Chapter 1918 Protecting the yard?

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"…" Robin lowered his gaze and began rubbing his forehead slowly, as if trying to case a growing headache. "Now, old man? Now you decide you want to become a family man and simply watch everything burn? Now, at the single most critical and fragile moment the universe has faced in the last tens of millions of years?"

"I didn't withdraw during the critical moment," the Cosmic Elder replied calmly, shaking his head. "The critical moment appeared because I withdrew. There's a difference. He paused briefly before continuing. "I am not a traitor who abandoned what he was sworn to protect at the moment of greatest need. I just…" He exhaled softly. "I no longer feel that same overwhelming urge to interfere in everything, at every moment. Can you understand that?"

"Honestly," Robin said, lifting his eyes slightly, "I don't want to understand." His voice hardened. "What am I supposed to do now? Since your disappearance, the Behemoths have been moving recklessly-but that level of threat, I can deal with. What I can't ignore is the academies that stopped exterminating the Anti-life. And what am I supposed to do about the Syndicate, which has already begun acting without restraint?"

"Glory demands a heavy price, little Robin," the Cosmic Elder said as he nodded slowly. "And you have an immense amount yet to do…"

"You-!" Robin straightened his back once more, his tone sharp. "Are you truly going to leave me standing alone in this farce without real help? Has the universe you protected for all those countless years stopped mattering to you? Can you genuinely endure the thought of everything you struggled to preserve being reduced to ruins?"

"…If you keep your silence," Robin added gravely, "everything will collapse within a few centuries. Nothing will remain except that small planet where you live with your family-and you'll find nothing surrounding you but the Plague and mature space beasts. Do you really think they'd be happy with that? Being trapped forever on a tiny island, with no future beyond survival?"

"……" This time, the Cosmic Elder remained silent for longer than before. Finally, he spoke in a quieter voice. "No. I can't bear that." He then nodded once. "In any case, I haven't forgotten the promise you made me swear that day-when you returned my life to me."

"What promise?" Robin asked quickly, then froze as memory caught up with him, his eyes slowly widening.

"Protecting your backyard. Those were your exact words," the Cosmic Elder said with unmistakable seriousness. "I will protect your backyard, little Robin- but only from Anti-Life threats once they reach a certain threshold. I will appear silently to kill any mature space beast. I will appear to annihilate any newly formed Abyss of Doom, but—"

He raised a single finger, his expression firm. "Do not expect me to do anything that others are capable of doing themselves." Slowly, he lowered it. "Plague outbreaks increasing? Eradicate them. A suckling or young space beast appears? Hunt it down. The Behemoths grow bolder? Suppress them. The Syndicate expands its influence? Refuse to bow,"

"…I relied on this fragile system for long enough," he continued, his voice carrying a rare edge of conviction. "I have already reaped the consequences of my old obsession, and now the universe itself is paying the price for my constant intervention-and for never learning to stand on its own. It's time for everyone to take responsibility for their own affairs." He bared his teeth in a low laugh. "You know what's truly amusing? Anyone who hears this will say I've suddenly become cruel and cold-hearted. Yet you'll never hear those same people complain about Sivar as he crushes them underfoot, or about Athena, who never lifted a finger for them."

"…" Robin remained silent for several seconds, absorbing every word. Then he nodded, a calm smile forming on his lips. "As long as you'll take care of what I can't reach, I'll handle everything else." His eyes ignited with a sharp, defiant light. "Thank you for protecting my universe until the day I was born, old man, this already it enough. Rest now-and watch me as I build a new world. A strong world. A resilient, unbreakable world."

"……" The Cosmic Elder released a slow, measured breath. Despite their blatant arrogance, Robin's words did not seem excessive or offensive in the slightest. Instead, they carried a confidence that bordered on inevitability. "I am greatly looking forward to that."

"By the way." Robin clapped his hands loudly, the sharp sound echoing through the air. "I hear there are many voices around you these days. So tell me-how many children do you have now?"

"Hmm," the Cosmic Elder turned toward the shoreline, where countless houses lay scattered among dense groves and stretches of greenery. "I believe it is eighty-nine daughters and one hundred and seventeen sons… or perhaps one hundred and eighteen, if we count the one who was born just yesterday?" "Haha, incredible!" Robin burst into loud laughter. "As for those who've already grown up-do you intend to keep them by your side forever? That would restrain their growth no matter how rigorously you train them. You cannot keep watch over them at all times, and if you allow them to venture out on

their own, you will worry about them constantly."

"Get to the point." The Cosmic Elder raised an eyebrow, his expression making it clear that Robin was circling around a deeper intention.

"In truth, I founded an academy called the Sacred Covenant Academy. I invested my entire life's work into it-every insight, every failure, and every success. It is, without exaggeration, the greatest educational academy in the universe. There exists no infrastructure more refined, no defensive system more complete, and no educational pathways across all cultivation routes superior to what I have established."

Robin lifted his eyebrows slightly. "So why not send your children there? You won't find a place that understands their origins, nor one that can guide them in studying balance and all the laws connected to it, better than an institution personally supervised by me. Didn't you say you wished to support them on the road to glory? My academy can show them that path."

"… The Cosmic Elder let out a strange, unfamiliar chuckle. This boy was not intimidated in the slightest by the fact that the Cosmic Elder had amassed such a vast number of offspring. His confidence ran so deep that he clearly believed all the Cosmic Elder's wealth and accumulated experience could not produce even a single individual capable of truly rivaling him-and beyond that, he was proposing to educate them as well.

"Oh? that sounds tempting indeed? will you at least give this old man a discount on the annual tuition? I have a lot of disciples…" the Cosmic Elder asked in a

half-joking tone.

"Of course!" Robin replied with visible enthusiasm. "How does one hundred pieces of sixth-grade planetary equipment per year sound?"

The Cosmic Elder's expression shifted instantly upon hearing those words. His face stiffened-then zzoom-the small gate snapped shut without another

word.

"……" Robin emained seated in shock for several moments before finally turning toward Althera with a faint, knowing smile. "It seems he needs some time to properly consider the offer."

Althera continued to stare at him silently for several seconds. "…Just moments ago, I told you that the academy's profits were damaged for three distinct reasons: first, because of the Sacred Covenant Academy; second, due to the recklessness of the Grave Empire; and third, because of the consequences of the Cosmic Elder's absence."

"I also told you that I would make you compensate me for the first two, since

the third has nothing to do with you. And yet, for some reason, you stand at the very center of the third as well…" Althera extended her hand slowly. "Robin Burton, I demand eight hundred billion pearls."