Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Son, Confirming the World
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We were spending our time verifying the third Supreme Training.
"Dhampir's limit is stage 3, the youngest is 34, and the second son is 79."
"If the youngest calls on Zephyra, couldn't he surpass it with all the details up to stage 40?"
"That could work. By the way, it's only been a month or two since the youngest started training, and he's already at that level... His growth curve is steep, just like yours."
"It's all because he wants to catch up to you, Brother Balak."
"So that's what they mean by the importance of a role model? But why is Dhampir acting like that again?"
"Hahaha..."
Orek had passed out after losing to the construct in the training just moments ago.
Dhampir was crouched against the wall.
Even—
"I'm a bug... I'm a bug..."
"Even after giving him advice, seeing the youngest's skills seems to have made him shrink even more."
"Besides, Kairel's essence is that of a pure mage, so our kind of training might be inefficient for him."
"Then it'd be dozens of times better for him to learn magic from someone... Hm?"
Ferguson and I exchanged glances, both thinking of the same person.
"Should we ask Mr. Karian?"
"That might be the best option, but he's got his main job."
"You're right."
It felt wrong to drag in someone already so busy for private lessons.
In any case, since Dhampir's essence was ultimately that of a mage, wouldn't the first Supreme Training help?
Just to be sure, I had the bug-turned-Dhampir give it a try.
"Grrrrr!!!"
"Kairel's improving faster than expected."
"He might actually seal it completely."
The first Supreme Training, the Oil-Dripping Pillar, no longer needed a base on the floor and had grown even larger than before.
And Dhampir sealed it in one go?
That meant he truly had exceptional control over his magic power.
On top of that, thanks to his racial traits, his baseline physical abilities were outstanding even without separate physical training!
Did the monstrous dhampir really need to abandon all that physical prowess and stubbornly walk the path of a pure mage?
Moreover, he could wield the abilities of traditional vampires... I could see it.
Dhampir's concept in my dungeon!
"Now Dhampir's training plan is finally taking shape."
"So you've decided to raise Kairel after all. Then what direction will you take, Brother?"
"There's a certain being from the East who uses magic power to scale walls on two legs, employs body techniques, wields magic of various attributes, employs illusionary arts to confuse enemies, heals all wounds with healing arts, and finally wields eyes with tremendous effects."
"Wow... Such a being really exists?"
"Indeed."
"The East truly is a land of mysteries. So what do they call those beings?"
"Ninjas."
That's right! Ninjas!!
Dhampir was similar to those beings where effort was mostly ignored, and everything was decided by talent, bloodline, connections.
Blood ties, regional ties, school ties.
And Dhampir fulfilled all those conditions.
Eyes? Dhampir had vampire abilities that let him hypnotize feeble humans with his gaze.
The shop even sold lens-type magic eyes.
Talent? Dhampir was a dungeon boss designed for boss rushes from the start.
Bloodline? Fatal to sunlight and holy power, but vampires were an outrageously overpowered race with nearly everything innate.
Connections? He already had solid ones with me and Karian!
We were bound by the regional tie of 'dungeon bosses' among the three rotten connections of blood, region, and school.
Finally, Dhampir had been a thieving scavenger before coming here.
Ah! It all fit perfectly!
So, Dhampir!
Become a bartender half-vampire item-boosted eye-enhanced great magic ninja in my dungeon!
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Around the time Balak shared the Hokage dream with Kairel.
Anima ended up traveling with the demon he'd met outside.
And naturally!
"How is a demon wandering around here?"
"Sorry, but that's exactly what I want to ask you."
"Hm? Tell me what problem you think I have."
"No, at least try hiding like I did—with a large-hooded robe and polymorph magic to conceal your horns—or what's the reason for just strutting around in doll form?"
"Humanization from non-humans is a sin, except in my wife's case."
"Ah, wife?!"
"And why should I change my appearance? The outside world should just adapt to me."
The demon was speechless at Anima's brazenness but soon regained his composure and continued.
"First off, you're from the Abyss of the Pit, right?"
"Correct. I was born there from its master, my father."
The demon was speechless again as Anima struck a bizarre pose to reminisce about the past.
"Now that I've answered twice, it's your turn to answer twice."
"Sigh... Fine, go ahead."
"I am Anima. What's your name?"
"...Aretia."
"There's a pause in your response. An alias?"
"I'll say this clearly: it's not an alias."
"Then you have a family name or middle name. Now for my second question. As far as I know, after the Great War, all demons except special cases like my father left for the Demon Realm. So why are you here in this world?"
"........."
"If you don't tell the truth here, our companionship ends now."
"I left the Demon Realm to meet the one you call father."
"Hm?"
Anima's curiosity piqued upon hearing that Aretia had left the Demon Realm because of Balak.
He began rapidly analyzing Aretia's face.
"Not eyes seeking revenge."
"You can analyze that too... You're incredibly advanced."
"It's my pride. Now, we should get moving."
"Anima, why aren't you asking for more details?"
"You're already quite strong and hiding most of your power, but this world is dangerous for demons unless they're as strong as Father. Yet you're wandering it alone, so I assume you have good reason."
"You sure know how to phrase things nicely."
When maintaining a good relationship, it was best not to forcibly pry into the other's secrets.
Knowing this, Anima began traveling with Aretia, verifying the state of the world bit by bit.
"The world is incredibly stable, but too peaceful."
"The current leaders of the Middle Realm all experienced the Great War. So aside from minor skirmishes like territory disputes, they avoid large-scale wars."
"I see. Hmm..."
"Anima, what's wrong?"
"I'm surprised that dwarves and elves are living surprisingly well."
"Ah, that's why?"
"As I knew it, elves lost their spirits and world trees, dwarves their technology. Is this the Dark Age?"
In Anima's eyes, he saw the two races thriving decently in this era.
But why was this called the 'racial dark age'?
"Before the Great War, they lived hundreds of times better than now."
"I see, it's all relative?"
"As far as I know, we demons targeted elves and dwarves intensively during the Great War. For example... dwarves floated dozens of massive ships in the sky and bombed the ground? Elves had infinite power thanks to spirits."
"How did demons endure that?"
"I wasn't around during the Great War, so I don't know the internal details. Anyway, the two top races in this world have finally become equal to others, so good for them."
"You're right—no real differences between humans and those two races now."
Shifting their gaze from the normalized two races, the pair now observed human society.
"As expected. The human leadership are all extreme realists, decisively discarding what to discard and securing what to secure in governance. They're running their nations quite well."
Listening to Anima, Aretia turned his gaze to a slum area among the empire's cities with its extreme poor.
"But a minority end up in the worst lives like that."
"Think of it as making a huge omelet—you can't fuss over every single egg. And ruling a nation by emotion rather than reason would lead to even more horrific outcomes."
"I don't know what an omelet is, but... I can't deny the nuance."
In the end, unable to save everything, it was a human society where minorities were sacrificed for the absolute majority.
But there were always those who moved for that minority.
Soon, Aretia and Anima spotted priests volunteering aid.
"Helping like that—I'm not sure if it really benefits them."
"Cynicism is still good in its way."
"True enough. Anyway, wait here; I need to check something."
"Check something?"
"Yeah, I need to learn about this world's gods."
Anima soon stole a holy book being distributed to the extreme poor by the priests and read it immediately.
Upon roughly learning about the gods, he fell into great shock.
"Gods don't draw power from faith?!"
"Hm? Why would gods draw power from faith?"
"What?"
"If gods are born from faith, then anyone could start a cult, gather believers, and become a god? Every mortal would try, and the world wouldn't function."
"W-Well, that's true, but."
"And if losing faith strips their power, why call them 'gods'? Plus, if gods created the world but are born from faith, who created the world?"
Anima grappled with a philosophical dilemma like which came first, the chicken or the egg.
Moreover, 'god' referred to omnipotent or near-omnipotent beings.
Yet such beings losing power like celebrities, influencers, or VTubers without popularity?
Did that even make sense?
Aretia logically dismantled the oddities Anima perceived in the gods, leaving Anima speechless this time.
"If gods receive nothing, why give revelations and power to Middle Realm beings?"
"Because they're their children. But I heard they didn't even give power or revelations before."
"Something's off. Anyway, the reason gods only give revelations for most Middle Realm matters without acting directly..."
"Gods aren't trying to turn the world into their model garden."
Realizing this world wasn't made for the gods' doll play, Anima continued questioning Aretia, who knew a fair bit about the gods.
"Even if everywhere connected to this world perishes, the gods survive?"
"Why keep asking such obvious things? And it's not just surviving—they'd be fine."
"Ha, such insane beings have minds and emotions but aren't omnipotent?"
"That's the gods' worst current issue. But they know it, so they take advice from other beings."
"Then I roughly get why gods intervene passively in the Middle Realm. If they intervened directly here..."
"It'd be disastrously worst. Emotions would breed favoritism, regret, anger, and ruin this place instantly."
Not omnipotent but with minds and emotions.
Not growing via faith, seemingly deficient yet ridiculously strong.
Occasionally erring, showing overly human sides.
Anima already knew gods like these.
"Mild flavor Greek-Roman mythology."
"Roman... what?"
"It exists."
Anima recalled the mythology Balak had told him about.
The JOATs who ruled the Western world before Nazareth's Monkey Spanner normalized it!
But unlike those JOATs, seeing gods striving to do good without harming the Middle Realm gave Anima a sense of dissonance, leading to one possibility.
"No way—this world is their first creation?"
"I asked Master that, and he said it's the first."
Confronting the fact that this world was a startup by passionate beings, Anima clutched his forehead.
Of course, managing a world this well on the first try meant the gods were highly competent.
But it also meant they bore all the flaws of a startup.
The prime example!
"No talent around, short on hands to delegate to, surrounded by enemies or untrustworthy beings."
"Huh? How did you—"
For a startup to succeed, founding members had to hard-carry.
Success brought massive returns, failure massive risks.
Unsure of their gains and losses, but why create the Middle Realm and various worlds?
The answer had already come from the Abyss of the Pit.
"If there's a concept of 'ascension' to become gods, this place is their stage for nurturing prospects? They 'invest' without taking anything, just giving continuously."
"Isn't that too worldly a view?"
"Everything has cause and effect. So this evaluation fits."
Reaching the conclusion that the Middle Realm was a world gods made to import talent from outside, Anima found decisive facts to nail down the hypothesis.
"Ha, gods find it incredibly hard to have children..."
"They're too powerful; can't be helped. Dragons are similar now, but even harder for gods."
"Then they had no choice but to scout prospects from outside, raise them, and keep testing."
Now grasping the gods' behavioral principles, Anima turned to another key existence that would reveal the current world's answers.
To learn about demons, he moved on with Aretia.