig a grave to bury their mother, but her corpse was snatched by their uncle and sold to a chem-shop.
After that, Levi firmly resolved to take his sister and escape Zaun, so at a very young age, he worked desperately in Zaun's shops, mines, and factories... Later on, their uncle tried to sell the grown siblings to a brothel. By trading their uncle's corpse for money, they finally scraped together enough for the processing fees to come to Piltover as apprentices.
Were these experiences bitter? Yes, incredibly so.
As a result, the atmosphere in the room finally began to change.
To varying degrees, everyone thought of the suffering they had experienced themselves.
The method of using bitterness to draw out bitterness and inspire memories seemed to be working.
However...
"After that, I was admitted to the University of Piltover..."
From the moment Lina reached this point, the atmosphere completely shifted again.
"Phew—" The listeners all let out a long sigh of relief.
It was as if, after a long and desperate voyage, they had finally spotted a continent to stand on amidst the vast ocean.
Everyone's mood instantly relaxed, and the air grew much lighter.
"See, we still have to learn from her... Even in such difficult circumstances, she persisted in her studies, read books, and got accepted into the University of Piltover."
"I gave up too early back then and didn't stick with it, which is why I can only be an apprentice now... Sigh!"
Some apprentices sighed with envy and regret.
Although this kind of reflection had a positive meaning.
Not abandoning hope or giving up in the face of adversity, continuously striving to improve oneself, and taking fate by the throat with one's own hands... such a spirit was indeed worth everyone learning from.
But...
'How did this turn into a motivational speech?' Viktor rubbed his forehead in exasperation.
He had clearly asked Lina to go up and air her grievances to evoke everyone's resonance with suffering.
Instead, it had turned into a motivational seminar, a cliché speech meant to pump everyone up with false enthusiasm.
'No, that's not right...'
'This isn't Lina's fault.'
Viktor quickly and even more helplessly realized that this was a common problem among these Zaunite students.
Because every single one of them was a chosen elite who had overcome countless hardships and obstacles, relying on their own hard work and struggle to crawl out of the hell of Zaun and get accepted into the University of Piltover.
Every one of them was a striver, a success story, a survivor who had fought their way across the narrow bridge of fierce competition.
Their experiences didn't need any embellishment; brought out as is, they were perfect, full-score motivational essays titled *In Praise of Suffering*.
Having such a group of inspirational role models who moved Zaun to tears come out and share their experiences... wasn't that exactly hosting a motivational seminar?
And although these students were all born in Zaun, from the moment they were admitted to the University of Piltover, their status and position were actually far higher than those of ordinary Zaunites.
Having these future "High Zaunites" air their grievances would probably make it very difficult for the workers to empathize with them.
"Student Lina, you can step down for now..."
Viktor thought for a moment and decided he still needed to find someone from among the apprentices to air their grievances.
So, regardless of whether anyone was willing, he randomly picked someone from the audience:
"Please come up and share your experiences with everyone."
"Uh... okay." Having been called out by name, the apprentice found it hard to refuse.
He walked onto the stage somewhat nervously, and then, under Viktor's encouraging gaze, stammered out his experiences.
There was no need to introduce the specific details.
There was no such thing as a Zaunite with a past that wasn't miserable.
This apprentice's experiences sounded even more tragic than those of Levi and Lina.
'This should work now,' Viktor anticipated inwardly.
Just as he was thinking this, he watched as the apprentice spoke and spoke, until finally:
"Thank you, Mr. Ivern! Thank you, Professor Viktor!"
"It was you who saved me from that kind of desperate life—"
"From now on, I will definitely treat the factory as my home, sacrifice my personal life for the greater good, bravely take on responsibilities, and work hard... I will shed my last drop of sweat and exhaust my final ounce of strength for Mr. Ivern and everyone in the Windguides!"
Viktor: "..."
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