Chapter 440: Departure [1]
Thud... thud...
The sound of his footsteps echoed in the background as Leon walked out of the General’s mansion, taking the hidden passage that led to the secret elevator area of the mansion.
Unlike when he came to the General’s mansion when he was full of hesitation and so many questions, Leon was no longer weighed down by all of that and it reflected in the way he walked and the way he carried himself.
He walked with greater conviction now.
He finally found answers to the big question in his head, and now, all he felt was focus and clarity of mind.
He was ready to face the upcoming challenges ahead.
Leon understood Ren Nora’s explanation. He understood the concept of willpower in relation to strength, but with the General’s explanation the ethereal concept became clearer to him.
Afterall, he was a clear example.
Heck, he was the greatest example of what Ren Nora meant by strength.
Just 9 months ago, he was one of the weakest Ascended in the world. Not just because of his Rank, but also because of his Class.
An F Rank Mechanist is still one of the most useless things that Leon had ever seen outside a construction factory in all his time in this world.
Outside a construction factory, an F Rank Mechanist is wholly out of his depths. They’re more or less useless.
And yet, even with how useless he was at F Rank, Leon still thrived.
Afterall, he played one of the biggest roles in Talia’s daring operation to tear down the Zmer Gang and their leader.
Despite the clear obstacles before him and how weak his Class seemed at first, from that weak and almost defenseless Mechanist, Leon had forged himself into a Warmachine Specialist within just 9 months!
Within that period, he already recklessly attempted and completed 2 Trials in the process, 1 of them being almost impossible.
He succeeded in his 2nd Trial simply by stubbornness and devious spite and hate for failure. He didn’t want to waste a single time in his quest to regain his memories, and that was his driving will.
That was exactly what Ren Nora meant by strength.
Thinking back to his achievements in his 2nd Trial, Leon couldn’t help but shiver as he realized how crazy the things he did were.
’Am I that scary?’
All these achievements would not have been impossible without his obsessive will and desire to improve.
This desire to improve made him obsess over Ascended Essence; it was what pushed him to hunt and kill a D Rank terrorist barely months after becoming D Rank himself. It was what pushed him to the heart of the Omnicore Federation to hunt a corrupt Earl, another D Rank Ascended.
’Damn, my D Rank Ascended kill count is already more than what most D Ranks ever get in their entire lives and it’s still just a few months in!’
He was already grinning before he knew it.
His obsessive desire was his strength and it had a clear motivation.
His outmost motivation that made him so driven and reckless was the promise of regaining his memories. With the ChronoSystem having set a target to him to regain his memories already, Leon was obsessed with meeting that target.
That obsession was his will, and it was his strength.
It was that strength that gave him the stubbornness to keep on pushing forward despite knowing that a Civil War may likely erupt due to his actions.
That was his will.
Leon didn’t know if it was good or bad, but it didn’t matter. Even if it was bad and evil, he had no intentions of stopping.
This also made him understand Ren Nora’s question better.
’Who dares to stop us?’
The General was right; who dared stop him when he wanted something? Even if that person was Epsilon.
As he descended underground towards his workshop, his onyx black eyes gleamed in the dim lighting of the elevator.
The conversation also dissipated a lot of his worries about the approaching Civil War as it gave him a deeper perspective into Epsilon as a person beyond his persona as the untouchable Director-Prime of the Omnicore Federation.
Talking with Ren Nora about the concept of strength gave him perspective, and with it came understanding.
Despite how much the Omnicore Federation wanted to paint their leader as a God, despite how much their PR machine fanned the flames of this propaganda that he could not be killed and he should be feared, Epsilon was still just a person.
Heck, he was less than a person. He was just an A.I Construct who rose beyond his peers, the most exceptional of his race.
Since strength is directly tied to will and since will is pushed by motivation, to know Epsilon’s strength, Leon simply tried to think of his motivation.
It was not hard.
Just like Ren Nora, Leon may not know much about the abilities of the Director-Prime, but he knew what he wanted.
From all the close brushes that he’s had with the Omnicore Federation so far to what he knew about history from Ren Nora’s comprehensive history lesson, Leon already noticed a pattern in how the Federation worked under Epsilon.
The true reason why it felt like Epsilon was the strongest and most terrifying C Rank Ascended in the world is because he wanted it so, and to make it so he’s been constantly making moves in the dark.
He deliberately wants to be mysterious and unfathomable, this is why he rarely makes public appearances and is never seen fighting.
Afterall, if he’s seen fighting and he doesn’t obliterate his enemy immediately, the myth of a God would diminish.
He wants to be feared and hence why he prefers the current state of the world; by making the world suffer, he reigns as the sole Tyrant. Only in a dystopian economy could he breed fear as a weapon.
So long he was feared, he would remain the Director-Prime.
So long his army was feared, he would keep on lording over the other C Rank Ascended in the world.
This is why he didn’t mind having a weak C Rank Ascended like Sylvari under him, because he knew that whatever happens, Sylvari would always follow him.
And this is why he allows his army to continue attacking and harassing the other factions of the world occasionally, all just to remind them of how powerful and superior the Federation Army is to sow and water the seeds of fear in their minds. All this just to assert the fact that his faction is still the most powerful in the world and that he’s their leader.
Epsilon wants to be feared, he wants to rule.
He wants to be the ruler of the world, he wants to have all the power and influence in the world.
This is why a lot of things are restricted in the world, including knowledge and access to power. Only by serving Epsilon can you get access to knowledge and power, this is why he hoarded the Quantum Shaper Class Knowledge.
Only by restricting things could he hoard power and control it.
The moment Leon understood this, it became easier for him and his fear of the Director-Prime reduced significantly.
Of course, this did not make Epsilon any less terrifying, but an enemy you know is always better than an enemy that you don’t know.
His lips curled up in a dangerous smile.
"He may be the best of his race, but I’m the last of my race".
He grinned. "I’m the last Human and therefore the most terrifying of the race that created your race".
With these words and thoughts floating in his head, he finally arrived at the floor of the underground workshop that was directly beneath Ren Nora’s mansion.
