Taigong stood and stumbled down upon the hill of corpses. Even then, his mind only had the thoughts of survival. Every thought went into how to defeat the enemy.
He stared at the message about back up coming and hoping he would last long enough.
He simply shut his phone before turning towards the army of borisin.
Slowly he scrunched up as much dirt as he could carry with both hands.
His aim was to disrupt their vision, considering his scent was already heavy with borisin blood. Their olfactory advantage had been nullified.
A spread of dust and dirt particles emerged into the air as more and more dust was kicked up.
Taigong only needed to keep the surrounding area around him cloaked in obscured vision anymore and he would risk overextending.
One by one, with the increased boost from Last Stand and the small recovery bonus, the army slowly found it's numbers decreasing.
All this time, he thought to himself, why? Why was he fighting so hard just to survive. Of course he wanted to survive. But why?
Each step was calculated and one misstep would result in his death.
But...
Perhaps after supposedly experiencing this world, he simply wanted to live to exist. The urge for sustaining life is to maintain your existence.
They say a person dies more than once. A physical death and a death of existence.
As he fought and fought he slowly came to honesty within himself.
He wanted to his name to be known throughout the cosmos. He wanted to exist and make a mark in history.
He didn't want to be forgotten, he who was once a normal person feared being brought into obscurity.
He desperately wanted to grasp onto this world in case it was a dream. And if it were a dream he'd hope to sleep a bit more.
At that moment his surroundings went dark.
A red ominous glow emerged within the cosmos accompanied with cackling laughter.
The enormous figure emerged within the space.
"The Erudition..." Taigong simply gasped as he felt the gaze of Nous fall upon him along with a cackling laughter.
"Isn't he a genius in a way?" The cackling voice giggled before disappearing with a pop leaving only a floating card.
[Aha will never give you up, let you down, never desert you]
"Aha?" Taigong raised an eyebrow despite his exhausted state.
Nous simply kept glancing at him before a scrambled noise of beeps and scrambled codes echoed. Despite not being able to understand the physical noise he understood the meaning of those echoes.
[Question: What stimulates your learning of combat?]
Taigong blinked as he gave a faint smile, "I want to survive. I want to live. I want to cement my existence in the cosmos. I fight to exist."
Nous's red light blinked for a bit more before fading into a gentle hum.
[Question: In your opinion, you believe the primary mover of live is the yearning for existence.]
Taigong felt puzzled, surely the Aeon of Erudition would be able to answer this? What was there any need for him to answer?
"Yes, I believe life continues in order to exist.
Even if our lives are short and meaningless in front of the cosmos.I believe even the tiniest shining star of existence will even for a moment shine brighter than anything in the cosmos.
Even if it burns out right after."
Nous's light blinked a bit more before the light brightened with a blue glow. As the blue glow intensified he was dazed by the chain of events.
But perhaps he had to thank Aha for this.
[Statement: Welcome Genius #85 Grandmaster at Arms, Emanator of Erudition]
A cackle broke through from the small card inside his pocket as Aha giggled, "Perhaps I have to re-evaluate that piece of scrap metal."
~~~~
With the flash of blue light and a welcome message he immediately felt a surge of path energy available for use.
Although something was strange, he innately knew he should have been attuned to an element yet it was blank.
However understanding soon came with his authorities as an Emanator of Erudition. Unlike other combat suited paths.
Erudition was more scholarly, Nous could not provide such immediate combat strength on par with the Hunt or Destruction.
Nous could only help him in a way that Erudition could help. For an organic lifeform who had given him an answer more satisfactory than others.
Nous had no intention of answering the prime mover of life but rather had changed his view to allow mortals to provide their own answer.
And while the normal spark of intelligence was not there, a spark of inspiration was there. Something different from all other Genius Society members.
"I guess Erudition isn't as weak as the others think." Taigong mused to himself as he reflected upon his gifts from Nous.
Adaptation, Imaginary String Collapse and mass calculation power.
A majority of his newfound kit was found in his newfound Adaptation.
By fighting against opponents, due to his neutral element nature he would be able to learn.
As the fight grows longer, he would be able to learn and adapt and paired with Imaginary String Collapse he had ben thrust into the the top area of the totem pole.
Yueyu was personally rushing to rescue the guest who had done a great favor for the Yaoqing witness the instant appearance of Nous and that bright light.
A cackling laughter echoed throughout the cosmos as an anonymous announcement was made. "A new Emanator of Erudition appears, Genius Society #85 Grandmaster at Arms, Taigong Wang!"
Secretly a small cackle appeared somewhere in the cosmos, "I told you I wouldn't let you down. Ahaha"
Yueyu soon appeared to witness the slaughter of the army of borisin.
Ice bloomed across the field, flames wrecked and licked the charred corpses. Gusts of wind flew around disrupting enemy formations.
Thunder soon hit the field as numerous weapons were thrown with deadly accuracy and transmitting an explosion of lightning.
What began as a winning fight soon turned around the longer the fight went on.
Adapting to any and all tactics. His neutral element allowed him to adapt and learn any element the borisin had used on him.
He could only sigh that his adaptation wouldn't result in immunity like a certain name he had forgotten.
Soon the battlefield stilled as Taigong simply heaved a bit before his injuries slowly started recovering from the small stacked bonuses.
Yueyu soon arrived to catch him as he wobbled a bit. While becoming an Emanator boosted his overall strength it would not eliminate his previous wounds and injuries.
The general of the Yaoqing could only look at her abacus as she glanced at the headlines and the events that had occurred before.
"A great blessing for the Xianzhou Alliance."
[Chapter Lightcones]
[To Exist is to Endure] [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
"Amid corpses and chaos, he realized the truth:to survive was not merely to breathe,but to leave a mark upon the world,even if only a fleeting spark against the vast darkness.
Even the smallest spark can deny the dark, so long as it remembers to burn."
[The Punchline that Ascended] [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]
"He fought through blood and chaos, every weapon at hand a tool of survival.Erudition should not have found him here.Yet a small cosmic whisper, a mischievous nudge, ensured it did.Aha found it hilarious — a Grandmaster at Arms blessed by knowledge itself. A great cosmic joke, a weapons master labelled a genius of erudition. An absurd acceptance of the cosmos that even a punchline could ascend.
"There are accidents, there are disasters…and then there are the delightful catastrophes I personally endorse!"
—Aha, probably