It sounded a little far-fetched, but after truly understanding the paths of the Balance Calamity Beast and the Maiden of the Forest, Lu PingAn actually found himself leaning more toward the Calamity Beast.
...Too indifferent.
Yes. Compared to Big Cat's utterly cruel "mutual devouring," Lu PingAn found the Maiden of the Forest's "coexistence with the natural environment" even more heartless—so inhuman it was almost beyond belief.
She—Lady Lin—never cared who the "king" was. She did not even care which species became king, much less whether she herself could become the so-called Queen.
"The Queen is merely a description—one compatible with the king. It is this Woodland itself."
He had heard that High-Tier Gardeners could abandon their physical bodies, becoming spiritual beings and merging with their surroundings. But even so, Lu PingAn could not comprehend something taken to such an extent.
He did not even dare imagine what form this deity took.
An island? A continental plate? Or perhaps a planet? Just as a planet felt no affection for the life upon it, she likewise held no pity for mortals.
She merely watched in silence, watching the living beings in her palm dance and perish. No—she would actively drive their evolution and demise.
...No. I'm different from her.
The thought sent a chill down Lu PingAn's spine, and he rejected the possibility.
Though he too was a "symbiotic environment," there was an essential difference between them. Big Cat had been right: those of the same kind, those on similar paths, could not come into contact too early. Otherwise, he truly might be assimilated by that path.
*...Though I also create environments, fundamentally, I am like Big Cat. I pursue the evolution of individuals and species. I chose the special existence known as "humanity," and my abilities had been built upon "humanity