Many of them couldn't handle what they just saw. Some began to vomit their guts out all over the floor, while others broke down and began to cry. The sight was especially impactful to those who used to be friends of the four.
Loki didn't feel any difference between when he didn't know what Muni was going to do with the four and when he learned of the fate of the failures. As he looked at the people vomiting, he wondered why that was the case.
He asked himself, "Could it be because I have witnessed this exact same thing many times as a slave, or because I'm confident that this will never happen to me again, or because all of these wouldn't have happened once I reverse time?"
As he was wondering to himself, Slav happened to walk by. As usual, he was followed by a small entourage.
He didn't come to watch the auction because he knew exactly what was going to happen to those who failed the initiation program. This kind of thing cannot have any impact on him since his family's business is practically based on it on a large scale.
So when he passed by and saw people weeping for the dead, the only thought in his mind was to mock them, not to empathize or encourage them.
He sneered and said, "Don't be sad. Those failures have been put to good use. I don't know for sure about the usefulness of their other body parts, but I know that their energy wells will be treated and refined into Cloudy Dates Metacs."
"I have taken three Cloudy Dates Metacs, so you can trust me when I say they are very useful. If you believe me, then you can be assured that even though they were trash when they were alive, they will be much more useful to important people like me in their death."
After saying this, he laughed loudly as if to rub salt into their wounds. His entourage laughed with him and flattered him for his great words of wisdom.
Slav didn't linger with them. He raised his chin proudly and left them to wrangle with their emotional turmoil.
Meanwhile, Loki watched him as he thought to himself, "So that's why Cloudy Metacs can raise the energy density of the rank 1 energy well by one level. If what Slav said is true, does that mean that I have eaten 12 of my peers?"
Then he shrugged and said to himself, unconcerned, "It won't be the first time, and it probably won't be the last."
After thinking of this, he looked in the direction that Muni left and thought to himself, "Is this what Muni meant when he said we could either burn brightly and achieve greatness or turn into kindling and fuel for someone else's fire to burn brightly? Or could there be something much worse ahead of us?"
He has eaten the flesh of a human before. At that time, he had done it for survival. He was at his limit and needed to eat, or he would have died. So he can say that the experience of using the Cloudy Date Metacs was far more pleasant than the first time he ate human flesh.
The fact that he didn't know that he was eating another human when he used the Cloudy Date Metacs also made the experience less disgusting. But now that he knows exactly what Cloudy Date Metacs are made of, he still has no intention to stop.
This is because he has realized a long time ago what it means to be a fire with the only choices of burning brightly or being used as fuel for another fire. He realized this very early on in this world.
Some might say that it was by luck that he managed to survive as an orphaned slave in this world, but that won't be the truth. Luck surely had a hand in his survival, but the numerous painful and disgusting sacrifices that he made along the way also played a part in his survival.
Now that he is on the cusp of gaining his freedom and has the means to do so, he is not going to give up because of some moral dilemma. This is because he has made up his mind to burn like a great fire, even if he has to use the whole world as the kindling to his flame.
He concluded his session of introducing introspection with an affirmation of his determination for greatness and supremacy. Then he left the market for his lodging so that he could continue cultivating.
As he left, he didn't notice that he was changing. His state of mind was sharpening little by little.
Whether it was his experience that night when Simon somehow managed to break into a place where the rules of the sect explicitly forbade violence and attempt to enslave him, or the time Tommy fleeced him again and again, or the times Muni whipped him, but pardoned Slav, or the fact that he has been awake for a month now honing his skill and cultivation, or the sight of the fate that will befall the losers as they were auctioned off like cattle, they all have their impacts on his state of mind.
All of these experiences were like hammer blows and the fire of a forge striking his mind. Their impact might be a little or a lot, but slowly and surely, they were refining his mind into something purer with fewer impurities.
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The following day, Muni gave each of them a Branch Metac according to their requests. Lenard received an extra Branch Metac as his reward for refining his Core Metac the quickest.
After he distributed the Branch Metacs to them, he decided to speak to them about the dangers of losing control and the importance of Dao Heart. He didn't mention the events that happened yesterday and treated them as if they didn't happen at all.