My Name Is Yuan! A Lucky Scholar!

"You will be a generous god."

Listening to Cole's exclamation, Yuan remained noncommittal. He didn't even know what state he was in now, but he understood that he wasn't the God of Technology of the known universe, or rather, he wasn't complete yet.

Seeing Yuan's silence, Cole took a deep breath and began to explain the situation the Taotie were facing.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the Taotie were still an extremely primitive Beastman Civilization. As losers of the Form War, they weren't even qualified to participate and were confined to living on a small planet.

Until that day, Karl's arrival broke this situation. Karl, inheriting part of the legacy of the Divine River Civilization and the Super Seminary, brought the Taotie an opportunity for evolution.

Like a packaged service, Karl provided the Taotie with a complete, one-stop solution. He provided them with technology far beyond their civilization's level, even giving them some God-Slaying Weapons.

But the gifts of fate had long been priced. The Taotie civilization's path was too smooth and too fast. Karl even used a series of methods to proselytize to the Taotie, completely cutting off their future and locking their potential.

There were many methods that Cole and the others couldn't understand. What they didn't know was that the moment the Void Doctrine was successfully implanted, the Taotie civilization was equated with death.

Bringing death to others, and walking towards their own death.

"You're saying that under the guise of preaching, they actually brainwashed you through some unknown technological means?"

"That's right. The knowledge of the God-making civilizations surpasses my understanding. Perhaps without realizing it, I am no longer myself." Cole looked at the soldiers behind him with a very complex expression.

Yuan, as if tired of sitting, shifted his posture and tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

"If you'll forgive my bluntness, since the Taotie have already been brainwashed by Karl, how did you come up with the idea of resisting? Are there any loopholes in Karl's technology?"

Cole shook his head, negating Yuan's question.

"I don't know. We just know that our branch of the Taotie is not the same as the current Taotie civilization. A very long time has passed, and we don't have much data.

We speculate that we should be backup gene primordials left by some ancestor, and later began to reproduce. To keep the secret, each mechanical shell was implanted with a [Cognitive Filter]. This was a modification ritual personally supervised by King Shihu—the liquid metal flowing beneath the armor is a camouflage layer used to cover our original genes.

Also, to conceal ourselves, we fought even more desperately than other Taotie, always at the forefront of the war, not daring to enter the central area of the Styx Galaxy. Only the King would go to the academy, but he never participated, nor was he aware of our actions."

"There are no secrets!"

"What?"

Yuan's sudden interjection interrupted Cole's narration. He took off his faceplate and rubbed his temples, saying:

"There have never been any secrets. You only think you've kept them well because Karl doesn't care.

Or rather, for fun!"

"Fun?" Cole opened his mouth, not knowing what was going through his mind.

"How desolate this little village is. There were few children my age around when I was young, so it was very boring."

Yuan's sudden shift in topic left the Taotie around him bewildered, not knowing what he was trying to express.

"Do you know what I liked to do when I was bored? Watching ants!"

"Put a few grains of rice next to the ants. When they see food, they'll circle around a few times. When they find no danger or determine how much food there is, they'll go back to their nest to call more ants.

When they're about to enter the nest, I'll pour a bowl of water on them, and I'll be very happy. Crushing hope, giving others despair. It sounds a bit extreme, but when it comes to things we've never cared about, it's a kind of fun."

As he spoke, he looked at the terrified Cole with a slight smile on his face.

"You've never had any secrets from Karl. Perhaps it was just to catch you all at once or to entertain himself."

"No, impossible, impossible!" At this moment, Cole's emotions completely broke down.

"Bang, you're lying to me, you must be lying to me." Cole slammed his hands on the table, making a loud noise.

His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked at Yuan like a wild beast, crazed. The Taotie soldiers behind him didn't dare to step forward, looking at each other.

"What? You're not calling me Your Excellency anymore? If you want someone to perish, you must first make them go mad! It's true."

"Since everything is fake, what's the point of pretending? You're only fit to smell the farts of my god, Karl!" Cole's eyes were filled with brutality. Yuan's words had destroyed his centuries-long conviction.

"See? Even now, you still mention your god's name. So, you really need to calm down."

With that, Yuan, sitting in his chair, had his eyes flash with blue light. With a wave of his right hand, a small wormhole appeared above Cole's head. The other end of the wormhole was connected to the river where he usually fetched water.

A large amount of river water poured out from the wormhole, like a small waterfall engulfing Cole.

"Freeze!" Yuan slowly uttered two words.

"Squeak! Squeak!" The evaporation of dark energy rapidly took away a large amount of heat. Soon, an ice sculpture appeared, and Yuan casually closed the wormhole above Cole's head.

"I was just thinking of letting you freefall through the wormhole, but it seems to have gotten stuck. Fortunately, water, which has a simple composition, can be easily manipulated. My body is still missing something."

Looking at the ice sculpture before him, Yuan muttered to himself.

"Your, Your Excellency, the Commander..."

The soldiers on the side, seeing the out-of-control scene, didn't know what to do for a moment. They pushed each other.

Finally, the medical officer, unable to withstand the pushing, was reluctantly pushed forward.

The battleship's weapon systems were now paralyzed, and its energy was almost depleted. Facing the current Yuan, they didn't know how to act.

"Don't worry, I drink water from this river often. It's very clean. Look, what clear ice!"

"Uh, I meant the Commander."

"Then it doesn't matter even more. This is just ordinary ice. By radiating dark energy, it took away the surrounding heat. Ice formed this way is very brittle, and he'll be able to break free soon."

Shaking his head, Yuan was not satisfied with the control of the dark dimension just now. He felt that he could do more and more smoothly.

Activating the wormhole only stirred a small number of energy patterns within the gene chain. The freezing was merely to dissipate the dark energy contained within the wormhole.

"What's missing? You want Cole to pass through the wormhole but get stuck and unable to move. Yet the river water beside it can, something must be missing?"

"Bang!"

Just as Yuan was pondering with his head lowered, Cole broke free from the frozen state. The ice on his body was shattered by him, but thankfully, his eyes seemed to have regained their calm.

"Calmed down?" Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly, glancing at a somewhat embarrassed Cole.

"Mhm."

"Are all of you Taotie this stubborn?"

"What, what do you mean?"

"Do you care if he's looking for fun? He's a god, a god who led the development of your Taotie. According to your Beastman civilization's rules, isn't might makes right?

What? You got the benefits and now you want to renege?"

"No, they were manipulated and constantly engaged in war, creating death to please our god, Karl. Those who create death will be consumed by death. I cannot stand by and watch our civilization perish."

"Karl hasn't made his stance clear, has he?" Yuan looked at him meaningfully.

"????"

"Your existence, Karl has never cared about it, has he? As long as his stance isn't clear, there's always a chance." As he spoke, Yuan, with a barely perceptible blue light flashing in the depths of his eyes, extended his right hand with a smile.

"My name is Yuan, a scholar fortunate enough to walk the path of knowledge. I need companions."

Upon hearing this, Cole, who had been speaking passionately, suddenly resembled a child who had been recognized.

"S, sorry, Your Excellency. Do we, do we still have a chance?"

Yuan remained silent, merely smiling at him.

Cole vigorously wiped his right hand, a similarly unrestrained smile appearing on his face, and said with some difficulty:

"Y, Your Excellency, my name is Cole, Senior Commander of the Taotie Civilization. It is an honor to travel with you!"

Time stood still here, and a new sacred chapter of the known universe began!