In this world it was eat or be eaten. Eithan knew this. He knew that in this world there were the weak and there were the strong, and in this dog-eat-dog world in which he lived the strong always came out on top.
In this world it is better to be strong than to be weak, Eithan thought. If only I wasn''t so weak! If only I was strong instead!
But Eithan was weak. Eithan was fat, slow, and stupid. Eithan was beaten by everyone: by powerful cultivators, by bigger children, by his parents, by cats. The other children at school would make him perform animal imitations, usually the pig. If I ever get the chance to be powerful I''ll take it, Eithan thought. I''ll never get that chance because my cultivation is weak and I am just a humble trash[sic] without a clan or a sect or a master or a lineage or even just plain old superior genetics, but if I ever see a path to power I swear to myself that I will take it.<sup>[1]</sup>
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Eithan thought: after a childhood of humiliation that will soon be an adulthood of humiliation I believe that power is an unalloyed good no matter the cost.
<sup>[1]"It" referring here to power, power that young Eithan lacked, power that young Eithan vowed to pursue at all costs.</sup>