Cara's insistence on helping Remi's goal of gathering data on all sorts of advancent thods turned the mountain castle into the site of chaos for the next week.
Every waking mont was spent either building muscles in dragon form, so that Rue could more convincingly play the part of a Royal Shadow Dragon, or ditating, while the Princess was forcefully imbued with above rank mana. The idea was that her body would adapt faster with the flood of power, and she was working on her Power Matrix, which would accelerate the process.
By the end of the week, she had managed to turn a single point into three, and Prince Lukas sensed that she was actually beginning to understand one of the Fundantal Rules. Her mana was changing ever so slightly, but enough that it would not be sothing that he expected of anyone under Totem Rank.
Even Karl was impressed.
If he had to guess, Rue's potential was far higher than even his own. She grasped the concepts more quickly, she learned the things that he had needed to advance much earlier, and her growth rate was phenonal.
One week was all that it had taken to go from the advancent to Royal Rank to nearly the bottleneck before Monarch.
Remi was going to be overjoyed when she found out that this sort of intense advancent regin had a chance of working.
But on the other hand, their efforts to help Mildred and the hatchling were eting with much less impressive results. They were still advancing much more quickly than usual, but compared to Princess Rue, they might as well be snails in a horse race.
"The Princess really is a prodigy. Do you think that might be why the Queen cursed her?
I have been thinking about it, and it doesn't make sense otherwise. The Queen's mother is a Seer, so she had to have received a vision about the Princess that would cause her to take the drastic actions that she has.
But with this sort of talent, there is a good chance that Rue will be able to take over my position if the King waits too long to hand over power.
Even a decade would be enough that Rue would be at the peak of Mythic Rank if nothing happens to stop her.
Don't get wrong, I'm happy for her, but that is going to bring a huge amount of danger her way, and Rue is far too kind to be able to take care of it on her own. If she had soone like Cara, who could quietly make problems go away for her, she might be alright. But that sort of person isn't easy to find." Lukas quietly inford Karl as the badger and Princess worked through a mana stress test session.
The two n watched the girls intensely training for a mont as Karl contemplated his answer.
"You know, there is another option. A prodigy like Rue, who is going to reach Overlord before I have to return ho, and likely before she even starts puberty, needs a strong protector. If you declared her as your leading candidate for Crown Princess, you could watch over her, and then let her take the throne beside you when you ascend.
It's a win-win, really.
Rue isn't going to hurt Mildred, she's not going to be jealous of your firstborn like so outsider might be. Plus, she's clearly got the potential and the power to take the role, she just needs so ti to grow into it." Karl explained quietly.
"Are you trying to match make with my own sister? How enlightened of you." Lukas joked.
Karl shrugged. "Your actual relationship is up to you. But I think that she would be a fierce Queen for your reign."
Lukas nodded. Rue was focused on righting the wrongs that had been done to her, and eliminating bullying. That was an excellent start to fixing what he didn't like about Royal life.
The Queen's influence within the Palace was imnse, as only the King could countermand her orders. So, if Rue was in that position, she would have a blank slate to change Palace culture.
The question was if he could keep her alive long enough to take the throne if he brought her back and imdiately declared that she would be the Crown Princess.
As they had learned, so of her enemies would stop at nothing to see her dead.
"How far do you think that she can make it if we just stay here? Can you push her far enough that she will be safe to stand beside in public?" Lukas asked. Karl shrugged. "I don't know how long that will take. It's more about lowering the bar to her safety than growing her power. If the Palace isn't cleaned up at least a little, it won't be safe to go back, even at Totem Rank.
Now, I can push and force her through another advancent or two before my tricks will run dry. But after that, it will be all up to politics."
Lukas watched the training in silence for a few more minutes, then nodded.
"It's not a terrible idea. I don't know if my father will go for it, he likely has a political match in mind for before I ascend. But it would work out very well for Rue and I if we did things that way.
You're right, she wouldn't harm Mildred. She doesn't have it in her to harm her friends. For that reason alone, she would be a good choice, but I suspect that the reason you are here is not because she was struggling, but because of what will happen after she is not." Lukas realized.
Karl smiled. "Good guess. You are right, it's not about the fact that she is struggling. I was sent here to help her grow. But the how and why I was sent are confidential. Rest assured, when I say that she has the potential to be great,
I an it.
But if everything goes wrong, that potential for greatness could be used to
soone else's advantage.
There are many other Dragon Clans within the Isles, and most of them would welco a Princess with her potential."
Just a little nudge to get the Crown Prince to see things his way.
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