Chapter 41: Goal is not a destination. It is a horizon
These words suddenly burst from the mouth of Alister-a man who had set a single goal for himself... and was ready to achieve it at any cost.
"Aren’t you afraid that if I fall into other hands, I might tell them all of this?" she asked a quite logical question, although she already knew the answer, but she still decided to ask just to hear the answer personally from her father.
"You know it yourself, Mi; you knew my nature anyway and knew that I am such a monster from a moral standpoint the moment I touched you," he replied as if it were a perfectly obvious answer.
"Yes... I knew," she answered slowly, but continued her talk:
"You know, father, I sometimes have the feeling that you are a real chaos, but at the same time a predictable person-that is, if you are useful, you are safe, and if not, you are not," she said.
Indeed, she was right in a sense; if one thinks and reasons according to Alister’s philosophy, it sounds quite logical and can be utilized. But in every thing, there are its own pitfalls.
"You’re right, but you forgot one thing: resources are not infinite. This means that sooner or later your usefulness will run out, or someone or something more useful than you will be found, since you are not the pinnacle of the goal."
Nothing is infinite-resources, relationships, lives, and so on. But only the Primal Truth, which gives not only infinite life but the understanding of the fundamental causes of the universe and the power to control them. This was and will be the only eternal thing, a goal that can give meaning.
"Your question reveals in you someone who is still attached to the concept of a ’finish line’. You think like a person who works for a paycheck, or like a traveler who walks for the sake of a rest stop. You are looking for a point where you can fold your hands and say: ’I have achieved it, now I can rest’."
After that, he did not continue and thought about this goal himself.
’But in my understanding, a "goal" is not a destination. It is a horizon. As soon as you get closer, it recedes.’
’If I achieve what is called the "Primal Truth," I will not turn into a lazy deity sitting on a cloud and enjoying peace. Peace is stagnation. Stagnation is death. As soon as I step beyond the rules that limit the current creation, I will simply begin to study the laws of the space that opens up behind them.’
’What will I do? The same as I am doing now. I will observe, I will learn, and I will change.’
’She asks what will be after, as if after achieving absolute freedom there can be some other life. No. For me, "reaching the goal" is not the end of the path. It is the moment when the path finally becomes truly infinite.’
Nevertheless, the conversation had already dragged on; it was time to act and find out in more detail exactly how the crystals are obtained-or can they simply be taken?
"Mi, tell me, how exactly will we get the crystals? And you said that the aura was part of a large crystal that levels up from rank 2 to 3," Alister immediately cast aside philosophy and began to find out in detail how exactly these things are done.
While Little Mi was here, it was necessary to find out all possible information.
"Yes. With each rank, obtaining crystals will become harder and harder. For example, from the second to the third rank, you need three parts of a crystal. And from, say, the eighth to the ninth rank, you need nine parts," she began to explain in detail.
’So with each major rank, the number of crystal parts increases, and obtaining them will become harder and harder.’
"I see. And what is its shape? Like an ordinary crystal or..." before he could even finish speaking, Little Mi immediately interrupted him.
"No, they can be in different forms. That is exactly why we feel its aura, so we don’t make a mistake about which specific crystal to find."
’It’s designed very logically and in a balanced way. It’s even become harder to believe that all of this came about by itself. It’s likely easier to believe that there is someone who created all these systems, ranks, and so on. But I must not relax.’
At least 10 minutes had passed, but that strange aura was still coming from the ship’s storage room, and people were still there, which greatly complicated Alister’s position.
But it was nothing; he had plenty of time to wait and, during this time, to reflect more on plans for the future, as well as on obtaining the first seal of the queen of this continent, Inter-X. But first, in order to get even slightly closer to the queen, he had to be a noticeable and special person who possesses at least some kind of important power.
’Before this, the aura was felt from the ship’s deck, but as soon as we went out onto the deck, it turned out to be in the warehouse. This means someone moved the crystal into the warehouse but hasn’t come out in the last 10 minutes. Or there is a second option: the crystal itself is a living person-though it’s hard to believe, Little Mi did say it could take any form.’
"Hey! Hurry up and call that slave girl, we need wine faster!" a voice was heard; it could be understood that it was the voice of the captain of this ship, yelling for wine.
"Forgive me, captain, I’ll call her now; she was around here somewhere, serving our guests wine," the boy answered with a frightened face.
"If that’s the case, then fine. But we also have very important guests with me, so tell her to quickly bring us the best wine we have on the ship!" again in an aggressive tone toward the boy.
"Alright, it will be done and said, Mr. Captain."
Alister paid no attention to this, as it was unnecessary noise for him.
One person-that is, the boy,immediately ran in one direction, possibly to call the slave girl whom the captain had summoned.
But at that same minute, both Alister and Little Mi felt a very strong and pressing aura-that is, the aura of that crystal. It was as if it were right next to them, as if you were hearing the beat of your own heart.
"What the..."
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