Mark's gaze on Evelyn's figure was intense. His eyes were red and his hands were shaking with frustration.
He could guess why Evelyn decided to do this to him, Fame. Her family is currently struggling in their businesses, and the only way to get them back on their track is Publicity. If she can get famous by being the reason for the development of Advanced 'SLAC', her family would naturally gain the publicity they might need or even more.
Just like that, he also understood his parent's intentions for agreeing to this. It was much simpler to understand, Mark's Grandmother, the current matriarch of the Starmaker Family and Evelyn's Grandfather, also the current Patriarch of the Starlight Family are close friends from their childhood.
They would naturally form an alliance through marriage by marrying Evelyn to him. But with their current struggling state, the Starmaker family won't gain any actual benefit and helping them through him won't cause any actual damage to their reputation.
Their plan would have been perfect if not for Mark's discovery and his drastic actions. Not only have they failed to force him into developing the technology, but also if his actions are revealed to the outside world, both of their reputations would touch rock bottom.
Mark glanced at the two middle aged figures sitting among the upper rank officials, his eyes clearly showing resentment. The two middle aged men and women avoided his gaze with uncomfortable faces.
"Now that you know what we want, why don't you just restore the infected data and develop the Advanced 'SLAC'. So that we all can forget this ever happened and go back to our normal life." The goddess of knowledge chimed in again to give him a way out.
She thought that Mark, who loves peace the most, would yield and do as they say to avoid escalating things.
"pst! HahAhahaHA!... Haahhahaha!" A sudden laugh escaped Mark's lips and then it turned into a full on Crazed laugh. Everyone was silent and soldiers were on guard the whole time. After a few seconds, he calmed down and looked at the woman standing on the high platform with pure mockery in his eyes.
"I must've been way too much of a pushover for you to actually think I would agree to this ridiculous demand of yours." His eyes landed back on the violet haired woman as he announced, clearly intending for her to hear.
"I have already finished the project that I promised the Starlight family. It is a device that can influence a person's life force by either donating to or absorbing life force from any living being."
His voice echoed as everyone's pupils contracted. Even the goddess was shocked to hear his words. According to her estimation, the human race was still five hundred thousand years behind to achieve that level of technology.
Life force is a sacred energy that every living being possesses. But there was no way to actually improve or decrease it. Even she, as a deity, is unable to influence it with something as insignificant as a mundane device.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Mark's next words that made all the Starlight family members despair.
"I planned to give the blueprint as a bride price for my upcoming marriage. But alas, you guys were hung up on 'ASLAC'."
"Are you saying that you have more than the 'Life Force Modulator'?"
"Yes" he affirmed. "The first one that I developed was the SLAC that could anchor human lives and revive them. But I purposefully degraded it to only revive the pet beasts."
Everyone looked stunned and their mouths agape as Mark's words were heard by everyone. Even the goddess was stunned by this discovery. Everyone was forced to believe his words as the lie detector planted on the hall didn't alert any signs of lie. From the beginning up to now, Mark has said nothing but the truth.
An excited voice echoed as the goddess said to him, "Excellent! Mark Starmaker, Just hand them over to the government and I will guarantee you that both the Starmaker and Starlight family will shine for the next ten thousand years. After that, it will be up to the future generation for the fate of the two families."
The eyes of the members of the two families, along with Mark's parents, Evelyn and the two leaders of the families lit up upon hearing her announcement. This was a huge benefit for both families. Now they could only pray that Mark would accept the terms. But just one act from Mark completely shattered their hopes.
Mark extended his hands and showed his middle finger to the goddess and everyone. Nobody understood this action of his but for some reason, it triggered everyone's fury.
"Go Fuck Yourself, Bitch!!" he loudly roared.
The woman's hands shook violently as she struggled to contain her fury. No mortal has ever been able to offend her to this extent for many millennia. But now this brat who isn't even a hundred years old dares to act like this in front of her.
Suddenly, a bright light caught her eyes. She looked over to find the source of it being the 'Eye of Knowledge' in Mark's possession.
The 'Eye of Knowledge' is what you call a heavens gift that was bestowed upon him by the heavens. It had the same functions as her own 'Universal Archive' created by her divine authority. Though it had the same use, it was undoubtedly an inferior one made to be used by a mortal.
The bright light let out a blinding flash onto everyone's eyes as it slowly dissipated bit by bit. The goddess noticed that Mark's life force was diminishing rapidly. Her eyes contracted as she shouted, "Are you Crazy?!"
Mark gave her a smug smile as he said despite his hands turning into dust and fading away within the world, "Yes I am…"
With that, The Smartest Mortal Being in the entire Universe, perished through suicide.
*
The scene was in an uproar as nobody expected Mark to give up on life completely. His parents fell on their knees and began to cry while Evelyn stood there completely stunned as if paralyzed. Within her mental terminal, warning signs kept appearing as it said
[EAC is pressured by the heavy emotional toll and is on the brink of deactivation]
[EAC has been deactivated due to malfunction]
Tears finally flowed from her eyes because of the grief of Mark's death. Then a sharp pain shot through her eyes as another voice rang in her mind.
[You have inherited the 'Eye of Knowledge' from 'Mark Starmaker']
[You are now the Owner of the 'Eye of Knowledge']
To be continued….