Chapter 10: Pride and Resolve
<Li Qiu>
<Might: 27/94 (17/84) (World average: 17)>
<Toughness: 24/63 (22/61) (World average: 14)>
<Agility: 14/20 (12/18) (World average: 15)>
<Reaction: 7/9 (6/8) (World average: 10)>
<Aria Quality: 1 ---> Awakened>
<Aria Quantity: 27/53 (12/38) (World average: 30)>
<Prakash>
<Might: 20/56 (12/48) (World average: 17)>
<Toughness: 13/35 (8/30) (World average: 14)>
<Agility: 18/26 (16/24) (World average: 15)>
<Reaction: 12/20 (12/20) (World average: 10)>
<Aria Quality: 1 ---> Awakened>
<Aria Quantity: 82/95 (67/80) (World average: 30)>
<Enbi Arin>
<Might: 82 (75) (World average: 17)>
<Toughness: 45 (40) (World average: 14)>
<Agility: 34 (30) (World average: 15)>
<Reaction: 33 (25) (World average: 10)>
<Aria Quality: 2 ---> Practitioner>
<Aria Quantity: 35/40 (11/16) (World average: 30)>
(Author's notes: The stats inside the '()' are their stats before they absorbed the Aria cores)
"Aren't your stats too insane?" The duo of Li Qiu and Prakash couldn't help but exclaim in shock when they came to know about her stats.
It was at this moment that Prakash noticed something different in her attributes as compared to their own attributes.
Prakash, upon his realisation, pinched Li Qiu as he quietly leaned towards him and whispered in his ears so that his words will not be heard by the nearby Enbi Arin,
"Big bro, look at her Aria quality"
"Eiyouch.." Li Qiu shrieked out in pain as it seemed that Prakash applied a bit too much force in his pinch during his momentary shock.
Li Qiu immediately brought his attention back to the topic that Prakash had pointed out when his emotions and thought process went under turmoil.
"Damn, how is this possible? Just who the hell is this brat?" Li Qiu felt cold sweat form upon his spine as he warily gazed at Enbi Arin who seemed to be currently eating an apple without a single care as to whatever may happen to the world.
Before she noticed the wary gazes that had been directed towards her by the duo of Li Qiu and Prakash, Li Qiu tried his best to maintain a poker face and signalled Prakash with his eyes to do the same as he slowly raised a question to Enbi Arin.
"Ooi, br-Enbi Arin, just how were you able to attain an Aria quality of 2? Can you tell us?" If this was an hour ago, Li Qiu might have made fun of her by calling her a 'Brat', but, he no longer felt the urge to do so.
But, contrary to their thoughts, Enbi Arin had her own apprehensions against the duo, especially Li Qiu, since his unstable behaviour might pose a threat to her in the immediate future.
"Well, I guess I'll just play along for now. Who knows, maybe they might become trustworthy companions of mine in the future" Thought Enbi Arin as she cleared her throat and began to speak.
"Breaking through every stage has different requirements to be met. I only came to know about becoming a 'Practitioner' which is to have an Aria quality of 2 after I accidentally became one, so listen carefully"
Both Li Qiu and Prakash converged before Enbi Arin as they paid the entirety of their attention to the following words that flowed out of her mouth.
"You have to convert the entirety of your physical body's potential power or in simpler terms, the latent power present in the various muscles of your body into actual stats"
"That's it?" Questioned Prakash.
"Yep, that's it," Replied Enbi Arin with a serious expression.
"And, just how do you expect us to achieve it?" Li Qiu inquired with a serious face while his left eye couldn't help but twitch a little.
"I don't know?" Enbi Arin replied with an even more serious expression as her voice took on a solemn tone.
"And, how in the devil's realm did you achieve it?" Li Qiu finally raged in his frustration.
"Did you forget about the ability that I had gained from the ant queen?" Laughed Enbi Arin as she gave them a friendly reminder.
"That ability even works on your potential stats?" Even the ever easy-going Prakash couldn't accept such ridiculousness.
"It seemed to have worked fine for me," Shrugged Enbi Arin while gloating at their misfortune.
""Damn!!""
Li Qiu and Prakash couldn't help but despair a bit after they came to know about the requirement for advancement in their Aria quality but failed to find a proper solution to it.
"I don't think they would survive for long with such a weak mentality" Thought Enbi Arin.
After noticing the look of despair which crept up onto the faces of Li Qiu and Prakash, Enbi Arin thought of a method to cheer them up.
'Smack' 'Smack'
"Ouch...…"
"Eiyouch"
That was to give them both a small, gentle love tap.
"Didn't I already say this before to you guys that you shouldn't give up on something without even trying to find a solution? Think! Think as much as you can! Think like your entire life depended on it! Never stop Thinking!
"The only reason that we humans could become the overlords of Planet Earth was due to our ability to think. If we humans encounter a problem, we think up a solution. If there are no solutions, we create a new solution to the problem or cough up the next best thing.
"If we humans are unable to create a solution on our own, we observe from other species and learn their techniques to solve our problems. And if learning doesn't work then we WOULD PLUNDER THEIR SKILLS, TRAITS, and ABILITIES and make them our own.
"We may not have realized this when we lived in the peaceful era but we humans have an instinct that is deeply ingrained in our very souls. THAT IS TO RULE. Rule other life forms; or create new life forms to rule them.
"We observe, think and learn various pieces of knowledge to rule better, find different forms in which humans can rule and finally be able to rule the very laws of the world.
"So stop acting like inferior insects. Even though we praise cockroaches for their abundant vitality, adaptability and survival rate but at the end of the day, 'HOW DO THEY LIVE?'.
"Even though they have lived longer than humans on this planet, at the end of the day, they are just bugs billions of which we humans killed every day for whatever reasons and where, the survivability and extinction of their entire race depend on a single thought of us humans.
"Times may have changed due to the emergence of Ari enabling those bugs and other creatures grow bigger and become less fearful of humans but it won't be long before they are once again reminded about how scary we humans are.
"We have unlimited potential and are the future overlords of this universe. These Ari have just opened on an easier path for us to traverse" Finished Enbi Arin with a face flushed red from all the shouting, but, with crystal clear eyes that radiated endless dominance and confidence within them.
Both Li Qiu and Prakash felt as if they were struck by thunder and felt their blood boil with vigour and confidence which instantly cleared up their muddled mind and emotions while also giving them a sense of direction to pursue after in the future.
Enbi Arin had a clear goal as to what she must do, because, after losing the technology that humans relied on and prided themselves with, they were currently at their weakest moment. In order to survive, they must support each other and require a leader to lead them to the pinnacle.
Though she may be weak now, Enbi Arin thought that she had the necessary qualification, innate abilities to lead others. The only thing that she lacked was comrades that she could depend on in times of need.
If she could establish a sense of trust with the duo of Li Qiu and Prakash, she might be a step closer to her almost impossible goal. It was also at this moment that Enbi Arin properly resolved her thought process.
What she didn't know was that both Li Qiu and Prakash had also resolved themselves to their own respective set of beliefs.
Li Qiu wanted to obtain more power so that he may soon be able to reunite with his family and also to be the sole controller of his own fate.
While Prakash didn't have any such grand and ambitious resolves, he wanted to be able to support both Li Qiu and Enbi Arin in whatever quest that they wanted to succeed in.
It had always been his life's regret to not be deadweight, to either, his friends, family, colleagues or even companions.
"This time, I won't hold back anyone ever again," Prakash resolved to himself as he gazed at the determined eyes of both Enbi Arin and Li Qiu.
Enbi Arin suddenly clapped her hands, "Now that we are done with all that, our next objective would be to hunt other creatures and try to raise our attributes since there doesn't seem to be any physical limits at present to the amount of Aria that we can possess. But I guess that as we breakthrough to a higher tier, the lower tiered creatures may not give us as much stats as now or might even give nothing at all. We will slowly collect clues on as to how we can convert our potential stats into actual ones"
Li Qiu nodded his head to show his understanding while Prakash took a step forward to present his opinion to the others as he had finally decided to stop holding back others due to his inability to take a firm stance.
"Actually, based on everything that the two of you had said, I have arrived at 2 hunches. The first is skills. We may try to gain the necessary skills from external sources or we can try to move our body, body muscles etc. with our innate abilities or Aria or both and try to see if we can obtain a skill accordingly. Actually, I'm almost sure that any specific action that we take can become a skill if we can shape the path our Aria travels in our Aria circuit accordingly until it almost becomes our muscle memory"
"Hmmm, that's quite the plausible statement. We can try its validity by further practice and experimentation. If it's successful, then we would be able to create a skill that could convert our body's potential into actual stats," Complemented Li Qiu while he simultaneously tried to think up various possible methods in his head based on what Prakash said.
"I never knew you had that in you," Exclaimed an astonished Enbi Arin.
Prakash, who didn't want to elaborate about either his past or his current resolve to the others, just presented the others with a wry smile on his face.
"A-anyway, continue with your explanation. What was the other hunch?" Enbi Arin stuttered a little due to being blatantly ignored by him.
"The second was what I came to notice from big bro's encounters. That system which invaded you was called 'Android AO72' right?" Inquired Prakash.
"Yes," Li Qiu answered in a concise manner.
"It was then that I wondered about the systems incorporated in the gadgets that we used to use in our day to day lives before. They ranged from cell phones and laptops to desktops and TVs. But the two similarities that all these electronic gadgets have are:
"They are all connected to each other or a common domain or server in the same way or the other.
"They retrieve data, compile and analyze to come up with a better user interface, feedback, experience etc.
"We can split 'Android A072' into three segments. Android meaning the type of 'programming' or 'operating system' used or in this case something like laws of nature and racial traits. 'A' being the model type while '072', its numbering or identity like a name.
"And there is quite a significant chance that all the electronic devices that successfully became 'containers' to house an Ari could have chosen a human host since we are the species most familiar with and are less vigilant towards them.
"So, what I want to conclude is that such hosts must have encountered similar trouble with the potential stats just like us, and, through their networking, must have already figured out a solution. So, if we are able to find one of them, then, we might be able to figure out the solution much sooner," Finished Prakash, leaving both Li Qiu and Enbi Arin with just a single thought echoing within their heads.
"Damn!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Overlord_Venus
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