Chapter 415: Control oneself, control the universe
“Godsdammit! I thought they were just here!,” Zhen Xing shouted aloud as he stopped himself mid-run.
After running into Zhen Liu, Zhen Xing continued his mad dash to where he his First, Third and Seventh uncle’s should have been fishing.
Unfortunately, they weren’t.
Zhen Xing was about half way to reaching the portion of the deck where the fishing occured, until he saw that nobody was there.
Despair and fury was all set to settle into The Xing’s heart, but just as he was about to rage and cry about his horrible luck, a pair of voices called out from above and behind him.
“Xiao Xing you okay over there?”
“Huh?”
When he turned to see who was calling out to him, he saw his cousins Zhen Hai and Zhen Yue sharing a smoke pipe. Unsure what to make of the pipe, he just ignored it as relief overcame him.
“Xiao Hai! Xiao Yue! Have you seen where the First, Third or Seventh uncle went?”
“They caught themselves several big fish and we’re headed to the galley to get it cooked,” Zhen Hai answered.
“You okay?,” Zhen Yue asked, ” you look like you’re being chased by rabid wolf beasts.”
“Kinda,” Zhen Xing replied, “father’s in need of assistance with…a thing. Kind of time sensitive.”
With a heading given, Zhen Xing proceeded to bolt towards the galley.
“Thanks for the directions.”
“No problem.”
As Zhen Xing disappeared from Zhen Yue’s and Zhen Hai’s vision, the two of them continued to smoke as if nothing happened…until one of them realized something.
“Hold up…Zhen Xing…is looking for one of the three Aether Grandmasters in the clan…at the behest of his father…because of a time sensitive issue. That’s what he said?,” Zhen Hai asked Zhen Yue.
“Yup,” she simply answered.
The two of them stood there in silence, mulling over their next course of action…until bolting off towards the direction that Zhen Xing had come from.
“What do you think? Loose Aether beasts or assassins?”
“Former. I think the main clan representatives here are some trying to kill grandfather.”
“You think Xiao Liu might be interfering as we speak?”
“Yup.”
The duo of elder cousins were technically…half right about Zhen Liu’s involvement, but thankfully, they wouldn’t find out the truth behind that.
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[Huh,] Hurricroak hummed, [you’re method of messing with peoples’ heads is it a lot cleaner than what the others and I do.]
[Well I am all about to control,] Archanidame answered, [kind of hard to impart such wisdom via electrocution, or using literal chains of regret or…Valhalla in order to do so. By the way, do you think the “arachne” form was too much? Should I have gone with a more traditional mortal build?]
[We have been debating that question for a while,] Nepherage answered, [honestly, go with what feels right…except for our kaijin forms because we still need to be sneaky about that.]
[Of course.]
[Wait, do I have to?,] Razorstella asked, [I mean a lot of people still think I’m a doll anyways. Well, puppet but still.]
[I…maybe?,] Frosttusk answered.
This particular conversation could have gone on for quite a while, until Archanidame interrupted them.
[Ah, hold your tongues ladies and gentlekaijin. I do believe my target is undergoing an epiphany. Be right back.]
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The rambling of a sage, who sought enlightenment through introspection, Great War era, 1270, Soaring Gryphon continent.
One of the greatest follies of man is the assumption that they are the masters of the universe.
That by virtue of their mere existence, they can change how the universe functions to fit their whims, and they’re…somewhat right in this regard.
They can level mountains to make roads, diver rivers to water crops and cut down trees to build houses.
But…there are many, many more things that they cannot do.
They can’t restore the minerals they extract from the earth, they can’t control when and where rain will fall, and they cannot bring back the dead that is caused by their wanton destructive tendencies.
They cannot stop progress of time.
Humanity cannot control the universe outside themselves, but they can control themselves.
It doesn’t sound hard to do, controlling one’s actions, but many also fail to see the consequences that their actions bring.
But if one can achieve such control while knowing the consequences of every movement and action taken, they’ll be able to control the universe.
At least…that’s my thinking.
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Zhen Jin laid down on the spider’s web, thinking about his life and his own obsession over the idea of “control”.
Most of this life he tried to control the results of others, only to fail and get frustrated when things didn’t go as he expected them to do.
He remembered the hunts where the beast was smarter than he expected and messed with the traps he had spent days preparing, forcing him to fight like a brute.
He remembered the battles he had fought where his opponents through sheer desperation and rage, fought much harder than he had anticipated and forced him to re-evaluate his strategies right there and then.
Zhen Jin even remembered how he pushed for the neglect of one of his nephews, because he assumed he was a lost cause, only to be rendered speechless when he came back from the dead more talented than anyone he ahd ever seen, including his own sons.
Time and time again, the universe threw him curveball after curveball and caused him no small amount of frustration of the kind of things those curveballs brought.
But now he saw, that he shouldn’t have gotten upset, frustrated or defeated over such sudden changes in circumstances.
No.
He realized that he should have learned to adapt, control the circumstances of his own body, better everytime these changes occured. As this realization dawned on him, a profound look appeared on his face.
[Did you figure something out?,] the arachne asked with an amused smile.
Zhen Jin took a deep breath as he gave his answer.
“In this universe, there are many, many things I cannot control. Many l, many probabilities that will forever be outside my predictions,” Zhen Jin said as he slowly lifted himself off of the spider web’s sticky confines.
“But I know for certain I can control myself, and that it’s up to me to adapt to the world’s flow, not force the world to stop for my sake.”
Zhen Jin was now standing on the spider’s web, hanging upside down as he made Thai realization.
Clinging to his body however was a very strange thing, several of the thorny vines that made up the web were now merging with his body, forming into a distinctively green colored armor.
It didn’t look to be complete yet though, shame.
[It appears you have learned something from this moment,] the arachne stated, [but as for complete realization…it appears to be not yet. At least now though, you’ll be able to handle that rat.]
As she said this, the archane proceeded to lift up a leg and slam it down on the web, causing Zhen Jin to fly into the air. Evidently, the thorny vines that were clinging to him earlier we’re still clinging to him as he flew upward.
It should be noted that Zhen Jin didn’t freak out in the slightest as he went airborne.
[So long, Mister Zhen Jin. Enlightenment and realization are around the corner for you. Just needs a bit of tempering.]
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[Damn, I figured he would have broken through after this “moment of enlightement”,] Hurricroak complained, [although, I guess there’s still a chance he does so during the battle with that Rust Rodent…]
[I doubt that my froggy friend,] Nepherage disagreed, [if anything, he’s at the “Pseudo Grandmaster” stage. Able to make at least a pair of gauntlets or something.]
[We’ll just have to wait and see,] Frosttusk rumbled.
As for the opinion of the one who caused this situation to occur?
She was busying observing.
[You say you understand, but let’s see if you can put it to practice.]
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“What the-whoa!”
“SKREEEE!”
As soon as Zhen Jin had returned to his own body and brain, the steampunk cyborg rat had already picked itself back up and looked ready to go another round.
“Wait…where did he…”
As Zhen Jin looked about though to see where that guy who shot him went, he found that to his great disappointment that he had disappeared.
“What the…oh whatever!”
No longer worrying about what he couldn’t control, Zhen Jin decided to focus on the here and now.
Namely, the giant cyborg rat.
‘Huh…I just noticed that whatever the fuck was blasted into me, suddenly increased my vocabulary…a weird trade off, but I can work with that.’
Zhen Jin took up a fighting stance as he rapidly changed the battle strategy he was going to use for this moment.
His initial plan was to try and force the rodent into dealing with a set sequence of plant traps he had prepared in the moment.
This strategy tended to work well against normal aether beasts, but the cyborg rat had proven to be a touch smarter and more vicious than them, almost mortal-like.
As such, he stopped thinking on how it would behave, and started to think on how he should react.
“I’ve always had an emphasis on proactivity…but now, let’s get reactive.”
