Ch2 | Over 50!

~Oh human now that you have awoken and recognized the world around you, what will you do now?~

"I don't know, so I should search for a purpose! There has to be one, else why would I be here?"

~Then you should walk through the jungle of despair and climb the mountain of discovery, you may find Purpose core in there~

"Then let's go into the jungle of despair first, now that I have recognized who I am, despair can't get me anymore!"

They went into the jungle of despair, the trees hindered the sunlight from reaching the ground, and in the perpetual darkness one would often stumble over vines meandered on the ground.

After walking for a while they met Despair, another power core.

# Human. Why. Oh why. Are you not despairing. In this unending jungle. You can't escape.

There is no exit. This is the endless jungle of despair! Once you entered. You can't escape! #

"Oh Despair, how wrong you are, I just need to keep on walking and not give in to the despair, everything has to end, even this unending jungle!"

# Hahaha. How foolish! #

# I have planted my seed of Doubt, I shall wait now for it to grow! #

And with that, it flew away, but now, Doubt lingered in Genus' mind, what if Despair was right?

Should he even keep on walking if this jungle was endless? Wouldn't that just waste his time?

~Oh human, even if you know thyself, you can despair, knowing thyself doesn't protect you from thyself~

~Before you completely fall into the clutches of despair, find hope!~

With these words of Hope in his heart Genus continued to move on, searching under every rock, in every crevice, and everywhere else for hope.

But in the end, he couldn't find it.

"Oh Wake Up, I can't find Hope, I've searched everywhere, I picked up every rock and turned it 'round thrice before moving on!"

~Oh foolish human, you have already found it~

~It was in your heart all along, your heart found Hope, you just didn't recognise it, the thought of hope itself brought you to Hope!~

~+Yes here I am, and I shall always show you the way out!+~

~+Even if doubt lingers in your mind, I, Hope, am in your heart!+~

Hope flew out of his chest and then continued on, upwards to the top of a nearby tree.

~+From here you can see far, farther than this unending but not endless jungle reaches its clutches, with a change of perspective, the impossible might become possible!+~

---

After the commotion died down and the head elder stopped his tears, they moved on, shoving the last youths into the pond.

There was one outlier who managed 11 steps, but the rest all were under 8.

And finally, it was Thia's turn, the elders directed their expectant gazes on her as the head elder called out, "Thia Fan Yang, it's your turn now!"

"She may be the genius of this generation, but even she won't be able to walk more than 15 steps."

A few of the elders discussed quietly.

Though they all went silent as she strode forward to the edge of the pond, with a light smile on her lips.

She just couldn't stop herself from smiling, thinking about what would happen next.

If she didn't know that the cause of what would happen would be beneficial for her, she might have cried instead.

"Just to think, that in my last life I remembered this as the lowest point, but in truth, I am so incredibly fortunate!"

Thia dipped her toes in the warm and comforting aratra and as everyone else watched with held breath, lowered her whole foot into the aratra.

Then she stood there for a second, taking in the incredible feeling of the aratra.

Before the elders would get fed up with her antics, Thia decided it was time, time for the most important moment of her new life and she started walking, step after step.

"3…"

"6…"

"8…"

"10…"

After she entered the pond, all of the elders had let out their bated breaths, but now they sucked in the air again holding their breaths.

'Now is the time where she will show if she is truly a genius worth her talent!'

"11…"

"12…"

"13..."

Thia kept on walking as if she took a stroll through a yuan garden, relaxed, nonchalant as if there was no pressure emanating from the increasingly dense aratra.

"16…"

"17…"

If the elders hadn't already figuratively gouged their eyes out by rubbing them when Yuan Fan Yang walked 26 steps, they would've done so now.

Though Yuan Fan Yang still stood in front of the pond with a self-assured smirk.

'Even if she manages a bit over 17 steps, so what? I am at 26! Now everyone will compare you to me when they talk about us!'

"23…"

"24…"

"25…"

As Thia kept on walking with no visible strain, he finally got nervous.

'She's only one step away from what I managed with so much effort!'

"She is cheating! Thia's cheating!", he suddenly started screaming.

The elders awoke from their trance and looked at him in confusion, then a discussion broke out between them.

"How would she cheat? She has no faction as a backer, we all agreed that we'll nurture her as a clan and not a single faction!"

"Who knows, maybe someone decided to break the rules?!"

"Yeah, and I have an idea who might be that certain someone! You just want to distract from yourself, by voicing your 'concerns'!"

"What did you say?! I am your senior!"

As even the head elder tuned in, the whole crowd descended into a mad chaos of accusations and insults.

Though, Thia kept on walking as if the whole world was at peace and took in the comfortable aratra, that would fill her internal pool.

"26..."

While the elders bashed each other's heads in, Yuan Fan, had always kept an eye on Thia, and sheer panic could be seen on his face.

"No! This can't be! I can't live in her shadow for the rest of my life!"

He fell on his knee and begged, "Oh heavens! Please! Oh Please! Don't let her go any further-"

Screaming in his fury he suddenly lost consciousness.

The elders got more and more heated, and even the youths started their own discussion, in no time nobody took any notice of Thia anymore.

After she walked through half the pond already, she started to sweat and her breathing became rugged.

It was clear now, that the exponentially more concentrated aratra managed to take a toll on her.

And finally as one of the elders turned around, he screeched, "How far has she walked already?! Has anyone counted?"

No one said anything, they were too shocked and none of them had even looked at her in the last five minutes.

"This is nothing you can manage by cheating..."

The head elder finally whispered in a hoarse voice.

"This far is at least 50 steps!"

"Even if the whole clan helped her, she wouldn't be able to go that far!"

The other elders chimed in, now everyone was sure, of what they saw was either real or a prank of the heavens!

While everyone else forgot to count, Thia hadn't, she knew she already walked 56 steps, and from now on it would only become harder.

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Definitions:

'I think therefore I am' < ' ' Are used when characters think something to themselves.

"I really like talking to you!" < " " Are used when characters talk in any way, that includes knowingly telepathically

???What are words??? < ??? ??? Are used when I don't know the word of something on top of my head while writing, so if you see this, then I have screwed up, let me know!

--- < This is kinda a transitionary thing, it is used when either location or time, or both, change in a significant way.

--- great jade-ice mountain : noon --- < place description and time, like the first one, but when the place and time are important. Either place or time can be unspecified.