Secrets of the Universe

In a carriage full of unfortunate people, a young man was on cloud nine as he happily conversed with his nearby friend…..or so he thought.

"The ancient southern kingdoms were embroiled in war...." he kept talking looking forward as he talked to his friend sitting directly beside him.

"Hmmm," replied his 'friend'.

"I know right. Ancient history is really fun. To think, they would spend all of their time-fighting. Blah, blah, blah, blah...."

That was what Jake, his so-called friend, heard.

After some time on the carriage, Jerry, the talkative, had tried to strike a conversation with him. Of course, Jake had rudely declined, but Jerry was known for tentativeness.

Jerry had a very strong urge to talk, that even Jake could not deter him. It only took one look into Jerry's eyes for Jake to know that.

So, what did Jake do? A dog starved would bite you.

While this matter was a small issue to Jake, he hadn't slept all day and he would like if he could have a small rest before they arrived at the Capital.

So, Jake compromised. He allowed Jerry to rant, while he slept.

How did he do it? It was a technique he had learned before his rebirth in his foster parent's kingdom. It was similar to multitasking. In that, Jake would have to put one foot in his dream world, and another foot in the Physical world. He called it the Nuisance eliminator technique.

"The worst part of all. The wars never had a victor. They all fought for nothing. Blah. Blah. Blah...." spouted Jerry.

"Hmmm."

Jake could only register some of Jerry's words. He programmed himself to always respond after five minutes.

"There was once a time that…..blah.blah.blah" spat Jerry.

"Hmmm."

...

In the same carriage, Gavin sat silent as the rest of the teenagers.

Occasionally, he glanced at Jerry with pity, but he glanced at Jake with more pity.

Jake had to split his mind just to protect his peace, while Jerry kept talking without knowing Jake wasn't listening. It was a sad tale of wickedness!

"Young master, should we tell him?" asked Andrew.

"No, I think we should let them be"

"But wouldn't that be too cruel?…," a young man seated beside Gavin asked him.

"He literally talked for hours, only for the person to not be listening," another teenager interjected, feeling pity for the young Jerry.

"Do you want to be the one to break the news to him?" questioned Gavin

"No."

"Then that settles it"

....

".....blah blah blah"

"Hmmm"

"It is rare for me to find someone interested in ancient history like me--"

Finally, Jerry shifted his sight to Jake. He could see Jake's head was bent low.

"--Wait, Jake, are you listening?"

He received no reply, "Jake?"

"Jake?"

After five minutes, Jake replied, "Hmmm."

Jake opened his eyes. He had just dreamt of touching perfection, cuddling it in his arms, fondling its soft skin, 'Oh how delightful.'

Sadly, his euphoria was interrupted when Jerry shouted his name. Jake woke up with anger visible on his face.

'How dare he?' he thought with murderous vibes oozing out of him.

"Jake, were you sleeping?" asked Jerry with a pure face.

Looking at the face, Jake wondered if Jerry would scream if he was murdered.

'Cool down, Jake. No need to go all psycho here.' he soothed himself from his psycho tendencies.

Jake smiled, "What? Oh, that. Of course. Of course. Of course. I find what you are saying very fascinating."

"Then why were your eyes closed?"

"I was meditating," Jake threw a smooth lie.

In this world, Meditation was an important activity as it helped to clear the mind. So, when Jake said he was meditating, Jerry believed him as cultivators tend to meditate in their spare time.

"Wow, that's extremely hard to maintain. You know, blah blah blah….." Jerry derailed off-topic.

"Hmmm" as usual, he was replied by Jake's systematic word, who had predicted Jerry going off-topic.

Jerry saw Jake closing his eyes, but he didn't talk as he thought Jake was meditating and still listening to him. He smiled as he thought of his newfound friend.

The whole carriage suddenly descended into a quiet atmosphere as the only teenager talking was Jerry, who talked softly as he was close to Jake.

However, the quiet atmosphere did not last long. It was disturbed by a solemn whisper that could be heard in the tranquil carriage.

"Oh, Mary. Goddess Mary. Bless me through this journey. Let your rainfall on me. Let me be blessed with your smile. Oh, Goddess Mary."

The source of the whisper was Colby!

A teenager asked Gavin, "what is he doing?"

"I believe he is praying to his goddess," Gavin solemnly replied.

Gavin's reply informed them that Colby was a religious person.

Religion in the southern continent was not widespread, but that did not mean that it was extinct.

Some people still practiced religion. They still prayed to people who they believed were gods and goddesses. They prayed to be protected like a princess.

'Utterly stupid,' Jake thought as he was half asleep.

Cultivation was a path that led to perfection. So why would one surrender themselves, when they could directly gain the powers of a God?

'Cowards. What guarantee do they have that they would be protected?' Jake scowled at such individuals.

He had no idea why they possessed such thoughts. Did they think that the so-called god needed their prayers?

The gods they worshipped were most likely cultivators who had reached the limit of their talent and couldn't breakthrough. They would abandon their cultivation path and establish themselves as local deities.

While Jake hated the idea of worshipping false gods, he at least understood what drove people to worship them.

It was recorded that the continent--no, the planet, has gone through extinction class wars in the past. Some of the effects of the wars were still present.

For example, the zombies. Not much info is known to the public about the origins of zombies.

What the common people and Jake know is that while it may look like the zombies are controlled, the truth was far from that. Zombies and their siblings still roam the earth free. The only ones controlled, were the weaker ones, the ones Jake met in the Zombie mines.

Occasionally, there would be a zombie outbreak which would lead to the devastation of families. So in fear and despair, most common people would leave their fates in the hands of false deities.

In the Aztec Kingdom, such practices were technically allowed. The common people had a choice on who they worship. Still, the Noble families disdain to do such, as almost all of them were affiliated with a strong cultivator. Weren't deities essentially cultivators?

...….

Having grown from common households, the teenagers could tolerate the prayers. However, they felt something strange about this certain prayer.

"Is this how prayers are? I don't remember them sounding like that," quipped in one of the teenagers.

"Oh, Goddess Mary. The most beautiful goddess. The most perfect Goddess. How I adore you!" whispered Colby. He seemed to have forgotten that he was in a carriage.

At the mention of the word, "Perfect". Jake instantly woke up like a hungry beast!

He scrutinized Colby, as he thought, 'Is she a symbol of perfection? If I search for her, maybe I can find perfection.'

Jake never gave up on his search for perfection. Unconsciously, he had perceived perfection as his ultimate goal of cultivation. Take the [Physique Modeling Realm] for example, Jake waited an extra month just to make sure he perfectly completed the realm.

"Oh, Mary--"

"--Colby, what are you doing with your sister's figurine? Didn't she tell you not to touch it anymore," questioned Jerry, Colby's closest friend.

Jerry's words brought Colby back to reality. Sweats dripped down his forehead as he noticed all the attention was on him. He realized he had gone too far.

"What-What are you saying?" Colby stuttered as he tried to hint at Jerry to stop questioning him.

"Huh, isn't that your little sister's figurine of herself? It looks exactly like hers," replied Jerry.

Jake paid attention to their conversation. If he was lucky, he would have found the clue to perfection.

He patiently analyzed the details, 'Figurine. Little sister. Prayers. F*ck, that's a siscon! To think, I almost believed him.'

A strange smile donned on Jake, 'As expected, I'm the closest to perfection on this land.'

"So it's his sister's. How lewd and strange!" a teenager commented as he cast a disdainful look at Colby.

"Shit, so he is that type of person. Get him out of here," another teenager said, rallying up the others, who later joined him.

Seeing the commotion, Gavin interfered. He scrunched up his face with a noble disgust as calmed the teenagers, "Now. Now, calm down. I'm sure we can all tolerate his rather messed up, repulsive, and shameful fetish."

He posed heroically as he preached to the teens, who all thought, 'Do you have to be put in that way?'

Accompanied with the liveliness, a knocking was heard on the front side of the carriage, as the driver said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the Capital!"