Chapter 50: Chapter 50

Seeing that he was already surrounded by apprentices pricking up their ears to listen, Morris was perfectly happy to explain everything to all of them at once.

Things hadn’t been peaceful in the south lately. He wasn’t sure if he would still be able to stay at the training ground every day. Since he was covering a class for another instructor this time, the other instructors naturally wouldn’t decline his request for a substitute next time.

“What kind of enemies do you imagine? Fierce and malicious? Baring fangs and brandishing claws? There are indeed those kinds, but those are Aberrant Beasts, not Wastelanders!

“Individual Wastelanders by no means lack intelligence, nor do they reject the use of strategy. But no matter how wise or brilliant a Wastelander is, they all share one identical trait: supreme reverence for strength!

“The Kingdom of Helios also respects strength, even revering it, but more often than not, we value things beyond strength even more, such as civilization, Order, family, and honor.

“Among Wastelanders, the concept of family is practically non-existent. The strong possess everything, and only what they discard are the other Wastelanders qualified to enjoy. Furthermore, Wastelanders have no concept of civilization; even within a single tribe, disputes are constant.

“The moment a subordinate believes their strength is sufficient to challenge a superior, they will do so without hesitation, completely regardless of the consequences, whether good or bad.

“Laws are virtually non-existent to them. If you want to make them submit, an individual’s strength must utterly overpower them, and even that is only temporary. Once they become stronger, they will backlash at any moment.”

“Such Wastelanders, even if they possess intelligence, it is merely petty cleverness. Even if they can employ strategy, it is only underhanded scheming that cannot be brought to light.

“Think about it. If such a Wastelander joined the Sis Territory, just how much destruction would they bring upon it.”

“Do such existences really exist?”

Regarding Morris’s words, Ron was half-doubting and half-believing. Even though he believed Morris himself had no reason to lie, Morris might not necessarily know the entire truth either.

What the actual truth was, perhaps only the upper echelons of the Kingdom of Helios knew.

“Can even Wastelander infants not integrate into Order?” Ron asked again.

“Do you think the people of the past haven’t considered this possibility?”

Morris asked Ron rhetorically, then proceeded to explain further, “A long time ago, a prominent figure in the Kingdom of Helios privately adopted a Wastelander infant. As a result, when that infant grew up, he almost caused the downfall of Helios!

“From then on, no one ever dared to bring up the matter of taking in Wastelander infants again, and that prominent figure also ended his rule early because of this incident.”

“Not even infants can be changed?” Ron was profoundly shocked by this.

Morris’s implication couldn’t be more obvious: that so-called prominent figure was, in all likelihood, a certain king from the history of the Kingdom of Helios.

If even a great figure like that couldn’t change a Wastelander infant, then other territories probably lacked the conditions to do so even more.

Right now, this world was fraught with perils, and Wastelanders were incredibly formidable. If they truly couldn’t be assimilated, it was likely that no nation would be willing to give up such a massive demographic dividend.

Didn’t subjugating the Wastelanders require paying a price?

If they could be claimed for one’s own use, the benefits would simply be innumerable. If the Wastelanders’ inability to be assimilated was merely a conspiracy of the Helios royal family, other territories could easily experiment in private.

Ron didn’t believe that the Lord of Sis had never entertained the thought of accepting these Wastelanders. But until now, as Morris had said, if the entire continent was shouting to fight and kill Wastelanders, it was likely not something that could be explained away by a conspiracy of the Helios royal family.

Could there truly be something wrong with the Wastelanders?

According to Ron’s inherent understanding, a person’s social nature was formed post-natally, not innate.

Looking at it from this perspective, if Wastelander infants grew up in human society from a young age, they should also possess social nature just like other humans.

Yet, as a result, they still remained anti-social.

This was highly counter-intuitive. From a biological perspective, these Wastelanders were human, but from a sociological perspective, Wastelanders were more akin to animals, such as ants or bees, possessing an innate social nature.

Of course, to normal humans, the innate social nature of the Wastelanders manifested as a fierce anti-social nature.

If Ron were a scholar in a related field on Earth, he would be immensely curious about the formation of this phenomenon and would continuously investigate its essence.

However, he was merely an ordinary person struggling to survive in a different world.

If all that Morris said was true, then the Wastelanders indeed counted as his enemies. Since they were enemies, there was truly no need to bear any guilt when killing them.

…

As he was thinking, Ron suddenly thought of a very crucial question. Seeing that the two sides were still locked in a standoff in the distance, he hurriedly asked:

“Instructor, you said that Wastelanders are enemies of Order. Then how do they survive in the outside world? After all, judging from the performance of those enemies just now, every single one of them is practically a Transcendent.”

Transcendents could face the mental pressure of the outside world’s macro-environment, but the outside world was not without other enemies. Without the protection of the power of Order, how would those Wastelanders deal with other enemies?

For example, Evil Spirits and Aberrant Beasts.

“Since you know they are enemies of Order, how could you still ask such a question?”

Morris wanted to scold him a couple of times, but then remembered Ron’s age. So he let out a long sigh and continued to explain:

“There is competition between the Kingdom of Helios and other nations on the continent, but overall, they still maintain a relationship of peace and cooperation. Do you know why? It is precisely because of the existence of the Sources of Chaos!

“And civilization can also be regarded as a Source of Order. Wastelanders, Evil Spirits, Aberrant Beasts, if these enemies of the Chaos faction encounter one another, there is indeed a high probability they will fight. But if a Source of Order exists nearby…

“Think about it, which side holds a greater attraction for them?”

Just as the various nations of the continent united against the Sources of Chaos, the enemies of the Chaos faction would also tacitly agree to prioritize dealing with the Sources of Order, which were the various countries and territories.

Under these circumstances, as long as the Wastelanders kept migrating near territories of Order, not only was the risk of being attacked by the Chaos faction greatly reduced, but they could also destroy Order from time to time.

It was simply the optimal choice.

If Evil Spirits were the greatest threat to territories of Order expanding into the wilderness, then Wastelanders were the most unavoidable problem for every territory of Order that wished to sustain itself.

For the former, as long as Order didn’t collapse and they didn’t expand too aggressively, maintaining the long-term existence of the territory wasn’t too big of an issue. After all, most Evil Spirits lacked intelligence, yet even they knew to seek advantage and avoid harm.

But the intelligent Wastelanders wouldn’t care whether a territory of Order expanded outward or not. The very existence of a territory of Order would attract their attacks.

“I understand.”

Ron lowered his head in deep thought, but right after, he felt someone gently pushing him by his side. He then heard Justin’s voice: “Look! They’re about to make a move!”

“Make a move?”

Ron quickly looked toward the edge of the battlefield. Under Waynes’s deliberate “indulgence,” those elderly Wastelanders had finally drawn enough black qi from the wolf corpses and the earth.

That black qi almost entirely shrouded the sky above the Wastelanders’ area. Following that, Ron heard Waynes issue an order devoid of any emotion:

“Charge! Kill them all!”