Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Chapter 400: Judgement and Morality

Alex stayed on the side of the carriage with his head drooped down. Just moments prior he had seen the corpses of the men just thrown away into the jungle.

Event the one attacking at the front had a few of themselves killed and they were thrown aside like that as well.

Kill.

He had made up his mind to kill any who could harm him. It was half made by him because he didn't want to reincarnate in the game, and half made because that was what he was told to do by his master.

He had killed 2 people by now. One was a clone, an already dead person that was being used by someone sinister to torture people from his sect.

And his death had been an accident.

The second one was somebody strong that wanted to use his power to have some things of his for himself. He went so far as to even nearly kill him to get the things he wanted.

And his death was something that technically happened as an accident as well.

Were they both bad people? Yes.

Did they deserve to die? Yes.

If he knew where their fate was going, would he have tried to change it? No.

Did he kill them? ... Maybe.

Alex still wasn't sure if the two people he did kill could even be called killing. One was a dead man walking and another was killed by something inside of him.

One could argue that neither of these men was killed by Alex. Even if argued the opposite, Alex was fine with it.

They were bad people and they deserved to die.

Were the bandits bad people who deserved to die? Yes.

"Then why am I feeling so bad?" He asked himself. "Am I feeling sympathy for them? No. I know they are bad people, but then why?"

The caravan moved along. He however still kept thinking back to the bandits that were killed.

"Is it because I now believe they are real people?" He thought.

He had hit the problem on its head. He had come to terms with killing, but that was only in the 'game'. There was no way he was ever going to kill people in real life.

Now that he believed the game to be real life as well, he was having a problem coming to terms with killing people.

Did someone really deserve to die just because they were bad?

Just moments earlier, Alex would've said yes to the question without thinking. But now that he realized what he truly believed regarding this world, his sense of judgement also followed his perception of the world.

If this world was real, then he would use his real-world morality here as well.

Did bad people deserve to die? No.

Then was he wrong in causing the death of the two that he killed?

There came the dilemma once more. He believed they deserve to die. There was not a single sense of guilt he felt for the two that he killed.

Given another chance, he would do the same. This opinion of his hadn't changed despite the fact that he was now aware of his perception of the world.

"Then how come I am okay with killing them, but can't think of myself as capable of killing the bandits? They are all bad people, so shouldn't it be the same for everyone?"

Just as he asked those questions, he realized something.

"Maybe it isn't; Maybe it doesn't have to. Why should I treat someone that treated me wrong on the same level as someone that treats other people wrong, but has never interacted with me?"

"It's natural that I hold contempt for people that have wronged me on a much personal level than the ones who did me no wrong."

"I don't have to feel bad about not killing bad people. At the same time, I don't have to feel bad about them dying as well."

"If I kill those who I think are bad, but then feel bad when others kill who they think are bad, then aren't I just a hypocrite?" He thought.

He then thought of something.

"Just because it's a real-world, should I bring my judgements based on another world? I felt bad because they were real. But that doesn't mean they didn't deserve it."

"People who do bad get killed in this world, that is the rule of this world. People who do bad get put in prison, that is the rule of my real world."

"Both of them are right in their own ways. I shouldn't let my morality that was set in another world askew my sense of judgement in another."

"If I feel like they deserve death at my hand, I'll kill them. If I feel like they don't, then I will do what I think is right at that time."

He finally looked up with a resolute face like a man who had overcome his inner demons. He would no longer be swayed into thinking one way or another based on what other people thought.

He had his own sense of morality and judgement and would act based on that. That way, he wouldn't be guilty of anything he did.

"Bandits!!" People screamed once more. Alex walked out leisurely. There were people protecting the front of the caravan, so he only had to stay around for the back.

Bandits came once again and he fought them again. These bandits were much weaker than the ones before.

So, he easily defeated them. Then, he did what his judgement told him to do.

Bring the bad people to the good people who had their own sense of judgement.

When the woman in red saw that he was dragging the beaten up bandits towards her, she frowned.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I don't feel strongly about them enough to do the killing. so you do it," he said and left them there before walking away.

He could hear the bandits being cut to pieces but felt nothing in his heart whatsoever.

He would no longer let the world tamper with his sense of morality. He would refine it on his own.