Encounter of Souls (4)

king.

The unknown, the monster of prophecy, defined itself as such.

'I must have learned the concept of a monarch when I waged war against the Emperor of Maninleung.'

The first experience of encountering and fighting an underground civilization was a learning opportunity for the monster of prophecy.

[I am the king. Who the hell are you?]

the king asked.

Pietro replied.

[It's complicated to explain, but I used to be a high priest and now I'm a human.]

[I know that you are now in the body of another race. A species with such a body is called a human. I've heard that humans are wicked and uncivilized, but I couldn't completely believe the biased words. What kind of race are humans?]

The king showed curiosity.

Every time he discovered new information he didn't know, he showed a curious attitude.

[There are parts that seem lacking due to the different evolutionary methods, but they are a species with intelligence.]

[Evolution?]

The king showed curiosity again.

There are so many keywords to be curious about.

Pietro could see how the king had mastered the skill of manipulating spirits to an extraordinary level.

Monsters without intelligence.

In the meantime, a king with intelligence alone.

It was a terrible loneliness.

He has no one to share his children with, and no one to respond to his knowledge.

So the king is trying to escape from the abandoned world.

in search of more knowledge.

It was for the same reason that he entered the spirit realm.

There was no way to get out of the abandoned world, so even the soul came out to the spirit realm.

The mysterious spirit realm with many unsolved secrets to the curious king would have been like a new world.

He kept digging into it, and after such a long time passed, his skills in handling the soul increased tremendously.

While spending a lot of years, there was not much I could do, so I must have been steadily polishing it.

[Should I explain evolution?]

To Pietro's question, the king expressed an affirmation.

[It's just that it's not clearly defined, it's probably a concept I know when I hear it.]

[It is important that justice is given.]

[hmm?]

At those words, the king seemed to think deeply. He seemed to be chewing on the meaning of Pietro's words.

yet.

[That's right. Undefined knowledge does not go deeper. I understand that, so go ahead and talk about evolution.]

[Let's say that among you monsters, a very large monster is accidentally born. Because the monster is unusually large, it will be more powerful and reproduce more than others.]

[yes.]

[Then there is a possibility that monsters of the same size will be born from that monster.]

[That's right.]

[Large monsters will overwhelm other monsters in the race for survival and will continue to reproduce. So, in the end, that monster species evolved to be bigger.]

[That's evolution. This means that you will adapt well to the environment and change to be more advantageous in the competition for survival.]

The king quickly understood.

[Or disappear after being defeated in the competition for survival.]

[Yes, it was something I vaguely knew. I couldn't think of it because I didn't define it clearly.]

[And among the monsters, a mutant with intelligence like you was accidentally born.]

[Ummm...]

What was going on, the king fell silent at those words. I felt a sense of disappointment.

said the king.

[They mated and gave birth to numerous children. You must have seen thousands of children.]

[number of animals?]

The spirit realm was a place where people communicated regardless of language differences.

He expressed his children as livestock or counting units. It meant that the king did not regard his own children as equals in intelligence.

[Because I was so lonely. Because I wished there was someone with the same wisdom as me. Didn't you first come up with the idea of ​​having a child that resembles me?]

[I would have done it.]

[It was useless. They were all idiots with no intellect. Fools who fight, eat, reproduce, and do nothing else!]

The king's wrath came like a tidal wave.

[Obviously, the appearance resembles me, but the most important thing is that it doesn't resemble me. I couldn't stand it when I saw him doing savage things with a look similar to me.]

[Did you kill them all?]

[Yes! What do you think about this? I am a king who happened to be born with intelligence, and none of my children have intelligence like me. that did not evolve. Isn't the evolution you said wrong?]

After all, it was an attempt to evolve its own species, but it failed.

That's why I felt intense anger.

Rather than anger directed at a specific target, it was just an outburst of anger because things didn't go as planned.

[I don't know where to start explaining.]

[The longer the description, the better. Because I want to hear as many stories as possible from you.]

The king, who rarely met the same intelligent body, was very pleased with Pietro.

[Do you know that we were the monsters we made?]

[know.]

The king affirmed.

[I came to a conclusion after looking around the traces left in the world I live in and thinking in my own way. You made us to use us, but you ran away because you couldn't handle our power.]

[It would be great if you came to that conclusion by thinking alone.]

[Is this great? Well, that's right. Also, I'm great.]

King satisfied.

said Pietro.

[Because you have become stronger through evolution, my ancestors could not handle it and ran away.]

[As expected, evolution was important.]

[Yes. But the point of my words is that you were creatures created by my ancestors.]

Pietro continued to explain to the puzzled king.

[It is a story that there was no way it was designed to have intelligence when it was created in the first place. There is no way that our ancestors did not know the dangers of having intelligence.]

[Then what happened to me?]

[There are two hypotheses.]

[theory?]

The king was again distraught and interested in the new word. He was incredibly curious.

Either that or not, Pietro had nothing to say.

[The first hypothesis is that it is a variant born with an extremely rare probability. In fact, I've been thinking this way until now.]

[But even if the odds are slim, since I was born as a result, shouldn't my child resemble me?]

[Yes. I also found that odd. So I just came up with the second hypothesis.]

[What is that?]

[If intelligence is caused by external factors other than genetics.]

[External factors?]

[I think you must have been a structure that couldn't have intelligence in the first place. That's why your children don't have intelligence either. But you may have been artificially implanted with intelligence by some supernatural action.]

[A supernatural action?]

[I do not know either. Anyway, that's the hypothesis now. Your evolution is not natural.]

Pietro counted it fortunate out of misfortune.

Of the monsters, only one had intelligence. Since the intellect was not passed on to the children, there seemed to be no concern that the monsters would evolve to the intellect in the future.

It's just that this monster king in front of me has tremendous intelligence and curiosity. It gave me goosebumps to see that every time I heard about a new concept, I immediately understood it.

The king I met today in the spirit realm seemed very pure. Because he was showing all his emotions honestly.

But Pietro was not caught off guard.

'He can become cunning at any time if necessary.'

There are various monsters in the abandoned world.

There are numerous monsters that have evolved in various directions, whether they are stronger or bigger.

But how could this intelligent monster become king?

It must have been because he knew how to use his intellect to trick other monsters.

If he was just a pure, curious monster, how could he have fooled the first high-ranking priest?

Anyway, Pietro did his best to find out information about the king.

We had a lot of conversations.

Usually, when the king asked a question, Pietro explained.

Pietro taught only concepts that were not feared to be weaponized, and the king was overjoyed whenever his curiosity was satisfied.

[Look, former high priest and present human.]

[Just call me Pietro.]

[Pietro?]

[Humans call each other by name.]

[name? name. That's an interesting concept too. I'm just a king, but the king is my position, not my name.]

[That's fine. What did you call me to say?]

[Ah, that's right.]

Only then did the king suppress his curiosity for a moment and come to his senses.

[I really enjoy talking to you. The guy you said was your disciple was originally smart, but now he's stupid.]

[Because I fell into a strange belief and my thinking became narrow.]

[I'm tired of having to pretend to be omnipotent and know everything when I talk to him.]

I wanted to let the first person hear this grumbling of the frankly speaking king.

'Poor first. They believe that this monster is the primordial light.'

[Anyway, I want to talk more with you.]

[You are still doing it now.]

[No, not here, but in a place where you can see, hear, and feel it.]

Pietro was nervous.

The king was slowly trying to reveal his true colors.

[I invite you to my world. I will summon your soul in my world, will you accept?]

[Where are you planning to summon?]

[I need a temporary body. Replace that with my aura.]

Pietro was stunned.

Calling the soul to dwell in one's aura.

It was the blow of a heroic spirit that only Pietro could do.

I hope you know how to do the same technique as your own season.

[good night.]

Pietro agreed.

[happy. Unlike you, I feel cramped in this place where I can't use my physical senses. Of course, my world with only idiots is more cramped. Anyway, I will go back and summon you, so please respond.]

[good night.]

The king was delighted and disappeared from the spirit realm.

A return to the abandoned world.

And eventually, a passage connecting the spirit world and the material world was created in front of it.

[Come here.]

The king's words were heard across the aisle.

'I wonder if the ancestors who were summoned to me felt like this.'

Feeling insecure, I certainly didn't want to answer the call of an unreliable guy.

Pietro made his way across the aisle.

Wow!

And Pietro nestled in the aura mass as a body.

'Is this the king's aura?'

It was an aura that felt like burning heat.

I realized that the warmth I felt in the spirit realm was the heat coming from the aura.

It was not a pure aura that was refined to white like the highest grade underground person.

In other words, an aura with a lot of impurities.

But hot and intense.

What kind of power would come out if I attacked with this aura?

In any case, Pietro began to control this aura that was to be used as his temporary body.

He manipulated the aura mass and changed its form.

I made the limbs and made the head.

The form of Grieg was not the human Pietro Anella, but gradually became the figure he had before he was alive, the high priest.

Reconstructing his body, Pietro looked around.

All around was a pitch black darkness without a single light.

- Where are you?

Pietro asked.

Then the king answered.

It seems that he answered something with an aura vibration, but of course it was an unknown language.

However, Pietro is originally an underground person.

Learning the language was not difficult.

-I can't understand your language. I'll learn it, so keep talking.

Then the king continued to say something.

The unknown language gradually began to be understood.

And finally.

- Don't you know?

The king's words were clearly understood.

- I'm here.