"Did you just say Saaruk?" Deemo muttered in a somewhat surprised voice.

Then, he burst out laughing, "Saaruk is a compulsive liar. Everything he says has to be taken with a grain of salt."

Yuan raised his eyebrows at this new information and asked, "Isn’t he a powerful Eternal? Even Shiva said Saaruk was one of the more powerful Eternals."

"Shiva... I haven’t heard that name in a long time," Deemo murmured, a hint of nostalgia in his tone.

"Anyway, Shiva’s information is probably outdated, as she was sealed away ages ago. Saaruk was indeed quite strong once, but he’s grown lazy and has long since been surpassed by many others."

"Is that so..." Yuan fell silent, unsure what to think about this information.

"You..." Deemo suddenly started talking, but abruptly halted, as if he was hesitant on something.

Eventually, he continued, "How would you like to become my subject—"

"I refuse." Yuan rejected Deemo before he could even finish his sentence.

"Let me finish," Deemo said in an annoyed tone. "If you become my subject and allow me to experiment on you, I will help you complete your Eternal Constitution, and I am even willing to be your backing, so no Eternal will dare to mess with you."

"I refuse," Yuan rejected again without an ounce of hesitation in his voice.

"I want to hear your reasoning," Deemo demanded.

"It’s quite simple, really. I don’t want to serve anyone, especially not someone who experimented on an entire world, treating human lives as nothing more than sacrificial lambs."

Even though Yuan knew that his refusal could offend Deemo and potentially get himself killed, his voice was as calm as a still pond and without an ounce of fear.

Deemo fell silent to ponder again, as he was reluctant to give up on someone as valuable as Yuan. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"No matter what you offer me, I will not become your experiment," Yuan realized what Deemo was trying to do and said aloud.

"Fine, I won’t experiment on you, nor am I asking you to become my subject for real. Instead, I want you to become my subject in name and participate in a certain event for me," Deemo said.

"What?" Yuan raised his eyebrows, looking bewildered.

"In return, I will owe you a favor," Deemo continued.

"Wait a second. I don’t understand what you want from me. What do you want me to participate in? And why must I be your subject?" Yuan asked.

"Allow me to elaborate."

Deemo pointed a finger at Yuan, pouring images and information directly into his mind.

"This all began many years ago... We Eternals, with nothing to do but cultivate and bored out of our minds, decided to create something to ease that boredom," Deemo began.

"That was when we chose to create our own worlds and humans, nurturing them just to see what would happen. As time passed, more and more Eternals joined the game, each crafting their own world. Eventually, it turned competitive, everyone claiming their world and their humans were superior to the rest."

"To prove their humans were superior, the Eternals made them fight, and thus began what we call the Eternals’ Reckoning—"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Yuan suddenly shouted with a bewildered look on his face.

"What do you mean Eternals created humans and are making them fight each other?!"

"Does this mean there are other worlds out there with humans besides the Nine Heavens and the Demonic Realm?!"

"Well..." Deemo paused briefly before continuing, "there used to be. However, over time, as the Eternals experimented on humans in pursuit of something stronger... humanity gradually went extinct."

"That doesn’t make any sense. If Eternals created humans in the first place, can’t they just make more?"

"I guess it would be more accurate to say that we had cloned them instead of creating them."

"What in heaven’s name...?" Yuan’s face became even more confused.

"Although Eternals are powerful, we are not omnipotent, and creating humans is beyond our capabilities. The best we were able to do was clone the humans that already existed."

"Why can’t you just clone them again? Did something happen to them?" Yuan then asked.

Deemo nodded.

"They were a miracle created by the universe, existing long before even my world. Unfortunately, they were all wiped out in a certain incident."

"Why don’t you just clone the human clones?"

"You think we haven’t tried that? It’s simply impossible, as they would always come out inhuman. In fact, you have seen them before."

Yuan tilted his head with a pondering expression. Then, his eyes widened with realization.

"Don’t tell me... magical beasts?!" He cried out loud.

Deemo calmly nodded.

"Wait... then what about me? What about the humans in the Nine Heavens? Are we also clones?"

"That... I am unsure."

"How is that possible?"

"The Divine Heaven’s origin is not known... or more precisely, nobody but one being knows."

"The Absolute Being." Yuan muttered.

"Correct, as it was the Absolute Being’s property, and nobody is foolish enough to stick their nose into his business. However, if we think logically, it is unlikely that any ’true’ humans are left in this universe, including the ones from your world. As I said, they were all killed, and not even the Absolute Being can create humans out of thin air."

"This is... a lot for me to digest." Yuan muttered before closing his eyes and taking several deep breaths.

"Anyway, that is the reason I experimented on my humans and treated them as if they were worthless," Deemo continued. "Because they are not authentic humans, merely fakes we created for our entertainment."

"That doesn’t make it okay," Yuan quickly replied. "It doesn’t change the fact that they have a soul and are conscious. Even if they are clones, they have emotions, can feel and think."

"..." Deemo fell silent.

Suddenly—

<You have discovered the existence of ’Humans’ and ’Human Clones’>

<You have discovered the true origin of ’Magical Beasts’>

<Your progress toward Path to Eternity has increased>

[Progress: 15%]