"Divine Library," Light’s thought was a sharp, urgent command, "give every detail you have on a talent nad ’Emotion Eater’."
Instantly, his mind was flooded with knowledge. It wasn’t just a dry description; it was a series of visions.
He saw the imnse potential for good: a mind consud by grief being brought back to peace, a warrior’s uncontrollable rage being siphoned away before a fatal mistake.
But he also saw the horrifying flip side: a victim, their joy and sorrow completely devoured, left as a walking, breathing husk with nothing behind the eyes.
"My worries were right," he thought, a cold knot tightening in his stomach. "This is a double-edged sword. A sword that can heal or kill with equal ease."
He looked at Tiya, the small orc girl who was staring up at him with wide, innocent eyes, completely unaware of the monstrous power sleeping within her.
"Tiya," he said gently, "you possess a talent that can help you grow strong very quickly. But it can also consu you if you do not learn to use it well."
"What does that an?" she asked, blinking her large, curious eyes. The entire village was now watching them, a silent, expectant crowd.
Light gave a aningful look to her father, the village chief.
Tether imdiately understood. "Teacher Light, you have traveled for so long and worked so hard for us today," he bood, his voice a warm and steady presence. "You must be tired. Please, co and rest in my ho."
Light nodded gratefully and followed the chief towards the largest house in the village. Tiya trotted alongside him, her small hand tugging at his robe. "Teacher, what did you an?" she asked again, her curiosity unquenched.
"I will tell you when we reach your ho," Light promised.
Inside the guest room, Light sat across from the massive orc chief, with Tiya perched on another chair between them.
"Village Chief," Light began, his tone serious, "Tiya’s talent, Emotion Eater, allows her to devour the emotions of others. She could make soone completely emotionless, or she could eat a specific feeling, like anger or sadness." He paused, letting the weight of his next words sink in.
"If she eats too much, the person whose emotions are taken can beco ntally unstable, their very soul fractured."
Tether pulled his daughter close, his massive arm a protective shield. "What can we do?" he rumbled, his voice thick with a father’s primal fear.
"Do not only look at the downside," Light reassured him, his voice calm and steady. "As I said, power is a tool. She can use it to cure those who are emotionally unstable by eating away their excess feelings. And she can use it to beco strong very, very quickly. It is a double-edged sword, capable of harming both the user and their opponent."
He looked at the worried father and then at the confused child. "Don’t worry. For this, I will stay. I will personally teach her how to use her power with control and wisdom."
After so more conversation, Light returned to his own small, magical house, his mind already formulating a new lesson plan.
For the next month, he beca Tiya’s personal ntor, while also guiding the other children. He taught her not to devour, but to taste.
He taught her empathy, how to feel the emotions of others without being consud by them, and how to use her power to bring balance, not emptiness.
When his work was finally done, he stood at the edge of the village, said his farewells, and mounted his magnificent companion, Lily.
"Sigh... Lily, where should we go now?" he said, his voice laced with a strange lancholy as they soared into the sky. His eighty-year journey across Veridia was over.
"Master, why don’t we go to the other worlds you spoke of?" Lily’s voice chirped in his mind, a lodic sound that was a testant to the Divine Comprehension buff that now graced every living thing.
"We don’t have permission for that," Light sighed, lying back against her warm feathers. "Demigod Isiah said that only when I break through to the demigod realm can I travel to the other worlds."
"So then just break through," Lily replied with the simple, carefree logic of a magical bird.
"Easy for you to say," Light laughed, though there was no humor in it. "You just need to eat powerful things to get stronger. I have to comprehend a Law. But which Law? That is the real question."
From his throne, Sunny watched this scene and knocked his head with his palm. "Eighty years of teaching others, and he can’t teach himself what to do next," he groaned. "The boy has all the comprehension in the world, and he’s still stupid."
"Thea," he commanded, "give him a nudge. Plant so hints in the Divine Library, sothing that will guide him to his path. The Law of Learning, or Teaching, perhaps. He needs to find his own way, but a little push won’t hurt." He sighed again. His champions were powerful, but they required so much managent.
He looked away from Veridia, his gaze shifting to his other grand project: Earth. Eight thousand years had passed there.
Its technology had surpassed even that of his lost ho, Endor by many tis. Gleaming spires pierced the clouds, and silent vehicles crisscrossed the skies.
But the people... they were lost in a different way. Many were imrsed in full-dive virtual reality, escaping a perfect but boring reality to play gas of their own making.
"I suppose it’s ti to harvest," Sunny mused. He began to peer into the lives of the billions of humans on his talent farm.
"Not you... not you either..." he murmured, rejecting the choices Thea’s algorithms presented. He was looking for sothing specific.
He saw a brilliant but underfunded engineer sketching designs for a new form of clean energy.
He saw a charismatic but powerless community leader, trying to rally her neighbors against a corrupt corporation.
He saw a doctor with a revolutionary, life-saving idea but no one to listen.
He was looking for souls with imnse, untapped potential, seeds that just needed the right soil to grow.
A slow, wicked grin spread across his face as a new, grand idea took hold. Why just strengthen his empire when he could be entertained by it?
He would reincarnate these chosen souls, not into Veridia, but into the worlds of his subordinate Gods. He would give them a system, a second chance at a life of adventure and power.
And in return he would broadcast their entire lives, their struggles, their triumphs, apart from so private things offcourse, to the billions of Gods in his Pantheon.
He would create the greatest show in the multiverse. A live-action novel. A real-life ani. And the Gods, bored by not having anything to do, would pay handsoly to watch this show.
Reviews
All reviews (0)