Genshin Impact: Towards Godhood

Babel spoke leisurely, "I am an elder. I should encourage a child's pure dreams, but you and I just discussed the power struggle. I can't treat you like an ordinary child."

The tribe's elder regained her calm expression. "This is a foolish dream, the delusion of a naive fool. You can't do it."

She could still listen because Rama had shown other value. He was first a scholar and then a Vision bearer, which brought him double the tolerance.

Because Rama had value, his delusions were called a child's pure dreams by Babel. If he had no value, the tribe members would only slap him and tell him to stop dreaming. This was not ignorant discouragement but a harsh reality.

"The tribe's elders fight for power, and you want to eliminate those who don't follow your orders," Rama sighed. "But at the same time, you teach the lower-ranking tribe members that everyone is kin and should help and support each other."

"There's no conflict," Babel crossed her legs and relaxed. "The power struggle is among us, but the power we fight for is built on the lower-ranking tribe members."

"If they don't support us, terms like 'matriarch' and 'elder' are meaningless."

"For the entire desert, what do you think the relationship between tribes is?" Rama continued to ask.

"Enemies," Babel mused. "You don't need to say more."

She knew what Rama would say next. It was nothing but emphasizing the relationship between the desert and the rainforest, highlighting the real hatred.

But...

"Do you know what real hatred is?" Babel's face turned cold. "In this tribe, everyone fights to survive. If your father was killed by a warrior from another tribe, you must kill them to avenge the blood feud when you grow stronger."

"And at this moment, the enemy's child also harbors hatred, waiting for a chance to take your head to honor their father."

"The only way to end hatred is to kill all your enemies. Because the dead will never act out of hatred," she stood up. "If you tell them that our difficult lives are due to the rainforest people's conspiracy and that we should unite with other tribes... how will you quell the hatred from centuries of inter-tribal hunting?"

"With your words, my dear child?"

Rama's expression remained unchanged. "You are in a hurry, elder."

Babel's expression twisted for a moment. "You!!!"

"Knowing the truth and practicing it are two different things," Rama's tone was gentle. "You know I'm right, but you can't follow the right path, so you dismiss my naivety and immaturity."

"As if, if I am wrong, then you must be right."

A classic tactic.

When I can't prove I am right, I can only prove you are wrong. If you are wrong, then naturally, I am right.

"So what if you are right? Should the right way always be pursued? Should the suitable always be in power?" Babel retorted. "You are too young, Rama. This world has never been like that!"

In the courts, corrupt officials thrive; in the halls, beasts receive pay... When money is gone, you can earn more. When conscience is gone, you earn even more!

The world has always been this way. It promotes kindness and beauty but gives more space for the wicked and filthy to survive.

But this is not a reason to accept filth and reject beauty.

Rama took a deep breath, his words calm, "If something has always been a certain way, does that make it right?"

"If it has always been this way and it isn't right?" Babel turned her wrist. "Then there is only one thing that is always right."

She couldn't convince Rama, and there was even a tendency to be convinced by him. But fortunately, she had something else to persuade him.

When words fail, use fists.

In Babel's view, fists were far more effective than words.

Words are indeed limited.

Rama sighed. This answer was not unexpected.

In the five hundred years since King Deshret's death, the desert had no shortage of talented individuals who saw that someone was sowing division and inciting hatred. But what use is it to see through it?

He is your father's killer; do you want to kill him or not?

You carry hatred; others do too. If you are unwilling to set aside your grudges and unite with others, how can you expect others to give up their hatred?

Compared to the ambiguous, instigated hatred, the blood feud and the immediate need to seize resources for survival are right in front of you. One can't see too far into the future.

When looking up at the stars, you can't forget to look down and eat.

When you can't get enough to eat, you don't have the heart to care for the stars.

There are too many clever people in the world, but cleverness has never been the key to accomplishing something.

"No one can erase hatred, elder," Rama shook his head. "Including me."

"But power can suppress hatred, and force can make people temporarily keep peace."

"And after that, hope and fertile land will change everything."

Babel laughed in anger. She would rather Rama had not considered all this. It is a child's privilege not to think everything through, and adults should not have such high expectations of children.

Even in the harsh desert, children are given some chances. They have the innate privilege to try, something adults do not. Adults must pay the price for their mistakes without the necessity of forgiveness.

But Rama was not like this.

After contemplating hatred, he shook his head, saying it was impossible to convince a group of people to abandon their hatred. So he offered a solution.

"I will place the sword at their throats. When they fear death and conquest, they will discard hatred and follow me."

"And when I gain the fertile land of the rainforest, bringing hope and resources to the desert, they will forget hatred completely, content with the territory and resources I bring."

This answer was far more absurd than having no consideration.

Not considering it was a matter of ability; considering it and then offering this answer clearly indicated a problem in the head.

"Just with a Vision?" Babel's smile faded.

"No, with some other things too," Rama shook his head. "But this is the final answer."

"You won't succeed," Babel shook her head. "Fine, you need an education of fists and blades more than words."

"And that is exactly what I want to show you, Mother."

Rama bowed respectfully.

An important but not overly significant fact: Babel was his foster mother.

(Chapter End)