Epoch of Twilight

The loss Luo Yuan had suffered was relatively smaller than what he had gained. After becoming his follower, the mutated lizard got up, its body no longer shaking. However, it did not dare go near him. Apparently, it was still scared of Luo Yuan, but that was to be expected. Considering he had just defeated it, its attitude was good enough already. The lizard stepped back when Luo Yuan walked towards it. It only took one step back, and then stopped moving. It just stood there, puffing in frustration. Luo Yuan tried to signal for the lizard to squat down, but apparently, it did not understand his instructions, because all it did was look at him.

He shook his head helplessly before climbing onto its back. It was very wide, but not everyone could have sat on top of it. Its scales were shiny and slippery, and looked like they were coated with a layer of oil. He had to be very careful even though the lizard was staying still. Once it started moving and shaking, any normal person would slide off its back, and if it started running, they would fall instantly.

“Let’s go to the district!” Luo Yuan said as he patted the lizard’s back.

The giant lizard did not respond. Luo Yuan tapped on it harder, until it finally turned around and looked at Luo Yuan innocently, its big eyes looking anxious. Luo Yuan pointed at the entrance of the district, but the lizard did not move. Apparently, he had overestimated its intelligence, which seemed to be lower than a dog’s. Luo Yuan stood up helplessly and walked onto its head. He kept signing and jumped onto the ground every once in a while to do a demonstration. The lizard finally understood what ‘Go’ and ‘Stop’ meant after half an hour.

It finally moved, walking lamely. One of its legs was injured and it had to keep it curled up. It could only rely on its other three legs to move, and it looked pitiful.

“Walk that way!” Luo Yuan kicked it hard on the head. The lizard’s head shook and it turned around.

“Slightly to the right!” Luo Yuan said, kicking the right side of its face.

He kept kicking its head until the lizard began to feel frustrated. It was puffing furiously.

The system immediately sent a warning message, “The loyalty of the lizard has decreased by one point due to unreasonable abuse.”

Luo Yuan was stunned. He could not believe that the lizard could still protest when it was so severely injured. Despite the fact that its loyalty had gone down, he still believed that he could defeat it. He gave it a few kicks again, but the lizard did not seem to feel a thing. His kicks were too weak for the lizard’s 18-point body. Luo Yuan got mad and naturally focused all his energy on his foot before kicking its head again.The lizard suddenly shook its body vigorously and moaned sadly. It went numb and collapsed to the ground before Luo Yuan could react.

“Is it still alive?” Luo Yuan was shocked and he quickly jumped down from its back to check.

The lizard was still alive, but there seemed to be something wrong with its head. It struggled to stand up, but failed. After a minute it got up again, but its body kept shaking and its eyes looked frightened.

“The loyalty of the lizard has increased by 10 points due to your abuse!”

Luo Yuan felt enlightened. The message had been exactly the same as the previous one, but the result was the total opposite. The first one had been about the decrease of loyalty, while the second one had been about the drastic rise of loyalty. He finally understood the structure between mutants and the gap of power between them. That was the key to beating them, not structural power or sentiment. Apparently, his powerful attack had banished the last bit of protest left within the lizard. All this inspiration crept into his head as he shifted his focus to watch the reaction of the lizard after that powerful kick.

Apparently, the the kick had not been as weak as he had thought. Otherwise, the lizard would not have fallen to the ground. He realized its head was fine, other than the injuries it had already suffered. Ironically, determination was one of the most mysterious elements of the body. Luo Yuan had not managed to master it himself and could only use it passively. He did not even know how its defense system worked exactly. Until now, there had been two conditions under which his determination had taken over. The first one had been whenever he was chopping something with his knife, and the second one when the defense appeared on the surface of his body.

Theoretically, both were the same thing, so the result should have been similar. However, the two outcomes were totally different. This time, he was not damaging something really tough or defending something, but he had still discovered a new power. There had been no sign or warning before it had happened, it had just appeared randomly. What the heck was determination? Luo Yuan had checked all the properties on the panel when he’d first gotten the system. According to the definition of the term, ‘determination’ was the subjective reflection of human beings based on their behavior.

From a psychological perspective, determination was the process of humans consciously setting goals and adjusting their actions accordingly by overcoming difficulties in order to achieve those goals. The first definition emphasized on physical actions while the second one emphasized on a psychological interpretation.

"If I combine them, determination is the result of behavior and reaction of the spirit," Luo Yuan whispered to himself.

Suddenly, he was inspired as he remembered a famous religious quote, “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”

He recited it silently a few times before his forehead began to relax.

“Determination! That’s the power of determination! God’s determination created light!”

"I was wrong! Apparently, determination is not a specific energy, but the reflection of spiritual energy. If I were to name it, I’d call it ‘chaos’. It does not have any properties itself, but it can be transformed into various properties."

“Of course my determination is not comparable to the great spiritual energy of God. But what were those reflections I had previously?”

When he’d raised his knife while facing his enemies, the fear in him had made him want to chop down everything, so he had.

When determination spread, although his subjective consciousness had no opinion, his subconscious was still in a state of defense. It was not the violent power that created a powerful defense anymore.

“Then what about this time?” Luo Yuan frowned in deep thought as he tried to figure everything out.

"I definitely don’t want to kill my battle beast. My conscious and subconscious would not do anything that would hurt others without any benefit. Living things always make a decision based on the amount of benefits to themselves. Regardless of psychology or biology, they tend to behave in the way that is most beneficial to them. So, I won’t kill it."

“This wasn’t about defense anyway. Although I don’t want to kill it, I still wanted to teach it a lesson, which means that this power was enough to hurt it, but not kill it. It was just enough to destroy any intention it had to protest.”

Of course, it was meaningless to continue struggling to understand the meaning of determination. Determination changed depending on the intentions of the mind, and humans achieved their goals when their determination grew stronger. It had the power to create a new life or lead one to death. It could make almost every goal come true. Luo Yuan felt enlightened. He stopped thinking and looked at the terrified lizard. He felt relaxed as he jumped on its back once again.

It took Luo Yuan and the lizard a long time to return to the villa because they got lost on the way. When they finally got there, the lizard lay down on the space in front of the villa. It looked like a giant hill, and the ground shook when it walked back to the villa, making everyone inside anxious and afraid. Its appearance had caused an intense fear in the women, but they had been amazed when they saw Luo Yuan standing on top of it. Huang Jiahui would have shot the lizard if Luo Yuan had not been smiling. No one dared get closer. Even Huang Jiahui only looked at it from afar.

Luo Yuan jumped down from the lizard and walked towards her. She looked anxious as she silently cursed Luo Yuan and his recklessness. Although the lizard looked obedient, it could still attack Luo Yuan from the back. If it really attacked him, then... Huang Jiahui immediately turned pale at the thought. She quickly pulled out her gun and aimed at the lizard, ready to shoot anytime if it suddenly attacked him.

The lizard was sensitive to danger and it immediately sensed it when Huang Jiahui aimed at it with her handgun. In fact, the bullets she had in her gun were dark blue rank, which meant they were very powerful. Blue level animals had zero defensive power against dark blue bullets. A less powerful animal could be defeated by the bullets if it got shot at its weakest point. Unfortunately, she did not have many of them left.This was just a handgun after all. She would not need to be worried about dark blue animals if she had a machine gun.

The lizard sensed the danger and immediately curled up its tail, forming a serrated circle while it puffed, vapor coming out of its nose furiously. Huang Jiahui panicked when she saw that the lizard was ready to attack. Her hand that was holding the gun was shaking. She was about to fire.

Suddenly, Luo Yuan turned around and snorted. A strong energy was released from his body, making the lizard step back. He waved at Huang Jiahui, signaling for her to relax. Huang Jiahui looked panicked as she walked quickly towards Luo Yuan. She hugged him tightly and kept punching his back to vent her anxiety as she cried, “Why are you being so reckless? You had me so worried!”

She was terrified. There was a moment when she had thought that she would follow Luo Yuan if he died. She loved him wholeheartedly. They have been through so many ups and downs together for such a long time.

"Why were you worried? I defeated it and made it my battle beast. Don’t go closer though, its intelligence is really low. I’ll need some time to train it first," Luo Yuan said without thinking, earning a few more punches from her.

Luo Yuan promised her that he would be more careful when going close to the lizard. He did not really need to worry about the lizard attacking him from the back. He could easily sense its movement as long as it was within his sensory perception range. Besides, the lizard would not betray him while its loyalty remained above 50 points. He was quite confident with the information provided by the system. Anyway, it was difficult for him to explain, and he believed that women would not want to hear that kind of explanation. In fact, an honest promise was the best solution for a woman who cared about his safety.

"Why did you call it a battle beast?" Huang Jiahui asked doubtfully.

Luo Yuan was having a headache. The name had been provided by the system, so he thought of an alternative way to explain, “Actually, all it took was a pat. It was like keeping a dog or cat.”

Huang Jiahui looked at the scary lizard doubtfully and realized that no matter how hard she tried, she could not compare it to a cute dog or a cat.

“Does it eat humans?” Huang Jiahui asked anxiously.

"Relax! It’s usually very obedient," Luo Yuan said and laughed.

It definitely used to eat humans before, but he would not let it eat them anymore. The beast lay down in front of the villa and licked its wounds. It was totally a different beast from the one he had met earlier. Huang Jiahui looked at it for quite a while before reluctantly accepting his explanation. Wang Shishi had been hesitated so far, but now she seemed willing to go closer. She peeped at the beast secretly with a little excitement before she asked with a stammer, "Brother Luo, can I... can I also ride on it like you did?"

"Its intelligence level is quite similar to dogs. You can’t, because it doesn’t know you yet, but it should be fine after a while, when it begins to recognize you," Luo Yuan explained as he laughed.

“Is it real?” Wang Shishi looked enlightened as she smiled. She seemed to be fantasizing about riding the beast in the city.