Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse novel Chapter 4359

Chapter 4359: The Farmer’s Greeting IV

It was beautiful to witness, even when that emerging personality was suggesting he seduce powerful beings for research purposes.

But as Noah turned his attention away from RUINEDEN’s mischievous recommendations, he noticed a presence that had materialized beside him while he’d been focused on internal conversation.

Elyndra.

She stood silently, her vibrant form radiating that particular authority of nine Principles operating in harmony, her blue eyes fixed on the golden tree with expression that suggested she was lost in thought rather than observing her surroundings.

She seemed... sad.

Not overtly, not dramatically, but carrying weight of someone wrestling with internal conflict that had no satisfying resolution.

Noah silently gazed at her.

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Elyndra stood beside Noah, her consciousness focused on the golden tree that truly represented collaboration in its purest form.

But her thoughts were elsewhere, cycling through everything that had led to this moment...her father’s condition, the task he’d assigned her, the conflict between what she believed and what necessity demanded.

She knew her father.

Had known him for eons, when he’d been powerful enough, when his cultivation had brought him to threshold of that fundamental distinction.

He had lived his whole life aligned with what was right. With what it meant to be good.

Saving as many Fold Dwellers as possible, creating sanctuary for those who had nowhere else to go, even allowing inclusion of Living Existences despite their historical prejudice against Fold Dwellers as lesser beings.

He had done everything according to principles that agricultural cultivation had taught him...that growth came through nurturing rather than exploitation, that collaboration produced better results than competition, that patience and care yielded harvests that force and haste could never achieve.

And where had it gotten him?

Shattered by THE Living Emotive, reduced to weakness that made even standing difficult, poisoned against healing that might restore what had been destroyed.

Horrible beings like THE Living Emotive did what they wanted with impunity and without any consequences. They acted according to pure malice refined into authority, and existence itself seemed to reward them for it rather than punish them.

THE Creature was supposed to be the one to balance things out. To keep THE Living Paradox in check, to prevent THE Living Existences from becoming monsters who consumed everything in pursuit of their own advancement.

And yet even he was nowhere to be seen. Absent when needed most, leaving beings like her father to suffer consequences of system that rewarded cruelty over compassion.

Her father was...tired.

Tired of doing things the right way and watching it accomplish nothing. Tired of being good while others thrived through being terrible.

Tired of principles that felt increasingly like chains rather than guidance.

She understood why he was suggesting they take what they needed from Noah rather than negotiating for it. Why he believed collaboration wouldn’t work, that force was necessary, that adopting methods of THE Living Existences was only path forward.

He knew he could try collaboration. Maybe it would finally work out. Maybe Noah would be reasonable, would give up Perpetual Harvest willingly, would help restore what THE Living Emotive had destroyed.

But her Father... was tired of maybes.

He wanted certainty, like THE Living Emotive possessed. Success, like THE Living Paradox had achieved. Power that couldn’t be taken away, accumulated through methods that worked regardless of whether they were right or wrong.

And how did THE Living Existences succeed?

By taking what they wanted.

Elyndra felt sadness crystallize in her chest, heavy and cold.

She didn’t believe it. Her very existence told her they should be forging their own Way, advancing according to principles they chose rather than imitating paths that others had walked.

To build their Civilization, it should be done according to their own methods. Their own understanding. Their own values.

They shouldn’t deviate to follow how others proceeded. Shouldn’t take hints from The Way of beings they opposed. Shouldn’t become the thing they resisted just because it seemed effective.

Her father was doing exactly that...abandoning his Way in favor of methods that had brought THE Living Existences success but had also made them into monsters.

And if he did that, if he truly went about things through betrayal and theft rather than cultivation and collaboration...

He may have forever lost his Way.

He may have corrupted it beyond recovery, because even if he obtained Perpetual Harvest through deception, even if he restored his power through stolen Principle...

He would never reach THE.

Because he wouldn’t have done it his Way. He would have achieved it through imitation of methods that were fundamentally opposed to everything his cultivation had been built upon.

But she couldn’t find herself able to tell her father that she thought his Way may have gotten irreparably damaged. That his desperate attempt to restore what was lost might actually guarantee he could never reclaim what truly mattered.

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