Chapter 28: (an unknown era) 1,999,999 Years Before Zero : I want to be like Uncle Vhana.

"Hey, answer me!! It’s not me, right?! You’re not going to kill me, are you?!"

Van shook the prince’s powerless body. His shouting attracted everyone’s attention. In the end, the prince opened his pale lips.

"How could I possibly kill you, Lord... I will kill the god who owns those marbles. Besides... how do you know?"

Van fell silent. He sighed and slowly stood back up.

’Shit... because of my lie, he awakened his potential?’

Van told the prince to step aside after explaining what the prince’s potential was and what little he had learned after seeing and studying the painting.

The humans cheered after hearing that the prince was the first human to awaken a potential granted by the god.

Van sighed. He glanced at the line of hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of people whose potential he would try to awaken.

He swallowed hard as he remembered what he would have to experience during a process that would repeat hundreds or even thousands of times.

The night that was supposed to become a farewell party ended up losing more than half of it just to awaken the humans’ potentials.

Van collapsed over and over again after witnessing so many human stories at once. He saw a single story and could immediately feel whether that person possessed a strong will belonging to one of the seven great branches of will. Meanwhile, for those without a strong will, what Van saw was a rapid summary of their entire life from birth until the present.

And Van experienced that hundreds of times.

Because only a dozen of them successfully awakened their potential.

Even the other races grimaced every time Van fell onto the wooden floor, sweat continuously soaking his body.

In the end, at the end of the night that should have been filled with celebration, Van had reached the end of the line.

His breathing was ragged. His lips had begun to turn pale, while dark circles formed beneath his eyes.

He gently patted Arsy’s head as the child cried.

Van’s exhausted voice tried to comfort him.

"It’s alright... why are you crying? You’re still little... maybe when you grow up, you’ll have a potential."

Van greedily drew in a breath. He hugged the crying Arsy while smiling after seeing that only one little child remained.

"It’s alright... I don’t even want you to have a potential. I mean, if that potential comes from a sad story, then I’d be sad too..."

Arsy was eventually comforted by Andis. The crowd had already begun to disperse. They had grown bored of watching the same thing repeat over and over. The wooden hall that had once been lively was now much quieter at the end of the night.

Van smiled broadly and gestured for the last little boy to come closer.

"Come on, hurry up, Eza. After this we’re having a party."

Eza nodded with a smile. His black eyes sparkled as they reflected Van. He walked closer, and with every step, his thick black hair swayed.

"Okay... Uncle Vhana."

Van sighed as he crouched down and held Eza by both shoulders.

"I’ve told you thousands of times... I’m Van."

Eza nodded and gave the same answer again.

The situation continued for quite a while until Kalula, who was still watching, yawned. She kicked Van while frowning.

"Hurry up... it’s already the next day."

Van looked at Kalula with disbelief.

"Be patient, damn it... can’t we postpone it by one more day?"

Kalula simply crossed her arms in response, while Van brought together his index and middle fingers, channeled the energy of his will from the pit of his stomach, and touched Eza’s solar plexus with his fingers.

Van closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he was standing in the middle of the white space.

Having experienced it thousands of times already, he merely yawned while scratching his stomach.

’Come on... hurry up.’

As if Van’s order had somehow been perfectly timed, the white background slowly began to be painted.

With his eyes now beginning to redden, Van lazily watched, because every child whose potential he had tried to awaken so far had lacked a strong will.

This time, however, something made him frown.

On the white background, a painting appeared of Van himself standing in the middle of a forest, wearing a silver jacket and black sunglasses in the darkness of the night. The Van inside the painting stood before hundreds of ice clones pushing trolleys.

Van frowned.

’This... does Eza have a potential? This was that time, wasn’t it?’

The painting made Van’s heart beat faster.

Not because he was nervous or afraid.

For some reason, it felt like something joyful.

The painting changed.

This time it was painted with an orange glow.

Van stood inside the painting, his golden hair brushed by the orange sunlight. The Van inside the painting took out dolphin-shaped bubble guns that he had given to every child.

Van scratched his cheek.

’Where’s Eza? Why is there only me? Or is this Eza’s point of view because the perspective feels strange...’

The painting changed again just as the sun rose.

It showed the humans and the various races eating together.

Then it focused on Van standing at the end of the one-kilometer buffet table. The Van inside the painting exchanged a fist bump with Beluga before walking away.

The painting continued to follow Van with every step he took and every time he stopped to speak with someone else.

’Good grief... this is really strange. Why does it keep focusing on me?’

The painting finally stopped moving when Van sat across from Kalula and the others.

The Van inside the painting then kissed his thumbnail before raising his hand and pointing toward the sky with his index finger.

The painting trembled.

Finally, Van could hear a voice.

It sounded like Eza’s.

"Cool... I want to become like Uncle Vhana!"

The painting shook again before turning.

There, Arsy was playing with a bubble gun.

Arsy’s voice could be heard.

It was the first time Van had heard someone else’s voice besides the voice of the person whose story he was witnessing.

"You can’t become Uncle Van... he’s a god."

The painting Van was watching gradually faded away, leaving him surrounded by white once more.

Van scratched his cheek, even though it did not itch.

’Become like me...? Good grief... why me? There are plenty of better examples.’

He smacked his forehead with his palm.

’Besides, what is that supposed to fit into? Achieve? That’s kind of strange for something someone wants to reach.’

Van patiently stood there, waiting to see another painting.

He was curious about what Eza would gain from wanting to become like him.

But after waiting for quite some time, nothing else appeared.

Instead, the white background faded away, and Van returned to the wooden hall, where he was immediately greeted by loud voices because Eza had already fainted.

Kalula held Van’s shoulder as she looked at him.

"Does he have a potential? What is his potential?"

Everyone looked at Van.

Even the other races stared at him because it was the first time a small child had awakened a potential.

Van shook his head.

"I don’t know... but Eza..."

Everyone waited for Van’s answer.

Van slightly covered his face with his long, slightly oily golden hair. His voice became much quieter.

"He... he wants to become like me."

Everyone fell silent at the same time.

A few moments later, the hall became noisy all at once.

"What? Eza wants to become like Lord Van? Isn’t that the same as becoming a god?"

"Will he have the power of a god? Or one of them?"

"Maybe he’ll have his humility... or maybe he’ll have the god’s tools..."

Van’s ears twitched as he listened to everyone speculating about what Eza’s potential might become.

’That’s true... what will his potential become? Blank Canvas too? Or one of the wills I’ve mastered? Or what? There’s no way it’ll become having a kind heart like mine, right?’

At the end of that night, that discussion became the topic among those who were still awake.

The night that was supposed to become a farewell party instead ended peacefully because Van was finally able to rest.

He immediately fell asleep the moment his back touched the hard wooden chair.

Everyone moved away and gave him space after he had worked hard for an entire week and then awakened the potentials of thousands of people in a single night.

That night finally passed peacefully, only to be greeted by the noisy chirping of birds as the morning sun drove away the night sky.