Leo didn’t believe a single word of that evolution theory crap. He was sure Michael was using this ridiculous nonsense to call him a monkey brain.
If tiny organisms can’t be seen with the naked eye, how the hell could Michael see them? And even if a genie’s eyes could see them, what do those tiny little things have to do with humans? What, an ant’s gonna turn into an elephant?
"The f*ck are you barking about? That stupid theory wouldn’t even fool a kid. Don’t think you can fool me."
Since Michael compared Leo’s intelligence to a monkey’s, Leo wasn’t afraid to cuss him out right to his face. Being teammates doesn’t mean you get to insult him like that.
???
Michael’s brain felt like ten thousand horses just stampeded through it and trampled him. This ignorant dumbass just called the theory of evolution stupid? Holy shit, stupidity really is the most dangerous disease.
"You’re the f*cking idiot. If you don’t have any knowledge, then try to learn something new. Don’t sit there with your little well-frog mindset, saying the tiny circle above your head is the whole sky.
It’s not like you can prove the opposite anyway since the only history you know is just a few thousand years old. Evolution is a process that takes millions of years."
Michael didn’t know how else to say it. Evolution theory might not be perfect, but evolution itself is definitely real. But he didn’t know how to explain it and never really thought about explaining it either.
"You..."
Leo had no comeback. Michael was talking about stuff from millions of years ago. So how could he prove anything when he didn’t even know what happened ten thousand years ago?
"But you got one thing right. The reason history is only a few thousand years old is simply because humans before that didn’t have writing to record anything."
Michael wanted to use this to find a way to knock the nobles down a peg and make them closer to commoners.
"But what does that have to do with nobles originally being commoners?"
Leo obviously understood what Michael had been trying to say to him this whole time. But he felt like those words and that goal had nothing to do with each other.
Normally he’s pretty smart, so why does his IQ drop like a rock whenever nobles are mentioned? Looking at Leo’s clueless, confused face right now gave Michael a huge headache. Is someone this dumb really supposed to be king of the whole world?
"You’ve met plenty of nobles, so do they know how to read or not?"
Even though this question was a bit of a concept swap, Michael needed Leo to start doubting himself, so it was fine.
"Of course they know..."
But then Leo suddenly stopped. Thousands of years ago, people didn’t know how to read. And every noble he’d ever met could read. So did that mean the ancestors of nobles back then were actually commoners too, illiterate farmers?
No way. Leo still didn’t believe it or maybe he just didn’t want to. He had to find some kind of answer to deny this ’wrong’ idea.
"Finally admitting it? I told you you were too rigid. Gotta think more flexibly if you want to do something unprecedented."
Michael grinned smugly and patted Leo on the shoulder. He was sure that after saying all this, Leo wouldn’t have any way to argue back.
"Hmph, back then it must have been a beautiful world with only commoners. The nobles definitely came from somewhere else later to oppress the people."
"Huh???"
Michael was so thrown off by this completely illogical statement that he fell flat on his back. He gave up. He surrendered. He didn’t give a shit about this anymore. If failure was guaranteed, then just let it happen.
He lay sprawled on the ground, his eyes blank and completely hopeless. At this point he felt like crying. He wanted a transfer. He wanted to go somewhere else. He didn’t want to look at this stubborn, ignorant fool anymore.
"But... this is a different world, so I can’t use my old way of thinking. Raphael is a noble, sure. But he’s been genuinely kind for a long time, not just for a few moments.
So you don’t have to be afraid I’ll kill every noble I meet. Before I judge the nobles in this world, I should still travel around a lot and see how they behave."
???
Who’s afraid you’ll kill nobles? Nobles in this world are so strong that the only scenario is Leo walking straight to his own death. But Michael never would have guessed that all these years, Raphael actually did him a huge favor like this.
Michael immediately hugged Leo, tears of joy streaming down his face. Leo not actively seeking his own death right from the start was already a huge win.
’Raphael, thank you. Thank your whole family line of ancestors too. Without you, this blockhead would still be a blockhead.’
Inside, he felt as happy as flowers blooming in spring. He thought there was no hope left, but this situation meant he could still keep trying.
"What the hell are you doing? Get off me."
Leo grabbed Michael’s face and pushed him away. With his superior strength, of course, one shove sent Michael tumbling to the ground.
"Ha ha ha, let’s go see Raphael now. I want to check on him."
Even though his ass hurt a bit from the fall, Michael still burst out laughing. After talking with Leo for so long, finally he seemed to have softened up just a little.
Now he wanted to awaken, and there was no better help here than Raphael. Raphael’s knowledge about contractors was definitely top-tier in the world, so he’d be able to help easily.
[Did you forget what I said? You have to be twelve years old to awaken, you know.]
The system felt like Michael actually forgot the basic rules of this world, so it spoke up to remind him.
’Hmph, I’m well over that age. That weird power is definitely based on the soul to determine things, not physical age. If we’re talking physical age, then right now my body is zero years old.’
Even without any proof, Michael was pretty sure his thinking here wasn’t wrong.