MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

Chapter 1248: First Human-1

And with every race reaching the end of their paths, the Universe itself had nowhere to go. It simply became what it was, a Universe with no path forward and no regression. It was no different from existing in stasis.

Anthony immediately understood. Creation had not failed because it made imperfect races; it had failed because it made races that were too perfect.

At that realization, the cracks across the Universe increased as Galaxies shattered in real time. Planets burst into nothingness, Stars exploded into supernovas, as though the perfection they had achieved had ultimately become their undoing. As everything was being destroyed, an unknown light, no, a spark that wasn’t born from any explosion or anything of the sort, appeared from the deepest part of the collapsing Universe.

Anthony didn’t know what drew his attention to this spark, but he simply stared at it. From the spark, he didn’t sense any immense Bloodline, any ridiculous Physique, any innate affinity with Laws, or any immense aura.

The spark was weak, pitifully so, as though such a spark couldn’t possibly survive within such a Universe.

Before Anthony could question what the spark was, the ancient voice came again, as though sensing his thoughts.

“When Perfection reached its utmost conclusion… Imperfection was born,” the voice said calmly, as though it too was staring at the spark.

At that moment, the collapsing Universe immediately stopped, as though the birth of Imperfection had shattered its perfect balance, hence saving it from destruction.

Anthony immediately found himself standing upon a barren land, his consciousness having been shifted to the location where the spark had landed.

The land itself was lifeless. The sky was a darkish grey, as though there was no sun. The air was unrefined and murky, as though merely breathing it was dangerous to the lungs. Everything seemed out of place and devoid of order, as nothing grew there, not a single plant, tree, or even weed. Literally nothing.

But upon this barren land where nothing existed, something finally did. A figure moved. It possessed two hands, two legs, a fragile body, no scales, no feathers, no hide, no Bloodline, no blessing, simply… nothing.

Nothing distinguished it from what Anthony recognized as a Human, and in that instant, Anthony immediately knew; this was the First Human to ever grace Existence. The ancestor from whom all Humans would later come to be.

The First Human walked slowly across the land, each step unstable and uncertain, as though he was still trying to comprehend the very concept of walking. He stumbled for a while. He fell repeatedly, and his body bled whenever it scraped against stone during those falls.

When the cold came, the First Human shivered. When it rained, the First Human simply stood in a daze, as though he were trying to understand what was happening, as though he didn’t yet comprehend the concepts of rain or water.

Anthony watched as the First Human’s stomach grumbled with hunger, yet the being seemed oblivious to it and simply continued walking in complete nakedness.

Anthony couldn’t help but wonder how the First Human had survived. Hunger should have killed him. The cold should have claimed his life. The unforgiving conditions should have ended his existence. Yet the being, who only knew how to walk and breathe, simply continued forward as though he possessed an unbending will that even creation itself couldn’t extinguish.

“He should not have survived,” the voice came again, as though reading Anthony’s thoughts once more. “No race acknowledged his existence, no Law favored him, no World welcomed him. He was abandoned by Creation,” the tone almost melancholic, as though it was recounting its own history.

Anthony watched as the First Human finally understood the concepts of food and water. He drank from the rain whenever it fell. He searched for food, but found nothing. Not a single tree existed to provide fruit, not a single animal existed to provide meat, even if it were raw.

Hours passed. Days blurred together. Weeks vanished. Months drifted by as things slowly changed. Trees began to grow, and life gradually appeared upon the barren land… no, rather, the First Human had walked so far that he had unknowingly left the barren lands behind.

The First Human nearly died countless times, yet he simply rose to his feet and continued onward, as though he were some sort of puppet incapable of giving up.

But Anthony had noticed something.

The First Human was beginning to remember. Each time the First Human failed at something, the next attempt improved him. He remembered. He adapted.

When he ate a poisonous fruit, he never touched that fruit again. When a beast overpowered him, he fashioned a sharper stone. When winter froze him, he discovered fire. Nothing had been gifted. Everything had been earned by the First Human’s own hands.

No one taught him. No one gave him directions. No one offered clues. He simply worked with what he had.

‘He seems to have a talent for learning,’ Anthony thought to himself as he watched, for the First Human seemed capable of learning almost everything after only one or a few failures.

“It inherited nothing, so it sought everything,” the voice stated, as though responding to Anthony’s thoughts.

Anthony had long since come to the conclusion that this voice could read his surface thoughts the moment they appeared. Yet he wasn’t alarmed.

Anthony watched years pass as the First Human continued to change, not only physically but mentally.

But then, one day, the First Human suddenly paused after a hunt. He stared at the sky, the clouds reflecting within his black eyes as a thought bloomed within his mind.

“What if?”

With that singular question, the First Human became the first being to truly ask.

With that singular question and thought, the First Human had opened an infinite path before himself. Every road Humanity would later walk began with this singular question, with this singular moment, and with the thought the First Human had conceived here.

Other races had inherited certainty, but Humanity had inherited uncertainty.

Anthony watched as the First Human tried countless times before discovering an unknown energy entirely on his own. Anthony watched as the First Human learned to manipulate this energy. What seemed like thousands of years passed as the First Human accomplished things that other races had never even conceived of attempting, not because they lacked the power, but because they had never possessed a reason to question what already was.