“Your Majesty, if I asked you to conjure hundreds of fire lances and manipulate every one of them at the same level as controlling just one, would you be able to do it?”
After Henrietta received such a question from Astoria, she immediately thought it nonsensical as it wouldn’t be humanly possible.
Even her master, at the height of her power, couldn’t do such a thing.
Conjuring hundreds or even thousands of fire lances was not a problem. But having perfect control over all of them simultaneously was an entirely different story. After all, the difficulty in control would grow exponentially with each additional fire lance.
Humans simply could not retain perfect control over numerous objects as they continued to divide their focus. The division of focus would weaken their control.
Nevertheless, Henrietta knew Astoria was serious about her question. As such, she had to give a serious answer.
“Forget about hundreds; I won’t even be able to control a dozen fire lances simultaneously and perfectly. Perhaps, with some practice, I could increase the number of control. But presently, seven should be my limit,” Henrietta stated.
“Humans aren’t born capable of consciously multitasking many things. A skilled person could do two to three different things at once, but four would be the limit, and even then, it wouldn’t be perfect control. Although we can increase the limit through training and advancement, the effects are insubstantial in this field, and we don’t know any great methods to improve it either.”
“As such, a person who could control hundreds of spells perfectly and simultaneously should no longer be considered a human; the person would be a god,” Henrietta stated.
‘No, even gods might not necessarily be this capable,’ Henrietta’s master suddenly interrupted.
‘The soul is the most mysterious and difficult to understand in this world. Even Empyrean Cosmic Sword, a divine being who stood at the apex of my Divine Realm, could only perfectly control 108 divine swords at once.’
‘Oh?’ Henrietta was startled by her master’s information.
If a peak-level divine being from her master’s world was inferior to Vaan, it could only mean two things: either her master’s world was seriously lacking in soul-related developments, or Vaan had been someone even more powerful than Empyrean Cosmic Sword in his past life.
Of course, there was also another possibility: Vaan had a unique soul-type talent that allowed his mental abilities to develop to such a level.
However, Henrietta and her master had never heard of such a heaven-defying ability.
Still, the existence and emergence of Chaos opened up limitless possibilities. Thus, they couldn’t claim they knew everything with their limited knowledge.
“Is it safe for me to assume that Vaan Raphna is someone who could conjure and control hundreds of fire lances? Still, how is this related to what I wanted to know?” Henrietta asked.
“Still, this at least allows us to understand that his calculating and thought-processing ability is far beyond human comprehension in this world. You asked me how this topic is related? Well then, let me ask you, Your Majesty.”
“Would a person with such mental capacity still think and act like a normal human?” Astoria glanced at Henrietta and asked seriously.
“Well, of course not,” Henrietta replied honestly.
“Normally, when we face a problem with limited time, we can only think of a limited number of solutions to choose from. And even then, we can never be certain which choice we make is the best choice.”
“Thus, if we had the ability to simulate all the possible solutions from lowest to the highest chance of success in a short time, we would almost always, on a subconscious level, lean towards picking the solution with the highest chance of success,” Henrietta stated.
“That’s right,” Astoria acknowledged before suddenly adding with a sigh, “However, the option with the highest chance of success might not always be the most desired choice and could even be the worse choice.”
“For example, you got caught in an enemy ambush, and death seemed almost certain at a glance. Still, you’re not afraid because you have a solution with an absolute chance of success in surviving the precarious situation.”
“However, the prerequisite is that you sacrifice your most beloved person in the world in order to succeed. In that case, would you still consider it to be your best choice? No? It paints an entirely different picture, doesn’t it?” Astoria asked.
“Yeah…” Henrietta nodded before saying, “Rationally, it’s right. But morally and personally, it’s unacceptable.”
“If a person could only make rational choices and would only choose rational choices for self-preservation, that person would be no different from an emotionless puppet,” Henrietta seriously thought.
Suddenly, her eyes flickered as she started to understand where her friend was getting at with the direction of their conversation.
“Indeed, if a person only chose rational choices due to the guaranteed success of survival, even if it meant abandoning their morals, principles, and values, they will lose their individuality and humanity. Eventually, they will succumb to their ability and become a slave to their own rational mind,” Astoria thought.
A machine wouldn’t have feelings, just cold calculations.
“Did Vaan tell you about this? Maybe he just wants you to feel sorry for him,” Henrietta wondered, having a strange feeling that could be the case.
However, Astoria smiled woefully and shook her head.
“Your Majesty, given Vaan’s current power and intelligence, he could tackle any worldly problem by himself if he wanted to. He is also someone with a grand goal of exploring all the mysteries in the vast world. And yet, he took the time and effort to train our kingdom’s witches and resolve a lifelong issue of mine.”
“I didn’t understand why he needed to use a roundabout method to stop the Holy Knight Empire and avoid a continental war, but now I do. He was being considerate of me and those around him. He is willing to give himself emotional shackles, and you should be able to guess why by now.”
“So no, Your Majesty. He did not tell me. I only made the realization after the mistake I made. He is not a bad person like you think,” Astoria defended her man, tears streaking down her cheeks.
Vaan needed emotional shackles to protect his sense of self from his own ever-growing mental capacity. As such, the last thing Vaan needed was for his people to not become his burden.
Vaan didn’t need protection from others, not anymore. What Astoria needed to protect was herself instead.
Only by keeping herself safe would she not become his burden.
“If only he did talk to me about his problems and struggles, then perhaps, I wouldn’t be feeling as bad as I am now. However, some men would just rather suffer in silence than provide unnecessary worries to those around them,” Astoria sighed with a sense of powerlessness.
Henrietta listened to Astoria’s emotional outburst before she also sighed but with a wry look.
“It wasn’t that long ago that I still thought you would be single for life. And yet, before I was aware of it, you had already become completely in love with this person, Astoria. Thanks to you, I know a little more about this person’s character now,” Henrietta stated sincerely.
She became more interested in her meeting with the person.
Meanwhile, Astoria suddenly felt a sense of wariness and became on guard when she noticed the look of interest in Henrietta’s eyes.
Because Henrietta and Vaan were both important to her, she wanted Henrietta to understand Vaan better in order to avoid any possible conflict between the two. That was why she was so willing to open up about her feelings.
However, she couldn’t help but get the feeling that she had just let a stray cat into her house, and it might run off with the house owner later.
“Pft, you take a look at your face, Headmaster Astoria. You look like you just got robbed or something,” Ember chuckled, finally speaking for the first time.
However, her cheerful expression soon stiffened when she received Astoria’s defensive glare.
“Uh… It was a joke… just a joke, girl. Calm down,” Ember scratched her head nervously and awkwardly.
Perhaps it was better if she didn’t say anything. She tried to relieve the tension, but it didn’t seem to be working. The silence felt suffocating.
Soon, she turned to Henrietta for help.
“Don’t worry, Astoria. It’s not what you are thinking. I would never try to steal my dear friend’s sweetheart for myself,” Henrietta promised with a smile.