Unsola, the middle son, comforted the sorrowful father:
"Monster of the World, don't worry! My brothers have strayed from the righteous path, but is this a reason to be upset? Sooner or later they will realize their mistakes and come back."
The monster nodded sadly.
Unsola was smiling – but the young man's heart was filled with darkness. [ Your power over us is crumbling, Father. You are not the one who could rule the world for a long time. Your soul has softened, your eyes have become clouded! It's time for a new Ruler of the World! ]
Unsola kept three tiny pae rabbits, once spawned by a rotten heart. And their name was Misunderstanding, Cunning and Malice! It was Treachery (Misunderstanding) that told Kele about the Valley of Power. And the Anger was born when the younger and older brothers quarreled.
And now Misunderstanding, Cunning and Malice lived in the house of the Monster of the World…
***
The boy was hiding in the thicket. Leaves rustled nearby. Romulus rolled over, avoiding the predatory chains, and threw a branch. The old man moved away and let the projectile calmly plop down in the distance. Don De De clicked his tongue.
[ El-ludas! It is necessary to hide again. Is he really holding back? I wonder how he uses pae? Are there any similarities with the arts? For example, for the application of the arts, it is necessary to train the internal energy to perform basic tricks that add up in combinations. There are 20 basic tricks in total, but Kamo said that there are more than 100 of them. Yes, Kamo was smart and caring, just like her sister Irgu. What a pity… Stop! Duum, what are you thinking about during the fight?!! ]
The chains rang maliciously over his ear.
The distracted Duum stumbled over a root. [ El-ludas! ] The root immediately turned into a spiked chain. It bit into the boy's flesh. The Duum began to throw from mushroom to mushroom, from one place of the soil to another, tearing off the skin and flesh.
"Old aborash, and, in your opinion, this is a battle of tactics?! This is a beating! My son hasn't even mastered the Invisibility pae yet! Where Are The Postulates Of Justice?! Henry was gnashing his teeth."
The man was bound by unbreakable shackles.
"Oh, I think I overdid it."
Don De De bent over the tortured Duum, who was barely breathing.
[ God, this Sharon literally skinned me! This pain is not comparable to the bite of the mother, but it follows her in the top of the pain. Top of the pain, seriously?! Will this be my last idea before I die? Mo-mo-mo-o!!! ]
The Pae of life reached a collapse, and the Duum lost consciousness.
"Oh, it looks like the boy is dying."
Henry took on a gray look.
"Okay, okay. The punishment really dragged on. Mo-mo-o!"
The old man released a dozen glowing chains. Like hungry snakes, they bit into the boy's back.
Romulus' wounds were healed, his mind cleared. [ Am I alive? Is this a good thing, or am I going to be tortured worse now, hehe? ]
"You handled yourself well. You can go home with your father. I hope you remembered my lesson?.. Don't be boring! Okay, mo-mo-baby?"
The old man grinned widely. Romulus nodded, holding back his raging emotions. [ "Don't be boring?" Of course, it's clear. ]
"A boring person is simple. A boring person is devoid of guile. As it was said in the comedy of Kela, "Insidiousness is the key of ten thousand doors." ]
As he walked away into the darkness of the thicket, Don De De dropped one disturbing phrase:
"You'll go far, mo-mo-mo-o! An interesting child. But don't jump too high on the trampolines, okay? Besides you, there will be at least two geniuses. Good luck, mo-mo-mo-o!"
So the main tragic hero of our history has left! Moe-moe! We'll miss you. Hee-hee-hee…
The Duum's tongue is dry.
[ Who is really that crazy old man? ] Having freed himself from the chains, the father immediately hugged his son.
"It was close, baby! I already thought that my dear son was finished," Henry hit the Duum on the shoulder. "From now on, I will follow you and will not let you go a step!"
"I'm worried about the old man's last words. Is mind reading possible in your world?"
Henry nodded.
"And predictions, too. Two geniuses?" father and son were talking, hurrying home. "Did he mean other phantoms?"
The Duum remembered the message carved on the side of the Bum. [ So the enemies I killed in my previous life could also be resurrected? El-ludas! ] The boy's face turned gray.
"But that crazy old man left Samon here on purpose."
"Oh, have you thought of that, too? Listen, Logic Circuits are quite common mi pae."
"Mi pae Chains of Logic?"
"This is the main weapon of the paonom of the path of Events and Connections."
Henry sighed, today showed that the time for training has come.
Upon arrival at their modest home, the faces of Henry and Duum had a complex color: Susannah was nowhere to be. Dr. Chu, too.
"Shimare! She went looking for us!"
Henry gritted his teeth and stamped three times. Saliva flowed from the man's mouth, and his stomach rumbled loudly.
"She went in that direction! Baby, get on my back!"
Romulus did so. The cook ran quickly. His eyeballs were painfully swollen.
"Father, your pae of life is at the limit."
"Well, let it be! Shimare!" the man on the move took out some mushrooms and ate them. His face was blackened, his skin mottled.
The Duum nodded respectfully.
Henry ran all the way to the cliff, where his wife's trail ended.
"Shimare! Baby, your mother fell into the river!"
The man coughed up blood.
"Shimare! Shimare! Shimare!"
There was nothing else to do: Henry went along the river. By sunset, the son and father reached the border of the Mushroom Forest.
The fertile soil was replaced by rocky earth, and instead of mushrooms, burning trees grew.
Magma was bubbling under the horizon. It constantly rolled in huge waves, drenching the fire-resistant trees like a monstrous avalanche.
"An Avalanche of Fire. Okay, it could have been worse."
Having found the trace of his wife, the husband continued to search.
The Duum couldn't help but be impressed by the local environment. [ There was nothing like this in my world. Of course, a group of art experts could create something like a Spring Garden, but the landscapes are of natural origin… I hope Susannah wasn't hurt. ]
Henry reached a secluded mountain cave.
The entrance to the cave was decorated with golden lanterns. The man went inside and sighed:
"Suzanne, friend Chu, you are alive!.."
"...And I say that penguins are cute. So they're cute. What is not clear here!"
"My lady, penguins are creepy. I'm afraid of them. I sincerely apologize, but your point of view seems absurd to me."
"Penguins are cute. Very cute. I say cute, so cute. They're cute."
"But they have empty eyes."
"They're cute."
"Every time I look at them, I feel how they suck my soul!"
"They're cute."
"I sincerely do not understand: penguins are pure evil. Have you even seen the mouths?! There are hundreds of thorns there! This is the throat of the very devil of evil!!!"
Susannah pouted:
"C. U. T. E."
[ Poor man. If Susannah insists on something, then only I can reason with her, ] Henry shook his head.
"But penguins are creepy."
Susannah looked at the doctor indifferently and slowly stretched out her hands.
"L-l-lady?!"
"Penguins are cute!"
"A-a-a-a-a!!! Okay, okay! Penguins are cute! Please stop choking me!"
"Kh-ahem!! I'm actually here, have you noticed?"
"Oh, Sir Henry! Glory to the Supreme!"
"Dear? What's wrong with your skin?"
"Just a side effect."
Susannah's lips twitched, then she began to laugh. The woman tried to suppress her laughter, but it was uncontrollably bursting out of her gut.
And a moment later, Susannah was rolling on the ground, laughing at the top of her voice.
Henry turned to his son:
"Do I really look funny?"
"Humor is subjective."
[ In a previous life, I met a serial killer who was amused by how the victims tried in vain to pass his test.
Get the key out of the bucket of acid to free yourself.
Throw a fellow sufferer on the prickly floor and use it as a bridge.
Choose which of your children will live…
Hehe, I almost executed this "creature" on the spot. Oh, Dral! It was after that vile meeting that I finally strengthened my intention to change the past world for the better. Hehe, hehe, and who took the most lives in the end? Heh-heh.
But the most important question is how rotten is my current world? How many people are there like that crazy old man?
Should I repeat my eldanutyj way?!!
I have been postponing this question for a long time. Long enough. ]
"Romulus, are you all right?"
"I'm just really tired, Mom" the boy smiled. "I'm very tired."
"We are all tired today. Henry lowered his son from his back and sat down on the warm stones." The lanterns of the Ascended Shepherd of Light will protect us from troubles.
The man's darkened face was covered with beads of sweat.
"Dear."
"These are side effects. Never mind: it's a little early for me to die."
"What happened in the forest?"
"Eh. We met a cultivator of the 3rd rank. But we came back alive. It can't help but rejoice, can it, Suzanne?"
"A cultivator of the 3rd rank?!"
Henry told in detail about what happened.
In turn, Suzanne told how she and poor Chu, who was trying to stop the distraught mother, were carried away by the current.
During the story, Chu nodded and pressed himself against the wall.
Dusk was gathering. The crystals in the cave cast a bloody light on the family. Half an hour later, Henry recovered.
"So, kid. Today I feel unimportant. So let's start with the repetition and finish with the formation of the pae center, okay? Get started!"
Romulus picked up a handful of stones from the cave floor.
"Pae is the essence, purified from the whole" the boy threw out the light stones, leaving the darkest one "pure and elegant. Paon is the master of pae. The world knows 13 ranks. From 1 to 7 - these are people" Romulus put 7 pink stones in a row, "rank 8 and further are the great Ascended Bottomless," Romulus built five hills of sand with depressions in the middle, "the ascended bottomless is higher than human, rank 13 – the peak of pae cultivation, Nathon, the Undisputed Ruler of the World…"
***
Henry listened and nodded. Chu had a pale color. [ What an erudite ... four-year-old child. ] Susannah was smiling sweetly.
"All right, baby. You know Pae well. Now we need to form your pae center. Suzanne, Chu."
"Are we really going to do this here, in an unsightly cave? Are you sure, Sir Henry?"
"I've already been slow about it. Don't worry, Suzanne has awakened not a single dozen cultivators. With our support, everything will work out!"
"Romulus, come here!"
The mother took her son by the shoulders.