THE GOD EATER

After destroying everything that could hold him back he activated the Rewind Metac and jumped into the River of Time. Since then, he had been on the run. Running away and creating distance between himself and that point in time seemed to be the only thing he could do to alleviate the fear in his heart.

After what felt like ages, the fear finally receded and disappeared. Because of this, his previously heavy heart lightened, and he sighed in relief.

However, he still needed more time to recover his composure. For some reason, he had been shaken more than he thought he could be. So now that the source of his fear was gone, he still needed to deal with the impact of the fear and let his frayed mind relax.

Since he didn’t need to run for his life anymore, he stopped rushing ahead and instead slowed down. Thanks to this leisurely pace, he was able to relax better.

When he finally regained enough mental fortitude to focus on anything other than fear and running for his life, he said, ”What was that?”

He didn’t know the answer to that question, so he looked inwards at the Danger Sense Metac and said to it, ”I’m talking to you. What was that?”

But all he got as a reply was silence. It seemed the Danger Sense Metac also didn’t know what the source of danger was.

Seeing this, he chuckled and said, ”If it could actually talk and it replied, I would have more problems on my hands than an unknown danger. I might even freak out.”

The Danger Sense Metac was less than helpful in helping him determine what the source of danger was, which in his opinion, was a good thing.

It turned out that he didn’t actually want the Danger Sense Metac to answer his question. For some reason, he believed that it would be a bad thing if one of his Metacs had sentience and consciousness.

With a sigh of relief, he said, ”Anyway, it is over for now. That’s good. Though, I am worried that this is not over yet.”

”Am I to never use the spark of power to combine pathways anymore? Am I to constantly live in fear from now on?”

Just the thought of living in fear because of an unknown source of danger was bad enough. He didn’t want to experience it at all.

”It reminds me of my days living as a slave. I had to live in constant fear of being punished for something as simple as existing. I didn’t know where the pain would come from, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.”

”So I am used to something like this. But it is because I know what it feels like that I don’t want to go through something like that again.”

As he spoke, his frustration seemed to increase within him. His frustration also brought along a swelling of anger, so he was both frustrated about the possibility of being subjected to such an unpleasant experience and angry that he was too weak to change things.

Over time, his anger overpowered his frustration. But instead of exploding within him, his anger was converted into determination. The anger turned into fire that refined his determination and made it stronger.

So it was with blazing anger and pure determination that he said, ”Not again. I won’t live like that again. I won’t be forced to live in fear. I must become free or die trying. I swear it on my Dao Heart.”

After he swore the oath, his anger seemed to cool within him. And with the reduction in temperature, his determination began to contract and solidify.

His determination solidified around and into the core of his oath for freedom. So his determination was his oath and also the coating around his oath.

As his anger cooled, reason also returned to him. With reason, he could think about how to solve his problem, which is more useful than making oaths. After all, talk is cheap.

Fortunately, he knew what he needed to do. Not that there was much of an option in the matter.

”The choice is clear. I must become stronger. If I become stronger, what I should be afraid of will become something I can squash easily.

”But I shouldn’t chase power blindly. I should pursue power in line with my goals, which means it is high time I created my pathway. I need something that aligns with my ultimate goal or can take me closer to my ultimate goal faster and more efficiently.”

When he thought about what this pathway should be, he grinned and said, ”Fortunately, I know exactly what I need to do.”

With a goal and a feasible plan to achieve that goal, his entire being felt grounded. He felt grounded with a purpose like a ship anchored in place. No matter how the sea would rage around him, he felt that he was now reliably stable.

Because of this, he was now in the mood to entertain thoughts that were not related to his pursuit of power or the fear of the unknown danger. The first thing he thought about was the will of the Blessed Heaven World.

As soon as the thought popped into his mind, his anger flared again, and he said, ”That bastard. I saved you, and this is how you repay me?”

”Instead of rewarding me, it tried to kill me. What a hateful ingrate!”

”And it is not like I was asking for too much. I asked for one Supreme Metac. It was just one Supreme Metac.”

”It wasn’t even that good of a Supreme Metac,” he said indignantly. ”It was the Supreme Metac of some Major Dao. That was only a step above the barest minimum. Yet, it was so stingy.”

”What kind of behavior was that? It was behaving as if i asked for its life, not one measly Supreme Metac. Someone really needs to teach it how to behave.”