=What Pathos is failing to tell you is that not only does accumulated karma eventually cash out on you, but it also mitigates and enhances certain events,= Logos explained. =Rember when you first got your hands on the [Veteran’s Bone Club] in the Vault of Hel?=
"Yeah..."
The Vault of Hel was the first ti Zhen Liu had ever actually entered a wandering ruin in a positive light with his family. It was also the place where he got his first [Chaos] treasure, created Frosttusk, and started the chain of events that led to him going to Erald Eye City.
"Wait a minute..."
Which was a city where he burned down the mansion of one of the biggest movers and shakers of the underworld, created Hurricroak, and cented a relationship with Alicia Goldshire.
"This feels like deja vu...but with heavier implications..." Zhen Liu noted as he deeply thought about how so much of his life changed from that one little bit of happenstance.
"Are...Are you saying that the reason everything that seems to be happening to ...is entirely because of karma?"
Pathos affird with a hesitant tone.
"How?"
=As we said, karma is like a magnet; good karma attracts fortune and repels misfortune while bad karma does the reverse,= Logos reiterated. =You, however, attract everything because you lack karma.=
After making this statent, Logos floated over to the array while grabbing the illusionary diagram of Zhen Liu. While they were doing so, Logos manifested a second display showcasing Zhen Xing...and his totemic fox.
=The universe, or I guess the heavenly authority in this case, makes it a point to te out karmic justice and reward based entirely on a person’s karmic core,= Logos elaborated as he first presented Zhen Xing’s diagram.
Under his manipulation, the cartoon diagram of Zhen Xing began to perform various actions that caused his karmic totem to subtly change shape, size, and other small details. When certain forms were achieved by the totem, the diagram seed to depict the universe punishing or rewarding Zhen Xing as needed. In so instances, he could see the universe denying Zhen Xing quite a few opportunities.
"Okay, and the fact that I don’t have this karmic core ans..."
Pathos answered.
Prompted by their partner’s words, Logos switched the diagram representing Zhen Xing to the one representing Zhen Liu.
In the diagram, Zhen Liu could see his cartoon self performing the sa actions, but the results were drastically different.
Every positive action snowballed into more and more rewards that honestly seed a little forced, while all the negative actions kept snowballing into him sohow ending up in what he could only describe as "super hell". Making the whole thing even more absurd, the positive actions started with him simply throwing away trash in a designated bin, while the negative actions started with him simply littering.
Watching this diagram made Zhen Liu feel as if he was watching one of those after-school specials that had an exaggerated moral lesson.
Regardless, the point was made by this absurdity.
"So...every ti I help soone and hurt soone in the process of helping soone, it just snowballs into sohow winning the lottery three tis in a row while pissing off Satan?"
"Then how the fuck am I supposed to do anything?!" Zhen Liu yelled in frustration as he swung his legs over the table and actually sat up to stare at the curators in their ever-shifting eyeballs.
"Because it sounds like no matter what I do, it’s going to lead to getting embroiled in so bullshit that I don’t want to deal with."
Logos and Pathos looked at each other, a small tinge of disbelief in their expressions as they realized that their lord was actually quite serious with his query and heightened emotions. After all, the answer to this question was incredibly obvious.
=Milord, you do realize this issue of yours is actually only a problem if you, personally, act, right? =Logos pointed out. =Unlike every other mortal warrior in existence, you have kaijin power at your disposal. =
Pathos added.
"That’s...huh."
It was a painfully obvious answer, and yet... one Zhen Liu failed to consider.
Whatever happened to his Kaijin, good or ill, Zhen Liu would end up feeling and receiving whatever they were going through as well. Technically speaking, this ant that whatever karmic justice or reward that the kaijin received from their actions, Zhen Liu would be affected too.
Then again, he didn’t even realize that he had an issue with his karma until very recently, so he could very well be full of grade-A horse shit.
"Alright, you seem to be implying that if I have any karmic hang-ups, I should work it through the kaijin instead since they have karmic cores unlike ...okay, that is leading to more questions than answers, and now would be the perfect ti for you to explain, please."
Pathos answered.
=You should know who we an, right?=
"Yeah..."
Zhen Liu hadn’t really brought this up with the kaijin, nor the curators for that matter, but he had been ntally dividing the kaijin into two groups: those who were born from nothing and those who were reborn...like himself.
That first group consisted of Nepherage, Razorstella, Springerdermain, Screamira, and the Doll Twins. Despite their mature behavior and ability to fully convey their thoughts and feelings, they were technically newborns. As such, much of their karmic existence had yet to be established...and amongst them, Zhen Liu couldn’t help but notice that their [Cores] were kind of...thin.
The best way he could describe it was that their [Cores] reminded him of a hollow glass sphere. It was technically solid but lacking substance.
The second group consisted of the Gallop Brothers, Hurricroak, Frosttusk, Lacerage, Arachanida, and technically Blazejudicator. Most of them were human warriors with past lives that ended rather tragically, but the latter three were all forr beasts who developed enough intelligence to hold a grudge into the next life. When Zhen Liu examined their [Cores], he couldn’t help but notice that theirs felt a little...thicker.
Using that glass ball analogy from earlier, Zhen Liu saw the [Cores] of these particular kaijin to be like solid glass spheres. They were still sowhat see-through and fragile, but they had more to them.
As far as Zhen Liu could tell, the reason for this difference was based on the simple fact that this aforentioned second group had fragnts of actual souls in their mix. Souls that had strong enough desires to linger around just a little longer than most. Evidently, Logos and Pathos understood this as well.
Logos and Pathos began to explain,
"Then I guess, that ans it also restores whatever karmic issues they may have been dealing with in their past lives as well?"
That sudden karma revival would explain why Hurricroak had run into her old fla, Draigo, a couple of tis over the past few weeks. Hell, the fact that Frosttusk had run into a descendant of his forr tribesn was probably an even better indicator, especially since the [Death Echo Amber] that Zhen Liu used to make the man was even older than Zhen Liu’s great grandaunt.
Regardless, now that he knew that he could technically fix his weird luck by helping his Kaijin resolve their karmic threads, Zhen Liu was more than happy to finally dig into their past lives. Granted, he still wanted to ask for permission before doing such things.
=Well, now that you understand what needs to be done to possibly fill the karmic void that is your existence, we have co up with two plans of action that can be addressed in any order,= Logos suddenly declared once Zhen Liu had enough ti to silently mull over the karmic debts he could help to repay.
As to keep up with the current trend of things, Logos presented diagrams of Frosttusk and Hurricroak.
Pathos teased in regards to Hurricroak’s history.
"Yeah...I ain’t dealing with that yet, what about Frosttusk?"
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