After I’d reviewed the basic changes in my status, it was ti to dive into the real treat—the one I’d been looking forward to the most.
I straightened up, gripping the mop like a sword and squaring my shoulders.
Finally, the legendary multitasker skill found in almost every overpowered fantasy protagonist! The skill that separates re mortals from ntal monsters! And it was already at level 4!
⟬ Parallel Thinking ⟭
⟨Lv. 4⟩
The ability to multitask, allowing simultaneous consideration of various thoughts. The maximum number of thoughts that can be processed simultaneously depends on the skill level.
Current Limit: 8 thoughts.
Seriously? No cool phrase like 'Splits the mind like blades' or 'Eight minds in one body'? I expected fireworks, or at least so dramatic font.
【What do you an ‘how’? It’s a passive skill, Master. You’ve been using it this whole ti. While thinking about your status, chatting with us, and manipulating water to clean the house—you think that’s sothing a normal ten-year-old can do?】
I paused mid-scrub, my mop dripping dramatically onto the floor.
【Yes. You even used it back when you were combining everything you’d learned to form Heavenfire. It’s basically always been active—you just didn’t realize it.】
Huh.
Curious, I decided to run a test. I pictured Selena’s body in my mind—purely for scientific purposes, of course. Then I started pondering what I should eat for lunch, ran the math on 69 x 69, replayed a mory of my parents and sisters, calculated how long it would take to finish cleaning the house, and simultaneously guided the floating water to scrub a dusty spot off the wall.
All at once.
My eyes blinked. My brain didn’t fry. I… actually felt fine.
It was so smooth—like breathing or blinking.
But…
【Let guess. You thought there’d be tiny chibi versions of yourself in your brain having argunts, right? One with glasses, one tsundere, one screaming about snacks—like an ani gag.】
It’s embarrassing when she said it directly like that though.
【Too bad. This is real life, not so cody ani.】
My ani dream vanished…
Tinkle!
Hmn!
Alfia chid excitedly, “But there are a lot of souls inside you, Big Brother!”
Nyxia followed with a gentle hum, “If you want different opinions, we can help you think things through!”
They were trying to be helpful, but honestly… I wasn’t disappointed with the skill’s chanics.
I was disappointed I didn’t get to et my inner chibi council.
Such a waste of potential…
【In terms of raw destructive power, Hellfire is stronger. Heavenfire, on the other hand, strikes a balance—it’s both offensive and supportive. While it doesn’t deal as much damage as Hellfire, it has purifying and healing properties.】
【What they have in common is their persistence. Both can burn through almost anything they touch and won’t disappear until whatever they're burning is either completely destroyed or fully purified. It takes a large volu of water to extinguish them. A light rain, for example, probably won’t be enough.】
So that explains it.
That fight back then—when we struggled so much against the black flas—makes more sense now. Even with Selena and both using Heavenfire, we were still pushed to the edge because Hellfire simply had the advantage in terms of power.
【She has it too, Master. It just doesn’t show up with appraisal skills. Chaos energy isn’t sothing most people can detect. In fact, it’s the main reward for, well… recruiting them.】
【Yes. Chaos energy is the opposite of Holy energy.】
【That’s because nobody knew better. Technically, there’s no such thing as a ‘Holy elent.’ The power saints use cos from Holy energy. But since it never shows up in appraisal windows, people started calling it an elent. At the ti, I didn’t think either of you would gain Chaos energy, so I simplified it. But now that you both have it… I figured it was ti for the proper terminology.】
【Correct. They can only sense sothing extra is inside them, but they can’t quantify it.】
【Because I’m amazing.】
She declared it with the pride of soone who’d just discovered fire and also invented marshmallows to roast over it.
【Glad you asked! It’s a new energy—well, not exactly new, but a long-lost power that people have forgotten. Rember the darkness-based catalyst they used on her during those experints? I completed that research using purified resentnt instead of pure darkness. And guess what? It turned out even better than the original version of Chaos from ancient history. I’m amazing, right?!】
She bead like a proud researcher who’d just won a Nobel Prize and made sure everyone knew it.
【It was 100% necessary.】
Tinkle!
Hmn!
Alfia and Nyxia’s emotions pulsed joyfully through my soul, their childlike voices overlapping in unison: “Big Sister Azadia is amazing!”
Even my spiritual roommates were on her side now…
【In short: Holy energy heals and purifies. Chaos energy corrupts and weakens.】
【Both have strong destructive power, and both are powered by faith. But thanks to , the Chaos energy you and Selena have also grows from resentnt. Pretty brilliant, if I do say so myself.】
【That’s real too, Master.】
【Yes. Divine energy is wielded by Goddess Libertas and angels. It’s way beyond Holy or Chaos—more like the raw power of creation and miracles.】
I stared down at the now-clean floorboards I’d just finished scrubbing. I felt like soone trying to solve a thousand-piece puzzle while holding the box upside down… in the dark… with a smug AI guide dropping lore grenades every minute.
I sighed, dunked the mop back into the bucket, and shook my head slowly.
This was a lot.
【While Chaos energy slowly regenerates like aura, its capacity doesn’t grow through training. As I said, it only increases with faith and resentnt.】
【From them, of course. Don’t you rember? Selena said she wanted to accept their resentnts—and you agreed too.】
Now that she ntioned it… yeah, Selena had said sothing like that. But—
【I know. But intention doesn’t change the outco. The fact that both of you accepted those emotions without demanding anything in return—that’s exactly why they believe in you.】
【Yes. Of the 1,575 Chaos energy, 525 cos from the raw resentnt of the 525 souls in your body. The remaining 1,050 cos from their faith—all of them. The ones in you, and the ones resting in Selena.】
I blinked.
【Yes. Which ans Selena should have the sa amount.】
Tinkle!
Hmn!
Their voices chid in again, warm and bright. “We all believe in Big Brother Freed and Big Sister Selena!”
I stood still for a mont, dripping cloth in hand, unsure how to respond.
And I ant it. From the bottom of my heart.
【Certainly, Master. Historically, Chaos energy was exclusive to only two beings: the Demon King and Demon Queen. From thousands of years ago, until at least ten years ago, there hasn’t been a single confird bearer of Chaos in the world. Which ans… aside from you and Selena, no one possesses it.】
My eyes narrowed. I paused with the mop mid-swipe, brain turning.
【Only if you two eventually rule the demon race. Right now, you rely house so demon souls inside your bodies. That doesn’t make you rulers. Yet.】
【No. And being a Demon King or Queen doesn’t automatically make soone evil either. You already know that from eting Alfia and Nyxia, right? Though it doesn't change the fact that people discriminate against demons, even to the extent of slaying their king and queen.】
Right… Alfia and Nyxia didn’t look dangerous at all, even though they ca from a demon race. Maybe their powers could be used for evil, but their personalities are kind. So, being a demon doesn’t an they are evil beings.
Tinkle…
Hmn…
Their tones dipped with emotion. There was hope in there… but also longing.
Tinkle…
Hmn…
Alfia said, “I want to know what our people are like.”
Nyxia followed with a quiet, “Maybe there are others like us, waiting for soone to find them…”
I smiled gently.
Tinkle!?
Hmn!?
They cheered up instantly. But then Aza interrupted.
【About that. You’ll need to raise your ntal resistance to at least fifty thousand before you even think about stepping into demon land, Master.】
【That’s the minimum. That amount will get you to the border. I’m not sure if your Chaos energy will let you pass beyond that as there’s no precedent for people who wield Chaos energy in that cursed land. So just to be safe—grind ntal resistance.】
【Because right before the last Demon King and Queen were slain, they cast a curse across their entire territory.】
I paused, mop forgotten in my hands. A chill ran through —not from fear, but from the weight of the story.
【Yes. An incredibly powerful ntal curse ant to ward off all non-demons. Anyone who enters without the strength to resist it… goes mad in seconds the mont they step into the border. That’s why no one but demons can live there now.】
If there’s no curse, what will other races do after the rulers of the entire race die?
I bet the demon mobs will be discriminated against, enslaved, or even worse, annihilated—like putting a bounty to kill any demons in sight.
So, what the Demon King and Queen did to curse their own land was to protect their people.
【Correct. It was their last defiance—to stop the slaughter and prevent their holand from becoming a playground for other races.】
I froze still, letting her words settle like dust on ancient ruins. Just picturing it made my chest tighten.
【They were. But their efforts beca a double-edged sword. Isolated behind that curse, future generations of demons grew up never knowing the world beyond. And as they got older… curiosity blood.】
Tinkle…
Alfia’s voice floated through, soft and wistful. “I think… I always wondered what the outside looked like.”
Maybe… Alfia had once been one of the demons who left that cursed land. But we wouldn’t be able to know unless she regained her mories.
【Yes. But what they found outside wasn't a wonderland. It was slavery, discrimination and fear.】
Nyxia didn’t respond. But her spirit trembled faintly inside . It wasn’t fear. It was quiet pain—deep and familiar.
【Correct. Proof that even love existed between races. But others didn’t see it that way. They were hunted down and killed. Nyxia… maybe she was taken… and enslaved while still a child.】
Hmn…
The sound was barely audible—more emotion than voice. But I felt her sorrow as if it were my own.
Tinkle!
Hmn.
Alfia chid in brightly, “We’ll protect each other from now on!”
Nyxia whispered, “…I believe in you, Big Brother Freed.”
I placed a hand over my chest, feeling their voices resonate in my soul like distant echoes of a future worth building.
They weren’t just spirits I had saved. They had gone from tornted souls to innocent girls—free at last. Living proof that even they could change, even in a broken world.
And if they could… then maybe the world could too.
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