Reborn as an Extra Chapter 860: A Gem Hidden Beneath Dark Mud, Ratna of Eldor! Part-4.

"You are right to say that I am ’walking aimlessly’... the search for inner truth is more difficult than searching for anything else in the world..."

"I myself do not know what ’path’ I should choose, what method I should use, and what should be the direction where my journey should go..."

A trace of self-doubt appeared on Rio’s face as he sipped his tea and stared at the warm flames of the bonfire.

Just like his own dying heart, these flames were dying out slowly due to the influence of the snowing and miasma in the area.

"Just like you are confused on what to do about your miasma-inflicted clan elders and what to choose for the future..."

"I am the same; I am confused about what to choose for my future too..."

Hearing Rio’s words and seeing his calm and collected demeanor, Ratna’s heart calmed down a lot, and he asked his friends to head back to their own tent for the time being and not mention Rio to anyone.

Keeping his comrades safe was very important to Ratna, as they were the main force that would secure his position as the new leader in the future.

Rio noticed all these small details, but he was too lazy to care about them and didn’t bother stopping these few little demons from leaving.

To him, it didn’t matter if his location was exposed or if the entire Eldor tribe tried to attack him together.

His location was already known to the Demon King himself from the very moment he entered the Demon Continent, so there was no need to worry about it leaking to anybody else when the highest command already knew about it.

As for the threat of the Eldor tribes attacking him, that was even more irrelevant, and Rio could just erase this entire tribe along with this entire area from the face of the planet with just a single swing of his sword.

Unless a real SS ranker appeared to fight him head on, it was simply impossible for anyone else to compete with him in terms of destruction capabilities and power output.

"Imagine a scenario... what if you had the ability to remove the influence of miasma from the minds of your tribe elders and make them sane again..."

"But at the cost of you yourself losing your own future... what would you do?"

Hearing Rio’s question, Ratna sneered and spoke without hesitation,

"I would obviously not choose to agree with this. Why would I sacrifice my own future for others? That’s pure bulsh*t!"

"Instead of wasting this power on helping those mindless fools, I would use my ability to influence miasma to create benefits for myself first!"

Rio wasn’t surprised after hearing those words at all.

Ratna was a demon and had the potential to be a Demon King in the future; he was not a hero, he was an opportunity seeker and cunning strategist, almost like Rio.

Rio had always followed the same ’Path’ of plundering opportunities for himself for the sake of his own goals and dreams while using cunning strategies to elevate his own position.

If Rio hadn’t done that, he wouldn’t have come as far as he had now.

His ability to use all opportunities for his own benefits was what led him to leave his peers far behind in dust despite them being almost equally talented.

Link, Riya, Lia, Liam, etc., all had the talent and support of various people behind them that led to their insanely rapid rise to power, but Rio had crawled his way to the top through his own cunning methods.

The ’Path’ of becoming heartless and ascending to rank SS seemed to suit him perfectly well from the start.

The only problem, or you could say, the individual holding him back from doing this, was Lia.

If Rio had never fallen in love with Lia at the start of his career as an awakener, he could have perhaps risen to power even faster than he already has, as he would have already abandoned all humanity by now.

His sword intent would have become ’Perfect,’ and he could have already ascended to rank SS long ago by now!

The ’Path’ to strength would have been several times smoother for him, and he could have already reached great heights.

All this never happened simply because Lia made Rio consider his human heart to be just as important as his overwhelming strength.

Just like Rio, Ratna was stuck in a situation where he knew that he needed power to eliminate his elders to rise to the top, but if he agreed to this temptation and let miasma erode his body further in pursuit of higher strength, he would go inhumane and insane just like the elders he was trying to remove!

Then he would become a threat for his own comrades just as the current elders are!

And maybe, sooner or later, a new generation of young Eldors will replace him too, just the same way he was trying to replace his elders!

Ratna also had only two ’Paths’ forward, either choose to escape the problem altogether, do nothing and watch everyone die while surviving on his own, or assume power, become heartless, and eventually go insane.

Both paths led to an outcome that seemed difficult to accept, just like Rio, who found both of his choices difficult to accept.

"’If I had the power to influence miasma... instead of wasting that power on others... I would use it to secure a better future for myself,’ you say? Actually... that’s not quite bad of an option..."

Rio repeated those words and muttered them to himself, and the dead look in his eyes suddenly started to show a new light.

In that moment, Rio and Ratna both looked at each other as if both of their intuitions had synced together, and they both came to the same conclusion as they spoke out loud together.

"The third choice! That’s it!!"

"If you already have the power to influence your problem, then why choose between the two choices you are given!"