Kyle sighed. "Okay, maybe I don't seem like a rat," he said as he took another swig of Burning Heart.
"But I sure as hell feel like one."
The man chuckled a bit. "That wakes memories," he commented.
"You are not a rat," the man said. "You are a weasel."
"What's the difference?" Kyle asked with a bit of annoyance.
This guy was talking like he knew Kyle, and that annoyed him.
"A weasel easily gets out of difficult situations," the man said. "A weasel is very good at surviving, and do you know what weasels do?"
"They eat rats."
"You call yourself a rat, but can you think of another rat you have met in your life?"
Kyle's mind went back to the tertiary world.
Yes, there was one person he would call a rat.
In fact, there were a couple of them.
"Yeah," Kyle said.
"Are you like them?" the man asked.
Surprisingly, the first person who entered Kyle's mind wasn't Theodor, even though he definitely was a rat.
The first person who entered Kyle's mind was Dylan, the Shouter with the Gravity Affinity Kyle had met during the tryouts for the Stark Brotherhood.
This guy had been extremely arrogant but wanted to seem dependable.
At the same time, he had also acted as a double agent who wanted to kill Kyle's team during one of their missions.
When Kyle thought about Dylan, he got annoyed again.
In a way, Dylan had done the same thing as Kyle was doing right now.
Kyle was infiltrating another organization, and eventually, he would betray them.
'Am I like Dylan?' he thought.
Instinctively, Kyle wanted to say no, but he wasn't sure if that was correct.
Both of them were doing the same thing.
Was Kyle like Dylan?
'I don't want to admit it, but I think I am like him,' he thought.
Then, Kyle thought about Theodor.
He was an absolute rat.
Was he like Theodor as well?
'Not entirely. I don't want to kill the family of someone who wronged me. Magic Lady fucked me pretty hard, but I don't want to kill her family for it, assuming she has one.'
"I can think of a couple of people," Kyle answered.
"How do you feel about them?" the man asked.
"Same thing I feel for myself," Kyle answered.
"Is what you have done worse than what they have done?" the man asked.
Kyle thought about the millions of people he had killed as the Overseer.
"Yes," he said.
"Why was it worse?" the man asked.
"I killed far too many people," Kyle answered.
The man looked at Kyle knowingly.
"The world disagrees," the man said. "You have a Minor Hero Aura. If you have truly killed so many people, why would the world say that you're a good person?"
When Kyle heard that, for some reason, his blood boiled.
The image of Magic Lady popped into Kyle's head.
Now that he had more experience with Karmic Luck, he could tell one thing.
Magic Lady had a True Hero Aura.
According to the world and the Laws of Karmic Luck, she was one of the most benevolent, kind, and best people in existence.
Was that true?
Of course not!
Who knew how many worlds she had massacred in the name of improvement?
Kyle knew that he shouldn't comment on it.
Commenting on these things was risky.
And yet, he just didn't care.
"The Karmic Luck system is completely fucked," he said as he swallowed another mouthful of Burning Heart.
"It can't tell a good person from a bad person."
"You can kill millions of Mortals, but as long as you help a couple of Transcendents, you're all good again."
"Kill the masses to feed the fat," Kyle said. "That's batshit. Sure, you can do that, but don't act like you're some kind and benevolent Buddhist priest monk or whatever."
"If the Karmic Luck system worked correctly, I would have a True Sin Aura."
The man's eyes glazed over for just an instant.
"Do you want to know the truth about Karmic Luck?" the man asked.
Kyle just raised an eyebrow.
Those were quite arrogant words.
"It's reward and punishment," the man said. "The rules of Karmic Luck were made by someone. A person. A person who became very strong."
Kyle's eyes narrowed.
He had heard from Horatio that this world was created by someone.
A God.
Because of that, Kyle had inferred that the Karmic Luck system was also made by that person.
Yet, nobody outside of the Cult had ever referred to this God's existence.
This man in front of Kyle was the first one who had confirmed Kyle's thoughts about the rules of Karmic Luck.
"It rewards the people who help him, and it punishes the people who don't help him," the man said.
"Him?" Kyle asked.
The man just smiled. "The Karmic Luck system exists for only one reason," the man said, not commenting on Kyle's question.
"Power."
"The more powerful the Cosmos is, the more powerful he will be."
"Killing a million Mortals weakens his Cosmos. It reduces the speed of Energy gathering, and there's a chance that you have killed future Transcendents."
"Killing a million Mortals hurts the Energy production, but helping a Transcendent to become a Primal helps it. The higher the density of Energy, the higher the speed of Energy production."
"Your Karmic Luck is dependent on your impact on the Energy production of this Cosmos."
"Karmic Luck is not about being a good person. It's about being productive."
"However, that doesn't mean that the system is fucked. When you're at war with an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, even the smallest members have to contribute."
"Everyone has to contribute. The only reason why the weaker members can even vie for power with their political games is that the stronger members are keeping the outside threats at bay."
Kyle's heart was beating rapidly in his chest.
This man was speaking of these cosmic things like he knew first-hand about what was happening.
Who was this guy?!
This couldn't just be a random person who had been sent here to harvest a Planet, right?
As Kyle looked at the man, he noticed that the Energy around him was changing.
Earlier, he had shown the Energy fluctuations of someone in the Wisdom Fire Realm.
But now…
There was just nothing.
"What do you think?" the man asked casually. "With this as context, do you still think the Karmic Luck system can't tell a good from a bad person?"
Kyle's mind went wild.
He felt like his life was no longer in his control.
This was obviously someone from the Immortal Dimension.
Yet, why had someone like this appeared here?
At that point, Kyle realized something.
Would such a person come here just to harvest a Planet?
No…
This person came for him, specifically.
But the only person who knew that Kyle had been stuck in this Planet was the Lord.
"I'm still waiting for an answer," the man said with a smile as he took another mouthful of Burning Heart.
"What do you think about the Karmic Luck system after getting some context?"
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