Chapter 303: Parasite [2]
Though Kael had remnants of my soul, he was still easy to influence.
His sense of identity was lacking, and so were his capabilities.
The moment the parasite had begun to suppress Kael’s instincts, I had no choice but to let the drama unfold.
Killing one’s enemies was easy, but for that I had to know who my enemy was.
Fighting the unknown was something that only the most underdeveloped of all brains could do.
To be able to hide itself from the eyes of the Veltran royal forces... the parasite couldn’t be a mere Immortal.
It had to be a Sovereign at the least.
Still, from the way it was trying to align its characteristics with that of the Veltran princess... it was not an exaggeration to think that the parasite was in its weakened state.
Still, if it could hide itself from the eyes of the empire’s Gods... then it had to be at least a fairly strong Sovereign.
Or maybe... the parasite was a Divine.
Though the existence of such entities wasn’t shown in the game on which this world was based... that didn’t mean that there could be no Divines.
Still, as far as my deductions could take me... the current level of the world should have been the Sovereign core.
If not for that limitation then why was someone like Nemur Daithra willing to tolerate a kid just for a little bit of extra knowledge for improving his mana control beyond his already monstrous levels?
It was clear that the world’s foundation didn’t support the existence of a Divine, though by analysing all the facts... some may have already advanced beyond being a Sovereign.
It wasn’t like the restriction of the world’s level would prevent them from advancing.
It would only make the process a lot harder for them, and prevent them from using their power to its original extent because the world would simply cease to exist if they did so.
As for why the world’s level hadn’t increased if someone had already become a Divine?
I had a theory for that, though I wasn’t confident in my analysis... yet.
When the first Sovereign had been born, he had been absorbed by the world’s core, making the rest of the beings who had now reached his level far more cautious than they could ever have been.
Maybe they had devised some mechanism to avoid being sacrificed and be the first one to be absorbed by the world to steady its foundation.
Or... had the world’s foundation already reached a higher ceiling?
That could also be the reason behind Nemur having the confidence to evolve his own core.
But then what was the current ceiling of the world?
I had to come up with a plan to counter the parasite and any motives it might have in using Kael’s body to solidify its goals.
Involving Nemur in the scenario seemed to be the best choice, though I would have to be subtle about it.
I couldn’t let the guy kill Diana... not that he was a fool to antagonize House Veltra.
No matter how strong Nemur was, at the end of the day he was a single individual.
Though Namda had its own dedicated share of forces who were loyal to Nemur, it still couldn’t risk going against the strongest human empire and one of the top major powerhouses in the world.
I could have stopped the parasite from influencing Kael’s body, but it had its own share of risks, which were greater than the benefits that could be derived from my intervention.
I had emerged and taken control over Kael’s body before Nemur only because I knew who he was.
I had a decent idea of his strength and his ambitions up to a certain extent.
I may not know everything about him, but I knew enough to be able to analyze the risks involved in showing myself before him.
But the parasite on the other hand was a completely unknown variable.
Still, that wasn’t the only reason.
Nemur Daithra was someone whom people believed kept his promises and had maintained neutrality in the world for so long.
That was the main reason behind asking him to be Kael’s guardian.
I didn’t really expect him to protect Kael.
By making Nemur the guardian, I just hoped to make it easy for Kael to have Nemur approve whatever he wanted in the present as well as in the future until he advanced to become a Diamond core.
On the other hand, striking a deal with the being possessing Diana felt like allowing death to embrace Kael.
I didn’t know what motives the parasite had or what its end goals were.
The only feasible option at the moment felt like using the best of all ends.
Though the parasite was an unknown factor... it wasn’t like the risks involved in making a deal with it would make me back off.
No.
The risks made it all the more reasonable thing to do.
Still, to make the parasite sit at the negotiation table, I would have to first level the playing field to make the game equal for me.
Right now the parasite held all the advantages, so I would have to use Nemur to curtail its advantages over me.
Then there was the challenge of making Kael know all the deals that I had done for him, and making him believe that he was the one who had negotiated the deals.
But that would be a lot more difficult than before, as Kael had now grown stronger.
Still, I would be able to manage him this time, but going forward I didn’t think it would be possible to hide from Kael.
I had to reveal my existence to him in the future whenever my next return was necessary, and make sure that Kael understood the need for our coexistence.
It would be great if he agreed to it or else I would have to take more forceful measures.
Measures that I didn’t want to resort to.