Melancholic Thoughts
Hiro's POV:
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Now that we were at the peak of the fifth stage, we could beat people at the seventh stage alone and together, we could fight down even someone at the ninth stage in normal cases. But the normal case up till now was that we didn’t even have normal weapons or armors, not to mention the pills, enchantments, and Runes we have on our weapons and armors.
Now we can hold our own against a cultivator at the ninth stage. If we fight together with our perfect coordination, then we can fight even against a peak ninth stage cultivator! We did try to fight against Shao Xian before and after fighting with him for hours as a practice, we realized just how powerful a weapon our bond is.
Shao Xian was literally ‘bullied’ by us... He didn’t only have to defend from the flurries of our powerful magical attacks, he even had to defend from against our dangerous and powerful combat skills. On the other hand, thanks to the parallel minds, we didn't need things like martial arts because we were able to control more of our body parts at the same time. Although Alice didn’t have four minds like me, yet.
But her minds were quicker than mine, which made it possible for her, to multicast actions. She could finish two tasks at the same time thanks to her quick mind. I had the advantage when it came to this, though, since having four minds made it possible for me to control four of my body parts at the same time.
Of course, I had numerous minds because of reasons, but I had to grow more to use them. Because of that, it was alright for us to not learn any martial arts, for now. When we reach the fifth level, we will be sure to learn the martial arts we have in our inherent memories! We can't learn them before because our bodies aren't tough enough to use them before reaching the fifth level.
Considering all this, Shao Xian admitted, that if we were to fight seriously in a real battle, then we would have a good chance at killing him. Hearing this, not only we, but he too felt happy. He knew that we didn’t have any kind of malicious thoughts towards his family nor did we care about ruling others, though we couldn’t be controlled or ruled by others either, which wasn’t his intention, to begin with.
He was happy about this because it only meant that he has got another ‘queen’ on the chessboard. He also declared that those who participate and help in the upcoming war are going to get half of the loot from the collected amount, after winning the battle against the Wu family and the two neighboring sectors.
Hearing this, many people came to join. Small clans and families also participated. The difference between clans and families was that if you joined a family your first name would be changed to the same as the leaders'. While if you were to join a clan, then you could keep your name and you could also move around more freely. So the clans were more lax and freer than the families.
Out of this reason, the families were much more united, but there were also strong hierarchies among their ranks. Angering a family could easily destroy anyone! Clans, on the other hand, weren't as united, but they still provided the cultivators with resources and they had friendlier atmospheres.
The clans were usually much bigger and powerful than the families, but if you were to kill on of them, then usually you would have to deal with only the person's close friends. Then theirs... then theirs... this is why many cultivators feared the clans and didn't dare to kill its members.
But these clans and families were present mostly only in the higher realms once again because they would spend thousands of years and eons to ascend so they had time to create clans. Everything that was fun, was higher up on the ladder! This is so cruel! It's like these levels are no fun... There were rarely one or two families or clans even in the third realm.
Also, one of the greatest organizations is The Guild. It was fighting against things which were originating from the realms above the fifth, but we don't have knowledge about those... The other one being the School of Eternalists. It was a school, which accepted only geniuses to nurture.
They spread the belief of the human supremacy. Although most people at the higher realms didn’t care about things like races, but there were still powerful cultivators, even among those that were at the tenth level, who supported this idea.
Those were the people who founded the School of Eternalists long ago. The lowest and weakest branch it has is reaching into the fourth realm. That’s the bottom of it. Whilst the Guild is reaching even the mortal realms. They know all too well that the fresh blood and new geniuses all come from there.
The Guild was powerful and no one dared to challenge its strength, except the School of Eternalists. They held competitions among each other and they sent their best geniuses to show who was the superior, but these competitions usually ended with almost the same amount of wins on both sides.
We also planned to join The Guild after ascending to the next realm, but that was still farther away. We stood on the plain where we set up those traps. [My Alice~ Can you feel this boiling in our connected hearts! Haha. I’m really looking forward to this war.] I said jokingly, but I felt nervous, which Alice knew all too well.
[Who do you want to lie to? We are bonded you know... I know that you are fearful of losing me.] She said with a gentle and loving tone while smiling as she was looking at me, then she continued. [But don’t worry my love. I’m not going to die so easily. I know that you are terribly hard to kill thanks to your race, but don't forget that I'm also a True Divine Beast and a Dragon God at that! Do you really think that your race is the only one which is hard to kill?]
Alice said, reminding me about her race, her vitality, and her abilities. She was indeed hard to beat and it was even harder to kill her. I shouldn't worry so much, but I can't help it. I think that it's natural to fear, losing my love. Of course, I would also die with her, but that doesn't matter. I don't care about my life. What I care about is, our life and our happiness!
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I didn't have a life anymore. I only had we! It was our life, not mine. I wanted us to be happy and not me. [That was nice~ but fear not honey, I'll cover your back and you'll cover mine. If anything, then we still have your Replicate skill. Though it would take its toll on us, but we would live.] Alice said upon hearing my thoughts and she also soothed my mind.
[*Sigh* Yeah.] I thought with a small sigh. This is so weird... She too felt the same as me, yet she was the one soothing me. I have to compose myself.To be honest, I'm sure that if the humans of Earth would learn of my race, then they would say that I was the most disgusting and despicable kind of ‘game boss’. Although my trait isn’t as powerful at the moment, but the higher I get, the more disgusting I become...
[H-hey Hiro... what’s with these perverted thoughts? You aren’t just thinking about it, but you are even deliberately sending them into my mind... Ugh. Now I’m getting in the mood! Why are you doing this!?] Alice sent her thoughts to me upon seeing my little 'present'.
“Mhm~” She moaned lightly. I was doing this to ease my mood and also because I have never tried using this little aspect of our bond before. I started sending little attacks into her body, reaching her 'sensitive' parts. I know that we can’t go to war with a mindset like what we had before, or else it would really mean our death and that! I truly didn’t want to happen.
She moaned slightly in a low and restrained voice as her face became flushed, but this didn’t escape the soldier’s hearing... Our black capes weren’t on us either, since it would only restrict our movements. Seeing such a beauty standing next to you with a red face and hearing a slight moan from her would surely be ‘exciting’.
The soldiers turned away as I chuckled. [Hey-hey my little squirrel, what are you doing, enjoying yourself?] I sent my thoughts for Alice to tease her. [... You pig! This was so evil! Now how can I ever look them in the face?] She said grudgingly, but she wasn't mad in reality.
[It’s not like you have to... Haha, look only at me. But listen to me. After we have won this war I’ll make love to you enough for even two of you okay? I swear that you won’t be able to stand for a day.] I promised her a hot night, which to she didn't say anything, but her face became flushed upon hearing my words in her mind.
The worst thing is that I’m already anticipating it... Thought Alice and naturally, I've heard it. [I can hear you crystal and clear!] I remarked, which to she answered jokingly by saying - [Sometimes I have to think about if this bonding was a really good idea. Hahaha,] [Of course, it was! That was the best thing that has happened to me, in both of my lives.] I said as I gave a kiss on her face.
As we were warming up to each other and tried to ease the mood when we could see spaceships appearing on the horizon one after the other. Soldiers jumped out of them from high above, then immediately lined up in front of us.
This was Alice’s idea. She said to Shao Xian to make a promise with Wu Shan, to fight in a fair way and set up their army on this plain. The promise contained that none of them were going to use their soldiers nor the other two world’s soldiers to make any ambushes or set up traps and such.
Luckily for us, this retard bitten on the hook once again. By promising this, it was true that we had to face more enemies, but they can’t make any traps or ambushes. Wu Shan naturally was happy that this was also true for the Shao family. He thought that we would lose the vernacular field.
Like that, he could easily charge in and win this war, or so he thought... But the thing was that one and half a year was up. We had nothing to do with their ‘soldiers’ or ‘forces’. We were like two strangers. Because of that, we set up the plain, with formations, bombs, and traps. Although none of the Shao family members could help, but we were more than enough.
They did notice some scouts or spies but they killed them all, so if everything was fine, then Wu Shan shouldn’t have got any news about this. This is the drawback of these promises or oaths. If you don’t find the loopholes in what the other one said, then can get tricked easily.
If we were to be the ones to make the promise, then most likely, Wu Shan would have thought about it more. But since it was Shao Xian’s doing, he didn’t question it. These traps were probably going to kill many soldiers at the lower stages and maybe even soldiers at the fifth or sixth stage were going to die.
Our army was doing fine at acting and showing a low morale. Seeing the moral down Wu Shan was delighted. He thought that he was the superior one in this situation! When he saw us, his face turned into a ferocious one and I swear that he was about to pounce on us. Seeing this, Shao Xian gave a warning look for us, but we were clear on who is going to be our enemy... Shao Xian started giving a 'morale boosting' speech.
“My allies hear me out! Why do you want to live? Why do you want to fight?” Hearing this none of them spoke because of the 'low morale'. Seeing this I, the 'brave soldier' shouted to liven up the mood: “I want to live, I want to become stronger, I want to protect those who are important to me, I want to reach the top of this universe!" I shouted. We even had a scenario!!!
[I swear that we are idiots... Hahaha~ but Wu Shan is an even bigger idiot!] Upon hearing my 'brave' shout, they 'Hurray'-ed once, then Shao Xian continued. "Anyone else?"
The 'brave' soldiers started shouting one by one desires like fame, money, women, protecting their loved ones. Human nature is interesting. Most of them didn’t dare to start something because they feared the consequences, feared what would happen if they were to be laughed at, feared what the others were going to think about them.
Yet if someone else starts something and it’s a success then all of them want to be as ‘brave’ and ‘popular’ as the first person. But that’s how we are. We fear the most, our own community, but the truth is that a community is always dragging us down. Only weak people group up, but is that shameful?
I don’t think so. It’s just that how we humans are. We are like wolves, we need a pack just like how wolves group up. They too are weak alone but that’s how nature is. There are naturally leader characters born among the ‘pack’.
The soldiers started shouting and hitting their shields with their weapon. Seeing their high morale Shao Xian nodded happily because we were able to 'reach' such high 'morale'.
[*Sigh* You know what Alice?] I questioned her melancholically. Although it was just a play for our plan's sake, but it held some truth. [What?] She asked me as she started fiddling with her hair. Considering the noise, it was good that we had this bond and that we were able to talk through it.
[When I was a human, I felt these feelings they should feel right now too. It is interesting how even though I knew about this all along, I just couldn’t win over my own instinct. I always believed that, if you really want to do something, no one can stop you. You just have to believe in yourself.]
[Strangely enough I did this only in some cases but it ALWAYS worked, yet I couldn’t believe in it all the time. I didn’t have power there. Everyone was a normal human. But then why is it that I was still able to do what I wanted when I believed in it?]
[It’s funny how we need beliefs to do something while giving our all. Though maybe that didn’t change even now. I believe in ourselves. I believe, that we are going to get out of this alive and from many other battles and that one day, we are going to stand above everyone because you know, in the end, it doesn’t matter at all if you are beastmen, elf, human, monster or mythical creature because it all comes down to one thing.]
[And that is how much you believe in yourself! If you are wavering you die, if you are thinking about failing you die, but if you believe, then you can make anything happen!] I finished my monolog and then asked Alice.
[So, do you believe Alice?]
[“I do!”] Alice answered positively as she raised her arms cutely.
[In this life, in our next life, our past lives the only thing that is shackling us down is always one thing. And that is ourselves!] I thought about my final lines and as I finished my thoughts, a roar broke out of Shao Xian's throat: “ATAAAAAAACK!!!”