"Me, holding up an entire world?" As the Shepherd sensed the power linked through the threads, he was briefly stunned, before boundless ambition surged within him.
Mokania could not be relied upon.
After speaking with Naimus, the Shepherd now understood the difference between the two of them with great clarity.
Mokania's assessment of Naimus could not be trusted.
Or rather, beneath those seemingly neutral evaluations, Mokania's own limitations had been exposed.
Mokania might truly have been the puppet Naimus described.
He lacked the ability to enact upward reform, and that lack had revealed itself throughout this small world.
Thus, when faced with Naimus, who possessed the resolve for an upward revolution, Mokania's judgment had naturally gone wrong.
Of course, throughout this, the Shepherd could also sense Naimus's indifference toward life.
Naimus admired him, but that did not stop him from using him.
And the Shepherd would not forget that the Littlefolk faction seeking to destroy the world worked for Naimus.
But after comparing them, the Shepherd ultimately trusted Naimus more.
At the very least, Naimus was willing to give someone he admired a chance.
And beneath that chance, the Shepherd saw a sliver of hope.
If becoming a true life-form required him to abandon an entire world and its countless people, then he would never agree to it.
But if everyone could be saved, even if it merely meant making them more virtual and preserving their thoughts and awareness...
"Then I will spare no cost, even if it means dying ten thousand deaths!" The Shepherd's conviction and will began to blaze.
He had witnessed the suffering of far too many people, as well as the morality they upheld beneath that suffering.
In the world Mokania had created, the morality of the upper class was utter shit.
The middle class was