Pei Guang stroked his chin as he recalled, "Ah! I rember now. You did say that. And I also said at the ti that your mission would definitely have so kind of unexpected twist. See? It happened."
"I'm sorry..." Ruan i apologized.
"It's fine. It's completely normal for things to go sideways in missions. I'm not the type to hold grudges over that."
Just as Pei Guang was about to say sothing else, he suddenly rembered, "You just said you find it hard to trust anyone but yourself, right? Then can I use one of my quest rewards now?"
Ruan i replied, "Sure. You want to start trusting others?"
Pei Guang shook his head. "Not really. You have your own life, your own ideals, your own worldview. If you don't want to trust others, then don't. My request isn't to make you trust others.
It's just that, when you need soone to do sothing for you, when you form a cause-and-effect bond, don't ss with their body before they break a promise. If they break it, deal with them however you want, but not before. Can you do that?
'Don't use soone you suspect, and don't suspect soone you use.' That's how the saying goes, right? And with your skills, if soone actually breaks their promise, I'm sure you'll still be able to get what you want. You know, in gas, the characters who try to control players or NPCs with external force? They always die a horrible death."
Ruan i looked at Pei Guang, puzzled. "Why? That request… doesn't seem to benefit you in any way."
Pei Guang replied, "Says who? It benefits a ton, okay? At the very least, I won't have to worry about getting drugged out of nowhere while doing your quests."
Ruan i said, "Understood. I'll be more mindful from now on. However..."
His request was full of loopholes, but Ruan i understood Pei Guang's intent: simply put, when genuinely entrusting soone with sothing, she should be sincere.
Don't go straight for manipulative thods, but make a clear agreent first—and if they break it, then she can do what she wants.
She smiled at Pei Guang. "However, this would expose to risk. So, I also have a request. If I ever find myself in danger, I want your help. Also, I want to study you. If you complete my requests, I'll raise your favorability… and there'll be so special rewards too~"
Ruan i was willing to make these changes because this whole incident had made her realize sothing: the more you try to hide sothing, the harder it is to keep it hidden.
Due to her life research, her emotions had already beco rather distorted, but during her interactions with Pei Guang, the player's sincere emotions made her decide to change.
Pei Guang responded, "You sure know how to adapt quickly! Sure, if I don't have other tasks at the ti, I don't mind helping you with your experints. But seriously—aside from the trust issues, why did you drug in the first place?"
Ruan i answered frankly, "Because the bonds between lives—friendship, secrets, entanglents, lies—all get erased. That makes things easier for us..."
Pei Guang imdiately retorted, "In theory, sure. But once cause and effect are established, how can you just erase them? Who knows, one day the karmic boorang might hit you square in the head. And honestly, it's kind of fun. Monsters, machines... Hey, have you ever studied emotions while researching life? I'm telling you, emotions are fascinating."
"Hmm?" Ruan i made a listening gesture, while Pei Guang continued enthusiastically:
"Lifeforms without emotions or even basic thought have a hard cap on their potential. Instead of researching about an Emanator of Elation, why not take a look at all the adorable little things you've created?
Without emotions, life is just... elents? Particles? Molecules piled together? I don't really get how the world works, that's your departnt. But other than those basic material stacks, what's left? Of course—consciousness and emotion.
Look at combat, for example: without emotions, chanical beings have fixed combat strength. But with emotion? They can throw everything they have at an unbeatable foe and last 251 seconds!
With the right conditions, a creature's emotions and cause-and-effect links can turn them into a god. Not just in strength, but in the sense of being able to interfere with the past, present, and future.
Just look at the Aeons we know: don't they each embody so aspect of life? If you nurture them according to the right emotional environnt and direction, wouldn't that lead to an Emanator-like existence?"
For those who know what an Emanator is in this world, the idea of cultivating one is sothing only soone like Ruan i could even consider. But for a player?
Not only would they dare to think about it, they'd dare to do it: for players, raising a few top-tier companions is just par for the course.
"So! If you want to study Emanators or Aeons, stop just focusing on those little bugs in your brain that only scream 'biology, biology, biology.' Study real lifeforms with real hearts. For example, look at the Aeon of Destruction: doesn't it provide a template? Follow that and who knows, you might raise a true Lord Ravager."
To Ruan i, most of what Pei Guang said sounded like nonsense: but strangely, within that nonsense, she sensed a certain logic and feasibility. In fact, it seed more viable than how she went about creating the Emanator of Propagation.
Ruan i said, "What you're saying... might actually be worth trying. I'll test it when I get back. Do you have any specific suggestions?"
Ruan i thought of the trash can Pei Guang had cultivated.
Although she couldn't understand the process behind it, she had a feeling that any specific suggestions from Pei Guang would be extrely effective.
Pei Guang said, "Suggestions? I've got two plans: the 'Nesis Training Plan' and the 'Hero Training Plan.'"
"First, the Nesis Plan. You give the lifeform you're cultivating the greatest love. Let her understand the kind of pain that ordinary people go through, and then let her see the beauty and loveliness of the world from their perspective.
Give her enough potential. Make her suffer first, then enjoy sweetness; go from distrust to trust, from hopelessness to being filled with hope. And then, one day, you suddenly get dismbered and killed, and the world she lives in gets repeatedly destroyed—so she can feel the malice of the universe."
In that mont, Ruan i fell silent. Although her research into life had dulled her sensitivity to emotions, she could still ntally picture the scenario just from the description.
As she listened to Pei Guang's Nesis Training Plan, she was silent.
She did a quick projection in her mind: what would be created by raising a lifeform this way wasn't just a nesis. It was soone with a personality fully aligned against the universe itself.
And to be honest, if things were carried out like that, she really might end up creating a Lord Ravager.
Pei Guang continued, "The other thod is just the reverse. You can even run both at the sa ti. One filled with hope toward the world, one filled with despair—and then let them compete, see who wins in the end."
At that mont, Ruan i went even quieter.
She had a strong intuition: one that told her to end this topic imdiately.
A genius relying on intuition might sound a bit ridiculous, but what was even more ridiculous was that her intuition was telling her that if she didn't stop Pei Guang's line of thinking, the universe really might be dood soday.
She suddenly felt that compared to herself, Pei Guang might actually be the more extre one!
NOTE: I should be back!
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