GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?



The 9 of them communicated amongst themselves and decided on a scapegoat. They have been threatened. And if they know ancestor Hadrick enough, which they do, they know that it will make do with the threat. They don't want their secrets to reach the ears of some of their immortal enemies. They will literally never hear the end of it. 

If ancestor Hadrick, who hasn't left the plane ever, can threaten them with their embarrassing secrets after all these years, it will only get bad when someone that can move around the void universe gets a hold of it. 

They pointed to one of them and said, "We were laughing because we remembered the time Densilki sat on a spike instead of a chair."

It wasn't what they were laughing about but it actually happened. They used to prank themselves as kids. They made a chair that looked fine but will fall apart once someone sat on it. The buttocks of the unfortunate person will then be forced to impale itself on the spike positioned for that very purpose. Densilki was a mana entity when it happened so he survived the catastrophic damage. They used to laugh about it and they are bringing it up right now to save their dignity.

Densilki played along nicely. He complained, "It is not funny. I almost died you guys."

Hadrick laughed at the memory. It witnessed that particular event and still remembers it. It said to them, "That did happen. It was funny too. Densilki lost a lot of blood from his butt." 

It laughed some more before saying, "I will take it but don't think that you fooled me."

If it could glare, it would fix a stern glare on them right now for trying to get away with their crime. 

Then Hadrick asked the silent Guntu. "So what were you saying about the world engine?"

Guntu felt bad. This entire situation is making him feel bad. He should not and he should never be the reasonable one. He is a prankster. He is supposed to join in making fun of others and telling jokes. He wants to do all those things but he can't because of the seriousness of the situation they are in. He is the current leader of the 100 origin gods on this expedition so he has to be responsible. 

His position has made it necessary for him to restrain his impulses and remain level-headed. So he will explain to Hadrick what a world engine is so that it can quit complaining about Soverick and come with them. He won't tell them that they should get moving instead of wasting time talking because that will only make Hadrick dig down and refuse to move. 

"A world engine is one of the three important parts of a realm heart. It is in charge of every energy control, transformation, and manipulation that takes place within a plane. It transforms void energy into mana, origin energy, and origin essence at the highest efficiency. It is responsible for producing the power that allows the entire realm tree to operate."

"Hmm. I have some questions."

Guntu replied in the calmest and gentlest tone that he can muster. "Go ahead ancestor Hadrick. Ask any questions you have. I promise to answer to the best of my abilities."

Hadrick began to ask questions. They spoke for a few minutes about the world engine and the realm heart. They spoke about the realm heart and its fragments because Hadrick didn't know about them either. Guntu made an analogy of the three fragments to make them easily understood. He compared them to the aspects of existence of an entity.

The world spark is the body of the realm tree. It gives its form and interacts with the physical world for the realm tree. The world seed is the soul, mind, and consciousness of the realm tree. It is responsible for life and it represents the will of all life within the realm tree. The world engine is the origin. It functions as the power source and energy transformation center of the realm.

Like a living thing, the body, soul, and energy don't work alone. Most of the effects we see in the realm tree and its process are due to the interaction of the three components. The world spark contains the code and programs that the world engine runs on. The world seed is the bedrock of the realm tree. It is the one that uses the power from the world engine to run and it is given form by the world spark. The three of them work together in harmony to create and maintain a realm tree. 

"I see. So you're saying that the world engine is needed for a world to run. A world engine can be created by a world god which is very expensive but the one from a realm tree is of the highest quality and is ultra-expensive. Meanwhile, Ghastorix had to use all his savings to acquire a measly life fragment from mother high heaven. He could never have gotten the world engine with the resources that he saved. Is that all?" Hadrick asked Guntu.

"That's all."

"Hmm. In that case, we really shouldn't be complaining about what happened to Soverick. Exchanging him for a world engine is totally worth it in my opinion. I am sure that Soverick will be understanding if he got to find out." Hadrick said after understanding the value of the world engine.

Actually, Hadrick doesn't think Soverick will be understanding. The Soverick it knows will never be understanding about his death. But Soverick is dead so what does his opinion matter? Hadrick did care about Soverick. But again, Soverick is now dead. It is useless to hang on to feelings that are now irrelevant. 

The ability to move on quickly is a lesson it has learned over the long period of time it has lived. This is not the first time that it is experiencing the death of someone dear to it and it will not be the last. At least, they got a world engine out of Soverick's death this time. That's good enough for Hadrick.