After hearing Cubic’s answer, all the sentient beings on the boat were stunned.
Even Lobal and Speedy, who had transformed into wind and concealed themselves beside the Gondola, were taken aback by this answer.
It’s not that the answer was shocking; the answer itself was nothing, really. What surprised them was what the answer implied.
According to Cubic, Kamil’s true body is identical to it, just much larger.
—In other words, Kamil’s true body is also a flying pig.
This was quite intriguing. While elemental creatures often exhibit "shape collisions," and even different elemental attributes have similar shapes, there isn’t a case where they look exactly the same.
"Is there really such a thing as identical elemental creatures in this world?" Dangross murmured.
"No," both Angel and the tail head of Lobal shook their heads simultaneously.
One must know, even humans with fundamentally similar features can’t find identical existences, let alone elemental creatures with vastly different morphologies.
Yet Cubic stated firmly that they were "identical except for scale," which raised some speculation in everyone’s hearts.
Dangross: "Since identical elemental creatures don’t exist, this is a bit strange. Could it be a coincidence?"
Angel shook his head silently in his heart, definitely not a coincidence. Based on some behaviors of the wise Kamil, he actually had a little idea, but he didn’t speak up and instead looked beyond the Gondola.
"Lobal," Angel called softly.
As his voice fell, a tri-headed lionhound slowly emerged from the wind.
"Master," three overlapping buzzing voices emitted simultaneously from the three heads.
Angel could sense that the tones of the voices from Lobal’s three heads varied: the main head’s tone, though respectful, was clearly somewhat impatient; the vice head’s tone was relatively more moderate, but the feeling of "reluctance" still lingered; only the tail head’s tone was truly calm, with reverence as well as alienation.
Angel was aware of the three personalities of Lobal. Even though the main and vice heads’ tones were impatient, he didn’t care much.
In Angel’s eyes, the main and vice heads held almost no value.
Though he called for Lobal, he was actually referring to the tail head.
Thus, Angel’s gaze directly skipped over the main and vice heads, landing on the calm and expressionless tail head. This blatant disregard made the main and vice heads’ hearts rise with thoughts, with the main head furious, but this anger was merely powerless rage; the vice head, seemingly coming to some realization, did not grow angry but gradually calmed down.
Regarding the emotional fluctuations of the main and vice heads, Angel paid no heed and didn’t focus on them, concentrating all his attention on the tail head: "Do you have any thoughts on the true body of the wise Kamil?"
It was said, even by Kamil, that the tail head of Lobal had the demeanor of a sage, so Angel was keen to know what thoughts the tail head, considered a quasi-sage by those around, had on this.
Faced with Angel’s question, the tail head did not challenge the restrictive power of Dingyuan’s oath but calmly expressed its thoughts.
"There are no completely similar creatures in this world, and even if there were, they likely wouldn’t originate from the same place. Therefore, the situation where Lord Kamil and Cubic not only resemble each other but also meet and grow up being adopted, from my perspective, is no coincidence."
Angel: "If it’s not a coincidence, what do you think might be the inner workings?"
The tail head’s answer was always straightforward, making it understandable to Dangross and Cubic, and they vaguely agreed. When hearing Angel’s second question, they were very interested, perking their ears to hear how the tail head would respond.
The tail head hesitated for two seconds before speaking: "As for what the inner workings are, I don’t know. But, deducing from the premise ’there are no two completely similar elemental creatures in this world,’ the most likely scenario is that what Cubic saw as the so-called true body was actually given to it by Lord Kamil intentionally."
Cubic: "You’re saying Lord Kamil’s true body is not the same as mine, and what I saw was actually fake."
The tail head nodded: "Yes, only in this way can the reason why you two are exactly alike be explained, because one of you is fake."
Cubic and Dangross both followed the tail head’s words, thinking carefully it really seemed possible.
However, after hearing the tail head’s words, Angel wasn’t too concerned about its conclusion but noted the premise it made: the deduction based on a conventional assumption.
But what if this conventional assumption is not the truth?
The reason Angel thought this way was that there were many logical inconsistencies according to the tail head’s statement. For example, does Kamil really need to hide his true body from Cubic? Even if he really wanted to conceal his true body, why create an illusion that looks exactly like Cubic?
One should understand that the underlying logic of concealment is to clear all "special" connections pointing to oneself. Yet creating a true body completely identical to Cubic, if discovered by other creatures, not only fails to dispel doubts but attracts more attention to the concealed truth. This is neither concealment but deliberate misguidance, or thinking deeper, diversion of attention.
But then again, it doesn’t make sense, what is being induced? Whose attention is being diverted? At least so far, no opposing existence has been found.
So the original guess must be returned: Kamil indeed has no other intentions but purely wants to conceal his true body.
Angel once again looked towards the tail head: "Then, if not deduced based on conventional thinking, do you have any other thoughts?"
Tail head: "If not using conventional thinking, then one must admit a subtle fact, that Lord Kamil and Cubic are indeed identical."
Angel: "On this premise, what judgment would you make?"
The tail head shook its head: "I cannot judge. If they indeed look identical, all I can say is, there might be some special connection between Lord Kamil and Cubic."
Dangross and Cubic didn’t quite understand the tail head’s response, but they didn’t dwell on it as this notion sounded implausible. Since it’s stated that no completely identical elemental creatures exist, assuming this premise is baseless.
However, after hearing this, Angel nodded secretly. Compared to the first deduction result, he actually thought the second ambiguous result might be the truth.
The tail head didn’t explicitly state what special relationship Kamil and Cubic might have, but the possibilities are nothing outside a few.
Kinship. This possibility is very small; even blood relatives can’t be completely identical. Not to mention, elemental creatures don’t have the concept of blood relatives.
Avatar. This possibility is relatively high, as if they look identical, only avatars make sense.
But if it really is an avatar, Kamil should be the main body, able to control every action of the avatar; yet Cubic doesn’t seem to be under Kamil’s control, otherwise, it wouldn’t have secretly divulged Kamil’s true body.
Unless Cubic was lying.
But Angel had done a psychological profile on Cubic, and in his view, Cubic was not lying; moreover, Cubic was completely unaware that he was Kamil’s avatar.
This situation was very subtle. Angel thought of many possibilities, and the only logic that seemed cohesive was: Cubic might indeed be a type of avatar, and the main body was Kamil; only, this avatar encountered some accident, resulting in Cubic having an independent consciousness.
Only this way could many things make sense. But if this were true, Angel could only say that Kamil was truly big-hearted. There is a certain subtle connection between avatars and the main body; some powerful beings can even use the avatar to curse the main body. Kamil’s avatar developed consciousness, and not only did it not eliminate it, it leisurely raised it, which was a bit bizarre.