Cursed Immortality

Jacob looked at the stoic Gnome, looking at him with deadpan eyes without blinking, which was creepy. But he wasn't bothered by it all.

He said, "I like your honesty with me, and I hope you will be this honest with me in the future as well. I will always reward your loyalty and never treat you badly.

"All your abilities are pretty much useless if you hunt alone, especially while dealing with powerful beings. So, you need someone strong to help you with those problems.

"So, I will clarify your doubts as you requested as a reward for your honesty and clarify our relationship while we are at it.

"The answer to your question is actually quite simple. You said your memories tell you differently, but your feelings tell you the exact opposite.

"All you have to do is follow your instincts, which came from your feelings, not memories, and only instincts can keep us alive.

"Furthermore, if you thought it more carefully and followed your memories which told you that you can only have such feelings for Demiurge, then can't I be the Demiurge since I give you the same feelings?" Jacob impassively stated.

Although he had no idea if something like Demiurge even existed since it was just a fabled concept, nor did he care if it exists or not.

But Jacob cared about only one thing; he wasn't going to let someone else hold the same position as his in his pet's mind. So, he'll just become the same thing in Brain Hunter's mind to save himself future trouble.

Even if such a being really exists, since the possibility was there, he was pretty sure he won't care about an ant-like Brain Hunter or him. They weren't even a speck of dust in such a being's eyes.

Hearing Jacob's ambiguous yet revolting words, the Brain Hunter remained silent for a while, and Jacob didn't say anything as he knew the Brain Hunter was thinking it through. Jacob's biggest advantage was the Brain Hunter had no memory of what happened before it became Jacob's slave for eternity.

So, in the end, the Brain Hunter nodded, "You are right, no one had ever seen the Demiurge, and since I have such feelings toward you, it means you are the Demiurge for me. So, I have another small request for Demiurge. Do I have your permission to state it?"

Jacob was quite pleased that it turned out so well and nodded, "Call me Sir from now on, not Demiurge. As for your request, speak freely."

"Understood. In this Gnome's memory set, I learned the concept of name, which gives everyone their unique identity and meaning, like this Gnome name was Fredial. So, I want to give myself a name that represents my unique identity, not the name that represents my species as a whole. But only if it's okay with you, Sir. I can't seem to take this action without your permission."

Jacob cocked an eyebrow, 'This is a strange turn of events. Well, it's just a name, and I also can't keep calling it Brain Hunter.'

He then nodded, "Go ahead. You can choose any name you want. I won't have any problem with that. You should indeed have a name which would belong to you."

"Thank you, Sir. The name I chose for myself is Autarch! Which means a ruler who has absolute power, and this is the only name that suits me."

"Autarch?" Jacob looked at the deadpan gnome with astonishment, as this name was really quite oppressive. Still, he nodded in the end, as it mattered little to him, "Alright, you will be Autarch from now on."

"Autarch will forever be loyal to you, Sir!" Brain Hunter or Autarch bowed its head.

"There is no need to do that around me. I have also prepared six more brains for you. Just how many do you need before you can increase your tier further, especially if you want to enter the Extraordinary Rank?" Jacob asked as he hoped to get the answer to this question since Immortika didn't tell him.

Furthermore, Autarch said that the Brain Devourer is the only way for it to evolve further, so Jacob would naturally go with it.

Autarch replied, "Thank you, Sir. Once I devour Fredial, I'll enter a new host, and with my current rank, it would take me about one day to fully digest a Tier-5 Extraordinary being. Then I shall move on to a new target.

"As to increasing my tier, I can only focus on increasing one tier at a time. Meaning I can't raise both physical and magic tiers at the same time as the other begins.

"I can only focus on one at a time. Like if I want to increase my physique tier, then I can't increase my Magic Core Star Tier unless I finish my physique first, and the same goes for the magic core.

"Simply put, if Extraordinary Rank has six tiers, they will convert into 12 tiers for me because I can't evolve both the physical tier and magic core tier at the same time.

"As for entering another higher rank, I need to be at the peak of both physique and magic tiers of that rank like anyone else, as well as I need to complete a special prerequisite which will be revealed once I reach the peak of a rank.

"Right, now, I'm at Rare Tier-6 and have 1-Star Magic Core. The limit of the Rare Rank is nine tiers, and the magic core could grow into 3-Stars. So, I need to cross six more tiers to enter the extraordinary rank, but only after I clear a requirement that I would get to the peak of the rare rank.

"As to evolve up to each tier of the rare rank, physically, I need to devour ten beings of at least one full rank higher than mine, and the count will increase by 10 with each higher tier.

"To evolve my magic core tier, I need to devour 100 beings with the same magic core rank as mine or higher, and the count will be increased by 100 as well with a higher tier.

"The limit of 10 or 100 and their increase will not change even if I devour three or ten ranks higher beings from my current rank, and so was the case for the final requirement, which has to clear before I can enter a new rank!"