Chapter 18 17. The Menu
Everyone was all more confused about the situation. What was Occident? And what the heck were these three exams?
The only thing they could understand was that they could learn how to use the divine energy running through their veins. Shane wasn't the only one who had felt covered by a powerful divine aura. It was just that Shane had used dark cosmic energy.
At this time, the instructor was explaining these topics, "You all have heard about dark and divine energies. I have described briefly about it before, but here's the complete picture. Dark energy isn't like what is shown in several anime and novels. It didn't emerge from negative emotions like we all think it did. It's just the opposite energy of the divine.
"As you know, everything in this world has a shadow that cannot be separated from the source. This dark energy is similarly a shadow of the divine. You can't separate it and turn it evil just because the demons and monsters use it. They can use it because it's easy to access. Since this energy had a hand in creating this karmic realm, the beings who don't deserve to gain divine energy through orthodox methods use underhanded means to become powerful.
"Of course," Ed squinted his eyes while looking at Shane, "There are still some people who can use it without any idea of how they ended up using it. It might be because they had probably used underhanded methods in one of their past reincarnations."
"Instructor," a student raised his hand, "If dark energy is everywhere, we should be able to access it easily, similar to divine energy. But why can't we without using cruel methods?"
"Good question," Ed turned around as he walked over to the place where he could see his shadow completely and raised his hand, "Is my shadow raising his hand with me?"
"Yes."
"Can it be the other way around?"
Everyone understood immediately. They could use divine energy because that was how it should be, and that was a natural process, just like moving hands and legs, but they couldn't use dark energy directly because it was just a shadow. But that didn't mean the dark energy was idle, doing nothing. Just as divine energy was moving around, creating universes, and managing everything in the cosmic realm, the dark energy was just repeating those actions similar to a shadow. 𝒇𝘳𝐞𝚎𝓌𝑒𝑏𝒏𝑜𝙫ℯl.c𝚘𝒎
It wasn't bad energy, but no one could use unorthodox methods to force the shadow to move his hands and legs without the help of divine energy. These two energies moved hand-in-hand, but once someone separated them, it would go against nature and have severe consequences on both him and the people around him.
"And that's why the demons should be killed, and the dark energy should be released from their bodies so that it can go to its origin. Since they're doing something against nature, they should be dealt with before they end up destroying everything by the force of nature.
"Remember," Ed turned around sharply as he stared at the crowd of people, especially Shane, "If you take something away from anyone, even nature, you have to give it back multiple folds. It's the law of karma. If you do something good, you'll have a good fate, but it can also be the other way around. Got it?"
"But how does the King of Darkness fit into these things?" This time, it was Shane who asked this question. He understood that today's lecture was especially for him. His cheap master was staring at him at all times, making it clearly obvious. So he should also use this chance to get more information about it, "You had said that he's the empowered being of dark cosmic energy. If so, shouldn't he also be a bad person like those demons and monsters?"
Ed smiled, but his smiling face made everyone feel even more afraid. They all felt a chill down their spines when they saw this kind of expression on his bald face, "Because he's a shadow himself of the King of the Cosmic Realm, but independent, not similar to the shadow we usually see. Our shadows don't have the ability to make choices, but here the King of Darkness is an independent individual who doesn't have any contact with the King of the Cosmic Realm.
"At the same time, the two have to exist at the same time to maintain the balance of the entire creation. The King is the darkness himself who was empowered to protect everyone else and stop the demons from misusing this energy. When he was still here, no demons would dare to use unorthodox methods for fear of being discovered.
"Those who did were all killed brutally," Ed paused as he sighed and looked at the sky, "Of course, this was before things got out of hand, and he rebelled, destroying the balance. Since he's being punished, all the demons and monsters used this chance to wreak havoc across the Karmic realm."
"So, he'll be back after finishing his punishment, right?" Shane asked again as he looked curious.
"Of course, but this time, he'll be monitored." f𝘳e𝒆w𝗲𝐛𝘯𝐨νe𝚕.co𝓶
"When will he be back?"
"No one knows," Ed was silent for a while as he looked around, "He has been locked in the hell of the current universe we live in, and after this universe is destroyed, his soul would be transferred to another universe to continue the punishment. So he's in our universe, for now, locked in the prison, as the Heavenly Emperor says, but….. It has been so long that people even say this is a rumor, and nothing like this ever happened."
"Then, did it happen or not?" Shane tilted his head.
Ed said nothing about that topic anymore. He cleared his throat and said, "The storytime is over for now. I'll teach you how to access your inventory first since everyone alive should use the inventory," he paused and said as he looked at his students, "Close your eyes and focus into your minds. See a stream of power flowing through your veins. Imagine it flowing peacefully, and then imagine it going toward your mind, not your brain. Mind you, your mind and brain are two different things.
"You don't have to imagine a form of mind. Just imagine the energy of your body heading toward a dark space called mind. I'll explain later what's and where's this 'mind' in your body, but for now, imagine a dark space that's getting full of your energy. Now say, inventory."
"Menu!" All the students called out that name, but no one was able to do it except for one person.
Shane.