This thread of energy, because her starting point—or rather her goal—was so vast, was correspondingly massive in both quality and quantity.
Ordinary people without a ring's assistance couldn't hope to control such energy. But Thea had been playing with fear energy for years now. The newfound compassion was quickly tamed, and the surrounding Indigo central battery made extracting compassionate emotions extremely convenient.
She began constantly refining and polishing her compassion. Later, she added this emotion to her gaze. Now, besides scaring someone into wetting themselves with a single look, she could also use a compassionate gaze to make them wish for death!
Unfortunately, this emotional impact was closely tied to the target's willpower. Those with strong willpower could essentially ignore it, and those with weak willpower usually weren't formidable opponents anyway.
The visual attack was just a bonus. The greatest benefit it brought her was control over the holy sword—finally giving her a sense of ease.
Using compassion to wield Excalibur was far superior to using fear. The discord between them significantly decreased, and the amount of "light" it could carry per unit of time increased by at least thirty percent.
Feeling her mission accomplished, Thea was preparing to open a portal and leave when she heard a faint voice in her heart: "You... who are you...?" the voice asked cautiously.
Hm? Thea immediately stopped. She wouldn't shout, "Who are you? Where are you?"—that wasn't her style.
Still confident in her abilities, Thea asserted there wasn't a ghost within this entire area. So the one talking to her must be the Indigo Light's lantern entity.
Having dealt with Parallax a few times, she was fairly well-traveled. But she truly hadn't expected the Indigo entity to actively speak to her.
Thea hesitated slightly, carefully distinguishing the speaker. The other's emotions were hard to judge, but there was no malice. She gently separated part of her spiritual power to communicate.
"Are you the lantern entity? What's your name again? Let me think... Proselyte?"
The entities were all emotional manifestations. Dealing with them required straightforward honesty. In a sense, they were all terrifyingly simple.
Under Thea's spiritual projection, within the massive Indigo central battery floated a medium-sized tentacled creature. No, wait—an octopus!
"You know about me... I've never seen outsiders before. Are you a ring bearer?"
Seeing Thea didn't answer, it pressed on: "What's the outside world like now... I have so little emotional energy here."
"Are you still there...? You didn't leave, did you...?"
Thea fell into thought. Lantern entities had no gender. If you forced a classification based on personality, Parallax was like a foul-mouthed, defiant teenage boy, while this soft, limp Proselyte was like a timid kindergartener.
The amount of emotional energy and length of existence really did affect their individual "personalities."
Thea tried answering: "Don't you know there are Indigo members outside? You've never met a ring bearer?"
The entity shook its tentacles in confusion. "No one's ever talked to me. There's a bad person outside who often draws emotional energy from me, but he can't see me."
Its tone was full of complaint. The "bad person" it mentioned was undoubtedly the old guide from before. To create Indigo rings, he must have extracted energy from the already scarce central battery. Thea even maliciously thought the old geezer's clumsy technique probably wasted a lot.
As an ordinary person without a ring or spiritual power, the old man had guarded this place for years without even knowing the entity existed.
As for Abin Sur—as a Green Lantern member, he couldn't easily communicate with it either.
Thea, wielding the holy sword, could only converse with it after manifesting compassionate emotions herself.
Her original plan to go home and sleep immediately vanished. Thea saw hope of controlling the Indigo Tribe.
The one who controlled the central battery could rewrite the ring's tenets. For example, Sinestro's initial selection standard was "wielding fear," which he later changed to "spreading fear." After Thea took over, she changed it back again. If this worked for Yellow Lanterns, the Indigo Lanterns should be no exception.
Modify their ring settings—compassion shouldn't be brainwashing. That was too cruel, too evil! No intelligent life could accept having their personality forcibly altered to become someone with supposed "compassion." Using forceful means to turn evil into good was an insult to the very word "justice."
"Can I get an Indigo ring too?" Thea asked tentatively.
"Sure! I saw your compassionate emotions. Honestly, manifesting substantial emotional energy without a ring—you're really amazing. This energy can supply you, but... I don't know how to make rings. You'll probably need to find that little guy." The young Proselyte kindly reminded her.
Thea laughed heartily. Making rings was difficult for others—it was essentially monopolized technology circulating in a small range. But she happened to be within that small circle. When Sinestro entrusted Korugar and the Yellow Lantern Corps to her, he'd included considerable ring-making technology and experience. Creating an Indigo ring was child's play for her.
"Don't worry, making rings is easy!" Thea said confidently to Proselyte.
Now that the Yellow Lantern Corps had regained its reputation, the interstellar alliance's daily trading profits alone kept the three-hundred-plus members ecstatic. When massive amounts of money came pouring in, it was genuinely hard to refuse.
The initial dissatisfaction from leaving Korugar had long since vanished. Currently, there were definitely still villains in the corps, but aliens who didn't care about money and were single-mindedly devoted to destroying the world were quite rare.
The corps had a bright future, so Thea naturally began recruiting again. Every few days she'd toss out a few rings, always finding several talented individuals.
In terms of pure ring-making craftsmanship, while she couldn't match Sinestro's ability to make thousands at once with consummate skill, using her powerful spiritual power as assistance, every ring she created was above standard. Calling each one a masterpiece was no exaggeration.
While young Proselyte maintained a tone suggesting she was bluffing, Thea reached into the central battery's energy and began crafting.
Forming the base, carving internal circuits, connecting to the Indigo network, infusing energy, final shaping.
She'd done this routine at least several dozen times. The entity hoping to see her embarrassed was disappointed.
An indigo ring quickly circled around her. "Sentient being locked. Thea Queen, of Earth, you possess great compassion. Welcome to the Indigo Tribe."
There was slight trouble with the oath. The original oath was entirely in the local language. If Thea didn't want to stumble through the alien pronunciation, she'd have to change it. To gain new authority, she definitely couldn't follow someone else's template. After thinking, she reached out and erased the original oath from the ring, replacing it with a new one. Thea recited softly:
"Half a life of sins too vast to speak,Dust and sorrow shed from sleeves now weak.Wide skies, low trees, the wild path I seek,Bowing low, compassion's road I'll reach."