《Eternal Sa?sāra: The Wanderer of Worlds》
[1] Regular at the Wheel of Reincarnation
[1] Regr at the Wheel of Reincarnation
Chapter 1: Regr at the Wheel of Reincarnation
There are three ways to kill a reincarnator.
Supposedly.
Given that I have been reborn once again, I am unsure how much of that im is true.
[The Order of the Crimson Abyss], the faction that bested me this time around, took pride in their knowledge of these three methods. Considering they did possess the ability to put me down once and for all, I feared it was the end when I was about to lose my life.
Yet, of course, this great venerable one has outwitted death once more. Throughout all of heaven and earth, who dares to try and kill me?
"..."
Perhaps I should learn to change my internal monologues pattern a bit, since it may be unfit for the modern world I was reborn into. Which in itself was pretty exciting. Which in itself was pretty damn exciting.
Anyhow, back to the point. There are three ways to kill a reincarnator such as myself.
First, the most obvious one. To Soul-Kill them. As in, to destroy the soulpletely.
The Order had tried that as I was just about to pass away, but it clearly hadn''t worked. Whatever technique they used to try and destroy my soul, it was far too weak to erase me.
Second, to destroy all their memories. Not the ones stored in their brain, but their soul. So if the soul kill process fails, the target won''t have any memories or sense of self left to know that they''re a reincarnator.
There was a clear drawback to this path, as the reincarnator wasn''t technically dead, and would continue reincarnating. Though some philosophers argued that without the memory, the reincarnator would just be a different person altogether? In that sense, this method made sense.
Third, third I don''t remember?
I paled. What? Dammit.
Despite my arrogance, it seems the Order''s second tactic worked to a certain degree, enough that I don''t remember the third method they used. Yes, the Order had tried all three of their methods on me, they truly wanted me dead, and two of them may just have worked.
The process of the three ways was actually done in reverse, I recall that much. First they defeated me with an overwhelming number of Cultivators and Sorcerors alike, and then they tried the third method on me. Then they used their second, to erase my memories. Then,stly, they tried to erase my soul, which caused me to spring into another reincarnation.
Though perhaps I received more damage than I believed I did. No, it wasnt just two of those tactics that worked, all three did C though seemingly not entirely as they intended, given I was still breathing.
It seems I have lived quite a number of incarnations after dying in the Orders hands without the presence of my memories. Only in this life did I regain my true senses. It was a pity, but I told myself everything turned out fine. I did survive, which makes everything else a minor inconvenience.
Its not good, though. I admit I am a little crazy in my head, living life so many times, making families, only to lose them again, building empires only for them to copse whilst I wont ever know about them again. Life is tedious when you live like this, your sanity begins to warp to keep you interested in living. To not justmit suicide.
All right, let''s wrap this up. Lets see how much I remember.
In the beginning, I was a normal human in a normal world where no such thing as mana, chi, chakra, or any other supernatural energy existed. Needless to say, no kind of superpowers existed either. I died at a pretty early age in that world, barely out of my teens, at the tip of the broken bottle of my drunkard of a father, when I tried to stop him from barging into my sister''s room. Quite the noble death in my opinion, and perhaps decided by God or whoever else was touched by that, or maybe just by pure luck, I reincarnated in some kind of medieval fantasy world.
I lived the typical Isekai life there. Killed the demon king, bedded pretty girls, you know the usual. Then, I was stabbed in my sleep by one of my girls. She was the daughter of thete demon king, and she''d been waiting to take revenge for her father for decades. I spent decades with her, and yet she killed me. Demon bitches are scary.
Id still stick though.
After that, I was reincarnated again. Sadly, it seems the Memory Erasure technique from the Order had mostly erased memories of my 3rd life, I only remember the outline of it. Dammit. Anyhow, I remember bits and pieces that it was a rare world with no mana, and it was the 12th century.
The funniest part is that I was reborn as Genghis fucking Khan. Despite theck of natural magic energy in the world, I possessed a few magical arts that allowed me to use my life energy, or others'' if I sacrificed them through the use of blood rituals, tomand magic. Funnily enough, it was a technique I learned from the same demon wife of mine who had murdered me.
ording to my leftover memories I took over at least half of Asia and was sure to go down the pages of history as a legend, just like the original Genghis Khan. Though sometimes I do wonder if the Genghis Khan in my first life was actually just me. Anyhow, I am side-tracking.
Right after that, another few nk spots in my head. However, for whatever it counted, I did remember my 9th reincarnation clearly. It was the one where I was killed by the Order. It was also my longest life. I was reborn in a wuxia cultivation world, with flying swords and arrogant young masters, with power scales touching the heavens, etcetera you get the deal. Though the cultivars were also called martial artists as per usual.
The Order that I speak of is an organization spanning the multiverse. Though there is most likely arger verse, an Omniverse maybe, beyond us.
As one would expect from a multiversal organization who hunted me down, I myself was a multiversal deity. I was not a God in the usual sense, no faith and divinity bullshit, but I was indeed an ultra-powerful entity whos so great that he could go against any celestial being from other worlds.
That was it, that''s where my memories end. It wasn''t as "whole" as I would have liked it to be but I can live with that. Whatever memory erasure technique they used, it was quite effective and managed to erase most of my memories of those past lives. Which was all I needed to confirm to let out a massive groan.
"Uaaua-"
"..."
When I realized all that came out of my mouth was a gibberish baby cry, I quickly stopped. Dammit, I always hate this part of my life. So defenseless, so weak. So pathetic. Being an infant wasnt a fun job.
All right, enough crying. Not that I have cried at all, mind you. I''m a reincarnator, and as long as I live, all memories can be retrieved over time. Besides, I do have a lot of important memories anyway, spell books, martial arts and stuff. It would take some years, perhaps decades, but that''s such a small time for my eternal self, and I am confident in healing all of my memories.
Instead, this was a good ce for spending a few decades. I''ve been reincarnated in a modern world, I can see therge TV in this room, just beside the other baby casket beside mine. This was my 10th world, and it was my first modern world since my first life. Oh, and I have decided to call it my 10th since the uncountable reincarnations after I met the order dont have any memories-
I suddenly stopped.
"Huah?"
A confused baby sound came out of my lips. No, there is a new set oftest memories that I have ess to. It wasn''t very exceptional, so I didn''t notice at first, also since I hadnt regained my true consciousness in that life. Still, I did well. In the life right before this, I was a doctor.
As expected of this great venerable that is I- hm, I need to learn to stop. This is a modern world; this type of speech will be seen as a clowns philosophy.
Gorou Amamiya, that''s who I was in myst life. My 10th life; looks like I have to consider my current one my 11th. In my 10th life, I was a doctor in my early 30s who oh, damn, that''s an interesting death for a modern world. I was murdered, that too on the day when I was supposed to deliver the children of a famous idol. The recent memories before this death are filled with quite the emotions,pared to the rest of that entire life.
I was Japanese then, by the way. This room too had signs of belonging to a Japanese person. What are the odds that I''d reincarnate in a modern world twice in a row, being my first modern world since my first death, while also being in Japan both times?
Fun.
I yawned, my baby body not siding with me as tiredness took over and I decided to take a nap. I would enjoy this life. Maybe.
* * *
Aquamarine. That was my name now. If that hadn''t rung any bell in my ex-anime addict self, the next scenarios fell into an unsolved puzzle perfectly.
This was interesting. Nothing like this had ever happened before.
It''s been a few months since I woke up in this world, and I had realized some key things. This world that I was currently in, was the same world where Gorou Amamiya died. What''s wrong with that? It meant I have been reincarnated in the same exact world twice. That was a new and odd development.
The weirdest part was that this was a world I knew of. This was a world based on an anime. I knew that because my memories have grown sharp over the years, and while I couldnt recall everything, I could recall most. There were characters of a particr anime all over this ce, and over time I had no choice but to ept that Id been reborn in a world that I previously thought was fictional.
Well, the multiverse existed, so the chance that the multiverse theory is real isn''t weird.
Aftering to terms with that, the first thing I did was search for my name on the, the original name that I had in my very first life. I did some research, and sadly I didn''t even exist in this world which only further confirmed that this wasn''t the same earth as my first life and truly an anime world.
Perhaps that exined why there was quite a load of mana in the air because this was a fictional world, where maybe Gods existed too if my memories werent betraying me.
Back to the situation at hand, I slowly looked ahead.
"Say ahh."
"Ahh."
I ate my porridge with a spoon while observing the pretty purple-haired little girl feeding another blonde-haired little girl. Though I say little girl, there is arge contrast between the twos ages. The first is 16, and the second is a toddler.
Ai Hoshino and Ruby Hoshino. My mother and my twin sister. Don''t ask, why in hell''s name is your mother 16?
Honestly, I wasn''t really surprised, having lived in a cultivation world for so long. People there did so much worse, this was nothingpared to that.
The most interesting part is; this 16-year-old is the exact girl that Doctor Gorou Amamiya C my previous incarnation C was supposed to deliver the children of. I have been reborn as my own patient''s son, whom my previous incarnation had also been a big fan of.
What a mess.
Japan was crazy for things like this; I used to like the culture back when I was still a youngling, but over time I realized the harsh truth. In my current situation, that truth just hit home.
"Aqua,"
Suddenly, Ai Hoshino turned to look at me, who hadn''t been eating for a while.
"What''s wrong? Do you want me to feed you too?"
I was once again reminded that my new name is Aquamarine Hoshino. Dammit.
I, the great immortal venerable, feared by stars and nebs, was now called Aqua. It hurt, but I had made a promise to myself in one of my earlier incarnations that I won''t change my parents given name ever. Unless it was too silly, like Dick Gayson.
Unwilling to cause her trouble, I just shook my little head, lifted a spoon, and ate.
"Aww,"
Ai smiled at me.
"I''m still surprised how you can do that at this age. My little genius. Must be gics, huh?"
I just ignored her adoration and the jealous re of the other toddler.
That toddler girl was my twin. That kid was a weird one too, she was a reincarnator herself, except not a celestial being such as I. From what my memories say and what I have observed in the past few months, she''s an in-world reincarnator, someone who was a normal human in her past life.
Some God had gifted her a second chance, unlike my limitless reincarnation powers, and this was likely herst chance. Still, it was very fun to have a fellow reincarnator, even though I have yet to introduce myself to her. She was honestly bothersome.
Even if I knew who she was; she was a girl who died at my hospital in myst life, due to cancer. We were close, and I recall myst incarnation had fallen into depression due to her death. That was odd for a doctor who had seen so many people die, so it went far to say how much my previous incarnation liked her.
That part of me, and the true part of me that had watched this anime in the past, felt happy seeing her alive again. Thanks to the God who caused her reincarnation, she was getting to live her dream.
"Though really, Gods"
"Hm? Did you say something, Aqua?"
Oh shit. Indeed, even a mortal such as her can notice my transcendent intelligence sometimes, so I ought to be more careful about what I say.
I quickly made baby sounds and titled my head; I had identally spoken out loud. After Ai just smiled at me, ruffled my hair, and went back to feed my sister, I frowned.
Gods. Gods were a thing in this world. I hadn''t managed to roam the inte that much, but I was fairly sure from the bits I saw, along with Gorou''s set of memories, that the existence of Gods or other supernaturals was as vague as in a normal world.
However, Gods did exist. I knew that from the somewhat blurry memory of the manga I had read. That meant I had to grow stronger, living in a modern world was going to be fun after so long, but that didn''t mean I nned to die a mortal.
I am [Monarch of the Brightest Night], the supreme overlord of stars who never bowed to Gods and even heaven itself, after all.
The air was rich with ambient energy, and that meant I could grow. There wererge gaps in my memories, but countless of my techniques and martial arts were unharmed. So, there shouldn''t be any issue to be the God King of this modern world.
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| Master4thWall - Author Note |
I know I shouldn''t be adding more to the ever-growing stories, but I just couldn''t hold back the urge this time. Chapters are 2.5~3k words long, so enjoy!
[2] A New Life; The Best Path
[2] A New Life; The Best Path
Chapter 2: A New Life; The Best Path
[Third Person Point of View C General]
Ai Hoshino was an incredible talent; she personally was aware of that. She was a very good liar, which made her a very sessful idol.
Yet, being a teenager, its not very unexpected that she would get into scandals. It was unfortunate that this particr scandal was particrly disastrous. Pregnancy.
From a foreigner''s perspective, Japans concept of Idols would be considered disgusting and filthy.
They are supposed to be pure, innocent, virgins. That was a stupid thing to expect from a popr figure, yet their fans couldnt help but fantasize about that delusion.
So it was troublesome that she got pregnant. Luckily, everything ended up well in the end, even if the doctor she had hoped the delivery would proceed by, had gone missing on the exact day. Everything ended up well though, and she gave birth to twins, one boy, and one girl. Both of them were super geniuses.
It had been a year since then. Naturally, Ai had remained away from the publics eye at this time, and the fire of her fame had died out a lot. She hadnt been active for that long, after all, even if the bit of time she was active was super-hit.
As of today, the Idol Ai will make hereback!
A greenish-blonde-haired man said, grinning as he pointed his finger at the board behind him. It was filled with writings, and ns for Ai to return to the market.
As if startled by his loud voice, the little infant girl began to cry. The room was a studio and upied by five people, amongst whom were two little babies. Ai sat on a sofa, with her two children in her arms. She stared at the man who just spoke, Ichigo Saitou, the director of Strawberry Productions, thepany for which Ai worked.
Beside him, a strawberry-blonde-haired woman stood, helping with the board. She was his wife, Miyako Saitou.
Seeing the little girl cry, Ai leaned toward her face with a worried look. Aww, whats wrong Aqua?
That ones Ruby. The director paused and gave her a look, looking stunned. Are you sure you are their mother?
Oh, sorry, I am bad with names. Ai apologized, ignoring the director and nudging her nose with Ruby, who stopped her crying. Now go on, director, continue.
The director sighed, while his wife shook her head, as Aquamarine Hoshino just observed the scenario in silence.
* * *
[First Person Point of View C Aqua]
I have to admit; my mother isnt quite suitable to be a mother. It made sense, given she was just sixteen, and I didnt really me her for anything C other than being reckless and getting pregnant at this age.
Ai had no idea on how to handle us kids outside her home. She wanted to bring us to her work, to the park, but obviously, that would be a disaster. The director agreed to none of those requests. It was already bad that she had two kids, but it would only be worse if this became public news. Thanks to Japan''s stupid idol policy, she had to keep a low profile and pretend to be single for the public.
If any emergencyes, well take care of them. Don''t worry, you can leave them at home, I''ll leave Miyako here to babysit them. That was what the director agreed atst.
His wife had tried to protest but was shut down promptly. Miyako was a woman in her early 20s, she got married to the director and obviously envisioned a bright future, so the idea of babysitting didn''t fit well with her.
After that, Ai left with the director, leaving us with Miyako. My twin sister seemed to want to bother the woman for fun, while I returned to my room for more useful work.
Naturally, I''ve been [Cycling] since I was born. I didn''t like how weak I was, and the fastest way to ovee that was to help my body with the ambient energy in the air. It''s not that big of a deal, but my mind is much clearer even in this baby brain, and my body is stronger than normal, close to a five-year-old.
As someone of my power and experience, I have seen countless martial art techniques and even power systems. On one, some may use Qi in one way, while on another they may train in these arts in apletely different manner. I''ve used my vast knowledge, at least the ones remaining, to choose which of those systems I''ll be following.
This power system has 10 stages. With the start being [Foundation] level, where I am at right now. This is how ranking follows:
[Foundation]
[Copper]
[Iron]
[Jade]
[Gold]
The five other stages after this are each groundbreaking, so I''ll leave them be for now. I chose this particr path because it is strong, and also versatile enough that it''d allow me to use my knowledge from my isekai world into y.
Cycling for babies who haven''t even turned one-year-old is dangerous, and I''m only doing this because the foundation stage is rtively safe. However, this particr system allows fast growth from a young age, so after I turn one-year-old, I should be able to train more actively instead of what I am doing right now.
I am not using any Cycling Techniques yet. Oh, Cycling Techniques are known as breathing techniques inyman''s terms. It will help me absorb the natural energy faster, but as I said, I am a baby it can be dangerous for my future growth. So, what I did is to run around, make my body tired, and fall asleep. My body naturally recovers the energy in my sleep and absorbs the ambient energy in the air.
Normally, that won''t happen. After all, if you could absorb the energy in the air just by sleeping, wouldn''t everyone be a top-tier martial artist? That''s the exact thought I had in the distant past, and so taught my body a simple Cycling Technique that works even when I sleep. I can control the rate I absorb, and since I''m sleeping sending my body in a state of recovery there isn''t any danger.
So, I strolled over to my casket and stood up near it. I grabbed the border of the thing, which was a bit too tall for me, and pulled my body upwards.
I did a pull-up.
Then I did another, another, and then another. Just when I was about to do another, the door burst open.
"Hey, Aqua~e y with your sister, I am bu-"
That Miyako woman walked inside with my twin sister in her arms. They both paused, their eyes looking at me as I was performing pull-ups.
I reacted fast and struggled. No need to worry about it, they caught me midway, and they didn''t see me perform a rep. So I just had to pull myself into the casket, which I did, and then dropped in the bed, closing my eyes and pretending as if it was always my goal toe here and sleep.
"Oh,"
The woman muttered something, closing the door and walking away.
"I almost thought haah, no way, am I going crazy?"
Filthy wench, how dare she interrupt my training arc? I made a mental note to punish her for her audacity, before quickly shaking the thoughts off.
No, nope, this wasn''t the wuxia world of crazy young masters and arrogant lords, I ought to be a bit more benevolent than usual.
* * *
It has finally been a year since I was born in this world. Yesterday was my and my twin''s birthday and it was bothersome. Too loud and too much cake on my face.
However, as the cake tasted good, I decided to forgive them. I enjoyed the day after that and waited until the next day came.
Today Ai, my mother, has a concert, so I will have some time to improve.
It still felt weird calling her my mother, both because of her age and because I haven''t considered anyone as my "mom" since my first death, and it wouldn''t change this time either. The longer time goes, the harder it bes to consider anyone as my family. I did have a few whom I had called brothers and sisters due to sharing the same sect or masters, though there were only a few throughout my lifetime whom I truly counted that way, enough to set it on stone with a cup of sake, but even my masters have never touched the status of my parents.
It seems my twin, Ruby, is going to attend the concert. Ai wouldn''t know since Miyako will be taking Ruby secretly.
Ruby is weird, she''s a creepy fan of Ai. It hasn''t changed even after she''s been reborn as Ai''s daughter. She wasn''t a bad girl, so it''s fine.
A few months earlier, Miyako seemed to endure enough babysitting and had almost given into her dark impulsive thoughts. She wanted to sell the information that Ai has kids to bag some big cash. At that moment, I was deciding if I should kill her with my toy knife or not, but Ruby intervened before that and pretended to be some Shinto God to scare the older woman. Since then, she''s been basically worshiping Ruby, while I continued pretending to be clueless.
It would be too bothersome if that little girl knew I was a reincarnator too, she was so annoying as it is. It maye out someday since I wasn''t exactly a stranger to her, I am the same doctor Gorou who had a special ce for Ruby''s previous incarnation, after all, but not today. This wasn''t the time.
If I was going to take this life seriously, I instead needed to get stronger first. Ai will die soon, my vague memories didn''t tell me exactly in what year, but I am sure it''d happen when I would still be a kid. So, I have to get strong enough to protect her.
It''s true I didn''t consider her as my mother, but I have promised myself in the past to be indebted to all who bore me for 9 months. Besides, the Gorou part of myself would just feel shitty stopping it while he could.
So, after Ai left, with Miyako and Ruby soon following, I got to work. I had the whole house to myself, and since I was finally one-year-old, it was time I made work.
It was time to reach [Copper] level.
I sat down on a carpet, crossed-legged and took a long breath in. My body shuddered and I let my breath out.
Now, this was the time I had to choose which Cycling Technique I''d choose, the Path I would choose.
In the world I was born in, it didn''t run on these Paths or even the same power system, I only learned of this after I ascended and got to know about the other worlds in that universe. In that entire universe, this power system is the greatest.
The concept of these [Paths] in my head has always been that of a Skill Tree. There are all sorts of paths, and choosing one would give me skills from that path over time. Though the thing for normal people is that, they can only learn one path, otherwise their bodies and souls would crumble. I never had that issue with my soul, and I could also make my body strong too, so I could always learn more than one path after reaching a threshold with the path I''m currently on.
Still, the primary path that I choose will be useful when I''m still weak. These paths run on Qi, and thankfully the ambient energy in the air of this world is bare it doesn''t have any specific quality of Mana, Chakra, or Qi by default so I can absorb it in any way that fancies me. That''s lucky for me, since Qi is a superior energy to Mana. If a man had arge amount of mana, he would still die of old age, but if a man had the same amount of Qi, they will be young forever.
With that settled, I had to choose carefully.
I have five paths in mind currently, amidst which I have to choose from. Theyre as follows:
Path of the Celestial Radiance: A path running on the brilliant nine-colored Qi, a variation of pure Qi but with more destructive prowess. It can earn simr results to the legendary Hollow King path, though the mana-negation part is less focused, in exchange for stronger attack powers. Upon reaching the [Gold] rank, your eyes will be transformed into the Nine-Colored Eyes.
Path of the ck me: A path running on a mixture of Qi affinities between darkness and fire, turning you into a machine of destruction. Experienced users can demolish a continent into mere ashes with the [ck Dragons Dance] attack. Upon reaching the [Gold] rank, youd gain ess to partial dragonification, as this is a path derived from a line of ck Dragons.
Path of the Raging Sky: A path focused on storm Qi; a mixture of water, wind, lightning, and cloud affinity. Experienced users can call forth typhoons with a flick of their fingers, and destroy several mountain ranges with another. Users can also heal wounds of their own and others, even spiritual ones; experienced users can even grant spiritual pathways to people whock them. Upon reaching the [Gold] rank, youd gain ess to a passive aura of electricity around you, thatd send slight shivers of rxation by default but can turn offensive to burn and pulverize any sudden attack or attacker.
Path of the Darkest Sun: A path focused on dark steller Qi; a mixture of star and moon affinity, a variation of Yin and Yang. This provides the fastest growth through Cycling, as there is ster Qi everywhere in both and night, and moon Qi at night. Experienced users can call forth pirs of sr energies from the sky, erasing cities with each, and also devouring darkness that can swallow civilization like the maw of eldritch horror. Upon reaching the [Gold] rank, your eyes would transform into the Eyes of the Sun and Moon.
Path of the Hungry Deep: A path focused on devouring Qi; a mixture of blood and hunger affinity. Outside the usual advancement using Cycling Techniques, this allows the users to grow by another means. They can [Devour] the physical and spiritual strength of magical beasts and theirtent authority, using them to empower the user. This devour is only usable on monsters and beasts, and is unusable on a humanoid creature due to the fundamental structure of the technique. Upon reaching the [Gold] rank, your forearms would be ckened and will give you an urge of constant hunger.
I had my eyes closed as I looked at the text materializing from my soul reflection. I had these five options in mind, with each equal in power level one way or another. None of these was multiverse level on their own, Id need to expand my own power level that far to use these techniques on a multiversal scale, allowing me to erase gxies with a sneeze, and universes with a punch.
Even though Id been preparing for this moment for a year, I hesitated.
For a long moment, I wondered which path I should choose.
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Q C What Path is your pick?
Chapter 3es out in 4 hours, wait until then! Otherwise, there are currently 25 more chapters in Patreon, join if you want!
/Master4thWall
[3] Wait, Devils…? Goddamn.
[3] Wait, Devils? Goddamn.
Chapter 3: Wait, Devils? Goddamn.
I already knew the Path Id choose, even if all the choices were juicy and attractive. Still, I couldnt help but go through their perks and drawbacks one more time.
Path of the Celestial Radianceis strong and unique; it is especially useful against people who rely on external energy attacks. If the opponent is a physical brute, however, this falls short pretty quickly. As an example, Might Guy from Naruto would be able to wash the floor with me unless I reach the 9th cultivation rank. At the same time, I should be able to erase techniques like [Hakai] with a flick of my finger even without reaching the highest of ranks. Also, its [Gold Sign] the Nine-Colored Eyes allows quite a variety of optic powers, such as seeing the best lottery to choose, if a person is lying or not, etcetera. It has its pros and cons.
Path of the ck meis interesting, but this is more focused on the destruction aspect than anything. I can burn a city with ease, sure, but I wont be able to duel with people in fear of identally killing them C and more. Some might argue that is the best, but I have always liked to be more versatile. Also, the [Gold Sign] of partial Dragonification is annoying; a long tail and useless horns in my head arent very useful.
Path of the Raging Skyis interesting. Letse back to thister.
Path of the Darkest Sunis strong, and it has versatility too. Its simr to ck mes, as the affinities are pretty close, but the destruction is more controlled than the mindless destruction of a fire. I can release a straight beam of ster Qi toward my target, lowering the intensity enough that it would just give them a slight burn instead of piercing through. I can also just vaporize them too, making this strong. The Eyes of the Sun and Moon allow one to perceive the pure and evil aura around everything, which is useful.
Path of the Hungry Deepis ludicrously attractive. Which fantasy reader doesnt love the idea of killing and devouring their enemies abilities? On its base, this only provides physical boosts, though more than the other Paths, along with the ability to use blood Qi. Sadly, the blood Qis usage doesnt stretch far enough to let you control others blood, but its still good. One can turn their Qi into a shield of blood to block attacks, a de of blood to severe enemies, and so on. Plus, when you devour an enemy, youd be able to gain their abilities as well. By far, this is the Path that screams Hax! the most. However, it has the worst drawback.
Its [Gold Sign] is very annoying. I dont mind ckened forearms for great power, even if Id have to hide it for this sensitive society, but what I do mind is the urge to feed. To begin with, devouring only works on beasts, as in magical beasts. They dont seem verymon in this world, so I dont know how often I will get to devour any beasts. Yet, the urge to devour will always exist even if I dont find any food. Its very annoying and mentally straining, so this is my least favorite.
Now, here is the thing. I will be able to choose other Paths in the future, after gaining a level of proficiency on my primary Path. However, I wont gain any [Gold Signs] from them, as Id have one from my first Path anyway. Thats not a bug, thats a feature.
Damn, I am beginning to learn modern talks again. Whoa.
Anyhow, this means that, if I choose a Path with a very good [Gold Sign], its the best for me. Since I can always just choose the other, more useful Pathster, without their annoying [Gold Sign] like theHungry Deep. That means I am here to choose the one that has the best [Gold Sign], not power. I can always manage thatter.
So, the smartest pick would bePath of the Raging Sky. Not only is it one of the stronger Paths of the five I talked about, allowing me authority over water, wind lightning, and cloud, but the [Gold Sign] is very juicy. Id gain ess to a passive aura of electricity around me, thatd send slight shivers of rxation by default, meaning anyone I spend time with will like spending time with me. Theyll be rxed and have fun. At the same time, this aura is intelligent like a program, it can turn offensive if it senses any sudden attack or attacker, which it can burn into ashes or pulverize. Since the aura is electricity, the speed at which it reacts would be faster than me for a long time, meaning I will be safe against bullets and such without ever worrying.
This is easily the best Path for me. Did I forget to mention that I can even heal wounds on a physicalandspiritual level? Something thatd Id only gain after Gold rank if I dont pick this. I already said I like versatility, and this is by far the most versatile Path of the five.
Some might say- why such hesitation if this is so good? Well, the speed at which I will be able to cycle the storm aura is slowerpared to the other sses. Because while wind is present everywhere, lightning and clouds arent. The most optimal way to Cycle in this path is to do so while flying over clouds, but sadly thats not possible since I cant fly yet. So cultivating in this Path before I learn how to fly will be slower than the other paths that have an easier essible aura to help.
Whatever the case, I have already decided.
Taking a deep calming breath, I began to Cycle my Qi. I said its best if I was flying within the clouds for this, but its coincidentally raining right now in this part of the city, so I can gather the storm aura with ease.
My body was still from an outside perspective, while my spirit was busy condensing the Qi into a ball, to create my Core. It was located in my lower abdomen, swirling with energy as I gathered Qi into a ball. When I knew I have gathered enough Qi, my breathing paused for the entire session, I let out a breath and then quickly took a sharp one in.
Then, I began to breathe Qi in the pattern of the mythical Cycling Technique titled the [Heaven and Earth Swirling Wheel]. In a matter of seconds, an invisible aura burst out of me, and I felt a shiver of pleasure run down my body. My eyes snapped open to find a world of nostalgic colors.
I have reached [Copper] rank.
I also gained my [Copper Sight] that is filling my optic receptors with unlimited colors from the world. Ambient energy, also called Natural Aura, is everywhere in the room, and storm aura is particrly thick right now. I missed this. Its just been a few months, but not having this made me feel as if I was blind, I am relieved.
I stood up, far more easily than ever, and leaped at the window. I could jump better than ever, as I grabbed the window and opened it. The sky roared, and rain sttered across my face. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, my lips widened and my eyes reopened.
Beautiful.
Thus began my journey of walking thePath of the Raging Sky.
* * *
Ruby''s presence in the concert turned out to be profitable. Ai noticed her swinging a light stick in the middle of her singing and made an expression so dazzling that Japan became a fan.
Ruby herself became a famous baby, in all of Tiktok and Instagram reels, and she seemed to like the baby fame a lot.
It''s been a year since I entered the Copper Rank. It will take me a bit more to reach Iron, but I am going there. One thing that''s good is that, now that I''m two years old, I can walk and run around without anyone suspecting anything. I still had to stay very conscious of staying at baby speed while people were looking.
Now that we can talk, my sister has really started going at this big time.
"Mama! Mama! Gimme a pat!"
The little girl hung from Ai''s neck. She has fully evolved into a pathetically spoiled fan of this idol, whom she loves to call Mama. Ai just giggled and patted her daughter with a lovely smile, she hade far from being the useless mother she once was.
Then again, she still couldn''t be considered a mother if one nitpicked, but she sure was trying to fulfill her role. It was touching.
I was ying with a toy motorbike, just to keep appearance C nothing more, definitely C and watched the two girls interact.
Frankly, I have missed this sort of innocent interaction a lot after my long life in my 9th incarnation. Sure, I had the memories of my 10th life, the one where I was Gorou the doctor, but it still didn''t feel like my own since I didn''t have my memories.
"Haah~ the blissful purend of amitabha." Ruby nurtured with her eyes closed as Ai patted her head, causing the older woman to pause.
"The blissful purend of amitabha? Huh, where did you learn such a difficult term?" She looked weirded out at suchplex wordsing from a baby, causing Ruby to flinch as realized her mistake.
In the end, Ai just grinned. "That''s a whole new level of genius! Must be the gics, hehe." She hugged her daughter.
Iughed, and perhaps a bit too much as the two girls turned to me. Seeing this, Ai''s grin widened as she pulled me into a hug as well.
"Look, Aqua isughing~ Aww, he rarelyughs. He shouldugh more, right, Ruby? My little cuties."
The 18-year-old hugged us both, her cheeks rubbing with mine and Ruby''s, as the little toddler girl gave me a jealous re before she sighed and hugged me too.
No, that''s not good. It won''t be good if she began to lose her jealousy. Since she thinks I''m a normal baby and she''s mentally older, she might start acting like an older sister. I was born 2 minutes and 33 three seconds before her, plus my mental age of hundreds of years makes me older than her. My pride wouldn''t let me stay silent if this little girl began to act like an older sister.
It was hard on its own to endure a little girl like Ai treating me like a child, but I''m used to having younger mothers. However, this new problem won''t be endured.
Perhaps it''s time I put some hierarchy into perspective.
* * *
First of all, I had to make sure that I wasn''t overthinking. I had to be sure that she truly wasn''t jealous anymore, and in the next few days that turned out to be true.
But it felt a little awkward to just bust the bubble. After so long, she would annoy me why I didn''t tell her before. Plus, a lot more other questions. So sadly, I had to wait until I was presented with an opportunity.
Back to the present, I was a bit excited. Ai has a lot of jobs nowadays. Like Modeling, Radio Assistant, and Voice Acting. Today she was going to attend a job that seemed to be a mix of all those.
"Mama is finally going to act in a drama!"
"It''s just a small role, Ruby."
Ruby and I were apanying Ai. The three of us were inside a car, riding in the passenger''s seat while the director''s wife, Miyako was driving. Ruby and Ai were talking as usual, while I stayed silent and read a book on the Japanesenguage. I had yet to master it, even if I understood it very well.
Suddenly, Miyako warned us once again that we C namely Ruby C shouldn''t refer to Ai as "mama" while in the filming location. She also warned me, gently, because she thought I was a dumb toddler.
Soon afterward, we reached the location. It was an open grassy ce surrounded by trees and had a building in one corner. We were led to that building, and upon entering it we found ourselves face-to-face with the director.
It was a man in his mid-30s, looking like a homeless person with his long brown hair and ck jacket.
He frowned when he saw us enter. He stood up from his chair and walked over, crossing his arms and looking at Ai''s face.
Ai fumbled. "Um, is there anything wrong, director?"
"These your kids?" He suddenly turned to me and Ruby, who was standing behind Miyako.
Ai maintained herposure as Miyako smiled hesitantly. "They are mine, sir. Don''t worry, they won''t be a bother."
"Hmm, a manager bringing her kids?" The director narrowed his eyes, and Miyako sweated. "Fine, whatever. I am just a bit annoy- surprised how there are so many kids here today."
Did he say annoyed? He did, I''m sure he said annoyed. It was somewhat rude, but I understood why one wouldn''t want kids in his workce. I could rte to this hobo man.
Though, how many kids must be there for him toin? I turned my head around to give the area a nce and instantly found myself pausing.
Destruction Mana.
My [Copper Sight] was filled with a red hue of pure destruction as I looked at the red-headed little girl ying with some other kids. They were in one corner of the room, and it was only the long red-haired girl who had any mana at all.
That''s not a normal girl no, she wasn''t even human. I sensed a sort of dark energy that Demonic Cultivators released. What was she?
"That''s the daughter of a higher up, though I don''t even know his name." Abruptly, the director spoke, as if a toddler could understand hisplex words. "I am talking to all four of you. She seems to be from some big-shot family, so maybe keep your kids away from her, in case they fight or something."
While Ruby looked a little nervous, I just frowned. I couldn''t remember her from the Oshi No Ko anime, but her figure looked strangely familiar nheless. Curious.
Based on the demonic aura, along with the much more prominent destruction aura, and her appearance, plus the conspiracy theory in modern worlds that the secret higher-ups of all the entertainment industry are rted to the devil, I could take a guess.
"Rias Gremory?"
"Huh, how do you know her name?"
The director''s statement all but confirmed my guess.
This was a shared world of High School DxD. Devils existed here.
Spoiler
[copse]
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[4] A Plan and its Fruition
[4] A n and its Fruition
Chapter 4: A n and its Fruition
How stupid of a world. High School DxD?
Wasn''t this supposed to be a wholesome and lovely normal world where Gods didnt meddle with mortals? I barely held back a peal of crazyughter. What was the little sister of Satan doing here? I love this.
I obviously wasn''t panicking. I felt great, in fact. I was in the face of a humongous opportunity. If DxD was real, that meant the scale of this world was higher, which meant I could grow faster and earn more benefits than I believed at first.
Still, I am going to avoid her though. I had no intention to draw attention. Plus, I am 2 years old, and she seems to be around 5 years old. I dont want to interact with her, there is no benefit from that.
I quickly concealed my Qi, though I was half sure she couldn''t sense it anyway, and then jumped into Miyako''s arms.
* * *
After that, Ruby and I were snatched by all the staff and actresses in the vicinity.
"Ohhh, twins!" C was their reaction before they began to torture my cheeks.
At about that time, I also noticed that Rias had been left alone by the kids. From the beginning, she wasn''t really ying with them, she was trying to but the kids did their best to find an excuse and run away from her. Now, she was alone, sitting on a chair and staring out the window.
She wore a cute dress with a purse hanging from her shoulders. Her hands clutched down on the bag, even though her expression was normal. It almost made me want to go talk to her, but luckily the beautiful woman who was hugging me like a stuffy toy didn''t let me go.
Afterward, when I finally managed to pull myself away from thedy''s soft bosom, I made my way to find Ai. I was curious about what my mother had to do in this sort of job; living hundreds of years without any touch of modernity rendered me curious about these things that I previously didn''t care about.
Instead of finding Ai, sadly, I came across the director from before. He paused when he saw me, and crouched down to my eye level, pointing a finger.
"Oh, aren''t you the manager''s brat?" He said as I decided how to react. "I don''t mind you being here, but if you dare start crying during our shoot, I''ll kick you out."
The arrogant overlord part of mine said I should annihte this baboon who dared talk to me like this, but I had learned to control that side of mine in thest two years.
I had quite a few Rules of Reincarnation that I kept in mind, one of them being the name-change one that I have already talked about before. For a person like me to enjoy life, I needed these rules.
Another rule of reincarnation is this: "Be like water, be formless." It goes along with the, "When in Rome, act like the Romans do." So when I''m in the modern world, I don''t wish to show my ruthless self. I would if it required it, but I wished not to. Otherwise it would be hard to enjoy anything, trust me.
So, I pretended to be a scared child and blurted out apologies instead.
"Oh, absolutely not! I understand me and my sisters are mere babies, but I shall try my best to not cause any inconvenience! I am fully aware of my own limitations and the rules to be upheld in a prestigious ce like this, so please rest assured. Don''t be harsh on Ai because of us, and consider working with her in the future as well!" I bowed, sounding frantic, and waited for his response.
His response was an understandable yell. "Holy! This baby sure can talk! Where did you learn such words?"
I looked up at him. This is the part where I''ll lie for more than one benefit. I said I''d need to prove my status to Ruby, right? This will allow me that opportunity.
"YouTube?" I lied, watching the man give me a stunned look.
"Y-youtube?! You can learn such things from there?! What a progressive era we live in!"
He lifted me with his arms, smiling. "I have seen quite a few baby prodigies, but you definitely take the cake. Can you act too? Are you an acting prodigy?"
Am I? Of course, I am. I''ve been acting since my 2nd life, I had to pretend to be a normal person and not a reincarnator. I''ve been lying to my birth parents for so many lives, pretending to be a normal baby. When you live as long as I have and meddle with old men scheming to take over nations ands, you''ll have to know how to lie. How to act. I knew how this game worked.
"You''ll make a good face on the screen. My name is Taishi Gotanda, I want to put you in something. What do you say?"
Finally, the opportunity had arrived. With my acting ability, I could put the seed of doubt in Rubys heart, and she woulde to ask me about what I was. I gave him a nod even as I prepared ns in my head.
Soon we left, but before leaving I couldn''t help but go give Rias Gremory a KitKat. She looked too sad for my liking, and the candy seemed to do wonders to lift her mood. As I nned, she didn''t get to drag me to y with her since we were leaving, we didn''t even exchange any words.
* * *
A few dayster, we received a call from Director Gotanda. It was a small movie he was directing, where Ai will be a supporting character. However, I too will be acting, as a minor character.
"Whoa, my cutest Aquamarine sure caught the director''s attention." Ai hugged me in the car, rubbing her cheeks with mine, as Ruby gave me a jealous re that was very rare recently.
Sadly, I have lived my life acting, so I had no desire to take this as a career path. I knew that the main character in the cannon timeline had be an actor, but I had no intention to walk that path. This is purely a one-time thing.
"Listen up, prodigy baby,"
We reached the filming area, which was an open forest-like terrain with mountains in the background this time, and the director pulled me away to the side to talk.
"The casting is almost always decided by higher-ups. Only a handful of super big shot directors can choose their own casts, either that or it''s the directors who are working on a small-scale movie."
Director Taishi Gotanda was working on a small-scale movie, I recalled.
To my surprise, he lifted me up and then pointed at a tree in the far, under which a red-haired girl sat. My Copper Eyes caught the destruction auraing out of her.
"I heard you gave that girl candy. She was so happy that she told her father to give her a chance to produce a big film if you were in it. So while this was supposed to be a small project at first, now that I have a big producer, I think this will be popr. Thanks, kid."
Oh.
I just stared at the girl who ate a KitKat bar while staring at the distant mountains. As if noticing my gaze, she turned to me and gave a smile, the red aura of destruction calming around her.
Fucking KitKat. I didn''t n to attract her attention.
* * *
[Third Person Point of View C Ruby]
She didn''t like her twin brother. He was a normal baby, yet he now had an acting career.
All right, to say she "didn''t like him" would be wrong. She did like him, he was cute, and his usual silence was lovely. She was just a bit sour about why he got the acting offer but not her, while she was a reincarnator. She didn''t really hate it though since she always wanted to be an Idol, not an actress.
Though she wouldn''t hesitate to say she didn''t like this director. He was scary.
Ruby was in Miyako''s arms when she walked over to the director, who put Aqua on the ground with a dark grin on his face.
"I am using Ai in this film, in exchange for you being a part of it. We call in bartering in this market. So tell her to give you some kind of treat, I don''t know, since it''s all you who gave her this opportunity.
Saying so, the director walked away while Ruby red at his back. Miyako shook her head with a nervous sweat.
"Using Ai''s son to barter, what a scary man." Miyako leaned down to look at Aqua, who she thought was normal of the two twins. "That director sure likes you, Aqua. What did you even do?"
Aqua just shrugged and walked away. Both Miyako and Ruby found it odd, until Ruby noticed Ai was nowhere to be found.
Taking a deep breath in, she began to cry. "Mama! Mama! I wanna go where Mama is! Take me to her!"
Oh oops, right, Miyako was supposed to be her mother here.
* * *
That particr day, there was no acting, just some rehearsals that Aqua had to go through. Ruby noticed that his acting there was strange. She didn''t know how to exin, it felt too real, too fluid.
Still, she waited until the date of the proper shooting to confirm her suspicion. Where she would confront him with her suspicion. Today was that day, they had returned to the location.
Yet, annoyingly, Ai didn''te with them today. It was only Ruby herself, Aqua, and Miyako.
"Mama! Mama! Why isn''t Mama here?! Take me to her!"
She cried while sitting on the floor, and since Miyako wasn''t nearby she didn''t care to have anyone question the situation. Only Aqua was by her side, but he was a normal baby, it was fine.
"Ai is shooting on a different date, can you stop crying?" Aqua said, making her stop crying. Right, she was the older one here, there was no need to pretend to be a baby now.
Still, she didn''t like why she had to be here when she wasn''t even going to act. It would have been better if she was left home with Ai instead.
Around that time, the door of the room they were in burst open, and a girl around their age, if a bit older, walked in with a frown.
It was a girl with strawberry-red hair and a fierce expression. "Hey! Acting is a pro''s line of work, you know? If you don''t like it here, go home, stop crying!"
"I already stopped- wait," Ruby gasped as she registered who the girl was. "You''re the child genius who will lick a lying snitch!"
"Flick a crying switch!"