Neither Mihun nor I were busy organizing our own worlds, so we didn't receive any consulting, and we didn't really have any intention of sending a clone.
So I asked through the clone of the meeting room that was automatically gathered.
"Hey, Mihun."
"Why are you looking for this great one?"
"Judging by what you're saying in the meeting room, it looks like you've been in trouble or something?"
"We haven't even finished reorganizing ourselves yet, so it's too early to take revenge. Can't you postpone it for a while?"
However, speaking through the clone in the meeting room had the side effect of causing reactions from even Wahwando and Seisaisa.
Oh dear. Should I have just sent a separate clone to Mihun?
But when I thought about it, it wasn't really a secret, so I decided to just say it.
"No, it's just small talk. I have something personal to ask you."
"Oh my! You call this small talk?"
"Do we really need to do something like that at such an important time?"
Seisaisa and Wahwando said that, but Mihun, who had spoken in the first place, accepted it leisurely.
"Haha. If you don't even chat, why live? Isn't there anything trivial in this world? Each and every one of them is a shining destiny. What is your question? Incidentally, things like the organizers and the game's purpose, which we agreed not to discuss, cannot be discussed with this great one either, so please refer to that."
"I'm curious about that too, but it's something else. I heard you've lived for hundreds of thousands of years."
"I don't remember the exact time, but I think I lived for about 80 million years? If you measure it by the absolute time scale here, that would be it. If you measure it by experience, it would be much longer."
If I remember correctly, I'd be even more surprised. I'm also confused because I'm not sure if I'm over 30, but if you change the age calculation method, it might not seem like I'm over 30, and it might seem like I'm definitely over 30.
Let's say I'm about thirty. If you include the years I spent as a game addict, I'd say a little over thirty.
"I'm only thirty years old…"
"Shock! Thirty?! I thought I was seven hundred years old!"
"I'm surprised too. I thought you were over eighty, if not seven hundred."
Why did Seisaisa and Wahwando guess my age like that? It's ridiculous. But Mihun, after all, is an elder. I accepted it naturally.
"Hmm. Your life seemed short. So?"
"Nothing, it's just. Wouldn't it be boring to live that long? To be exact, if you've already lived that long and are practically omnipotent, there's no such thing as regrets you haven't accomplished, so I ask. Why did you join the game?"
As expected, the two guys each spoke their own words.
"Stupid! Do you need any more reasons to want to live?"
"I'm pretty old by my species' standards, but I think we all agree that we want to live long and be strong. Is that really something to ask?"
These guys keep hitting me so I don't know if I'm really weird or not
Yes. No matter how much you want to live, if you live for tens of millions of years, won't there be nothing you want to do?
Honestly, even if you try everything you can in life, honestly, with the contents of Earth, even if you have immortality, unlimited wealth, and health, it will all run out in about 300 years.
Mihun, unlike the other two, didn't disbarage me.
"You. Do you know what cultivation means?"
"No."
"Self-improvement refers to the process of cultivating oneself and improving both body and soul to a higher level. True virtue is a kind of attainment point, and immortality is its culmination. At least, that's what I understand."
There's another setup game. I think I've heard it before.
"Then what do you think is the most important thing in that cultivation?"
"Well, talent?"
"Haha. Talent is important, but it is not the most important thing. The most important thing in cultivation is the reason why you're doing it."
It seems like something obvious, but it also doesn't seem like it…
"If you raise your level through cultivation, your lifespan increases. And you become stronger. But 'why' do you need to live long? 'why' do you need to become stronger? Living longer ultimately means having more opportunities to do things, and becoming stronger means being able to do more."
"Yes."
"I practice because I don't want to die. Those of lower levels don't practice for that purpose. But if you're so tired of life that you can't feel any joy or sorrow in your life, and everything just seems like a dull gray."
"Well, wouldn't you just want to live longer? Even if you weren't willing to take your own life, living might not be all that satisfying. So, living longer can't really be the ultimate goal of cultivation."
That's my question, too. Eighty million years is practically an eternity, isn't it? It's a geological unit. Life forms change without even leaving their original form.
"The same goes for becoming stronger. In short, if we use this game as an analogy, if we defeat all our opponents, there won't be any more to defeat, right?"
"Is that true?"
Wahwando asked abruptly. Mihun answered with a sly attitude.
"Haha. The organizers will scold me but I can't help but say it. Anyway, the match itself is that if you win all thirty battles, you win. At that point, there's no need for strength or strategy. Just look at the completed world, or use it as a foundation to fulfill other wishes. That's the end."
I, Seisaisa, and Wahwando all kept our mouths shut.
"Then getting stronger isn't really a big deal. There's no 31st clash. If you won, you've already achieved what you can, and you're already strong enough. Since you've already achieved your goal, the cultivation will stop."
If you turn the story around, it goes like this.
"In that sense, this great one still has a desire to live longer and achieve goals by gaining more strength, so he still has a passion for life, and he pursues a higher realm by living longer."
"What more could you possibly want to do with the power to bend time and space and destroy galaxies?"
"I want to see the insignificant creatures walk the path of cultivation and reach a higher level, surpassing or even matching the original."
"I don't understand?"
"What are you talking about?"
As the three of us said that, Mihun said simply.
"Is this such a difficult thing to grasp? In short, the main purpose is to train disciples. Seeing insignificant creatures gradually grow stronger and gain power, daring to match me or even surpass me... haha. It's a very strange feeling. Hahahaha…"
"Are you sure?"
"That's true."
"Are you saying you'd risk your life and participate in a game just for something like that?"
"That's all. It's a task worth sacrificing the entire life of this great one."
"And while doing that, you're killing everyone you meet."
"Originally, hardships follow promotion. That is their destiny. And those who do not get greedy and disembark at the point they have decided to leave. How many are there? But those who stop practicing there are no different from disciples to whom this great one has given its power."
I'm speechless, too. His way of thinking is truly unique.
Come to think of it, this Mihun, the fact that he acquired the mythical trait after the 4th round means that he had been interacting with other players and consulting them to earn points even before then. Maybe he's not as closed-minded as I thought.
As Mihun himself said, he destroys everyone he meets because he cannot get help from anyone, so he does it without any malicious intent.
"Then I ask you. Demon King, Marquis, Overlord. What was your goal in joining the game?"
"If I, Marquis Seisaisa, were to step down midway, I would like to return to my hometown and become emperor with the knowledge I have gained here. I have already told this to Vein. If I do not step down midway, I would like to create a new title that surpasses that of emperor and command it as the true ruler of my world! And I will also obtain the most powerful meat."
"I've only lived in my own world, and now I realize for the first time how vast and magnificent the universe is. Whether I win or drop out, I want to expand into the vast world, interact with others in the universe, and wage war to continue my hegemony."
After the two men spoke, three people's gazes turned to me.
"If I win, I want to become a god and manage and watch over my ecosystem that will last forever."
"You questioned my wish, but it seems your wish is no different from mine."
"I guess that's fun. Honestly, I find your ecosystem so fascinating. Maybe it's because I can't understand it."
"Then what are you going to do if you disembark in the middle?"
I couldn't answer that question.
"What? Why aren't you answering?"
"Hey. Is something urgent coming up in your world? Is there something you need to retaliate against?"
When Mihun saw me like that, he covered his mouth with a fan and laughed, then sent a message.
[Mihun: Mr. Vein, may I speak to you privately for a moment?]
So I answered and he gave them a vague explanation in the meeting room and I went into Mihun's world.
That was a godsent.
Mihun, that giant Tyrannosaurus god was looking down at me, holding a fan and smiling brightly.
"What? Why?"
"You. No matter what happens, you have no intention of disembarking, right?"
And then he hit the nail on the head.
Actually, it's too easy to guess. I only talk about it when I win, and never talk about all the other scenarios..
"When I first joined this game, I didn't even know there was such a thing as quitting. I was one of those extremely rare players who just went in and started playing."
"I see. There are people like that. Those whose goal is not longevity or strength, but rather a fall. Those who just want to go up to the limit and then break and fall."
"You've lived too long and seen too many people like me to criticize me by saying, 'What do you know?'"
"Exactly. So, what should I say? I know it might sound arrogant, but I understand you perfectly. No matter how different our races, our cultures, or the worlds we inhabit, our ways of thinking converge."
"Even in another world, the survival strategies of nature would not be that different."
"That's right. Even emotions are strategies. Even thoughts are strategies. It's all about survival."
That guy Mihun knows about it surprisingly well.
Why do people get angry?
If you don't get angry, the mechanism to fight back against those who have harmed you will be deleted, and as a result, you will suffer a lot of damage.
Why do people feel sad?
If you don't grieve, the mechanism that protects what is precious will be deleted, and as a result, you will lose things that are important to you.
Why do people love?
If you don't love, you can't have a lover or children, and those genes won't be passed down to future generations. That's why you cherish your children and love your lover.
The principles of human behavior, the societies, cultures, norms, politics, and civilizations we create—all of this can be explained through the ecology of the human species.
Even human emotions are simply biologically programmed. Whether it's baseness, superiority, vulgarity, or nobility, they all have biological meaning.
Everything humans create and possess is merely a survival strategy for the bipedal ape Homo sapiens. Anything less than optimal will simply be eliminated.
Civilization is a system that allows the unworthy to survive, and ultimately brings about the worst possible outcome for all rational thinkers.
That's why I hate it. Because humans, the civilization they've created, allows things that should be eliminated to survive.
Even though I was born an orphan, I made hundreds of millions of dollars by understanding human madness, and lived an objectively successful life, I remained a recluse in the countryside, secluded in front of my computer.
Because I had no particular need for the system called civilization or for the human species.
Mihun smiled, as if he knew all the thoughts I was thinking inside, whether he knew or not.
"People like you are almost always going to meet tragic ends."
"I guess so."
"But, surprisingly, it also is a happy ending.
This is amazing. I have lived for tens of millions of years, I have seen countless people, an incalculable number that cannot be expressed in billions, and yet I still find it so wonderful to see fate.
Some sages disparage the birth, growth, and end of mortals and commoners as merely different perspectives on the same fate, but what can we do when we clearly see something different each time?"
Mihun roared and spread his huge arms wide, as if trying to embrace the vast world, unlike a Tyrannosaurus.
In a world that is one with me, it would be embarrassing to do that.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"What did you hear about what this great one said earlier? This great one really likes this kind of thing."
"It's ridiculous."
"Haha. And this is just an extension of the advice we give to other worlds."
"What?"
Mihun laughed.
"How did you meet me?"
I sought out an expert to give a strong desire to creatures that didn't seem to have the desire to live in my ecosystem, and that was Mihun.
"I'm just continuing to do the same requests I did back then."
"You have contributed nothing to the world, so I can't give you any points."
"That's why I'm grateful just for the attitude you're showing me right now."
:: Remember:::
Wow… This is amazing. How do you actually do that?
"Ahh. Mihun~~ I really told you not to do that."
Mihun lightly ignored the chattering of his sparrow-like angel.
"You. I said you were wrong last time. Why did I say was wrong?"
"When you ask about life, you should not ask 'how' to live, but 'what kind' of life to live. It's a similar question, but it's completely different. Live with your eyes on the destination and the end, not the process and the means."
Mihun then smiled brightly and said something.
"The next section is the disembarkment point. You will probably win, and with the points you have earned, you will probably be able to live like a king in your hometown for hundreds of years.
If you drop out after the next match, I will make sure that your world, which will be difficult for all other participants to deal with, is bought by me even if it means taking away all the points I earned at that point. (Verified Truth)."
"What? Why are you doing that?"
Mihun just laughed while drooling.
After the Tyranno Immortal disappeared without answering, I looked at my ecosystem.
As always, it's always a fucking, endless wilderness to live in.
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