Ri took a deep breath, seemingly trying to hold Dyon in suspense.

“The energies of each universe are constantly headed towards an unusable state. The Essence energy of Essence Gathering… the Saint energy of the Saint stage… the Celestial energy of the Celestial stage… as years pass, experts of this level become less and less prevalent not because we’ve become less talented, but because the energies necessary to reach those heights are becoming scarcer.”

Dyon eyes flashed with a sudden realization. ‘Isn’t that identical to the human world concept of heat death?’

In the human mortal realm, there were laws of physics that they believed dictated the universe. One such law was the idea that everything was constantly moving towards more chaos. On the surface, this seemed like a simple concept. For example, your room somehow becomes messier as days go on despite your efforts. 𝑖𝘦.𝑐ℴ𝘮

Unfortunately, this theory also has much more important implications. Unless you use energy to clean your room, it will continue to get messier. However, that energy you use, is constantly becoming less abundant. Eventually, there won’t be any energy left to fix the chaos. This is known as heat death. The state where the universe no longer has any energy available to do work.

But then Dyon suddenly thought of something else. ‘Is this related to the expansion of this planet and the drop in energy density? Or is that completely different?’

“Because of this inevitable end, the powerful constantly want to oppress the weak to stop their cultivation. But, at the same time, they want to become more powerful to transcend this inevitable end. It’s a constant battle of not wanting to fall behind your enemies by not cultivating, and the idea that cultivating is also leading to your death.” 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝘮

Dyon pondered for a bit, “so, how does conquering universes help this?”

Honestly, this question had a very simple answer, but Dyon just wanted to make sure he was right.

Ri seemed to understand this and didn’t tease him. “The more universes you conquer, the more room you have to escape the inevitable end. There are true experts out there… experts so powerful that they can out live the universes themselves… experts that have ‘religions’ spread over thousands of universes… experts who only care about ensuring that they remain alive as some of the most powerful beings in existence.”

Dyon’s blood boiled. Weren’t these almighty beings the exact existences that people of the human mortal realm dreamt of? To rule thousands of universes. To have the lives of trillions upon trillions at your finger tips. And to still want more? How arrogant. How powerful. And Dyon wanted nothing more than to be one of them.

**

“Big brother!” Little Lyla ran into Dyon’s arms adorably.

She had long since lost her ragged clothing, instead dressing in her favorite color: light pink. Lyla had said multiple times that there should only be one shade of pink, so Dyon did his best to match her favorite shade when he created all of her dresses. He could have just bought some for her, but Lyla liked to watch him use arrays, and he took the liberty of adding some extra protection for the little girl.

Lyla’s large pink diamond eyes sparkled as she patted Dyon’s face with her tiny hands. Ri giggled, her eyes glistening as she watched their interaction.

“Why did it take you so long to come visit me?” Lyla pouted.

Dyon scratched his head awkwardly, a little pinch of guilt gnawing at his heart. “Big brother’s sorry, I’ll visit you more, okay?”

“Okay!” Lyla seemed to not want to make Dyon feel bad, so she agreed immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Ri pouted off to the side. “So you see your elder brother, and forget about me?”

Little Lyla immediately jumped down, jumping into Ri’s arms. Dyon could only watch bitterly as his little sister betrayed him for the enemy.

Bending down, Dyon patted Little Black’s head, looking around at the spacious living room. “At least you won’t abandon me, right buddy?”

Little Black licked Dyon’s hand almost as an affirmation. He was getting to be big. His horns even began to protrude a bit more, creating distinct bumps on either side of his head. And interestingly, the white scale on the center of his forehead was increasing in size faster than the rest of his body.

Noticing an elderly lady with grey hair and eyes walk in, Dyon stood to greet her.

“Ms. Everdeen, thank you for all your hard work,” Dyon smile was gentle. He had seen all of the trouble Everdeen went through to provide for the kids. It was above and beyond what she had to do.

The elderly lady blinked, but smiled a very motherly smile. “It’s my pleasure young master Sacharro. What more could I want in my old age?”

Dyon chuckled. “Don’t say that, people would actually start to think you were old. Such a young woman with so much life ahead of her shouldn’t say such things.”

Although Ms. Everdeen knew Dyon was just saying these things to please her, the purity in his eyes seemed to make everyone want to hang onto his every word. Even the experienced Ms. Everdeen couldn’t help but to blush.

Ri rolled her eyes watching this, ‘You won’t even let the elderly go?’

Ms. Everdeen bowed to Dyon.

“I’m sorry young master, I still have many things to handle. I hope you enjoy your time with Little Lyla. Make sure to have her back for tomorrow’s lessons,” she said strictly, leaving no room for debate.

Dyon smiled at this, not minding at all. It made him think of his own mother, giving him a little warmth inside. He felt quite protective of this Ms. Everdeen. He had picked her out of many women and men who wanted the job because he could feel the kindness in her heart. He had always been good at reading the emotions and dispositions of people, so when he chose to trust, he did so with confidence.

Seeing the care and affection Ms. Everdeen had for the children left a smile on his face he found difficult to wipe away.

Walking back to Ri, Lyla and Little Black, Dyon pondered on something.

“You’re the native here Madame Ri, what should we do today? We could just go and find a nice place to eat. Then we could go to the cave with Little Lyla. I think she’d like to watch me make the pills for your aurora, what do you think?”

Ri harrumphed, “if you’re already making plans, why bother asking me?”

Despite this, there seemed to be a tacit agreement between them that there would be no issues with Lyla going to the cave.

This content is taken from 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝑚