8 hours later…
“Asna, wake up; I want to ask you something important.” Felix said as he kept shaking Asna by her shoulder.
His eyes were a bit bloodshot, showing that he spent the entire duration working his ass off on the memories.
“Let me sleep in peace.” Irritated, she said while turning in the opposite direction from him.
“Can the Jörmungandr revive using my body as a vessel?” He fired off his question impatiently.
“Yes.” she replied softly.
Felix wasn’t dishearted by the news in the slightest as he added his real question, “If that happens, will he be a human, a serpent, both or neither?”
Asna suddenly exposed her head outside of the bedsheets and said with a frown, “Of course he will be a human.”
“Can you clarify why?” He asked in agitation.
“After he destroys our soul and takes over your body, he will be bound by the constraint of the human race. Think of it as he is simply possessing your body. He might be able to eat, breathe, have sex, or even cultivate. But, he will never be able to change the fundamentals that separate races from each other.”
She straightened her pose and continued her explanation, “A human might possess mutations from a serpent, but that didn’t mean he can be THE serpent itself. If it weren’t for so, human bodies wouldn’t melt or explode within a couple of hours after you guys put 100% of the beast’s essence in your bodies.”
“True.” Felix nodded his head in understanding. It was common knowledge that bloodliners, who integrated to 100% instead of stopping at 99%, would morph into the same beast for a couple of hours before having an internal meltdown, that would lead to either turning into goo or exploding.
Just here on Earth, the images of the DNA collapsing on itself and the bloodliners transforming into mindless beasts before melting, were being displayed once in a while on TVs!
The World Council did so to further scare off the juniors from having any retarded thoughts about being able to survive that damned fate and gaining an advantage over others or some protagonist bullshit.
The message was clear, integrate 100%, and you will die in the worst way possible.
Based on Asna’s claim, this was due to the racial fundamental differences that were simply impossible to change.
In another sense, the Jörmungandr wouldn’t be able to rely on this flaw in the human bloodline system to create the perfect vessel for him.
Unless he had ways to stop the DNA sequence from breaking down during merely a couple of hours.
“So the moment the Jörmungandr’s consciousness possessed my body, he will be forever a human and be limited with human potential, lifespan, and other racial limitation, which were bestowed upon us by this biased universe. Correct?” Felix asked with a grin.
“Yes.” Unbothered by his salty tone, she asked in confusion, “Where are you going with this?”
“After I watched the memories over and over again without finding a single method to kill off the Jörmungandr’s consciousness, I realized at my lowest point of despair that we have been looking through the whole thing with a wrong mindset.” Felix said, chuckling.
“What do you mean?”
Instead of answering, Felix played the scene that was showing Jörmungandr’s interaction with the three half-lings.
“After repeating this scene more than five times, I managed to understand some of the Jörmungandr’s personality traits.”
He fast-forwarded until the three half-lings started weeping about the woes of their slain brothers and sisters.
“They were retelling the massacre of his people, probably his own descendants. Yet, he never showed a single hint of anger, he waited until they finished before asking them whether they received Thor’s blessings or not.” He grinned, “This made me conclude that the Jörmungandr isn’t controlled by his emotions like most beasts but a rational being! Which is quite understandable due to his blood’s nature.”
Felix fast-forwarded again until the scene showed the three half-lings kowtowing and flattering the Jörmungandr after receiving his blessing. Though, they soon got yelled at by him.
“This showed that he didn’t like flattery or nuisance. In other words, he is a straightforward individual.” He said.
Felix kept displaying a scene after another while telling Asna the personality traits of the Jörmungandr.
By the end of the demonstration, Asna surprisingly found that Felix had actually pinpointed five personality traits! Which were rational, straightforward, vengeful, proud, and ruthless.
Though Felix cared only by one trait, and that was rationality!
“Asna, what do you think rational individuals have in common?” He asked with a confident smile.
“Intelligence, patience, clear-headedness, sensibility, and more.” She named a few, deciding to play along.
“Now, do you still think that the Jörmungandr is going to kill us the moment he awakened?” He clarified, “For a rational being like him, he would first judge whether it is beneficial for him to kill us and possess my body or not!” He asked, “What does that mean?”
“We will have a chance to talk things first.” Asna’s eyes brightened as she said, “As long as he doesn’t kill us straight out, we can always negotiate on his revival conditions.”
“Exactly!” Felix grinned, “The fact that my body is beyond trash and my racial, social status is at the lowest rags of the universe’s pyramid will make the Jörmungandr have 2nd thoughts about possessing my body!”
Asna was also confident in his claim, as she knew that not a single being, who was at the top of the universe, would agree to settle in the body of the human race, which had not a single attribute, unlike the other races.
That being said, she recognized that the Jörmungandr would still go for it as he wouldn’t really have another choice now.
Whether he liked it or not, he would be forced into lowering his standards and possess Felix’s body.
However, Felix already planned countermeasures for this as he said, “I am going to offer him a deal that he won’t be able to reject!”
Reading what he had in mind, Asna disapproved, “He won’t trust you to fulfill your promise. Plus, everything that we said so far is just a bunch of speculations.” She added, “Who knows if this tiny consciousness is mindless and will strike our soul down the moment he awakened?”
Felix shook his head as he reminded her, “If he was mindless, he would have killed me in the last time that he woke up. After all, just a single gaze with killing intent was enough for me to perish.”
“How about trust? I was forced to trust you in helping me get my freedom due to having no other choice.” She retorted while crossing her arms, “But he has one! It might not be the best, but it is still a choice.”
“I only have my word for it. I truly don’t know if he will believe in me or not.” Felix tightened his fists as he said, “But that’s a risk I am willing to take!”
Felix might seem like he was rushing, but in fact, he was left with no other choice than this one.
He knew that he could wait years until he did extensive research on consciousness and such. But sadly, every gathered data would always be applied to beasts that were at best tier 7.
After all, there wasn’t any information about the primogenitors in the UVR.
If he used those discoveries on the Jörmungandr to either force him into staying dormant or killing him once and for all, his attempt might backfire at Felix!
After all, it was highly likely that the Jörmungandr could wake up when he feels threatened. By then all bridges to resolving this matter peacefully would be lost.
What’s the difference between the riskiness of that plan and this one?
It was plain simple that when dealing with the Jörmungandr, there was absolutely no such a thing as a foolproof plan!
Either Felix takes the first lead and brave them on or wait for a miracle to happen and save him from his plight.
“It seems like you already made up your mind.” Asna smiled bitterly and asked, “Are you going to integrate two days later after taking a break?”
“Yes.” Felix agreed while his form was disintegrating into mist particles, “Delaying the inevitable will bore no benefits besides getting me more stressed.”
After exiting his consciousness, Asna saw him taking out five sealed food containers from his spatial card and started wolfing them down like he didn’t eat for days.
She touched the heated empty side of the bed, where Felix was lying earlier, and realized that he probably didn’t leave the consciousness for eight hours straight.
‘He really is working hard.’ She sighed, ‘Hopefully, everything goes as planned.’
Alas, deep down, she understood that most of Felix’s plans rarely stay on track. And for such a risky plan, she truly wished that it doesn’t derail from the script as well. Otherwise, death awaits both of them.
