He nodded in understanding. His eyes sharpened with determination as he gazed at the sea of people below the ship.
Augustus, who was nearby, heard what the mother and son said. He sighed when he heard Vena encourage Arthur to be selfish.
He thought to himself, "It is too late now."
He doesn't think it is right for Arthur to prioritize his interests and be selfish. If he were the one to advise Arthur, he would have told Arthur to prioritize the interests of the family and work together with the other children of the family to pass the exam.
He believes that family is the backbone of an individual because all he has was given to him by his family. He was raised by his family, so he must help his family when he can.
It is not a belief that was instilled into him as a child who didn't know much of the world and was brainwashed. It is a belief that he has experienced and confirmed many times.
During his own sect examination, he was ambushed by many enemies. He nearly died, so he burned blood essence to raise his power. But that didn't solve his problem completely.
Burning blood essence will only grant temporary power. So if he doesn't eliminate his enemies quickly or lets them escape, they will come back to fight him after his power is gone.
There are also the side effects of burning blood. At the very least, burning blood will lead to a period of weakness. So even if he manages to kill his current enemies, he will become vulnerable to future enemies and be in danger.
His situation back then was the worst situation possible. The people that ambushed him were children of influential families like the Dyson family. He had blood essence, and so did they.
He was willing to burn blood essence so that he wouldn't die. They too were willing to burn blood essence so that he wouldn't kill them. The difference was that they had more people than him.
He couldn't fight back with the power he gained from burning blood essence because he was outnumbered. He could only use that power to escape.
But they didn't let him go. They hunted him down while waiting for him to reach his limit. He was at the end of his rope. If not for the help of the other children that he encountered, he would have died that day.
But his problems didn't end there. Because he burned blood essence for a long time, his cultivation dropped from the tenth transformation to the ninth, and his talent for body refining dropped from 84 to 67 points. It was a permanent loss of 17 points of talent.
His cultivation could be recovered, but his talent was gone forever. He also need a lot of resources to heal his injuries, recover his cultivation, and continue to practice.
If not for the continuous support of his family, he wouldn't be where he is today. If they had abandoned him, he would have been done for. But his family didn't. So he believes in prioritizing the benefits and unity of the family above all else.
However, he also understands that he can preach his belief to someone who hasn't experienced the full support of the family. Besides that, he surely can't ask Arthur to work together with the people who made fun of him as soon as they met him.
He knows that much. The best he can ask of Arthur is not to seek revenge on those children. Even that is already difficult, so he can't go and ask Arthur to work together with them.
So Augustus could only sigh and say, "I wish him success and hope he doesn't experience what I experienced."
He said that, but he was distraught when he saw the great divide between the members of the inner court and the external members of the family. The people belonging to these two social circles didn't interact with each other.
The divide was also mirrored in the way the true children of the family and the bastards interacted with each other. They rarely interact with each other, and when they do, it is the true children mocking and looking down on the other side while the bastards avoid them at all costs or bow when they can't avoid and are being mocked.
According to the theory of equal total talent, the true children of the family aren't special. The only reason why they were supported by the family while the bastards weren't is because they were lucky to be born to a direct descendant of the family.
It is a simple thing that, once realized, changed his perspective of the world. This reason is why he told Tyson that he wasn't special. He told Tyson from a young age that he was just lucky and that he couldn't let that lucky win get into his head and blind him.
He told Tyson to rely on his hard work and achievements instead of his birthright, as those are the things that he can control that will make him excel. His teachings are why Tyson likes Arthur despite Delia's numerous attempts to besmirch him. Arthur's achievements are just too remarkable.
It is a good thing that Tyson turned out that way. But it is clear that those true children have let their lucky birthright get into their heads. Yet, no one is telling them that it is wrong to believe that they are better just because they were lucky to be born to good parents.
"I guess this one is the fault of the family. Those children should have been taught this lesson before now. It is too late now."
He had wanted to go over to reprimand the people who made fun of Arthur and the other bastards earlier. He wanted to do so to ease up the tension between them and Arthur and to also change their mindset about the world. But he didn't go because he knew that it was already too late for that.