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Chapter 214: Ai
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"Just as I thought," Remarked Yasuo while hovering in the darkness of the night and looking down on a normal-looking forest beneath him.
The grass was overshadowed by the numerous massive trees all around. They also hid numerous wild life forms all over the forest, some are massive, thus quite apparent from the sky.
Colossal creatures seem to be quite abundant in this part of the dark continent, life forms similar to dinosaurs and even more dangerous creatures.
This is largely due to the ample amounts of oxygen in the dark continent and the richness of the place.
However, the smaller creatures hidden beneath the curtain of trees could be just as dangerous or much more dangerous than the massive ones.
The prime example of that inhabits the very forest before Yasuo's eyes, in fact, this creature could very well be the strangest and simplest creature in existence.
It also has the potential to distort the very fabric of reality and ignore the universal rules, an example of that is Nanika and the dark child in the underground town.
Of course, there is a difference between the two, Nanika could be considered one of the gods, a conduit of Epithymías.
On the other hand, the dark child seemed to have acquired his powers due to some twisted and crazy desires solely.
Desire appears to be what drives the Ai and what largely makes them so bizarre and heaven-defying.
Yasuo thought and researched a lot about the history of the world and specially focused on Epithymías.
And he was able to confirm a theory of his only after laying eyes on the Ai in their pure form.
In the few previous times, he was only able to observe Ai that is already merged with a host, such as Nanika and the dark child.
He found out that he could barely perceive their existence as they became one with their host which stopped him from performing any in-depth research on them.
That especially applies to the dark child as it's but a remnant of the past, akin to a video repeating itself due to the child's obsession.
So he didn't learn much from it but he did when his domain enveloped the several Ais scattered throughout the jungle.
"They're solely composed of some unknown energy, forming their illusionary bodies but they truly exist... All due to desire."
Yasuo's eyes were glittering as the small mystery before him was solved or he confirmed his theory.
He knows Nen is largely dependant on one's will and desires and that especially applies to specialists.
He also knows that in extreme situations, that willpower and desire could lead to some miraculous results such as Gon's transformation.
In contrast to normal evolution which has led to our existence, the Ais are solely composed of energy, an energy similar to Nen.
"Desire huh," Yasuo thought to himself, "The desire of such miraculous creature was able to create another miraculous creature which in turn led to the latter being a conduit of Epithymías."
"However, Epithymías is dead after all. So even though its desire was able to perform many magical things, It didn't really help that much in its hopeless desire."
That's right, Yasuo always believed that the existence of Ai could only be explained with few specific possibilities, them being created by Epithymías is the most likely.
And the reason and method are quite simple, Epithymías' drive is whatever killed it or at least was a mortal enemy when it was alive.
The method is even simpler, it's simply because of its desire which was able to distort the fabric of reality slowly but surely.
Gon's willpower and desire were able to give him a power strong enough to completely decimate Pitou.
And Epithymías' desires and astounding willpower created the world we live upon today.
Yasuo was able to travel to the core of the planet in few futures that didn't happen and he saw what lives there.
There is no normal hot solid core, Epithymías is the core, and all of the hot steamy energy in the depths are being absorbed by it.
Yasuo's imagination went even as far as to theorize that the existence of this planet is solely due to Epithymías' desire which continuously shaped its surrounding to an environment where its desire can have even a silver of hope of being fulfilled.
However, Yasuo knows it's but mindless desperation with little to no planning, but its desires did enough, after all, one of Yasuo's theories states his existence in this world is due to that desire.
No matter how unlikely that theory is, it's still the most likely possibility Yasuo has considering his current knowledge.
That possibility especially becomes more unlikely when Epithymías' enemy is considered and according to Yasuo's speculation, it's highly unlikely to let such a thing happen.
"Well, I'll find out sooner or later, well, It's more like extremely soon, the last phase of my plans will only need a few years to be complete.
Moreover, with finding a few more of Epithymías' tentacles, I should be able to lower that time significantly and there is one beneath my feet right now."
Slowly, a small smile of anticipation surfaced on Yasuo's face as he dived into the depths of the planet, and again doing the same thing he always does in such a situation.
And that's all he did for the next few months as all the pieces lined up, leaving only one more which is unnecessary but Yasuo seeks perfection so he intends to go all the way.
The last step is none other than the world tree, the one true world tree which goes through the high and dark clouds in the sky, reaching hundreds of thousands in height, yet it still stands, vigorous and healthy.
This is the same tree that was able to devour much of the old granny's life and that says a lot considering her life force could allow her to live for thousands of years.
In fact, she had no chance because the moment she touched it, she almost died and if not for her quick reaction, her life would've been completely devoured.
Yasuo didn't stop once he reached it or paid much attention to it, instead, he continued to fly higher and higher seeking to reach the top.