Alliance?
Huai Shi pretended not to understand and cocked his dog head. "Huh? Aren't we allies already?"
Jonathan chuckled. "That can only be called passersby from the same camp, right? When others are in trouble, would you really help them?"
"Of course, I would." Huai Shi blinked his innocent big eyes at him, as if talking about something utterly reasonable.
Anyway, boasting costs nothing; might as well boast first.
It was a seller's market now.
After studying under Raven for so long, if he wasn't too accomplished when it came to being heartless, then when it came to being thick-skinned, ahaha, he really didn't look down on others' levels.
He wasn't in a hurry.
After all, Jonathan was the one who was anxious.
He didn't mind teaming up with others, especially since Jonathan had a reliable background. But if he didn't take anything in return, wouldn't that mean Jonathan came for nothing?
In any case, Huai Shi wouldn't agree until he extorted something substantial from him today.
Jonathan, too, fell silent, his face filled with astonishment, not sure if he was shocked by Huai Shi's shamelessness or genuinely admiring such noble morals.
After a long time, he sighed. "Shah was right... you don't do anything unless there's profit in it."
"Oh my, we're all members of the Astronomical Society. What's this talk of money and benefits? At home, you rely on your parents; out in the world, you rely on your brothers. If you come to me for help, could I possibly be unwilling?"
After mentally making a note against a certain grandson named Shah, Huai Shi squeezed out an awkward smile, then immediately threw out another question. "But there should be many Explorers from the Astronomical Society in the city, right?"
He asked, "Why seek us out?"
"Uh..." Jonathan's expression suddenly became conflicted. "Ahem, that's a bit of a long story."
Huai Shi went with the flow and nodded. "Then how about we call it a day here and continue tomorrow?"
"..."
Jonathan's expression became even more aggrieved.
Kid, why aren't you playing by the rules?
Huai Shi blinked his sparkling big eyes as if he knew nothing, while his tail wagged triumphantly, waiting for Jonathan to speak.
He wasn't asking for much; he just wanted to tease him a bit.
These past few days, with his good brothers around, he couldn't utter any of his usual wisecracks, and it was quite frustrating.
Jonathan sighed and laid out the reasons one by one.
Actually, everyone has their circles.
Even in peace-loving communities like anime fandoms, people fight tooth and nail over a character, let alone in the academic world, right?
As a Scholar versed in both geology and geomagnetism, Jonathan's Ability could not be said to be low. Although a Scholar's Power wasn't much use here, his combat strength after Metamorphosis remained quite impressive.
He could be said to be a rare Talent.
But the problem was... there were always some people who would latch onto 'empiricism' and rant everywhere that geology wasn't science...
Facing such idiots, Jonathan would usually beat their brains out.
After doing this a couple of times, though he felt great, his reputation suffered.
Hmm, if this were a public institution, he would definitely be the most unpopular person in his department, always receiving the smallest share when bonuses were distributed.
Moreover, most of those who came in this time were Scholars in fields like biology and meteorology, with hardly any in geology, making it so he couldn't even find a group to huddle with for support.
Another reason was that an experimental project in the Underground World, on which he had poured immense effort, had failed.
Sometimes academia is that cruel; a law often takes decades or even a century to hypothesize, analyze, and establish before it can be applied and practiced. But negating it only takes a moment.
A small, unforeseen bug completely destroyed his geological model, causing all his previous hard work to go down the drain.
Unwilling to join others' research groups as an assistant, and not having the time to find a new research direction, he was left with nowhere to turn.
Just when he was in deep distress, he received a recommendation from his former teacher, Shah, for a task from Creator·Niflheim: go to the Country of Mist to find Fu Yi.
Looking after a kid? Back when he was doing his PhD in America, he even had to attend parent-teacher meetings for his supervisor. Besides, the young woman was quite pretty; it wasn't a raw deal...
Might as well make the best of his remaining usefulness.
However, Huai Shi's appearance reignited a glimmer of hope in him.
He decided to hang in there a bit longer and, incidentally, switch his research direction!
"You want to study the Divine Body?" Huai Shi widened his eyes in disbelief. "So many people just died, and you're still thinking of messing with something so dangerous?"
"Ahem, I'm not planning to steal it. I actually just want to collect some more research data. You see, before I chose to specialize in geology out of interest, Lady Mei and I were both students of Shah. I still remember some of the laws regarding the 'origin of life' and 'historical evolution'..."
Jonathan awkwardly rubbed his hands. "So I thought, since I've stumbled upon such a great subject, why not gather some data and laws, write a paper, and maybe even get my 'paleontology' certificate while I'm at it."
If he succeeded, he would be a triple Scholar!
Mastering geomagnetism, geology, and paleo-evolution would surely make future progression easier, wouldn't it?
But when he declared his intentions, what greeted him was not the astonishment and admiration he had anticipated, but rather two indifferent stares.
Huai Shi and Fu Yi exchanged a glance.