235 A New Emotion

The golden light entered her gravitational field, picking up speed and looking like it was going to crash into her. She was a little worried since the speed at which it was moving was enough to reduce it to pieces if it actually crashed, but she didn't care too much.

She was intrigued by it but not enough to save it. There were some scary things on the Planet, things that made even her cautious. She'd rather not have one of those on her own planetary body so on the off chance that this was one of them she'd rather it exploded.

Alas, contrary to how it acted when it first entered her gravitational field, it began to slow down, and soon enough, it landed on her body with the impact of a feather.

'Well then.' She thought. 'What is tha-... a Human?'

The golden light dissipated, leaving behind the figure of a Human with odd golden eyes, irregular long white hair, and most importantly, a profound aura of power that no other being on the planet could hope to match.

All of a sudden, she felt like the understanding she had grasped of the planet had become rudimentary. Humans were supposed to be among the weakest life forms on the planet. Not because they were innately untalented, but because like most of the other Enlightened races they required techniques, something only the humans in the dead lands possessed.

But even they, no, even the High Humans, Blood Fiends and Elves, the most prodigious Enlightened races on the planet, were like tiny embers compared to the roaring flame that was this Human.

But perhaps she was jumping to conclusions too early. High Humans looked like Humans but you could almost always tell they weren't at a first glance. Everything about them generally just looked better. And here, this man looked EVEN better.

The quality of all of his features looked pristine like precious metal, and yet he was flesh and blood. Was he something even more evolved than a High Human? Or maybe… the progenitor of all humankind?

Either way, she really hoped he'd go away. This man was incomprehensible and she didn't like that. If there was one thing she had grasped from her investigation of the planet, it was that the things that she still didn't understand, even with all of her current knowledge, were things she was better off staying away from.

Still, he was here now, and there was nothing wrong with asking the System questions like she always did, so that's exactly what she was going to do.

'System, who and what is he?'

She waited a while but received no answer.

'Huh? …System?'

DING!

<Yes, Host?>

So it was still there. Why didn't it answer? Was there something wrong with what she said?

'What is he?'

No answer.

'...System, what is he?'

No answer.

'System, who is he?'

No answer.

'System?'

DING!

<Yes, Host?>

This was… surprising to say the least. Never once had she been completely ignored by the System. Even when it refused to answer her questions before, it still replied to her, telling her she was unqualified to know the answer. But this time it was just blatantly ignoring her. Was it because of this man?

An unfamiliar emotion rose within her.

'System?'

DING!

<Yes, Host?>

'System, what is the species of that man?'

No answer.

The unfamiliar emotion got stronger.

'System, what emotion am I feeling?'

DING!

<Fear, Host. You are feeling fear.>

'...'

'Great. Just… Let him do what he wants to do.' So long as it didn't harm her, he could leave in peace. Next time he came, if there even was a next time, she would absolutely not allow him to touch down on her body, at the moment it was a bit too late.

'Fear…' She rolled the word around in her mind. It was something she had seen but never experienced. She never thought she would either. Emotions fascinated her, the way they worked. Sometimes they made sense, but other times, like this. They didn't.

All it took was for the System to act in a way it never had before, and she felt fear for the first time. It was odd. If she wasn't familiar with the System and it had acted like this, she knew she wouldn't have been affected. After all, she wouldn't have known that the event was abnormal.

Emotions had a wondrous way of working… but thinking that didn't lower her fear one bit.

At the moment, she was dead set on pretending she wasn't sapient. Most of the species on the planet below believed that she was all kinds of things. The other side of the sun, another planet, a mere light that prevented complete darkness when the sun wasn't shining on their side. All sorts of things. But no one (who wasn't affiliated) believed that she could think like them.

It had been a little annoying before, but right now, she was quite happy about tha-

"Hello Moon, or would you prefer to be called Luna? I've always wanted to meet you but haven't had enough time, I'm a little excited." The man spoke. His voice, as expected, was also something that nobody else on the planet could sound like. But that obviously wasn't her concern.

'He knows...'

Fear surged once more. She didn't like the feeling.

"I know you have a Soul. I know you can speak to me. In fact, I even know you have an avatar. Can I request a face to face conversation?" He asked with a smile.

The way he spoke didn't sound particularly authoritative. She had seen the way various Beast Kings/Queens spoke and they tended to speak rather bluntly. Demanding things without care for whether the person they were talking to was willing or even capable.

This man didn't sound like that, and yet, she felt like she couldn't refuse. Like there was only one option and that was to comply. How did he do that? She might have asked if she didn't feel the abnormal need to be quiet and not provoke the creature before, or rather, on her.

She sighed.

She didn't think things would go well if she continued to pretend to lack awareness, so she obliged the man's wishes and conjured her Avatar.