One-Eyed Monster

The Law of Equivalent Exchange is the most fundamental law for Alchemists, one of the Six Great Classes. The advent of this law shattered the traditional ”strongest rules” dynamic on this continent. It inspired hope in the weak, offering them the alluring prospect of becoming strong. Consequently, this law rightfully became the most fundamental and, simultaneously, the supreme survival law across the entire Yowein Continent.

The Six Great Classes led to the unexpected rise of the Kayne Empire on the Yowein Continent. These outcasts, once driven away by the Mantai People and Vero People, managed to cultivate and develop in the barren lands their former kin deemed uninhabitable, forming their own empire.

The sixth-generation King Kayne, at the very moment Alchemists first stepped onto the stage of history, felt his ambition surge. With a grand wave of his hand, he passionately recounted to his subjects the suffering their ancestors had endured.

Painful memories ignited their fighting spirit.

This boiling blood needed little mobilization.

This is the greatest power of Politicians: the ability to mobilize millions with their words, to inspire tens of millions of hearts with a single statement, to unite the wills of multitudes in an instant, and to incite mass fervor.

The sixth-generation King’s declaration, ”Let us go and take back what we have lost!” quickly became a source of motivation for the Kayne People. Every Kayne person adopted this statement as their goal in their struggle.

The Kayne People’s fervor quickly swept across the Yowein Continent. The emergence of the Six Great Classes caught the once unassailable Mantai People, who worshipped strength, and the naturally proud Vero People, completely off guard.

The Kayne Empire, through the Six Great Classes, solidified its position on this continent. Although they could not conquer the entire continent, they were no longer displaced and without a home.

Thus, the Six Great Classes were exposed to the entire continent, and both the Mantai People and Vero People began investigating and scouting this mysterious power.

Secrets can never be hidden forever. What has emerged will eventually be unearthed by others.

Through various means, the Mantai People and Vero People gradually unearthed the secrets of the Six Great Classes, and over time, they too began making some headway.

Coercion and bribery, various temptations, rights and wrongs, grudges and grievances—individuals with weak wills are everywhere, and thus, traitors emerged.

These Kayne traitors took the secrets of the Six Great Classes and the Law of Equivalent Exchange with them.

The Kayne Country served as a living example: under this law, the weak could actually become strong and even turn to challenge the powerful Mantai People and Vero People!

This law, capable of empowering the weak and altering destiny, struck like a thunderbolt, awakening the entire continent.

The Mantai People suddenly discovered that the Dwarf Monsters, who had been hiding underground, now dared to provoke their towering and robust forms. These underground vermin could actually manufacture small crossbows identical to those of the Kayne People, causing the Mantai cavalry to suffer greatly.

The Vero People also began to stir. They felt this law gave them the means to challenge the Tree Spirits. To seize permanent rule, Queen Wensi began to rally her warriors for another attack on the Tree Spirits.

Neither Mantai’s Emperor nor Queen Wensi had expected that the Law of Equivalent Exchange would spread as rapidly and chaotically as wild grass. Disputes flared up anew within the territories they controlled, which gradually descended into civil unrest.

Every weak individual now had the chance to become strong. Everything in this world could be subjected to Equivalent Exchange; as long as one paid a certain price, a corresponding return was guaranteed. This Law of Equivalent Exchange spurred ambitious individuals in disadvantaged positions to embark on their own journeys. They overturned traditions and challenged taboos, causing everything to take on a new appearance.

The Mantai tribe’s original hierarchical system collapsed due to the Law of Equivalent Exchange. The Wind Chasers of the Ghost Realm, a rank below Mantai’s Emperor, unprecedentedly challenged the Emperor. They reasoned that if even the lowly Dwarf Monsters had the courage to challenge the Mantai People, then they naturally also had the qualifications to contend for the Imperial Throne. Since the weak had the chance to transform into the strong, why should the Emperor possess such a lofty status? Such a status must also demand a corresponding price... Furthermore, some even began to challenge the Mountain Monsters, and those enormous, resilient beasts became tools in these Mantai People’s struggles for power.

The Wensi Empire fared no better. When the Law of Equivalent Exchange reached the Vero Realm, the Vero Warriors began to question the Queen’s majesty. They grew anxious and started to doubt. This transformation caused these once-fearless warriors to feel trepidation and worry about the future. They didn’t know what their valor would be replaced by. Equivalent Exchange allowed the weak to become strong, so would the strong correspondingly become weak? They also couldn’t comprehend what they needed to sacrifice to obtain permanent strength. Queen Wensi could not provide them with answers. They began to question the Queen’s authority and defy her orders. All at once, the Vero Warriors transformed into sentimental, cowardly idlers—an outcome no one could have foreseen. With the Queen having lost her warriors, it naturally allowed brigands to revolt. Although the Law of Equivalent Exchange showed the Queen a glimmer of hope, it also ignited in those brigands adrift on the waters the desire to contend for power.

Thus, due to the Law of Equivalent Exchange, the entire continent underwent transformation, and utter chaos erupted everywhere.

Seizures of power, internal strife, disputes, slaughter... The entire world plunged into pandemonium.

Scholars began to document this era, recording every event that transpired using the Mixed Calendar.

In the first year of the Mixed Calendar, amidst disputes everywhere, the seventh-generation King of the Kayne Empire reclaimed the territory of the Star River.

In the third year of the Mixed Calendar, Mantai’s Emperor tore off the head of the Wind Chaser leader with his bare hands. Although the rebellion was suppressed, the Mantai tribe suffered grievous losses and was unable to resist the advance of the Guardian Army of Fighters of Kayne VII, resulting in the Bess Mountains being reclaimed by Kayne VII.

After the start of the Mixed Calendar, peaceful days ceased to exist on the Yowein Continent.

Although the Law of Equivalent Exchange replaced ’strongest rules’ as the primary survival law of the world, the order controlled by Politicians still allowed the few in power to maintain the balance.

The Law of Equivalent Exchange, in the end, was merely a pretext for the turnover among the powerful; it did not alter the fundamental nature of this world, which is that strength determines everything.

The Law of Equivalent Exchange merely laid bare the powers of this world, giving everyone an opportunity to contend for them.

The principle of Equivalent Exchange is accompanied by costs, even sacrifices. To obtain something, one must pay an equivalent price. Sometimes, necessary sacrifices are merely to exchange for something of equal value.

Sacrifice, while seemingly just about giving something up, is in fact the cornerstone of the Law of Equivalent Exchange.

Only those who understand sacrifice can truly comprehend the meaning of Equivalent Exchange.

For any substance to be equivalently exchanged for another, something must be relinquished.

Fighters, when necessary, must sacrifice their own life Energy; otherwise, they cannot break their bodies’ limits to achieve Physique Techniques. Hunters must forsake their true faces; otherwise, they cannot remain concealed. Wizards must relinquish most of their senses; otherwise, they cannot experience the colors of nature. Politicians must abandon their emotions; otherwise, they cannot control the balance of order. Alchemists must discard their feelings; otherwise, they cannot write the Alchemy Equation. Scholars must give up all hobbies and immerse themselves in tedium to discern patterns.

Moreover, to become an Adventurer with Class, one must sacrifice most of their free will, because Adventurers with Class need to acquire Spirit Power anytime and anywhere.

Spirit Power—this was another novelty introduced by the Six Great Classes, aside from the Law of Equivalent Exchange.

Without Spirit Power, one simply cannot become an Adventurer with Class.