The morning air was still fresh as we resud our walk, sunlight filtering through the branches above us. Though our conversation flowed easily, our senses never fully relaxed, always scanning the surroundings out of habit.
(“I’m not entirely sure. It was just a feeling I had.”)
Len answered after a short pause, her voice thoughtful rather than confident.
The mory still left a sour taste in my mouth.
(“You dislike him so much that you can’t even say Ig’s na.”)
I didn’t bother hiding my irritation toward Ignava. Len only let out a small chuckle, clearly amused rather than offended.
【Master, I’ve analyzed the phenonon. It appears to be your racial ability, Unified Essence.】
【Yes.】
(“But I don’t feel any connection between and darling related to that ability.”)
【That’s because it works differently from your other abilities. You are automatically linked. No manual connection is required.】
(“Yes. It sounds like we won’t have any privacy at all.”)
【There is a solution. Please allow to explain.】
We naturally fell silent, an unspoken signal for her to continue.
【Unified Essence is the sharing of emotions among Aethralunians.】
【Each Aethralunian functions as both a broadcaster and a listener.】
【As a broadcaster, you may choose to share your emotions publicly, keep them private, or limit them to specific individuals.】
【As a listener, you may tune into everyone’s emotions, select specific individuals, or opt out entirely.】
【Emotions themselves co in countless varieties. Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, pain, pleasure, and many others.】
【You may choose which emotions to broadcast and which to receive. You can also set thresholds so emotions are only shared once they reach a certain intensity.】
(“You know those terms, darling?”)
(“I see. I don’t really understand it, but programrs in my previous life were incredible. They could make almost anything.”)
I chuckled softly at the mory.
(“So… does that an I should only leave my emotions open to you?”)
【Personally, I recomnd setting all emotions to public with high thresholds.】
【This way, normal emotions remain private, while strong emotions still create a sense of unity. That is the essence of being an Aethralunian, isn’t it?】
(“That’s fine, but I’m not sharing pleasure with anyone but you! That’s way too embarrassing!”)
【As usual, imagination is sufficient. Visualize the settings within Unified Essence.】
【However, I cannot estimate the ti required. It would be better to settle down sowhere first.】
【If you already know, then let’s eat! It’s already 11 AM!】
I let out a tired sigh.
(“Fufu. There are no monsters nearby. Let’s rest here. I’ll dismantle the wolves. You can work on the settings, darling.”)
【Yay! I love you, big sister Len!】
At so point, she had started calling Len her big sister. Whatever angelic image she once had was long gone. She really did feel like an ordinary girl now.
Len laughed softly beside as we settled beneath a large tree.
———
While Len worked efficiently, I closed my eyes and focused inward, trying to grasp Unified Essence.
“What the…”
The mont I imrsed myself, an overwhelming flood of emotions surged through my mind, nearly knocking the breath from my lungs.
“What’s wrong, darling?”
Len’s voice carried clear surprise.
I ignored her, forcing myself to stay focused as I sorted through the chaos.
In my mind’s eye, Unified Essence manifested as an enormous circle divided into eight fan-shaped segnts. At its center was a small circle labeled normal, likely representing a baseline emotional state.
Surrounding it were joy, sadness, anger, fear, trust, disgust, surprise, and anticipation. Beyond those, countless layers radiated outward, branching into increasingly specific emotions.
So emotions shared nas yet differed entirely in aning. Pleasure, for instance. The pleasure of intimacy was entirely different from the pleasure of eagerly anticipating sothing enjoyable.
Painful was another example. One form blended physical pain with happiness, reminiscent of masochistic pleasure. Another stemd from mories of loss and sorrow.
Then there were complex emotions. These could not be reduced to a single word. Each one was a tangled web that required paragraphs to explain.
The pain of betrayal by soone you trusted deeply. The confusion, anger, grief, and disbelief intertwined within it. How could sothing like that ever be expressed with a single term?
In my previous life, I often failed to understand my own emotions because they were simply too complex.
I couldn’t even estimate the number of emotions within this wheel, but it had to be in the tens of thousands.
—————
When I finally opened my eyes, a plate of cooked wolf at sat in front of .
“Are you finished, darling? It doesn’t look like it. Still, it’s perfect timing. I just finished cooking. Let’s eat first.”
She must have sensed my ntal state through Unified Essence. I didn’t know which emotions she perceived from , but they must have been among those countless emotions.
“Haa… Let’s eat and talk.”
As we ate, I explained what I had seen.
【I’ve counted them. Approximately 34,000 emotions.】
Aza delivered the number with unsettling calm.
(“That’s… impossible to configure it one by one…”)
Len agreed that configuring each emotion individually was absurd.
(“But I still want to do it.”)
(“We are the pioneers of the Aethralunians, after all~”)
(“Our title says we stand as a beacon of hope and developnt for our people.”)
(“That developnt includes Unified Essence itself.”)
【No, Master. With the title ‘Pioneer of the Aethralunians,’ you may also set default Unified Essence settings for others.】
(“See? We’re the ones who will shape our people.”)
I sighed deeply.
(“We don’t need to finish everything at once. We have ti.”)
(“Whenever you’re free, you configure so emotions and share them with . I’ll do the sa for different ones.”)
(“If we’re unsure, we’ll discuss it together.”)
(“Yes!”)
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