Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

For now, he decided to remain silent.

"Let me explain my conundrum with a metaphor," the Lightning Emperor said.

"Imagine you are a mortal and live in a village with 50 other villagers. You don't have any sort of real societal standards and norms, and the strongest person in the village is the leader."

"Now, imagine there is a council of five leaders since they don't want to fight each other for whatever reason, and you are one of them."

"One day, you find the offspring of a very powerful beast, which is far more powerful than any member of the council."

"You nurture it, and it follows you."

"Yet, it doesn't completely follow your commands, and you know that there is a chance that it might attack you and everyone else. After all, it is still a wild beast."

"But maybe, it will also help you."

"But also only you. What if it attacks any of the others in the village?"

"Right now, the beast is still a baby."

"So, what do you do?"

"Do you nurture it?"

"Do you kill it?"

"Do you ask the others?"

The Lightning Emperor drank another mouthful of tea.

"Everything about this beast screams risk at you. No matter what happens, it will be a risk. If it isn't one for you, it definitely will be one for the village."

"But you like the village. You live in the village. You are happy with the village."

"You don't want your beast to kill other villagers."

"But it very likely will."

"So, what would you do?" the Lightning Emperor asked.

focused

his answer would decide his

Should he lie?

wouldn't even attempt

that he had the skills to lie in front of a

for

a good reason,

Lightning Emperor? After all, he was much older and much

he give a

want to know what I would do, what someone else should do, what the village should do, or what the morally correct thing to do is?"

of them," the Lightning Emperor answered as he drank more

to do would be to send it out of the village," Shang said. "If you can't do that, nurture it and trust that

Lightning Emperor didn't show

raise the beast to make it follow everyone's orders

Lightning Emperor remained

for what a normal person would do, it would depend on their ambition. Is it worth the risk to nurture it for the eventual payoff? The person could become the leader of the village. Maybe, they could even leave the village and go someplace better

piqued the Lightning Emperor's interest, but

what I would

would let

the Lightning

its existence has no impact or relevance," Shang

Lightning Emperor

is to be the

if I want to have any shot at reaching my goal. Even more, the beast's growth might even

than me, it means my

might as

Silence.

Lightning Emperor looked at Shang with a bit

tell me

that my own goals and priorities are not in line with most

"You are not me."

your case, it doesn't mean that you should make that

"That sounds a bit extreme. Is your goal really

Shang said. "I sacrificed everything

world. Geniuses might be rare, but among billions, trillions, quadrillions, or however many people there are, there

many

that is still a thousand people that I have to defeat if I want to

stops them from being