Liberation of The Slaves

Chapter 127 – Unified Essence

<”How did you know I was frightened?”>

The morning air was still fresh as we resumed our walk, sunlight filtering through the branches above us. Though our conversation flowed easily, our senses never fully relaxed, always scanning the surroundings out of habit.

(“I’m not entirely sure. It was just a feeling I had.”)

Len answered after a short pause, her voice thoughtful rather than confident.

<”That’s strange. When that damn dragon charged at you, I felt your pain.”>

The memory still left a sour taste in my mouth.

(“You dislike him so much that you can’t even say Ig’s name.”)

<”Hmph. I trust you, but I don’t trust him. His heart was broken. Who knows what kind of stupid thing he might do to you.”>

I didn’t bother hiding my irritation toward Ignava. Len only let out a small chuckle, clearly amused rather than offended.

【Master, I’ve analyzed the phenomenon. It appears to be your racial ability, Unified Essence.】

<”Unified Essence? The one that’s similar to intuition?”>

【Yes.】

(“But I don’t feel any connection between me and darling related to that ability.”)

【That’s because it works differently from your other abilities. You are automatically linked. No manual connection is required.】

<”It doesn’t bother me for now since only Len can sense what I feel. But won’t this become a problem when there are more Aethralunians?”>

(“Yes. It sounds like we won’t have any privacy at all.”)

【There is a solution. Please allow me to explain.】

We naturally fell silent, an unspoken signal for her to continue.

【Unified Essence is the sharing of emotions among Aethralunians.】

【Each Aethralunian functions as both a broadcaster and a listener.】

【As a broadcaster, you may choose to share your emotions publicly, keep them private, or limit them to specific individuals.】

【As a listener, you may tune into everyone’s emotions, select specific individuals, or opt out entirely.】

【Emotions themselves come in countless varieties. Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, pain, pleasure, and many others.】

【You may choose which emotions to broadcast and which to receive. You can also set thresholds so emotions are only shared once they reach a certain intensity.】

<”Broadcaster and listener… That really sounds like programming.”>

(“You know those terms, darling?”)

<”Yeah. They’re common in programming.”>

(“I see. I don’t really understand it, but programmers in my previous life were incredible. They could make almost anything.”)

<”I was just an office worker.”>

I chuckled softly at the memory.

(“So… does that mean I should only leave my emotions open to you?”)

<”Mm it’s up to you. But I think frightening and painful emotions should be public. That way, nearby Aethralunians can help if something happens.”>

【Personally, I recommend setting all emotions to public with high thresholds.】

【This way, normal emotions remain private, while strong emotions still create a sense of unity. That is the essence of being an Aethralunian, isn’t it?】

<”Hmm, so we’ll share emotions without thresholds only with our loved ones. Frightening and painful emotions will have medium thresholds for the public. All other emotions get high thresholds. Is that all?”>

(“That’s fine, but I’m not sharing pleasure with anyone but you! That’s way too embarrassing!”)

<”Of course. Then how do we actually set this up?”>

【As usual, imagination is sufficient. Visualize the settings within Unified Essence.】

【However, I cannot estimate the time required. It would be better to settle down somewhere first.】

<”You just want to eat, don’t you?”>

【If you already know, then let’s eat! It’s already 11 AM!】

<”Haa…”>

I let out a tired sigh.

(“Fufu. There are no monsters nearby. Let’s rest here. I’ll dismantle the wolves. You can work on the settings, darling.”)

【Yay! I love you, big sister Len!】

At some point, she had started calling Len her big sister. Whatever angelic image she once had was long gone. She really did feel like an ordinary girl now.

<”Haa…”>

Len laughed softly beside me as we settled beneath a large tree.

———

While Len worked efficiently, I closed my eyes and focused inward, trying to grasp Unified Essence.

“What the…”

The moment I immersed myself, an overwhelming flood of emotions surged through my mind, nearly knocking the breath from my lungs.

“What’s wrong, darling?”

Len’s voice carried clear surprise.

I ignored her, forcing myself to stay focused as I sorted through the chaos.

In my mind’s eye, Unified Essence manifested as an enormous circle divided into eight fan-shaped segments. At its center was a small circle labeled normal, likely representing a baseline emotional state.

Surrounding it were joy, sadness, anger, fear, trust, disgust, surprise, and anticipation. Beyond those, countless layers radiated outward, branching into increasingly specific emotions.

Some emotions shared names yet differed entirely in meaning. Pleasure, for instance. The pleasure of intimacy was entirely different from the pleasure of eagerly anticipating something enjoyable.

Painful was another example. One form blended physical pain with happiness, reminiscent of masochistic pleasure. Another stemmed from memories of loss and sorrow.

Then there were complex emotions. These could not be reduced to a single word. Each one was a tangled web that required paragraphs to explain.

The pain of betrayal by someone you trusted deeply. The confusion, anger, grief, and disbelief intertwined within it. How could something like that ever be expressed with a single term?

In my previous life, I often failed to understand my own emotions because they were simply too complex.

I couldn’t even estimate the number of emotions within this wheel, but it had to be in the tens of thousands.

—————

When I finally opened my eyes, a plate of cooked wolf meat sat in front of me.

“Are you finished, darling? It doesn’t look like it. Still, it’s perfect timing. I just finished cooking. Let’s eat first.”

She must have sensed my mental state through Unified Essence. I didn’t know which emotions she perceived from me, but they must have been among those countless emotions.

“Haa… Let’s eat and talk.”

As we ate, I explained what I had seen.

【I’ve counted them. Approximately 34,000 emotions.】

Aza delivered the number with unsettling calm.

(“That’s… impossible to configure it one by one…”)

<”Right?”>

Len agreed that configuring each emotion individually was absurd.

(“But I still want to do it.”)

<”Huh? Really?”>

(“We are the pioneers of the Aethralunians, after all~”)

<”Yes…?”>

(“Our title says we stand as a beacon of hope and development for our people.”)

(“That development includes Unified Essence itself.”)

<”But I can only configure my own settings, though?”>

【No, Master. With the title ‘Pioneer of the Aethralunians,’ you may also set default Unified Essence settings for others.】

(“See? We’re the ones who will shape our people.”)

I sighed deeply.

(“We don’t need to finish everything at once. We have time.”)

(“Whenever you’re free, you configure some emotions and share them with me. I’ll do the same for different ones.”)

(“If we’re unsure, we’ll discuss it together.”)

<”That works. It’ll save time, and we won’t make mistakes alone.”>

(“Yes!”)