The alien was stunned. He stood up, lifted Lucan's head, and snuck the cotton-stuffed cloth (pillow) under him. As he spread the blanket over Lucan, he said, "Oh fate, I submitted to you long ago. Just kill me already. I know no one can escape from your foresight; even Lord and this kid can't. So—..."
The pillow suddenly hit the alien's head. It was Lucan; he was half asleep and half awake. He said, "Shut it! Idiot! Fate! Fate! Fate! Stop this nonsense! Fate belongs to the weak who won't act. Like you, even fate kneels before those who persevere. Damn you, I might end up becoming a philosopher. Take this blanket too; I am adapting my body to every temperature extreme. If I cannot even survive this coldness, then I will never reach my goal!"
The alien's eye glowed in the darkness, showing a sense of happiness on its face. It felt as if fate itself came to rewrite his life. He took the pillow and blanket as he came closer to Lucan. He said, "You, you are good! And very kind!"
Lucan laughed as he said, "Good? Me? Nice joke, nice joke." The alien frowned and asked, "Then are you evil? Bad?"
Lucan's laughter died away. A faint smile lingered on his lips, but his eyes turned cold—empty. "Good? Evil?" he murmured. "Such meaningless words. I am pragmatic. My goal is the only truth I acknowledge. If that goal demands kindness, then I will become a saint—flawless, revered, beyond reproach. And if it demands cruelty," his smile deepened, darker now, "then I will become a demon—merciless, unrelenting."
He took a step forward, his voice dropping to a chilling whisper. "In the end, everything bends to my purpose. The path, the choices, even what you call 'right' and 'wrong'—they are nothing more than tools."
The alien said, "This! Is he really a kid? Oh fate..." Suddenly, cosmic energy turned into a baby's pacifier and blocked his mouth. Lucan frowned as he said, "Once more, then I will stick it permanently with super glue."
The alien shut its mouth and chewed on it. He thought in his mind, *"What is this? It is made of rubber. Super glue? What is it? But if I say something now, I know what would happen! Hence, I will just simply close my mouth."*
The next morning, the alien slowly opened his eyes. He saw Lucan near the mountain. He was using cosmic energy to do something. He was far away, so the alien could not see what he was doing clearly. Lucan was creating a tiny model of the mountain. Why? Because he wanted to test and analyze it fully so he could use it to gain ideas to break the real mountain. The alien was watching with intense curiosity.
But suddenly, an aura flew through the air. It was very strong, flowing as smoothly as water through a river. It was Lord. He said, "You there, your time is now over. I am surprised to still see you alive. However, it doesn't matter to me. Anyways, you are going to die now as you failed to break the mountain!"
His hand became giant as Lord turned into his real size and stomped on the alien with a loud thud. Dust erupted and smoke filled the entire area. Lord saw a tiny figure blocking him. Lucan was the size of an ant compared to Lord's real size. He said, "Lord, I want you to let this one live."
Lord frowned, his anger making his aura chaotic. He replied, "Why? Why must I do so?"
But this was only from the outside. Inside, he thought, *"Hehe, finally a worthy opponent to entertain me! He could even block my attack!"* Lucan said, "I saved his life and gave him everything, so he is my investment. He will help me in my journey through space."
Inside, Lucan thought, *"This alien—its memories contain many mysteries yet to be unraveled. The information I extracted accidentally from him while using my cosmic energy is precious. With these, I can move another step forward towards my goal. How will I let somebody take it away from me? Hehe. I have use for him; I cannot lose him at any cost. But I should conceal this truth from Lord, or else he will steal him away."*
Lord said, "This one! Haha, I thought you had something called a brain—usually present in your C-tier species, humans—which gives them intelligence. Looks like you don't have it. This one is worthless. I can give you better ones. To call that creature 'worthless' is an insult to the word itself."
Lucan said, "No, no, he has a use. He was already breaking this mountain as per your task, so I can gain some experience from him. And look at my progress by doing so."
With a sinister smile, Lucan gestured toward the mountain. Lord's aura faltered rapidly; fear, for the first time, appeared in his eyes. He trembled as he saw the mountain develop a huge crack. He said inwardly, *"Wait! This must be a trick. Hehe, how can he even do this, which even I, Lord, failed to do?"*
But his expression turned pale after inspecting it. The mountain was **30% BROKEN!** He himself had tried for countless years, and millions of other aliens had also tried and failed. All those times, not even a minute crack had developed, but now the case was simply unbelievable.
Lord's attitude turned calm. He now saw Lucan with respect and fear, but obviously, his pride was still at its peak. He said, "Lucan, you are beyond my expectations. I appreciate it. 30% progress on the first day itself. Haha, I am now even more eager to kill you."
Well, this was the truth: Lord had fear, but also rising killing intent. He decided to quickly leave as soon as possible to make himself strong enough to kill Lucan completely. Fear was stepped over by pride. Now the kid he wanted to kill was making him feel afraid of getting killed. Truly a great irony.
Lucan asked, "So what is your final decision, Lord?" with an evil grin.
This made Lord even more wary. He thought, *"His strength and capabilities are truly great, but still he addresses me as Lord. Is he planning something?"* Lord laughed loudly, the sound echoing throughout the area. He said, "Keep that creature, and take your time. Remember, you have unlimited duration. Don't overstrain yourself, Lucan."
With a pat on Lucan's shoulder, Lord quickly left. The alien had already fainted due to Lord's aura. Lucan sat down nearby and sighed. He said, "From my observation, Lord is now going to train more. He thought I did this damage. Hehe, but I actually collected the entire damage done to this mountain by everybody, including Lord, and gathered it at the point I punched. This way, I used all their efforts. The surprising thing is Lord himself had contributed 10% of that 30%."
"Interesting. However, I have other plans. I would love to see the reaction on his face if he learned the truth behind my progress. Fine, now let me take some real action. I am going to absorb the accumulated damage on this planet and release it on the mountain. This way it still wouldn't break, according to the calculations. Huh, this challenge is really a challenge. This mountain is not simply a great challenge; its minerals are of great quality and its worth is beyond estimation. When I break this mountain, I will steal it away along with all the resources."
"I will also kill the Lord—hehe, kidding. I am going to flee to the next planet, because after my next progress on this mountain, I will certainly get my spaceship. There is an endless quarrel among Lord and the other planets. One such planet has an alien at par with Lord's strength. He also wants three important resources from here, which includes this mountain as the primary one. I will give it to him. It is even laid out in missions, with the highest claimable rewards ever to exist! With that, I will get protection, have my own spaceship, and resources. Hehe!"
Lucan finished with a wide, creepy grin.