'How unexpected. I imposed several thresholds for her, yet she managed to arrive here.'
Aleph greeted the woman's gaze with a smile.
*****
Genius Society Number 81, Ruan Mei.
Unlike Herta, or rather, like most reclusive geniuses, she does not appear much in the public's eye. Her origins were known exclusively to the members of the Genius Society.
Born from a planet devoid of normalcy (in Earth's perspective), she learned how to pursue the true meaning of life.
After all, her planet belonged to Abundance. Living planets, walls of flesh…
Aleph thought of a lot of outer god-like myths from Earth and meshed them together to describe her background.
The most troublesome aspect of her, however…
'Was it destiny? It's truly ironic.'
The woman who sat across him had zero shred of empathy, fully focusing on her notion of rationality.
"...This is delicious."
"Of course. That's a real cake, not some piles of special flesh you will find somewhere."
"..."
Aleph sighed inwardly towards this woman.
'Herta's exaggerated narcissism is a huge gift compared to her.'
Ruan Mei seems normal at first, but he is aware that her apathy is a bit too concerning. It could serve as a roadblock by itself. Aleph could list a lot of problems when it comes to her way of tackling problems alone.
Simply put, her apathy pushes her to control everything to the greatest extent. This does not apply merely to her research, but also to her daily life.
"Ask your questions right away. I will answer them to the greatest extent I can."
"Is that the end of all?"
Aleph was surprised by her extremely direct question. Aeons are not the 'end' of life's wonders. Just Aleph's specialness (i.e., Infinity authority) proves it isn't.
"No."
"I see."
The conversation was frozen silent.
'Herta asked three, yet she only asked one? Geniuses are truly… well, it's not like I don't understand them.'
During his first meeting with Herta, it was more of a casual conversation than anything. She merely asked three questions before the casual talks began. She did not ask anything after that.
Coupled with Ruan Mei's attitude, it became clear that there's a reason why they are geniuses—they would rather attain the crucial answers by themselves than to cheat.
At best, what the two women asked from Aleph was nothing but a hint; to check whether their actions lead to a dead end.
"Perpetuity. Have you thought about its meaning?"
He asked a 'random' question.
Ruan Mei's eyes flashed a gleam before giving out an answer.
"It holds infinite interpretations."
'Hm. She's not as narcissistic as Herta.' He thought. 'She went as far as to hear the answer from my mouth… even if she knew it herself already.'
Aleph gave Ruan Mei an invisible thumbs up.
"A concept with no start nor end. The Pathstriders I chose will have to face their interpretations sooner or later. Only then would you become closer to the truth of life you seek."
After explaining, he asked another question out of the blue:
"Tell me. What makes an Aeon, an Aeon?" He did not stop there. "What makes a human, human?"
He patiently waited for Ruan Mei to digest these two questions. He worded the questions to the point he allowed her to come up with her own answers.
'Human morals really don't apply to the cosmos. Well, she grew up on a living planet to begin with.'
There was a reason why Aleph chose Herta to communicate first. Part of it was her narcissism that actually made her more humane compared to others. She fitted his previous standards based on human morality.
Another part of it was her lack of 'ultimate goals'. To her, the process is more important than the results. The endless questions are her meaning of existence.
Ruan Mei, on the other hand, only had eyes over pursuit of life—in turn, to the Aeons. They hold the 'answer' behind 'life'. As such, she has no qualms doing anything, so long as it supports her cause.
She is apathetic, a person who does not concern herself over the consequences of her actions—be they good or bad.
It conflicts with Aleph's standards of choosing his Pathstriders, thus he set up several more thresholds just for people similar to her. It was also at that time did he adjust his mentality. He would not meddle over their differing ethics, but he would still keep his. Whomever gets chosen is up to fate. Aeons act like that. They have their own set of rules to impose. It was just that Aleph's rules are more amicable than anyone else's.
In the end, these thresholds determined that Ruan Mei's possible consequences could be controlled by his power.
'Philosophical relativity is an interesting topic here…'
His thoughts flew as he waited for her response. When his gaze met hers, however, he knew that question would take some time to be answered. A sense of satisfaction could be seen within her eyes.
Aleph dismissed her early due to this.
"It's good to take matters into your own hands, but sometimes, letting the die roll is perfectly fine too." He said for the last time. "Come back whenever you feel like it."
Clang-!
The teacup in Aleph's hand showed phantoms of the newly-added [Error] authority, showing its high degree of fit over Ruan Mei. The latter disappeared right after seeing it.
"Fu… How ironic. She might be similar to an Aeon, but she's just as flawed as humans."
Ruan Mei possesses an Aeon's apathy. However, she was yet to truly form a 'connection'. No matter how apathetic Aeons are, they still hold a connection to their Pathstriders. It is akin to a small piece of light amidst darkness.
Things would not work out when the other piece is missing.
Then again, this does not mean that Ruan Mei's way was wrong. There are infinite possibilities under his Path. She might find a way unique to her own.
"Why am I asking more questions nowadays..?"
*****
"Why do I have to study?!"
Looking at the girl slumping on the desk, a sense of satisfaction welled up inside Aleph.
'It's still better to talk to simple people.'
As if sensing that ill thought, Kiana looked up at the flying Aleph. His small size, two palms at best, did not prevent her from seeing him as an ominous god of studying.
After he "magically conjured" their travel funds, the first thing they bought was a house.
Aleph's current capabilities far exceed what humanity has to offer. Doing computer-related commissions is as easy as breathing, more so when he has a background of it.
For Aleph, a two-storey residential house with 120 square meters was enough. It did shock the girl with him.
"You think math won't help you fight? That's where you are wrong, Kiana."
Aleph's ELF body picked up the rectangular eraser atop her desk.
"Look. After ten seconds, this will bounce off the walls for a total of nine times. Each time, they will strike at an angle of 15.99 degrees at a speed of 5 meters per second…"
His explanation seemed like nothing but mindless rambling to her ears.
"Wait for it."
Sou-!
The eraser first struck the corner of the bookshelf. It then struck the corner of the wall, then a table, then…
It bounced off a total of nine times before striking Kiana's head.
"Ow!"
"How was it?"
While holding the back of her head, she hesitated on her previous thoughts.
"Can I really learn that?"
"Yes. All we need is an error…"
Aleph was ready to pull out his trump cards to get her to studying; Godhood included.