Reborn as an Extra

Chapter 344: Sword Intent, a blessing or a curse? Part-3.

ʼLooking at it all over again... Everything started from the day I got transmigrated into this body...ʼ

Originally, Rio had assumed that he was not able to sense emotions properly because his soul

hadnʼt perfectly merged with this new body and his control over the body wasnʼt at its maximum.

But later, he discarded this idea when he found that formless sword in the hidden artificial dungeon created by Kevin.

The only reason why Rio was able to bind this sword is because his soul had properly merged with the original Rioʼs.

You can say that heʼs the one who got transmigrated and the original Rio both at the same time.

Thinking this far, Rio glanced at Fenix and asked a question.

”By the way... is it possible for two completely unrelated souls to merge into each other so perfectly that you canʼt tell them apart anymore? Can an SS ranker do something like that?” Hearing Rioʼs strange question come out of nowhere, Fenix fell into contemplation.

However, after pondering for an extended period, Fenix continued to shake his head and stated,

”No... No matter how I consider it, itʼs impossible... I have never heard of such a thing in the past ever... Moreover, even necromancers canʼt fuse souls in this world, let alone us, who canʼt even see souls...”

Even SS-rankers canʼt see souls, which means that interfering with the soul of someone is beyond their capability.

There are indeed necromancers in this world, but they have a lot of restrictions placed on them.

Necromancers are a class like any other, but the alliance doesnʼt support them; additionally, most people donʼt view necromancers favorably because they aided the demons during the thousand-year war.

All people who awaken the necromancer class have to always report to the alliance branch to register every new undead they take as a subordinate; only when the alliance branch has given an ʼokʼ sign can you use that subordinate.

The reason for this is to stop any necromancer from barging into random cemeteries and digging out people from there. Most of the necromancers in this world use monster corpses to create subordinates.

But even then, you still need to register that monster corpse and where you got it from.

Sometimes there are exceptions, though, like if the necromancer is a very talented individual and has graduated from a famous academy like the Great Freya Academy, then they get more freedom in legal matters.

Nonetheless, most undead creatures are just soulless puppets with no free will or consciousness.

Even a necromancer will need to make the soul agree willingly if they want to create an undead that has a soul and mind of its own.

Necromancers in this world are really at a great disadvantage, as even though they can see souls, they canʼt really interact with them on a physical level.

A strong necromancer once said:

{A soul can neither be created nor destroyed... It can only be converted into a new life form...) (Note: This is an ʼinspirationʼ taken from a famous quote from Einstein about energy... This is entirely ʼfictionalʼ...)

Although this quote seems quite solid, the main flaw is that thereʼs nothing that can explain where the ʼSoulʼ comes from in the first place if it canʼt be created.

How do you explain the growing population if there is no way to create a new soul?

As population increases, there will be fewer people dying than being born, which means that there is definitely something in this world that ʼcanʼ create new ʼsoulsʼ and ʼcanʼ destroy them too.

But as even SS-rankers canʼt do anything about this matter, there is no concrete proof yet that can describe the origin of souls.

...

”In the first place, even demi-gods and necromancers canʼt interact with souls physically; even mana doesnʼt work on it...”

”So, to say that someone can fuse two souls artificially... Thatʼs basically a joke; it isnʼt possible....”

Fenixʼs expression turned serious for a moment as he continued.

”And if such a thing is indeed possible... then itʼs definitely not something we can comprehend... Such a being would be far beyond the abilities of a demi-god...”

”If someone could control life, death, the soul, will, and consciousness... wouldnʼt that already be an omnipotent force that couldnʼt be comprehended by mere mortals?...”

”Such a being can be considered a ʼGodʼ in the truest sense...”

Although Fenix was talking about hypothetical things, his expression was solemn all along. ”For more than two millennia... no, from the day mana first descended in this world, there has never been anyone who has passed the great calamity placed by the world...”

”Not a single peak SS-ranker has succeeded in ascending to a new realm... Those who tried died horrible deaths under the endless bombardment of the ʼheavenly punishmentʼ...”

Rio frowned a bit and asked,

”Wait, Linkʼs father was able to shatter the space-time fabric to stop the ʼHeavenly Punishmentʼ; doesnʼt that mean he has the chance to succeed if he tries to ascend?”

Fenix shook his head and said,

”Shattering the ʼSpace-time fabricʼ is in itself a very demanding task; to nullify the effects of the heavenly punishment poured on a peak SS ranker during ascension, just shattering it wonʼt be enough...”

”You would need to maintain the shattered space-time fabric for a long time... and that heavenly punishment is ʼendlessʼ... Even an SS ranker will get tired after exhausting all of their mana...”

”You may think that the SS-rankers can use their ʼAuthorityʼ without using mana, but truth is that they canʼt use it endlessly either!”

”Using ʼAuthorityʼ puts a burden on your ʼmental fortitudeʼ; use it too much and you will end up mentally exhausted, your brain will fry, and you will end up in a vegetative state, which will take a lot of time to recover...”

Fenix smiled a bit and said,

”Why do you think the SS-rankers are called ʼDemi-godsʼ but not ʼGodsʼ? Itʼs because we are

not omnipotent.”

”Even demi-gods have their own limits, constraints, and emotions, which weigh them down and keep them in a ʼcageʼ...”

”The reason why the world can tolerate the existence of such strong beings as us is because we have ʼlimitsʼ and canʼt pose a threat to the world in the truest sense...”

”But anything above the level of a demi-god is a completely different story... The world canʼt tolerate something that threatens its very existence...”

”There have been many SS-rankers who have speculated that the ʼWorldʼ itself is a kind of ʼLivingʼ entity...”

Not only does the world have its own rules and functioning patterns, it even has its own ʼwillʼ.

”We refer to the ʼwillʼ of the world as the ʼHeavens Willʼ or ʼHeavenly Luckʼ... but donʼt confuse the two of them together... The heavenly will only represents the ʼWillʼ of the

world...”

”Itʼs more like the representative of the world; the ʼworldʼ itself is a different entity; it has its

own ways of doing things...”

Fenix glanced at the sky and said,

”Usually these two ʼentitiesʼ work together in sync, and their decisions are always the same,

but lately things seem to have changed...”

”The two of them seem to be in disarray; all peak SS-rankers can feel this fact intuitively, I think... And this is very bad news for the whole world and all those who live in it...”

”A problem between the ʼheavenly willʼ and ʼthe worldʼ will affect everyone and everything.... even the ʼlawsʼ of the world...”

”Perhaps the reason why your ʼsword intentʼ has been so actively destroying your emotions is also related to this weird change in the ʼlawsʼ of the world...”

The main problem is that even SS-rankers are powerless in front of the vast power of the world and the heavenly will, they canʼt change the laws of the world and canʼt turn things

around in their favor.

If they could do such a thing, they wouldnʼt be demi-gods anymore after all. Although most of Rioʼs doubts were answered, he still has a lot of questions in his mind.

Originally, he came to the dragon valley just to wander around and enjoy the dragon festival, or maybe go on a date or two with Lia.

But now Rio feels that coming to this dragon festival and meeting Fenix was a very good

choice.

Not only does Fenix have a lot of knowledge about things that he wanted to talk about, but Rio can even take a lot of advice from him.

”Hmm, well... If itʼs like this... I guess I will re-direct my path too, just like you... Although itʼs

a slow process and will take a lot of time, I think I can indeed do it...”

Fenix also nodded his head at those words,

”Well, the choice is simple: if you want to keep your love for your girlfriend alive, then re-

direct your path and stop aiming for ʼeternal peaceʼ...”

”And if you want to reach the level where you can ʼcutʼ anything and everything, then keep

going on this ʼPathʼ...”

”The ʼPathʼ you are walking right now is meant for a killing machine that wonʼt be bound by

the constraints of emotions...”

Fenix smiled and said,

”After talking to you, I can say that you appear cold from outside, but you have a warm heart. This ʼPathʼ is not for someone like you, Rio; your wish is to live a happy life....”

”If you keep following this ʼPathʼ, that wish will eventually be lost somewhere in the depths of darkness, and your warm heart will end up becoming freezing cold...”

Right now, when Rio is standing at the intersection of his ʼPathʼ, he can choose to go in any of

the two directions.

One direction leads him to his ʼwishʼ and the other leads him to ʼsupreme powerʼ, and he can

only choose one of the directions.

Now Rio will have to decide whether sword intent will become a ʼBlessingʼ for him or a

ʼCurseʼ.

...

...

Authorʼs Notes.

Yo! Itʼs your beloved author here!

The mysteries and secrets of this world are hidden very deeply; perhaps this is the point where

we have started to finally uncover these hidden secrets...

Question of the day:. Would you still dare to learn ʼSword Intentʼ despite knowing its consequences?

(Tell me your thoughts in the comments)

By the way, donʼt forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story.

Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.