Later, in Kary's mansion...

Tenta and Kary sat alone in a study room, sipping tea near a fireplace.

 

{And that's what happened.} Tenta summarized, leaning on a comfy chair and sipping his tea with a mouth tentacle.

Kary, lips twitching and veins bulging, seemed like she was about to snap. But in the end, she sighed in resignation.

"You... Sigh... You just had to go and do that, didn't you?" She rubbed her head, feeling a headache.

"What you did just now is the same as announcing part of your talent and ability as a divine teacher to the entire city, possibly to other cities in the abyss. Nemorvyn and Phidea will try to block the news from spreading, but what you did was too shocking. Ghukna's case is a widely known one even in nearby cities." Kary pursed her lips.

{Is that good or bad?} Tenta asked.

"Many would now look to you to help 'fix' their children. And many more would want you to guide their children, talented or not. If it is merely a dozen or two, it is manageable. But what if there are hundreds to thousands? Although their talent might be subpar compared to Ghukna or non-existent, don't underestimate a parent's love for his child. They would pay a fortune for you to 'fix' them, and if you reject them, they might carry a grudge since you are their only hope. In this city alone, there are over 20,000 such unfortunate people. You have a finite timetable, and you need to ask yourself, how much time would you like to spend on this? Is this your life's calling or a mere hobby in passing?" Kary questioned.

{... Honestly? The latter. I did this on a whim and didn't think about making this my life's calling.} Tenta replied.

Helping others is considered good karma, and he can earn a ton of money and allies... but it was not his cup of tea. He only helped Ghukna because he couldn't stand watching such a gem rot in a semen milker...

"It is your call." Kary shook her head. "But now, you need to come to a decision." Her expression turned serious. "What will you do with Ghukna?

{... Do I have to have him?} Tenta warily asked. He didn't feel comfortable about suddenly getting a slave, however talented he was.

"Yes." Kary gave him a deep look. "Phidea and Ghukna's family gave up on him and gave their word. The one to 'mend' his intellectual disability can have him as their slave. After giving up on him and putting him in the semen factory, they don't have the heart to take him back, so you are his owner."

{Damn... Didn't think that through...} Tenta grumbled.

"Next time, think before you act," Kary said in displeasure. But then she sighed and added, "But thank you for doing that."

{... So what are my options?} Tenta asked.

"You first need to determine your approach. Do you want to force your will on him? Or do you want to let him decide? He will soon be your slave, and it is your choice to make, but he would appreciate it later on if you let him choose." Kary said.

{I will let him choose, of course.} Tenta said without hesitation. {This is a life-changing decision.}

"A soft yet long-term solution." Kary nodded. "He will be more loyal to you for that."

Tenta didn't respond to that. He didn't like the idea from the beginning.

Seeing him go silent, Kary continued. "Then your first task is to teach him speech and general knowledge. Once he has a firm grasp on those, we will continue to discuss his possible fates. In the meantime, he needs around a week to recover."

{Fair...} Tenta nodded. {But I need to learn first...}

"That you do." Kary nodded. "But now there is a more crucial question..."

She then telepathically spoke to Tenta.

{Are you ready to delve into that place again?} She asked.

Tenta turned serious. He knew what she was referring to. He looked at his tenth task again...

 

 

From what Zeztris is saying, it is safe to go there, and he could get baptized and leave. He only needed to avoid comprehending the laws there, which shouldn't be a problem. It was just that he was subconsciously reluctant to go there again. That experience he had before was traumatic.

However, he knew he had to do it. He had to return to that murky place.

{Yeah, I'm ready.} He replied.

"Good. Do it here." She said.

{Okay.} He replied and attempted to enter that place using his Divine Art...

 

...

 

Tenta's POV:

 

After blinking, I found myself in that grey, murky place. I found that I was in the place I left before and that little 'drawing' I did was still there.

I then received a system message.

 

 

"Yeah... Better not test my luck." I muttered.

Just then, I felt a surge of power wash over me!

 

 

The feeling was incredible. As the baptism continued, it was as if I was filling in the missing puzzle pieces to create something much grander.

 

 

Subtle waves filled the space as power surged into me. As the perks merged, a qualitative feeling of power came. In every possible way, I was now complete and whole.

I obtained a True Body.

 

 

"HOLY SHIT!!!" I screamed in my mind.

A Law Body. Foundation to apotheosis. A pseudo-god. This wasn't a perk I was supposed to have. It was something only a transcendent should have, and the strong ones, at that.

Having All Overall Stats at +1,000% equaled maximising all my stat modifiers.

The Effectiveness of All Things included Learning, Teaching, and Comprehension. It also comprised health and mana regeneration, skill effectiveness, spell cost-effectiveness, and more. And yes, it also includes sex stuff, including what Cave Troll gave me. Fortunately or not, they were also capped at ten times efficiency... but the overall bonus overruled it. In other words, everything is now at least +1,000% if I didn't get it already.

And that bonus to Nihility is ridiculously absurd. It didn't say magic or skills, but Nihility. In other words, everything relating to Nihility is boosted. That regular bonus was wasted on me for now, but the overall bonus was good... Not that I know how the fuck to use nihility stuff, yeah?

Somehow, I got something ridiculous... And that made me somehow pissed.

"Reality Smuggler! Is this what you call NOT overpowered too quickly?!" I yelled into the grey void.

Of course, I only got morbid silence.

Giving up, I decisively exited the place. I didn't want to court death by trying to sense the laws after being warned time and again.

 

...

 

Unbeknownst to Tenta, the Initial Nihility True Body created ripples in the laws of Nihility, alerting those especially attuned to it...

 

...

 

Inside a gloomy thatch hut in the middle of a forest.

An old crone was operating on a conscious girl who wanted to scream in pain but had her mouth sewn shut so she would stop crying.

Suddenly, her withered hands, which moved with machine-like precision, paused.

Turning her face, which was as ugly as a monster by choice, her grey balls for eyes without shine moved slightly. Extending her hand, a withered wooden staff flew to her hand, and used it as a walking stick.

"Stay here, girl." She said in a dry voice, leaving the writhing child, whose left arm was being replaced by a monstrous hand.

Walking to a cauldron, the crone looked at a green, bubbling goo and spit at it. As the glob of spit landed on the goo, the cauldron bubbled but soon returned to its original calm. On the surface, an ever-changing fog was seen, hiding great secrets.

"Can't read it... The same as what happened a week ago." The crone muttered. "And this time, it was the creation of a True Body... It is that Wiseman again, isn't it?" She deduced.

Over a week ago, a new Wiseman was created. As the world is run by magic, everyone feels it, including her. And things that disturb her, like that girl on the table, are worthy of her attention, sometimes out of sympathy, but usually out of spite. She usually gives them a curse or two.

But now, she was disturbed not once, not twice, but three times within a week and a half. The first time was when the Wiseman was created. The second time was when Nihility Mantra was created. And the third time was the creation of an Initial Nihility True Body. In all three cases, they had the same obscuring method.

That meant two things.

One, the new Wiseman was attuned to the concept of Nihility... This was unsurprising, considering Zeztris is a neutral goddess of knowledge, and Nihilism is important to the creation of knowledge.

Although misconceived as evil, Nihility is a fundamental concept that runs the universe, the twin of existence, and has three main branches: True Nihilism, Existential Nihilism, and Optimistic Nihilism. In all cases, the practitioner acknowledges that everything has no meaning. It is an immutable and sad truth.

Just like that girl on the table, without intervention, she would eventually die as her parents and village did in a mercenary raid from an enemy kingdom... which she also killed for foolishly attacking her. Even if the girl didn't miss an arm and bleed to death when she reached her hut by a fluke, she would end up as a slave before withering and dying. The nearby town also. The kingdom she lived in and the enemy kingdom, too. The continent they stood on as well. One day, everyone in the world would die, and everything they built would perish, and even the gods and the Great System would die at the end of times. There is no grand plan for the universe, and especially not for herself.

Now, what you do with that truth is where they diverge.

True Nihilism is a philosophy that believes in nothing, has no loyalties, and has no purpose. Those in this group either wither away or turn their endless frustration into a destructive force, becoming a blight upon the world. Some ancient evils, the advocates of True Nihility, lurk in some dark corners of the world, wishing nothing more than to end everything before ending themselves. She viewed such beings as pitiful but dangerous creatures.

Existential Nihilism is a philosophy that believes in absurdism, that the universe is irrational and meaningless while man is rational and tries to survive in that irrational universe. To survive, man constructs subjective meaning to life, such as friends, family, love, etc. However, they recognize that it holds no substantial value. Those who practice this school of thought are usually eccentric people who value themselves and their happiness more than anything and care little about their surroundings. As practitioners of absurdism, they focus on dread and anguish and warping reality in incomprehensible ways, but they also incorporate some of the beliefs of Optimistic Nihilism, focusing more on its aspect of freedom. This was the mainstream of Nihility, depicted as neutral and unpredictable, and she was part of it.

Optimistic Nihilism is a philosophy that accepts Nihility for what it is, but instead of seeing it as something hopeless, they see it as a liberating force. Since everything has no meaning, there is no fixed meaning or structure to the universe, allowing them true freedom. They hold potent powers of transmutation, changing both themselves and the environment, but some also dabble in other areas of Nihility. Although it holds the most positive outlook, due to its contradictory nature, it is the rarest form.

Although she wasn't a follower of Optimistic Nihilism, she didn't oppose it and respected its freedom. For example, she made herself into an ugly crone since she believed that doing so was liberating. She chose to live in solitude and live in peace for spiritual freedom. Occasionally, she would help poor souls in need, such as the girl on the table, and give them her help without charge. However, how she did it was eccentric and not always what they wanted.

And the new Wiseman realized a Divine Art advocating freedom of self and hope. He was walking down the path of Optimistic Nihilism. She was at peace with that, and it suited a Wiseman.

She did, however, wonder about her second discovery...

"How did a mortal survive that trial?" She asked herself.

Someone who transcends must have the Transcendent Body perk, the fusion of the thirteen foundation perks. She also took two disciples, teaching them for a dozen years before mastering that last Perk and Transcending. Only several centuries later did she awaken to the Existential Nihility in her heart. Even as a veteran transcendent and user of Nihility, she was half-consumed by it before she created an Existential Nihility Divine Art, so she knew the danger inside. Even among other trials, the Trial of Nihility had one of the highest death tolls because of its depressive nature and the equally depressive demand of those who underwent it.

And yet, the new Wiseman turned out to be a mortal and a follower of Optimistic Nihilism. Even among Wisemen, his talent was exceptional.

However, that was it. He had nothing to do with her as long as he didn't bother her. That was her way of life.

Shaking her head, she returned to operating on the horrified girl on the table, her mind undisturbed.

 

She was but one of many who deduced this... But that had nothing to do with Tenta.

 

...

 

After a dozen minutes, Tenta woke up.

{Kary, it's done.} He said.

"Good." Kary, who sat on the opposite chair, nodded, refilling her cup of tea. "How does it feel?" She asked.

{Good.} Tenta replied. {I feel whole.}

"That is certainly what I felt when I created my Transcendent Body." Kary nodded. "But I imagine what you have is many times more."

{Dunno. I never experienced a Transcendent Body.} Tenta replied.

Kary pursed her lips. "Right..."

{Anyway, I want to start learning knowledge before teaching Ghukna.} Tenta said.

"Then we should start teaching you how to read and write and Common." She said, motioning to a bookshelf, bringing over a thick dictionary. "With your understanding, teaching you with children's material would be a waste."

{Okay! Let's do it, then.}

And so, ten days flashed in a blur of studying...