This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange-Chapter 640: The Only Answer

Kain stood in silence, arms folded across his chest in thought, the sun pressing down like a gentle but persistent hand on his shoulder.

The seeds waited. The question hung above, unmoving. The grass barely swayed.

There was no countdown. No time limit. No guiding voice telling him what to do next.

Just… choose.

But how?

Kain exhaled through his nose and walked toward the first pedestal again—Unity—and stared at the seed.

He let his mind wander back to what he'd seen of the last days on Earth.

He thought back to the leaderless Earth where those at the top seemingly fled and hid when things reached their worst. How the top 1% of people seemingly hoarded 99% of the resources when shit hit the fan and a adopted an 'everyone for themselves' mentality.

The nations had been very fractured until the very end… if misinformation hadn't spread faster than truth… if they had listened to each other instead of shouting…been a little more selfless…

"…Might've worked," Kain muttered.

But as his fingers hovered above the seed, he hesitated.

Could unity alone have resisted something like the Abyss?

He moved to the next pedestal—Magic.

Kain's brow furrowed.

Magic, or rather 'spiritual power', had always existed in his current world. But Earth? It was exclusively in fairy tales and fictional stories. No one who could manipulate energy with a thought or command beasts through contracts.

Unfortunately, the Abyss was like something out of a fictional book.

If humanity had access to a magical means of defending itself, would it have been enough?

"Could've evened the odds at least," he said, stepping back again.

He moved on.

Scientific Innovation.

Kain ran a hand along the base of the pedestal.

This one was the most… Kain-esque. The option that fit his tastes the most.

The scientists on Earth were brilliant. They always had been. But bureaucracy slowed them down. Funding cut progress short. The fear of public backlash kept ideas buried. And in the end, even the best minds had been overwhelmed by how fast the Abyss adapted.

What if they'd been given free rein? If humanity had embraced risk? Created nanoweapons, new vaccines, and genetic modifications to humans?

Even in his current world, depending on their affinity, the contracts of a 9-star beast tamer may not have as much destructive potential and deterring power as a threat when compared to the atomic bomb…

Not to mention the destructive potential of genetically modified super viruses and bacteria that Kain had only heard about…

God knows what kind of technological innovation humans might have made if allowed to run amok…

Kain understood the fear of unchecked scientific innovation, but when faced with an alien threat, desperate times called for desperate measures…

Next, Weaponry.

Similar to scientific innovation, but perhaps more focused on an increase in the number and strength of the weapons humans currently had, rather than trying to create new ones.

Give humans more and better weapons, and maybe they could've stood their ground.

But this was the option Kain was the least convinced by.

The news clipping Kain saw in the museum showed that the effects of the Abyss hadn't just been physical. It tore through the mind. The soul. There were reports of hallucinations, of people turning on their families, of madness that spread faster than the actual infection.

Could weapons stop that?

Weapons, at least the same ones they already had access to, maybe would have helped prolong the fight, but wouldn't have brought decisive victory.

Finally, he approached Faith.

Kain's steps slowed.

He hadn't been religious. Not even spiritual. He'd lived pragmatically, scientifically, even cynically at times. But even he remembered the shift in people's faces once they gave up hope.

That thousand-yard stare as they worked a dead-end job that seemed to suggest that they'd stopped livingalthough they were alive.

Kain cold tell that the loss of hope during the Abyssal invasion was probably only worse. He had seen it in the photos. The broadcasts. The silence in the eyes of survivors—as if stripped of anything left to fight for.

"…Loss of hope might've been the first real major casualty," Kain murmured.

Then reached out and lifted the Unity seed from its pedestal.

It came free easily. Warm in his hand. Surprisingly heavy.

Kain turned it over in his palm, frowning. He stood there, half-expecting the sky to open or a trap to spring or some final test to begin.

Nothing happened.

The world remained still.

He looked toward the patch of soil. Of course. It wasn't enough to lift up a seed.

He had to plant it.

That was the moment it would become real. When it would count.

Kain hesitated.

His eyes swept the other seeds again, mind racing.

It never said he had to pick only one.

A sudden suspicion tugged at his mind.

Was it a trick question?

He walked over to the Magic pedestal and tried to lift the second seed.

It didn't budge.

Kain grunted, gripping harder. Still nothing.

He stepped back in disappointment and placed the Unity seed on its original pedestal. The moment it clicked into place, the Magic seed loosened. He tested it—lifted it up with ease.

"Tch…"

He repeated the process with a few others. All behaved the same way. Only one seed could be removed at a time. If even one was missing from its place, the rest were locked.

He looked back at the central soil.

The size of the patch struck him now.

It wasn't small, but it wasn't generous either. A perfect circle. Just wide enough for one strong plant to flourish—but too tight to host multiple without them competing for root space.

Deliberate.

He scowled.

"Of course it's designed that way…"

Only one answer would be accepted.

But before Kain could settle on what that one best answer would be—

Click.

The white door behind him creaked open.

Kain turned.

A female figure stood in the doorway, figure unclear due to the backlight of the museum putting her face in shadow.

Kain narrowed his eyes.