Aislin curled her lip. "But I figure a lot of people will want to test my true identity.
So Delifus should be able to find some allies."
Rute shook his head. "Any Mage here in Sia Tower who managed to reach the high ranks must have gone through wave after wave of purges.
This place really does let many people live quite comfortably... but that absolutely does not include the very best.
Think about it carefully and you'll understand.
If lower-ranking Mages only wanted to protect themselves and stay out of the struggles among the upper ranks, then generally speaking, the resources and spell energy from outside were enough for them to survive and advance.
After reaching Mid-Rank Mage, they could be a little more flexible, but they still had to watch their dealings with others and remain within certain limits.
So you should be able to see that everyone in this Mage Tower was used to guarding against one another—and setting one another up.
No matter who they were, even if they had just been cooperating, the instant that cooperation ended, they would turn around and try to kill each other.
If not for this scattered mess—no, this way of life that was even less worthy of mention than scattered sand—how could so many Ninth-Circle Archmages, thousands of Seventh-Circle Mages, and hundreds of Eighth-Ring Archmages possibly..."
Rute gave a mocking laugh. "In the beginning, when they faced their own kind who might very well have been informants for certain figures among the White Robes or Black Robes, they might have looked upon them with contempt or even wariness. But now, they only carefully avoided them. Most of them would even flatter them.
Just like Pete when she saw you.
Did she not know that you were the unstable factor