"The air in the Overworld really is sweet..."
Ron took a deep breath, lazily making his way towards his old apartment.
The environmental gap between Belobog's Overworld and Underworld was not small. The air in the Overworld was genuinely sweeter than in the Underworld.
Due to years of mining and poor underground air circulation, the Underworld's atmosphere had an extremely high concentration of carbon dioxide and severe dust pollution. The dust from excavating Geomarrow constantly circulated throughout the Underworld's air.
The miner's poisoning and pneumoconiosis that plagued the Underworld's miners were strongly linked to this harsh environment. When Ron had first arrived in the Underworld, he had found the air very difficult to get used to.
However, although Ron wasn't fond of the Underworld's environment, that wasn't the reason he was willing to give up a monthly salary of thirty thousand Winterfold shields, resign from his post with Bronya, and rush back to the Overworld overnight.
The real reason stemmed from the Life Simulation Game's settlement panel that he had just seen...
---o---
[You have ultimately completed your plan.]
[The Xianzhou Luofu began its hunt. Lan, the Aeon of The Hunt, drew its bow. You coiled around Jarilo-VI, protecting the planet, but you could not protect your own life.]
[You died at the hands of the Xianzhou Alliance. Your corpse was dissected by the Xianzhou, the flesh of an abomination sent to the Alchemy Commission for inert rendering.]
[After your death, the Xianzhou offered aid to the Jarilo-VI Second Empire, but was rejected by the Empress, sparking a war of revenge.]
[Thereafter, a divine punishment descended with a roar. Jarilo-VI was turned to scorched earth, and all life was utterly annihilated under the thunder...]
[The might of [The Hunt] has descended upon this dead world of scorched earth.]
[Game Over.]
Looking at the text on the screen, Ron scratched his head, feeling a bit helpless.
"Natasha really is a bit too much of a zealot..."
Although he could well understand Natasha's desire for vengeance—after all, in this simulation, he and Natasha had truly reached 200 favorability points and even triggered the Vow of Matrimony.
If Ron hadn't been forced to become an Emanator of The Abundance to deal with Sampo, losing his sanity and turning into an azure dragon, he probably would have fulfilled the vow with Natasha and been properly bonded by the end of this simulation...
But he still didn't understand why Natasha had been so reckless... To put it bluntly, was the Xianzhou something the current Jarilo-VI could even touch?
Forget the Jarilo-VI that was on the road to recovery in the simulation. Even if time were turned back seven hundred years, all the nations on the planet at that time, fighting for their very lives, would have been powerless to resist the slaughter of a single division of the Cloud Knights.
Civilizations also had power levels. The gap between Jarilo-VI and the Xianzhou Alliance was no different from the gap between heaven and earth...
Moreover, the person Natasha had confronted directly in this simulation was Jing Yuan... As one of the Seven Arbiter-Generals of the Divine Bow, while Jing Yuan lacked the power to hunt the Ron of this simulation, his strength was not to be underestimated. He fully possessed the power an Emanator should have.
Any normal Emanator who had received a generous blessing from an Aeon, without exception, possessed the power to incinerate a star system. Destroying a star system was a trivial matter, let alone wiping out the tiny Jarilo-VI.
"Even though you don't have me, you still have the Xianzhou... The Xianzhou Alliance could have continued to be the empire's guide. Even if you really wanted revenge, you should have laid low and endured, waiting for an opportunity..."
Ron sighed, gaining a deeper understanding of Natasha's administrative abilities.
Although the Natasha in this simulation had been his most reliable aide, he had to admit that her skills were almost entirely focused on healing and saving people. In politics, she was barely serviceable.
Her performance at the end of this simulation, for instance, clearly proved that as a leader, she was prone to acting on emotion and found it difficult to govern rationally...
However, although Ron could subconsciously think of better solutions and was mentally critiquing Natasha's lack of political acumen, he was actually in a good mood.
After all, this was all for the sake of avenging him... While Ron was usually calm and rational, seeing Natasha and the empire in this simulation willing to risk their lives to avenge him made him feel valued, and his mood brightened...
"My efforts weren't a complete waste, I guess. These shrewd citizens actually remember what I did and know how to repay a debt..."
A small smile touched Ron's lips as he watched the text on the screen fade, replaced by new entries:
[The score for this Life Simulation is: 100 + 10 points.]
[In the First Month of the 2158th Amber Era, the Xianzhou Luofu discovered the dead world of Jarilo-VI, which had been struck by divine thunder and turned to scorched earth.]
[The Seed of Calamity, once sealed by the Jarilo-VI Second Empire but reactivated by the divine punishment, was discovered in the ashes by the Cloud Knights. It was immediately sent to the Luofu's Alchemy Commission. Along with your body, it became the most popular research topic in the commission. Countless alchemists racked their brains studying your body and the Seed of Calamity. Theses were produced like snowflakes and published in the Xianzhou's academic journals.]
[Portions of the empire's history that were not destroyed by the divine thunder were recovered and sent to the Luofu's Divination Commission. The Divination Commission organized and backed up all of Jarilo-VI's history and labeled you, their great enemy, by name.]
[On the Xianzhou's list of great enemies, your name has been changed from [Unknown Abomination (Hunted)] to [Malignant Dragon Emperor · Ron (Hunted)].]
[The history of Jarilo-VI spread widely across the Xianzhou. Everyone learned how Jarilo-VI had fallen into such a tragic state, and why you had become such a terrifying abomination, losing your original sanity and transforming into an azure dragon...]
[Because of all that you experienced, the head of the Divination Commission, Fu Xuan, amended her manuscript, adding new text to the "Scrutiny of the Divine" chapter of her work, "Glimpsing the Omniscient Mirror"—]
[The Lord of Celestial Joys, master of the Path of [The Elation]. The Masked Fools and Mourning Actors call him the God of Tricks, [Aha]. If one were to place the Aeons on a scale of [divinity] and [mortality], then Aha would certainly be an Aeon quite close to the [mortal] side. He meddles with the joys, sorrows, loves, and hatreds of intelligent beings, and promotes the subversion and turning of fate. According to his followers, he himself revels in this, and will even manifest in human form to stir the pot. If anyone believes this Lord of Celestial Joys is merely the jester among the gods, they are gravely mistaken. Yes, he certainly cannot leave behind universe-shaking miracles like the Reigning-Bow, Arbiter of Fate, or the Mending Sky, Arbiter of Fate. But through some unseen means, he invisibly influences the direction of all living things, displaying an unusually subtle control over reality. For example, during the era of Emperor Rupert's conquest of the stars, his followers launched a rebellion on a planet that had fallen under the territory of inorganic life. Using a humorous paradox virus called [The Philosopher's Hemlock], they infected the conquerors' computational hubs and overthrew the tyranny of the local mechanical legions. Miracles like this are numerous. A seemingly insignificant ripple eventually evolves into a world-shaking tsunami—this is Aha's style. The following text has been added recently, the ink is new and not yet dry— Jarilo-VI, a planet that once, under the protection of the Mending Sky, Arbiter of Fate, fought against the claws of the Annihilation Ancestor for nearly a thousand years, ultimately fell to the jokes and schemes of the [Masked Fools], becoming infected with the plague of the Mara-Struck Ancestor at the hands of the Lord of Celestial Joys' Emanator. The leader of its civilization—a mortal hero named "Ron"—was forced to accept the blessing of the Mara-Struck Ancestor, losing his own sanity and becoming the widely-known [Malignant Dragon Emperor]. He was finally hunted by the Xianzhou, falling under the Heavenly Punishment Edict of the Reigning-Bow, Arbiter of Fate. After the fall of the Malignant Dragon Emperor and Jarilo-VI was struck by the Lightning-Lord, a peal of laughter was heard from the edge of the heavens that did not cease for a long time. The Lord of Celestial Joys had watched the entire development with great interest, viewing the life and death of Jarilo-VI as an amusing play and joke. Perhaps our understanding of the Lord of Celestial Joys is still insufficient... This one proposes that when the Xianzhou faces the Masked Fools and the Lord of Celestial Joys, we must act with the utmost caution, lest we repeat the tragedy of Jarilo-VI... It seems something else was written after this, but it has been blotted out by Fu Xuan. Only a thick block of ink remains, though the words "Plague Ancestor" can be faintly discerned, making it difficult to tell what Fu Xuan had written...]
"What did Fu Xuan write? Was she planning to just rename the Lord of Celestial Joys to the 'Plague Ancestor of Celestial Joys'? Better watch out, Aha might sue you for slander..."
Ron joked internally. Although the Sampo in this simulation had indeed committed great evil, Aha of The Elation wasn't necessarily on the same level of cosmic disaster as Nanook of The Destruction.
His methods were indeed strange and unpredictable, and he would occasionally pull outrageous stunts like blowing up half of the Astral Express, but his humanity would also drive him to do some good things.
For example, using a paradox virus to deal with some of the mechanical conquerors. He was a mixed bag, far from deserving the title of Plague Ancestor...
As Ron thought this, the text on the screen faded, and a line of red text appeared:
[Because you completed a play for which the script was drafted by a Masked Fool, and then broke free from the plot's arrangement and completely reversed the course of fate, Aha, the Aeon of [The Elation], greatly praises your performance.]
[He has left you a message, praising your courage. He has leaped from the top of the Tree of Existence towards the observable universe and is walking briskly towards you, wanting to have a hearty chat, to invite you for a drink and a good time—]
[But He stopped before reaching you, landing in a corner of the universe to laugh heartily, and said to you: "I really want to meet you and dance with you, to laugh together at that fool Sampo for bringing about his own humiliation! But unfortunately, I'm just a line of text in a game; I can't even show a silhouette!" "The game is really fun, but it's no fun when Aha is the one being played by you... One day, when I find you in the real world, I will definitely come and say hello, saying, 'Hi, Ron, good morning!'." ]
[He has added ten points to your simulation score and has bestowed upon you a blessing.]
[Your reward for this simulation has been pushed aside and replaced by Aha's blessing—]
[You have obtained the trait: "The Existence of 'You' (Red)"]
[The Existence of 'You': What is it that can represent the existence of all beings? The thinker gazes at the starry river and discovers that among the stars, another philosopher looks up and casts a questioning gaze back at him. Existence, existence... the essence of existence is a concept that philosophers have struggled to explain for their entire lives. But now, Aha, the Aeon of [The Elation], will tell you clearly—"Elation is existence itself." Every point of starlight in this sea of stars represents a restraint, and the black void represents nothingness. Only the laughter and freedom that comes from the bottom of a living being's heart can embody the existence of life. It is the only light in this dark, starry sea—this is the freedom of all living things. After loading this trait, all "fate" that binds you will disappear amidst Aha's laughter. All of your actions will have a chance to create a miracle. Your "Miracle" event trigger probability has been changed from -100% to 1%. This trait represents the essence of your existence. It cannot be eliminated or destroyed.]
Looking at the text on the screen, Ron's face froze.
He was silent for a long time, then suddenly slapped himself hard across the face.
Damn it, what the hell was that? I have to apologize to Fu Xuan. She was right! Aha is clearly a Plague Ancestor, far more terrifying than any Nanook!
What did he mean, "One day, when I find you in the real world, I will definitely come and say hello"?
Wasn't watching me in the simulation enough, you have to find me in reality too?
Are you fucking doxxing me?
Ron stared at the screen, for the first time feeling a very real fear.
No... I can't stay. I have to run!
Neither Sampo the Emanator nor Aha himself could be allowed to notice him ever again...
With this thought, Ron hastily scribbled a resignation letter, turned, opened the room's window, and jumped out to make his escape...