The God Virus

Virus was quite aware that in order to be able to reach that point, he would need to first gain access to much more endurable pieces of material than available on Earth at the moment. 

Furthermore, he would need to progress to the next level of technology which was beyond what his resources were capable of right now.

Unfortunately, however, doing that would require much more than a mere underground hidden island and an Island ugly. 

In order to accomplish such a big advancement, he would at least need complete authority over an entire country if not the entire world! 

And by that, Virus didn't mean simply becoming the President of a country, but rather being the absolute ruler of a huge population who would utterly follow all orders without an ounce of dissatisfaction. He required the constant and full working power of a large population.

And that was only considering the technology advancement aspect of it since the material required for what he needed was in all likelihood not available on Earth as well.

Other than those, there was also the issue of fast technology advancement on Earth which was definitely going to be a problem in the future from Virus' experience. 

Virus was certain that assuming human nature and their rebellious history full of betrayal, it was in their nature to rise for freedom and more. Nothing was ever going to be enough for them.

That meant in case he started introducing extremely advanced pieces of technology by progressing at the fastest speed possible, there will come a day when humanity would rise against him using those very same pieces of technology he brought to the planet.

And that was something Virus wanted to avoid by all means since he did not wish to go through another defeat by the hand of mankind like the past in the future.

Therefore, that path was a big 'no!' to him. 

Of course, he might release a few pieces of technology which were somewhat ahead of their days, but that was it as it was merely a means for him to slowly dominate the economy of the planet.

Still, Virus understood there was still a ray of light existing in all that darkness. And that had to do with a plan Virus had in mind for the far future, a plan that would also help him avoid the same repetition of his past that took place in the future. 

In conclusion, even though he initially had no intention of applying that particular plan of his to work until years later, Virus promptly changed his mind after considering two important factors.

The first had to do with his immediate need for a more futuristic piece of technology to get to the bottom of this mystery that was presenting itself to him.

Virus was absolutely awestruck, intrigued, and even more suspicious by the fact that there was a mysterious anomaly existing that deep into the planet as he felt the urgency of the situation due to that as he was now adamant about unraveling and getting to its bottom as quickly as possible!

He was unambiguously put ill at ease at the mere notion of an unknown anomaly existing in his backyard, 'What could be there, trap or treasure? That is the question.'

And the second factor had to do with the appearance of the Rifts which had substantially increased the possibility of his death from the prior thirteen percent to much higher as it seemed to slightly jump higher and higher since the threatening variables were increasing by the day.

Thus, now, Virus was determined to push some of his plans forward both in order to secure his safety further and to sate his curiosity at the same time.

"Here's the breakfast, master!" Bringing a food platter over, the golden beauty placed it on the table.

Following that, as the two had just begun eating and drinking, Virus abruptly opened his mouth which grabbed the golden beauty's attention at once. 

"So, I'll be probably heading over to the Cultivation Earth for a while sometime soon. But-" Getting to the final parts of his news, Virus was just about to tell the golden beauty that he was not going to take her with him this time around since first he was now strong enough to protect himself and second because he was not confident in being able to guarantee her safety and that was a risk Virus would definitely not take.

The golden beauty was simply too important to him.

However, beating him to it, the golden beauty interrupted the rest of his sentence as she proclaimed, "Umm, I won't be tagging along if that's okay with you, Ai."

"Hmm?" Virus felt surprised since he assumed she would insist on going with him, so he questioned, "Are you sure? Tell me your reason first."

Lowering her head unconsciously, the golden beauty started to clarify her mindset, "Yes. Well, it's simple, right now I'm going to be a big burden to master, a dead weight that's just going to hinder master's path, I don't want that." Raising her head suddenly, Virus spotted an unwavering determination shimmering in her eyes as she declared, "I'm too weak. Hence, until I'm strong enough, I'm against following you to dangerous places like an idiot person. If I follow you someday, that will be because I'm at least confident enough to protect myself and be of some help to you, Ai."

Virus' eyes went wide-open as he was amazed by the golden beauty's thoughts and resolution. All she thought about and considered, even now that she had entered a real physical body, was still Virus himself. He could not even trace an ounce of selfishness within her eyes, all there was in there was a selfless question of 'what was best for my master?'.

"So, I'm going to continue cultivating in seclusion with your permission."

By the end of her reasoning, even though Virus felt content and truly happy, a part of him could not help but be worried. Therefore, standing up, Virus went over to her side, dropped on one knee, and started hugging her small frame out of nowhere which greatly startled the golden beauty whose eyes were already long wide-open

Next, he announced, "My Lil Belle, you're the most precious and valuable person to me and all I want for you right now is to stay safe. That's why I'm boundlessly gratified by your understanding and decision. However, remember, it's okay for you to be selfish once in a while, you are allowed to do that even if others are not."

By the end of his words, the golden beauty's eyes were already red as one tear after another rolled down her face, wetting his shoulders as a result. 

Proceeding that, while remaining in that condition, the golden beauty wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered while weeping, "m-master, I love you."

Listening to her confession of love, Virus felt his heart warm up and melt away as he separated himself from her before kissing her on the forehead gently. Next, looking into her beautiful golden eyes, while wiping her tears away, he admitted smilingly, "I love you the same, my most precious creation."