Chapter 76: The Death Buff
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Three thousand years ago, how many people had Epimetheus saved? And how many times had he saved them?
A drop of help makes a friend, a bucket makes an enemy. Once, twice... five times, ten times. The more he saved them, the more dependent they became. When the day came that he failed to save everyone, the survivors would all turn into Epimetheus's enemies.
His title of "Fool" stemmed from the ugly nature of humanity, not from his own stupidity.
Even setting aside his deeds from three millennia ago, Finn's past incarnation led a team to find the entrance to the Dungeon a thousand years ago.
If it weren't for Epimetheus's support, Finn and his party would likely have been completely wiped out.
Finding the Dungeon entrance after so much hardship only to be wiped out would have meant monsters would continue pouring out of the great pit. Sooner or later, the land, sea, and sky would be filled with monsters, leaving no living space for humanity.
It could be said that he occupied an extremely important, even central, position in human history—arguably more important than even Argonaut.
This was precisely why Argonaut, and his reincarnated self, Bell, admired Epimetheus so highly.
...Epimetheus remained silent, seemingly stunned by Lucian's earnest words.
With Epimetheus on the verge of death, Lucian had absolutely no reason to lie.
"I... I didn't subjugate any of the ancient monsters," Epimetheus muttered.
One of the main points of criticism the world levied against him was his failure to slay any of the great monsters.
He hadn't managed to kill the rulers of the sea, land, or sky, nor Antares. Even Balor at the Dungeon entrance was killed by a spear thrown by Finn's past incarnation.
"The Black Enhanced Species are monsters specifically created by the Dungeon itself. They are entirely immune to divine power," Lucian stated.
"The Flame of Heaven is a pseudo-divine power, meaning it still counts as the power of the Gods. Frankly speaking, subjugating ancient monsters was never within your scope of responsibility."
"Your duty was to repel the monsters, protect ordinary people, and preserve the spark of humanity."
"Looking at it from the perspective of human history, you stood at two core turning points and saved humanity twice."
"What more do you want? Do you want to hoard the legendary deeds of every single hero for yourself?"
"Don't be so arrogant."
Lucian's heavy tone slapped Epimetheus awake.
All he could do was tell the truth.
No matter how much he said, if Epimetheus refused to listen, Lucian wouldn't be able to untie the knot in his heart.
"As for the world's criticism..." Lucian paused, finally concluding, "That is simply human nature."
"Human nature?" Epimetheus looked at Lucian in confusion.
Lucian's words had indeed brought him a measure of comfort, and his heart felt much calmer.
"There's a saying: 'A drop of help makes a friend, a bucket makes an enemy.' It means that if you offer someone a small amount of help in their time of need, they will be grateful. But if you help them too much and they become dependent on you, the moment you stop, they will resent you instead. That is the deep-rooted flaw of humanity."
"You are a hero, not a wish-granting machine. You can't do everything, and there's no need for you to do everything."
Lucian cast a side glance at the Head Shrine Maiden, Rhea. He could see the shame flashing in her eyes.
Rhea and Epimetheus had an illicit affair and even had two daughters together.
During the eruption of the corrupted heavenly flame three hundred years ago, her two daughters were consumed by it. At that time, Rhea had screamed at Epimetheus: Aren't you a hero?
"Aren't you a hero?" Why couldn't you save our daughters? —Although she hadn't said the second half out loud, Epimetheus had been deeply wounded by her unspoken accusation.
The accusations of outsiders had already left him covered in scars, trapping him in over two thousand years of mental exhaustion. This emotional betrayal from someone so close to him hit infinitely harder than the accusations of the masses.
In the original timeline, when the Zeus and Hera Familias were wiped out and the Lower World lost all hope, Epimetheus completely snapped and embraced the darkness, essentially throwing away everything he stood for.
Right now, Epimetheus hadn't gone dark yet. Coupled with the fact that Lucian had taken the Flame of Heaven and his death was imminent... Many people only saw their true hearts when standing at death's door. It had to be said, the 'near-death' state was quite a powerful buff.
"As for those who criticized you, they generally fall into three categories."
"The first: ungrateful wretches who bite the hand that feeds them."
"The second: mindless sheep who just parrot what everyone else says without their own opinions."
"The third: unscrupulous bards and shameless thrill-seekers who don't care if they spread rumors, so long as the topic brings them attention and amusement."
Lucian didn't say much more, offering a final conclusion, "That's all I have to say. At least in my eyes, Epimetheus, you are a hero worthy of the name."
"Your mission is already complete."
Having said his piece, Lucian prepared to leave.
Just before departing, he felt a fleeting flash of divine aura. Lucian glanced toward Prometheus.
Prometheus was a very cautious God. She had taken the alias 'Ilia' and hidden within the shrine maidens, acting as their "youngest sister."
It seemed she had something she wanted to say as well.
After a brief moment of thought, Lucian condensed a magical mark and planted it on Prometheus, transmitting a mental message to her. If you have something to say when this is all over, you can transmit it to me through this mark.
Prometheus was definitely going to see Epimetheus off on his final journey. The mark was only temporary.
Once she finished dealing with matters here, meeting up wouldn't be a bad idea.
With a thought, light flashed across Lucian's body, and he disappeared.
He had only come to Olympia to take the Flame of Heaven. He didn't even owe them any favors, seeing as he had liberated the fifty thousand souls trapped within the flames.
Epimetheus was also someone worthy of respect. Although Lucian wasn't originally from the Danmachi World and none of this really concerned him, he was still willing to make an effort for the man's sake.
As for doing anything more... he couldn't.
Even though he could technically save Epimetheus, Lucian figured the man was long since tired of living.
All of his comrades had died three thousand years ago, and the people he grew familiar with three hundred years ago had died as well. Every single day he lived was a draining mental torment. It was agonizing.
Being able to finally find total release now was actually a good thing for him.
"The Flame of Heaven is in the underground altar. Its energy will rise from the bottom up."
Returning to the Divine Court, Lucian looked at the heavenly flame burning slowly on the altar.
A portion of the Flame of Heaven's power would naturally dissipate into the entire Divine Court, while the rest would flow into the Firmament through the magic formulas.
Upon absorbing it, the Firmament would construct flame seeds. These seeds would replace the original stars, forming a sky full of genuine celestial bodies governed by Authority.
With the World Will present, the Firmament and the stars would continuously perfect themselves until they formed a truly complete world.
Next, it was time to consider the matter of the Divine Court's residents.
After all, the Divine Court was already established, and there would be countless other worlds in the future.
The foundation was fully laid; he could start recruiting people now.
However, he couldn't just recruit anyone casually. Lucian didn't like overly ambitious schemers.
His primary reason for creating a game-like worldview akin to Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was for entertainment, not for achieving multiversal conquest.
Aside from the original inhabitants Lucian planned to create, any recruitment aimed at the myriad worlds had to meet two fundamental conditions.
First: They had to share a connection of destiny with Lucian.
The moment he established this rule, he immediately located the Magi world. This was because someone connected to his destiny resided there.
Relying on this karmic connection, Lucian was able to quickly lock onto new worlds.
Second: Pure maidens.
As the master of the Divine Court, Lucian had the absolute right to choose his residents.
He had no intention of sharing the 'cheats' he had painstakingly created with just anyone, much less allowing other men into his mental world.
It wasn't to say they absolutely had to join his harem, but simply for the sake of being easy on the eyes and avoiding any awkward drama, the absolute bare minimum requirement for entry was maintaining their 'purity.'
He absolutely refused to play the cuckold—providing endless resources for a woman in his Divine Court, only for her to run off and support some other man on the outside... Just thinking about it was revolting.
They could either accept the rules and enjoy the resources, or simply decline. Lucian wouldn't force anyone, but anyone who intended to leech his resources without following his rules would be filtered out immediately.
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