5 Dragon attack [3]

Looking at Lucian, questions emerged inside Rita's mind. Why didn't Lucian save everyone else? Why did he only save her?

She knew that she didn't have the right to ask Lucian to do anything for her. Yet, she couldn't help but feel bad about her friends. Why only her? As such, she felt guilty and hated the thought that crossed her mind. She was frustrated.

She knew that Lucian didn't have the obligation to save them, and it was even unexpected for him to save her.

In the end, she knew that it was because they were weak. They were too naïve. And they were unlucky. They couldn't blame anyone but themselves. 'Mr. Dustin… How could he…'

Rita was aware that she was blessed with a beautiful face. But in this world, her beauty was nothing but a curse for her. In a situation like this, it was useless and was even a source of problems. It attracted all kinds of scum and degenerates.

Maybe, if she was as manipulative as that woman, men would crawl at her feet and do everything she asked. But she didn't want to be like that…

Nonetheless, she also disliked her reserved and cowardly self.

As such, Rita worked hard to become someone who didn't abuse her gift to achieve her goals or get everything she desired.

She was indebted to her friends who helped her when she was weak, on the verge of becoming the food of monsters, or sold a slave, but now all of them were dead before she could even repay them for their kindness.

She couldn't do anything to save them. She was as powerless as she was on that day.

But things were not completely the same as before.

It was not completely hopeless. She wasn't alone...

A man stood confidently in front of her.

She wasn't mistaken after all. The moment she saw him, she knew that he was an extraordinary individual.

'He is strong,' Rita thought, once again, remembering what Lucian did to the dragon. Compared to her, or the like Dustin, he was on a different level. But he had never shown or bragged about his power needlessly. And he had never looked at her with lustful eyes. 'If it's him, maybe…'

She knew that it was almost impossible. She knew that she was just thinking nonsense. But unless she was as strong as Lucian, she would never be able to repent for her sin. Everything would just remain pipe dreams.

That was why she avert her eyes from him, from the reality, from her weakness.

In front of Rita, Lucian put on the helmet elegantly. And when he did, something unusual happened.

The ugly helmet started to liquefy as if it was exposed to intense heat, turning into a black substance.

But it stayed on Lucian's head defying gravity, and little by little, it was solidifying and its shape was changing.

Rita looked at the scene in awe. She had never seen this kind of relic, and she couldn't even think about what kind of ability it could generate.

In the end, the helmet's shape changed completely. It looked no more like an ugly bell and turned into a black helmet that covered Lucian's whole head.

The black helmet was more refined and elegant, yet looked imposing. A single golden line was traced from the back to the front and on the lower contour of the helmet. There were no holes or any kind of visors.

Reflecting the moonlight, the mysterious relic created an invisible pressure, intensifying Lucian's presence.

"Why did you want to become an adventurer?" Lucian asked, suddenly, when Rita was mesmerized at the sight of the helmet.

There was a reason why he had saved Rita, and this question would determine what he would do about her from there. At that moment, when the dragon was about to devour her, he saw a glimpse of a possibility...

Rita, on the other hand, didn't understand why Lucian asked such a question in that situation, but she answered him nonetheless.

"I… I want to bring someone back to life," Rita answered. She tried hard to suppress her hesitation. "I-I will venture inside the Abyss and find a relic that could bring her back to life."

Lucian didn't say anything for a while, and he also didn't make fun of her, no matter how ridiculous her words sounded. "Then, why attempt to throw away your life as you did?" He asked, referring to the fact that Rita tried to use herself as a decoy. His voice suggested that he was calm, but Rita could feel the pressure as she looked at Lucian's back and the helmet.

It was as if she couldn't hide anything. As if Lucian had already known everything.

"That's… I-I am a criminal. But I wanted to change, to atone for my sins. I know that even my life wouldn't be enough but…" Rita trailed off. She wanted to tell Lucian about her worries, about what was weighing on her mind. However…

"I won't help you. Don't expect anything from me. I am a human, and there's no God in this world so don't expect miracles," Lucian said, the tone of his voice unchanging.

Rita was shocked. She hung her head down. She knew that Lucian didn't say anything wrong but after hearing him say it, her chest ached. She knew that it was nothing more than absurd optimism, but she didn't want to give up. She didn't have anything that she could use to face the reality.

She knew how powerless she was in this reality. Going on an adventure? Fighting monsters? As if she could any of those. She was already aware of that.

But If she didn't cling to this small hope, she would have died inside before long… She would become like that woman. And she was scared to end up like that, so she continued to believe in the possibility that her life could have a different ending. Was she wrong after all?

"But it's possible for a human to bring someone back to life. Now, observe and think," Lucian added, interrupting Rita's thoughts, her eyes widened.

With confidence, Lucian said that something she thought to be only a dream was possible. There was no doubt in his voice as if he was implying that it was a matter of fact.

There were people who could fight monsters and win, but she had never seen someone who could revive the dead.

She once again looked up at Lucian. Both of them were close, yet so far apart. 'How does he see the world?'

Lucian floated above the ground, looking at the dragon. He could have just left the dragon to die, but he considered the dragon's life worth the trouble of using this helmet.

The possibility of this dragon evolving existed. And Lucian knew that he was capable of making that happen. He had the power to do so.

However, there were rules that even Lucian couldn't bend because he was still a human, although at the peak of the entire species. The Natural order of things.

First rule: Possibility and Impossibility.

If someone couldn't visualize a possibility, it would remain an impossibility.

If Lucian could visualize the process of how a situation could reach a certain outcome, he could turn a possibility into reality.

This required that Lucian was capable of visualizing all of the conditions required to reach the outcome he wanted.

Analyzing the situation at hand, Lucian knew that it was possible for the dragon to evolve if it were to be exposed to a powerful energy originating from the Abyss, causing its cells to mutate. As such, he began to think about all of the steps that could lead to this outcome. His thought process was quick and accurate, while his eyes showed him all of the possibilities.

Second rule: Equivalent exchange.

Indeed, a mutation could happen accidentally if all of the necessary conditions were gathered. But at that moment, there was nothing that could provide such energy around there, at that moment, and even if there was, the dragon would just die after being exposed to such tremendous energy. Its cells would mutate but it would not survive until the end of the process. That was why it had never evolved in the first place.

But, Lucian had already finished assessing the situation and came up with a solution.

Rumble! Rumble! At that moment dark blue stones emerge from the ground out of nowhere. But in consequence, all of the grass that grew within hundred kilometers around Lucian had withered and nothing would grow in there again for thousands of years.

This was an equivalent exchange. The life force of these grasses and the soil turned into energy necessary to set the conditions required. The helmet used this energy to make sure that the stones appeared.

It might be a coincidence, but the helmet generated this coincidence by eliminating the other possibilities, making this coincidence the only possible reality.

All the conditions were set, so Lucian reached his hand towards the dragon.

Groar! The dragon groaned, feeling that something was happening to its body. The stones glowed intensely and released dark purple particles that enveloped the dragon.

The mutation happened, and it was not something pleasant to see. The dragon's body began to disintegrate and then reconstruct progressively. Its cells were evolving but they were destroyed first. Groaaar!

Rita was horrified by this sight, and seeing the dragon agonizing in pain she began to tremble, looking at Lucian floating in the air. 'What is he doing?' Rita thought, trying to understand.

"ROOOAAR!"

The process continued, and Lucian put all of his attention into it. The dragon's body had finally begun to change shape, and its scales began to harden and change color. Then, a glowing silver aura enveloped its entire body.

"ROOAR!"

After a few minutes, the dragon was left lying on the ground. It was still breathing but it looked so weakened by the pain. But, It was now bigger and majestic, and its scales had taken a silver shade. It had evolved to the next level of its existence.

Rita observed the whole scene, but she couldn't find the words to express what she was feeling. In the first place, she didn't even know what Lucian did or what had become of the dragon. It was beyond her.

Lucian landed slowly on the ground and took off the helmet, satisfied with the result.

Without the helmet, the equivalent exchange wouldn't happen even if he wanted to, Lucian knew this.

This relic had the power to force an equivalent exchange to happen. This was Lucian's power.

It was something that shouldn't exist in this world, but there was a reason why it was in Lucian's possession and why only he continued to use it, knowing the risks.

To make one possibility a reality, one must prevent all of the other possibilities from becoming a reality. In other words, erase all of the other possibilities from the equation.

As such, the helmet made it so that the possibility that Lucian had visualized would become a reality by letting him create all of the necessary conditions through the equivalent exchange.

Nonetheless, Rita couldn't see it, but Lucian's hand shook a little bit.

The third rule: Ability and Inability.

Lucian used the power of the helmet to make the blue stones would appear in this location. Then, made sure that the dragon didn't die during and after the process of mutation by containing and controlling the speed of mutation of every single of its cells.

But just to activate the helmet, a being must possess enough energy. And to use the equivalent exchange, the being must yet again feed it with tremendous power. The helmet forced the equivalent exchange to happen, after all, so Lucian needed a source of energy to activate it, which was his life force.

The helmet was a tool that gave Lucian the ability to make any possibility a reality, but in exchange, it sucked away his life force. And the lower the chance of it happening, the more improbable for one event, one occurrence, one outcome, to become a reality, to ever occur naturally, the larger the price the user of the helmet needed to pay.

What were the chances that these blue stones appear in this location, at that time? How much power was needed to alter all of the variants, creating millions of chained reactions, leading to this single outcome? The answer was clear, an astronomical amount of power.

All of those were the result of coincidences, for sure, but they still happened naturally, following the Natural Order of Things. Hence, Lucian had to think and know about all of the details related to the process that led to the final result.

He had to know how the rocks would be formed. What kind of atoms were they composed of? How did these elements interact with each other to produce the desired result? What would cause them to emerge from the ground after that? What would be their effect on a living organism? How would the cells react when they were exposed to this kind of energy, and how to prevent the negative effect? Unless he knew all of that, it was impossible to reach the outcome he wanted.

This was why Lucian continued to amass more knowledge, observing the mutation that was happenings, analyzing all of the possibilities, and creating countless theories.

In other other words, Lucian could make it happen because he had enough power and sufficient knowledge. This was what it meant to have the Ability.

Still, this was not a power that Lucian wanted to use often. He relied on this power as little as possible. He wanted to do things with his ability.

But for the sake of his goal… No, the helmet had come to him and he would use it to make achieve his objectives, Lucian thought. The helmet was just another tool for this purpose, and it would never dictate his actions.

He was a human and…

"Humans are not as weak as they think," Lucian said, continuing where he stopped earlier, as he walked toward Rita.

"Most of them are just too foolish to understand why they are weak, why they don't evolve, why they are suffering, yet continue to rely on some imaginary being to give them all of the answers. So, show me, what kind of human are you?"

Rita was looking at Lucian as she stood in front of her. No, she couldn't help but be captivated to look at him, as the fabric covering his eyes was gone. She didn't know what Lucian was trying to say, but she continued to think because, at moment, she had the feeling that she shouldn't take her eyes off him.

'Those eyes…'

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[If you liked the story so far, please also check: The Last Man: Saga of the Nightmare Invoker.]